Sudan is a gateway to Africa for Russia and other countries

The Defense Minister of Sudan will probably visit Moscow in early 2016, where he plans to meet his Russian colleague Sergey Shoigu, Ambassador Nadir Yousif Babiker stated. The Ambassador of Sudan to Russia reminded that relations between Russia and Sudan were established in January 1956. And today a new stage in the development of the relations has started, according to him.

“Sudan is a country of ancient culture and civilization. Now Russian archaeologists are working in the northern part of Sudan. According to them, it has a great history and a great civilization. Sudan received independence in 1956 and became a major player on the African continent and in the Arab world. We are members of the African Union, the Arab League and other international and regional organizations. And we thank God that we managed to overcome the crisis due to Darfur. The President had the initiative of a national dialogue, which appeared in 2014 in order to solve problems of power, unity and foreign policy. Now 93 parties and the armed movements are involved in the dialogue,” the Ambassador stressed.

He said that “the President signed a decree according to which the armed groups are inviolable. And now the dialogue is developing. There are preparations for the development and adoption of a new constitution by means of negotiations, consultations and study of various issues. This is a very important process, and we hope that the dialogue will help to work out a document which is acceptable to all, or the majority of the country's political forces.”

Nadir Yousif Babiker also noted that the Sudanese economy was growing at the moment: “In 2011 it was a shock when South Sudan separated. Three-quarters of revenues from the oil industry remained in that country. At the same time, the international community was sympathetic to the situation. Certainly, we have large debts amounting to $46 billion. In accordance with the plan of 2012-2018 the economic figures should increase. The GDP growth was recorded at the level of 4.6% in 2014. We believe that Sudan is a gateway to Africa for Russia and other countries. We have common borders with four countries; therefore, we are very interested in the development of trade.”