UAE’s long historic support for Sudan

Over the years, we’ve all known about the long-standing diplomatic and humanitarian initiatives held by the Emirates, which have undoubtedly strengthened its ties with Sudan.

It is not easy to forget that back in 2009, when a boundary dispute arose between Sudan and Chad, there is no other great mediator than the UAE and the Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed. There is just this sense of peace in the way the UAE forms relations, and they do so in an effortless way as if it is ingrained in their culture.

The volume of commerce between the UAE and Sudan rose by 153% between the years 2004 and 2008; the total amount invested by the Emirates have obviously flourished from $1.3 billion in late 2007 to $2 billion by the close of 2009.

For any country, this is not an easy feat – which is it is truly impressive that Sudan was able to amount to this.

The truly wonderful occurrence though was the free-trade zone that was established in 2003 following the signing of an agreement between the two; in 2009, non-oil exports to Sudan were already valued about $173 million as compared to its imports of $635 million. Between 2008 and 2009, we can truly say that there was a notable increase in both areas.

Sudan’s Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Khaled Omar Yousef, recently stated that the country has entered a new age of growth thanks to its efforts to forge international alliances and deepen ties within the region, particularly with the United Arab Emirates.

He said the UAE-Sudanese government strategic partnership was a consequence of both governments’ hard work and trust in one another, and that areas of collaboration under the partnership will include exchanging ideas and information on how to make government more efficient.

This is just the start!