Sudan

12.02.2020
544

Sudan

A landlocked country in east-central Africa with Khartoum as its capital city. The country borders Egypt to the north, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, the Central African Republic (CAR) to the southwest, South Sudan to the south, Chad to the west, and Libya to the northwest.Up until its separation from South Sudan in 2011, Sudan was the the largest country in Africa and the Arab world. The population is estimated at 42,256,346 million (2019).

sudan

History

Once referred to as Anglo-Egyptian Sudan between 1899 and 1956, it marked its independence in January 1956 after the United Kingdom and Egypt concluded an agreement providing for Sudanese self-government and self-determination.

Sudan has been part of two civil wars since its independence. The first was when the Sudanese government fought the Anyanya rebel army in 1955 to 1972. The Second Sudanese Civil War began in 1983 when the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement.

Government

A independent sovereign state. Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir has been president since 1989. The country makes provision for two vice presidents. The first vice president is Bakri Hassan Saleh, while the second vice president is Hassabu Mohamed Abdalrahman. Both were appointed in 2013.

Sudan is administratively divided into 17 states ruled by elected governors. These include Khartoum, Gezira, North Kordofan, and South Darfur.

Foreign Relations

Originally, the president Omar al-Bashir declared there would be dual citizenship allowed between his country and South Sudan, but rescinded the offer after independence. The country’s relations with South Sudan is complex.

The country is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Arab League (AL), and the African Union (AU).

Climate

The climate has a rainy season with high humidity and a drier season, similar to equatorial climates. Most rain falls from May to October.

Education

The main language used is English, as opposed to Arabic. There is a shortage of English speaking teachers in the country.

Indigenous Languages

Over 60 languages are spoken, which are mostly classified under the Nilo-Saharan family. Some of the languages are spoken in neighboring countries. The languages with the most speakers are Nuer and Dinka. Bari and Zande also have a substantial number of speakers.

Religion

The majority of the population is made up of Sunni Muslims, with a small number of Christian followers.

Culture

1280px-Western_Deffufa_-_Kerma

Sudanese culture is heavily influenced by the country’s neighbors due to so many of its citizens fleeing the country during the civil wars. There is a great focus on knowing one’s dialect and origin.

Games and Sports

Wrestling and mock battles are traditional sports that are popular in Sudan. These were mostly celebrated during the harvests. Basketball is one of the popular modern sports, as is football. The country does not have an Olympics association.

Economy

Apart from oil, agriculture and livestock are essential to Sudan’s economic diversification and could contribute to medium-term macroeconomic stability. These sectors presently contribute approximately 35%–40% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but could contribute significantly more with greater investment and better governance. Sudan now recognizes the need for greater attention to agriculture and livestock, as reflected in its Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP) and the Five-year Program for Economic Reforms approved by its parliament in December 2014.

Sudan remains a highly-indebted country that has accumulated sizeable external arrears and has been in non-accrual status with the World Bank Group (WBG) since 1994. At the end of 2015, its external debt amounted to $50 billion (61% of GDP) in nominal terms, about 84% of which was in arrears.

Transportation

sudan brick making machine

The country railway is 248 km from the Sudanese border to the Wau terminus. There are proposed extensions to Juba and into the networks of other neighboring countries.

Health

Sudan’s health indicators are some of the world’s worst. Infant mortality rate is 52.86 deaths for every 1,000 live births. Life expectancy is at 63.32 years, with 61.27 years for males and 65.46 years for females.

Relations Between Turkey and Sudan

Turkey was among the first countries, which recognized Sudan’s independence and opened an Embassy in Khartoum just after its independence in 1956. With long and deep-rooted historical, religious and cultural ties, Sudan remains one of the most important partners of Turkey in Africa. Reciprocal high-level visits and various cooperation agreements have ensured steady development of bilateral relations in different fields.

sudan city

Sudan cities

H.E. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Sudan on 24 – 26 December 2017 served further developing relations between the two countries. During this visit, 12 agreements (including protocols and MoU’s) were signed, including the declaration pertaining to the establishment of High Level Strategic Cooperation mechanism. The total amount of the infrastructure projects and direct investments undertaken by Turkish companies in Sudan has reached 650 million US Dollars. Bilateral trade volume between Turkey and Sudan amounted to 434 million US Dollars in 2018 (exports to Sudan: 360,9 million USD, imports from Sudan: 73,1 million USD).

Sudan cities

Sudan cities

The main export items of Turkey to Sudan are electrical machines, steel plant, automotive byproducts, boilers, steel equipment, plastic products, textiles and paper. Turkey’s main imports from Sudan are oilseed and fruits, sugar and sugar products, unfinished leather, lac, Arabic gum, resin, volatile oils and cotton. Turkish companies in Sudan are involved in steel, cement, leather, PVC manufacturing, grain import and exports, bakery investments and sales of home appliance products. The Turkish International Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) and Turkish NGO’s have been carrying out both development and humanitarian projects in Sudan along with the emergency humanitarian assistance for local communities, in close cooperation and coordination with the relevant Sudanese authorities. Nyala Turkish-Sudanese Research and Training Hospital, constructed by TIKA, began its operations on February 28, 2014. Within the framework of Türkiye Scholarships programme, Turkey has provided 654 scholarships to Sudanese students since 1992.

