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Sudan’s Bashir visits, seeks to expand biz ties with Uganda
President Yoweri Museveni inspects a Guard of Honour during his visit to Khartoum in 2016
The President of The Sudan Omar Al-Bashir is expected to visit Uganda from November 14-15, 2017.
A statement from the Foreign Affairs ministry says that strengthening Business ties between Sudan and Uganda will be top on the Agenda. Among other issues to be discussed, are; Improving regional peace and security between the two former neighboring countries.
Sudan is Africa’s biggest consumer of Uganda’s coffee, importing 20% of the beans which are valued at US $ 100 million per annum.
A delegation from the Sudanese Standards and Metrology Organization visited Uganda from November 5-8, 2017 to inspect the coffee testing/quality assurance facilities of Uganda Coffee Development Authority, Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) and private coffee processors.
They also held a meeting with respective Ministries and stakeholders to discuss ways of improving the Coffee trade with Sudan.
The Undersecretary/Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sudan Ambassador El Ghani Elnaim AwardElkarim visited Uganda from October 5-6, 2017 and met his counterpart Amb. Patrick Mugoya, during which the two sides agreed on steps to implement the decisions taken by the 5th session of the Joint Ministerial Commission that was held in Khartoum.
Among the issues they discussed were opportunities for trade and investment, immigration, air transport, regional issues and security matters. Uganda will be hosting the 6th Session of the Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) by March 2018.
This will be Bashir’s second visit to Uganda since 2016 when he was in Kampala to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President Yoweri Museveni on May 12, 2016.
Bashir’s visit brings to life the adage that in Politics, there are no permanent friends, nor permanent enemies.
About ten years ago, Sudan and Uganda were at loggerheads with each other with each of the them supporting rival militias. The enmity seems to have come to an end though with the secession of South Sudan.
Since then, both presidents have made regular visits to each other. Besides trade and investment, the on-going conflict between the different worrying factions in South Sudan, as well as the talks over the use of the Nile, are likely to feature in the discussions between the two leaders as they have been discussed at various fora.
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