Sudan and Turkey discuss coordination of regional and international positions

Sudan and Turkey have expressed their keenness to strengthen economic ties and coordinate positions in regional and international forums.

This development follows a meeting held in Sudan’s capital Khartoum on Sunday, between Minister of Cabinet Affairs Ahmed Saad Omar and Turkey’s ambassador in Sudan Cemalettin Aydin.

“The meeting discussed the coordination of the two countries’ regional and international stances,” the Sudanese minister said following the meeting.

“The Turkish government’s programmes, including the establishment of development projects, contribute to the promotion of development and stability in Sudan,” he added.

The Turkish ambassador spoke about the importance of Turkish-Sudanese relations, especially in the field of economic partnership, as well as “the need to upgrade and advance the relations between the two countries.”

Last April, Sudan and Turkey signed an agreement in Istanbul on agricultural partnership, in addition to three other memoranda. At the time, Director of Foreign Relations at Sudan’s Ministry of Investment Hanan Masnad, who represented the Sudanese delegation to Turkey, said that “Khartoum has pledged to Turkey to provide unrestricted access to agricultural land, with its sources of water, while the Turkish side works to provide capital and technology.”

Sudan works to attract investors from abroad to reclaim more than one million hectares (one hectare is equivalent to 10,000 square meters) of arable land, to meet the revenue’s shortage that hinders the use of agricultural areas.

The volume of Turkish investments in Sudan, as of 2012, was estimated at two billion dollars, while the trade volume between the two countries jumped to $291 million at the end of 2012 from $70 million in 2013, when the two sides began to implement agreements to boost bilateral trade.