Ethiopia and Turkey  Relations

Sudan Turkey

Sudan Turkey

STRATEGIC PARTNERSIP IN ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF SUDAN AND TURKEY

The second largest African official visit of 2017 to Sudan, Chad and Tunisia under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is the last major overseas delegation visit this year. Under the coordination of the Ministry of Economy, the delegation of DEİK and the Turkish business community are visiting three important countries of North and Central Africa. More than 150 Turkish business people are exploring opportunities and investment climate in the region as part of their official visits to the three countries between 24-27 December 2017. Sudan-Turkey Business Forum which is the first business meeting organized as part of the visit, was held in Khartoum on December 28th with the participation of Economy Minister of Republic of Turkey Nihat Zeybekci, Sudan Deputy Prime Minister Mubarak Alfadel, Sudan Financial and Economic Development Minister for Mohamed Osman Elrekab, DEİK/Turkey-Sudan Business Council Chairperson Mehmet Ali Korkmaz and 400 Turkish and Sudanese business people. Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekci, who spoke to Turkish and Sudanese business people at the opening of the forum, emphasized that the visit is a historic day for Turkey and Sudan. Zeybekci stated that important steps have been taken within the High Level Strategic Cooperation Agreement signed between the two countries. Zeybekci said that we must solve the problems in areas such as banking and money transfers. In the first few months of the year, we will ask you very important things from the moment you start working with our agreement. Let’s get rid of the rules that some of us have put us in. We were always on Sudan’s side when sanctions and embargoes applied to Sudan. With a common banking system, we will do our account together.  In mutual trade, let’s pay with domestic currencies. When we return to Turkey, we will determine a road map and evaluate our future goals together. I think we will have solved many problems when we come back in the autumn of 2018. He also stated that Sudan needed infrastructure and that Turkish people needed the products grown in Sudan. Zeybekci said that he believed there would be a milestone change after today. He said that within 10 days, Commercial Counselor will start serve within the scope of the Embassy.

Sudan Turkey

Sudan Turkey

Deputy Prime Minister of Sudan Mubarak Alfadel reminded that the highest level meeting and signing agreements are an important step towards strategic partnership.According to Alfadel, Sudan’s natural resources, geographical location and arable lands will meet with Turkey’s technological and economic power. Sudan can achieve large industrial development by bringing together both countries’ financial facilities and possibilities. The Sudanese minister said that Sudan needed basic infrastructure, increased production. He stated that they wanted to cooperate with Turkish business people, especially in agriculture and industry projects in order to transfer resources to infrastructure projects in railway, energy, water and road areas. Alfadel stated that Turkey and Sudan joint investment will achieve 1 Billion USD by planting 1 million hectares and they hope that Turkish companies will also contribute to infrastructure investments. According to Alfadel, Sudan and Turkey should start with such projects so that the capital can be provided and the profits of the companies of the two countries can be increased. Turkey has taken very important big steps. A major economic breakthrough has been achieved in the last 10 years. Taking the example of Turkey, we want to achieve our economic development. We know that the great Asian countries are raising the competition in Africa. Our 3-year plan with Sudan’s private sector will start in 2018 to increase production. The aim is to raise Sudan’s agricultural and industrial production to 10 billion US Dollars. We think we can reach this target within 1 year with Turkey. We want to start the necessary planning from now on. We want to have a co-operation that will spread to the depths of Africa.

Mohamed Osman Elrekabi, Minister of Financial and Economic Development in Sudan, said that those who will develop relations between the two countries are business people. He pointed out that he believes in target of 10 billion US dollar trade volume that the two countries Presidents have decided. He also indicated that Sudanese business people will be predominantly responsible for the private sector in economic production. Elrekabi advised Sudanese business world representatives to take advantage of the experiences of Turkish business people and said that Sudan also has great opportunities for Turkish business people. According to Sudanese Minister Elrekabi, we have fertile soils, water and ground waters that are suitable for agriculture. Especially in livestock we have more than 100 million animals all over. We have an important potential in livestock. Our proximity to the Red Sea is giving us an advantage in logistics. We have the best ports of the Red Sea. We are very fortunate about fishing and aquatic products. Sudan has a prominent position. Sudan is called “golden soils” in Egyptian language. We are rich in iron, gold, chrome and copper, and in a multitude of minerals. All of these resources are untouched and we are waiting for your investments. We want to improve these resources. We wish that our first strategic partner is Turkish people and Turkish business people. Elrekabi also invited the Turkish banking sector to invest in Sudan. He said that you will not only sell the products produced here to Sudan. You will sell it to the entire African and Arab world. We also want to benefit from the engineering experience of the Turkish people. We want to develop our experience in machinery industry. Apart from Eximbank, we want to work with other banks in Sudan. Development cannot be expected in other areas without developing the banking sector.

Turkey and Sudan

Turkey and Sudan

Yusif Ahmet Yusif, General Director of Federation of Sudan Chambers of Commerce, stated that the commercial and investment relations of the two brothers’ countries are working in cooperation with Eximbank. Yusif said that we have an agreement on a basic axis. We will concentrate on production inagriculture, mining and industrial projects and increase exports with the agreements signed by the two countries’ governments. Incentives will be provided to these projects. DEİK/Turkey-Sudan Business Council President Mehmet Ali Korkmaz paid attention to the harmony of the Turkey and Sudan. Korkmaz stated that they expect bilateral trade volume, which is at the level of US $ 500 million, to reach higher rates. He also said that they hoped the disadvantage against the country would be eliminated.

click to read the previous post Ethiopia

Comments

No comments yet. You can be the first filling the form below.