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Khartoum– Sudan

HE Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti and his Sudanese counterpart HE Minister of Transportation, Roads and Bridges Eng. Makawi Mohamed Awad today witnessed the signing of the minutes of the meeting of the joint committee on developing and managing the Sudanese Port of Suakin.

Mr. Hassan bin Hassan Al Hail, chairman of the joint committee on transport with the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC), and the Director General of Sudan’s Maritime Ports Authority Dr. Abdul Hafiz Saleh Ali, signed the minutes of the meeting. The event was attended by Qatar’s Ambassador to Sudan HE Mr. Rashid Bin Abdul Rahman Al Nuiami.

The minutes of the meeting, signed this morning at the premises of Sudan’s Ministry of Transportation, Roads and Bridges, outlines a future roadmap for cooperation and general frameworks for partnership.

HE Minister Al-Sulaiti stressed the strength of Qatari-Sudanese relations for which the foundations were laid down by HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and HE the Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir.

This step, he added, would bring back Suakin Port’s historic glory and make it a maritime commercial gateway and a key, vital economic platform in the region.

Saukin Port, the minister said, has comparative advantages and is supporting exports significantly, especially the economies of the African region. He also stressed its importance and vital, strategic location, its connection to the Silk Road and uniqueness for being a very important meeting point for exportation, particularly for neighboring countries, which makes it a value added to the economies.

He emphasized that the Port’s development works would move at an accelerated pace to finalize the Port’s rehabilitation and development by 2020, taking into account applying world’s latest technologies for operations, as well as environment standards.

Starting this April as a beginning for cooperation, he said, a maritime route would be launched between Hamad Port and Suakin Port to ship Sudanese livestock, stressing that the minutes of the meeting included a powerful economic cooperation in the interest of both brotherly countries.

HE Minister Awad hailed the Qatari role that is supportive of Sudan in all fields, nothing that it had contributed to the country’s progress and economic development. He said the minutes of the meeting came within the framework of successful strategic partnerships between the two brotherly countries.

Mr. Awad said the project would provide high-quality services to all vessels on the Red Sea, as Suakin Port is a new seaport for Africa and an investment source to be producing economic benefits for Sudan and serving the two countries’ interests. It would also provide Sudan with opportunities for training, capacity building and investment in all maritime transport areas, he noted.