South American-Arab agricultural committee to meet in Khartoum next February: FM

November 10, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour said that the preparatory meetings for the South American-Arab summit in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh has agreed to convene the first meeting of the South American-Arab agricultural committee in Khartoum next February.

President Omer Hassan al-Bashir arrived in Riyadh on Tuesday to participate in the summit which kicked off this evening with an address from Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz.

Ghandour said that “Riyadh Declaration” drafted by the preparatory meetings welcomed the national dialogue which started in Khartoum last month and also criticized unilateral sanctions imposed on Sudan.

He added that the declaration also tackled Arab issues namely the Palestinian crisis and others in Latin American countries.

Bashir will meet on the sidelines of the summit with the King of Bahrain, Emir of Qatar, the Venezuelan president and the speaker of the Algerian parliament who will convey a private message from president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Ghandour said.

The minister said he met previously with his Brazilian counterpart for talks on boosting investments in Sudan as well as the foreign minister of Chile and discussed with him taking advantage of mineral wealth in Sudan.

This is the fourth Arab-South American summit to bring together top officials from the Arab League’s 22 member states and 12 countries from South America. The meetings, held every three years, began in Brazil in 2005, followed by summits in Qatar and Peru.

(ST)