August 30, 2018 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan’s Foreign Minister El-Dirdeiry Mohamed Ahmed and his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shukry Wednesday have discussed security of the Red Sea and importance of coordination among riparian countries.
Sudan’s top diplomat has arrived in Cairo on Wednesday to participate in the meeting of the joint ministerial committee between the two countries.
In a press release on Wednesday, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said the meeting also discussed the situation in the Horn of Africa besides recent developments on Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam talks.
During the meeting, Ahmed pointed to the deep and historic relations between Sudan and Egypt, saying his country looks forward to promoting those ties in all domains.
He underlined the need to continue contacts and consultations on all levels to achieve the desired strategic partnership between the two countries and remove any obstacles obstructing activation of the joint cooperation programmes.
For his part, Shukry briefed Ahmed on the outcome of his recent visit to Addis Ababa and meeting with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. He welcomed Sudan’s efforts to achieve peace in South Sudan, stressing the need to hold periodic meeting to coordinate between the two ministries.
Egypt’s top diplomat further looked forward to visiting Khartoum to attend the meeting of the quadripartite committee between the two countries.
During a visit of Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to Khartoum last month, the two countries agreed to coordinate efforts to enhance the security of the Red Sea.
Relations between Sudan and Egypt experienced last December a new crisis over media attacks against President Omer al-Bashir after a visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Sudan. Also, Sudan accused Egypt and Eritrea of supporting rebel groups to attack Kassala State on the eastern border.
Following a meeting held on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa in January, al-Bashir and al-Sisi discussed the tensions between the two courtiers and agreed to form a quadripartite committee to develop a roadmap to restore the relationship to the right track.
The quadripartite committee including the foreign ministers and heads of intelligence from both countries met last February in Cairo and agreed on a number of technical measures to diffuse the tensions.
