Sudan welcomes US move to ease sanctions
January 13, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour said Obama’s decision was a result of the dialogue that has been ongoing for more than a year between Khartoum and Washington to achieve Sudan’s supreme interests.
In a press release extended to Sudan Tribune Friday, Ghandour described the move as “advanced”, saying it has been achieved through coordination among the various Sudanese bodies and ministries and overseen by President Omer al-Bashir.
“We would continue to cooperate with the new U.S. Administration in the various domains to enhance international peace and security and combat human trafficking and terrorism,” he said.
Sudan’s top diplomat pointed that his government is committed to the agreements reached between the two sides, stressing they would continue their efforts to remove Sudan from the US list of states sponsors of terror.
Also, Sudan’s Foreign Ministry Gharib Allah Khidir described the move as “important and positive development in the bilateral ties between the two countries”, saying it was a product of long dialogue and close cooperation on regional and international issues of common concern.
He stressed that Sudan would continue to cooperate with the U.S. to overcome all obstacles that impede full normalization of relations between the two countries in order to achieve the higher interests of the two peoples.
Meanwhile, the head of the economic committee at the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) Hassan Ahmed Taha said Obama’s decision “would help Sudan to advance economically and brings foreign investment”.
He pointed that Sudan would benefit from the international initiatives and the concessionary loans in infrastructure development, saying the move would pave the way to resolve Sudan’s long-standing foreign debt problem.
Sudanese officials recently expressed hopes that Obama before the end of his second term would lift the sanctions on the eastern African country, saying Washington is convinced of its inefficiency and that it harms ordinary Sudanese.
The U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday has signed an executive order to ease sanctions against Sudan enabling trade and investment transactions to resume with the east African nation.
Sudan has been under American economic and trade sanctions since 1997 for its alleged connection to terror networks and remains on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terror. The first batch of sanctions restrict U.S. trade and investment with Sudan and block government’s assets of the Sudanese government.
Additional sanctions in relations with the conflict in Darfur region were introduced by two Executive Orders in 2006.
(ST)