Sudan’s Bashir to visit Egypt on Friday
March 7, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir will head a high-level delegation to visit Egypt on Friday to attend the international economic conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
He pointed out that Bashir’s participation in the conference comes at the invitation of his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, and to reinforce the special relationship between Sudan and Egypt.
Abdel-Mahmood also pointed to the importance of the conference and the role of bilateral ties in achieving its goals, noting that cooperation between the two countries in areas of agriculture, food security, animal resources, industry and trade constitutes a key pillar to support their economies.
He added that economic and investment benefits gained from opening of the border crossings between the two countries has extended to the rest of the African and Arab areas.
The Sudanese ambassador said that Bashir will hold bilateral talks with several presidents participating in the conference.
Bashir will also discuss with Sissi ways for promoting bilateral ties ahead of the meeting of the joint presidential cooperation committee and the specialized technical committees between the two countries.
Egypt hopes the three-day summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh will attract investments worth $10 to $12 billion in 40 projects to boost an economy battered by years of political turmoil.
According to Egypt’s minister of investment, Ashraf Salman, nearly 120 countries and 3,500 investors have been invited to participate in the summit.
Relations between Sudan and Egypt became strained after former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi was ousted from power in July 2013, but have since improved.
During his brief stop in Khartoum last June, al-Sissi invited Bashir to visit Cairo.
Following an official two-day visit to Cairo last October, Bashir said he fully agreed with al-Sissi in all issues pertaining to bilateral ties, as well as regional and international relations, pointing to the existence of strong political will to strengthen ties.
(ST)