Sudan, Belarus sign friendship and cooperation agreement

Sudan’s President Omar Al-Bashir and the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, signed a friendship and cooperation agreement between their two countries in Khartoum on Tuesday.

The delegations also signed a memorandum of understanding between the Ministries of Justice in the fields of justice cooperation, higher education, and promotion and protection of investment between the two countries.

At the opening session of the talks between the two countries, President Al Bashir said that consultations are underway with the political forces in order to form the anticipated Government of National Unity, and that efforts are still ongoing to convince naysayers to participate.

He pointed out to the pivotal role played by the government in the fight against terrorism, extremism, illegal immigration, and human trafficking.

“Sudan has become one of Belarus’ most important partners on the African continent,” Lukashenko said during the extended talks yesterday.

Non-interference

“It is great that over the past years the relations between the two states have been advanced to a brand new level. Sudan has become one of the most important partners on the African continent for us,” Lukashenko stated.

He emphasised that “Belarus pursues an independent foreign policy taking into account its national interests rather than the instructions of the global power centres. “We are in favour of developing relations with all states in the spirit of mutual respect, we are in favour of the non-interference in the internal affairs and the acknowledgement of different development paths,” he said.

According to Lukashenko, the main purposes of the visit to Sudan are "to solidify the achievements and to determine new promising areas of joint work."

Factories

During the talks Alexander Lukashenko remarked that "Belarus is ready to participate in projects meant to develop the production sector and the infrastructure of Sudan".

“Belarus is interested in establishing enterprises to jointly produce agricultural machines and trucks at premises of Sudanese factories. A tractor assembly project may be the first one of this kind. However, it will be competitive in comparison with direct import only with assistance of the Sudanese government,” the Belarusian head of state noted.