Media: Sudan officials discuss dismantling Israel Boycott Act 

Sudanese officials are looking into eradicating the Israel Boycott Act in an effort to sign cooperation deals with business from the occupation state and enhance the African state’s agriculture, health and aviation sectors.

Israeli paper Maariv reported yesterday that following Israeli Minister of Intelligence, Eli Cohen’s visit to Khartoum last week, a number of companies have announced their intention to open plans and begin operating in Sudan. These include Israel Chemicals Ltd (ICL) which hopes to set up a fertilizer manufacturing plant in an effort to help Sudanese farmers improve their yields, especially as it believes its goods are suitable for areas with dry weather.

During Cohen’s visit, Israel was labelled a “world leader” in the field of dairy due to the fact that “cows in the Israeli ranches yield the highest quantities of milk worldwide, as much as 12,000 litres of milk per year for each cow, compared to 10,000 litres in the United States and 6,500 litres in the European Union.”

The Israeli delegation suggested sending a team to Sudan to assess the process of milk production and propose changes which would help improve yields. It also discussed the establishment of desalination and renewable energy facilities. To that end, a Sudanese delegation will visit Israel to look at the various projects and advance plans for cooperation.

Cohen was accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Intelligence and representatives of the National Security Council.

According to the newspaper, the Sudanese officials indicated that the procedures for dismantling the Israel Boycott Act and amending the law that stipulates the imprisonment of Sudanese immigrants upon their return to Sudan, including immigrants who are in Israel, are in progress.

It is noteworthy that the Israeli government has tried repeatedly to expel tens of thousands of Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers who have arrived on its shores as it views non-Jewish immigrants as a threat.

The newspaper quoted Cohen as saying that “this visit laid the foundations for cooperation in many important fields, which will help Israel and Sudan and contribute to establishing security and stability in the region. This is the beginning of relations that will last for many years. Our ties with Africa will get stronger and lead to further agreements with other countries in the continent.”

Sudan agreed to normalise ties with the occupation state in October in return for the US removing it from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

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