Sudan receives $1 billion deposit from Qatar

The Emir of Qatar has concluded his visit to Sudan today. It was agreed that the cooperation between Sudan and Qatar will be enhanced, in particular in the field of energy and agriculture. The Minister of Finance and National Economy, Badreldin Mahmoud, described the visit of Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani to Sudan as very positive. “Both sides achieved great economic gains represented in the agreement on the establishment of joint investment projects in the fields of energy and agricultural industrialisation,” he said in a press statement today (Wednesday). Mahmoud praised the State of Qatar for the second installment of its depository, amounting to one billion Dollars, which will be transferred to the Central Bank of Sudan to support its foreign exchange reserves. During their talks at the Friendship Hall on Wednesday, the Sudanese President and the Emir of Qatar focused on several domains of mutual cooperation. They agreed to address the difficulties faced by the Qatari investments in Sudan. Existing agricultural projects will be reactivated. The minister added that the Kenana Canal agricultural project was already agreed upon. For another agricultural industrialisation project, a feasibility study is ready, and will be submitted to the Qatari Minister of Finance, Ali Shareef Al Emadi, during the coming meeting of Arab Finance Ministers and Arab funds in Tunisia. Brotherhood Sources point to the fact that Sheikh Tamim’s visit coincides with the tensions between Doha and other Gulf states over the widely-banned Muslim Brotherhood. “The Sudanese regime, which took power 25 years ago in an Islamist-backed coup, is essentially based on support from the Brotherhood,” Safwat Fanous, a political scientist at the University of Khartoum, told AFP in Khartoum. Fanous said that the Emir’s visit appears to aim at “breaking the isolation” of Qatar from its Gulf neighbours, and Egypt. The Sudanese Foreign Ministry had announced that the Emir’s visit came at the invitation of President Al Bashir. Photo: President Omar Al Bashir (R) meets Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, 2 April 2014 (AFP) Related:Sudan grants Bahrain 100,000 acres for agriculture (30 March 2014)DRA head announces 2014 development and rehabilitation budgets for Darfur (11 February 2014)