Our country was visited by the government delegation of the Republic of Sudan, the second by area (after Algeria) African States. Sudanese has arrived with a large package of proposals for the development of economic cooperation. This is, in general, is not surprising, because their country not only has considerable mineral wealth, but also going through a period of economic recovery. On the visit of the African guests and how to Khartoum is a "new start" in relations with Russia, said Minister of Investment of Sudan (who previously held the post of Minister of this country) Mustafa Ismail to the agency "Inforos".
- Mr. Minister, how would you describe the development of economic relations between the Sudan and Russia?
- Many African countries, including Sudan, have historically had strong ties with Russia. Russian, in contrast to the West, never was our colonizers, and this, you see, is expensive.
On the contrary, in the last century your country supporting national liberation movements in Africa. Construction industry, training and equipment of the armed forces, the Soviet / Russian technology - most African countries recognize the very important role in the formation of Russian aid their nationhood.
However, we understand that in the transition period after the collapse of the USSR, Russia has been more busy with internal problems. As for Sudan, in our economy, in addition to Western capital, there are new "players" - China, Japan, South Korea ...
But now the situation has changed, and during his last visit to the continent, Vladimir Putin stated that Russia has returned to Africa.
If we consider the period from 1999 to the present time, we can say that the economic situation in our country has improved significantly, even though the separation of South Sudan last year, and the losses due to this 75% of crude oil world.
We call on the Russian companies to invest in our mining sector, in new fields of the same oil, and gold. In Moscow, we have held talks with the leadership of "Gazprombank" to open a branch in Khartoum, in the Russian Chamber of Commerce we have considered a number of interesting joint projects and agreed to hold annual meetings in the capitals of the two countries.
All in all areas for joint efforts much: modernization of Sudanese railways and domestic flights (Russian pilots in recent years have a lot of work in this area), infrastructure and more.
We are also interested in purchasing Russian tractors, trucks (today we import them mostly from China and Turkey), other equipment. We have the resources you have - experience and technology. We can say that all the doors to the Russian business in Sudan wide open. In this regard, we propose a special investment forum "Sudan - Russia."
- Is it possible cooperation between the two countries on the regional level, as many Russian technology enterprises are not in Moscow but in the provinces?
- Good question. It is possible that following Sudanese delegation will visit Russian regions. Our legislation provides that the court staff may trade directly with other states.
-What are the currentSudaneseexportsof gold?
- Since the beginning of the year to the end of November, we have exported gold is almost $ 3 billion, and this number can and should be doubled. Unfortunately, the Russians are not involved in the extraction of Sudanese gold. We invite Russian companies to join this cause. It must be said that the development of natural resources in Sudan are involved for about 90 foreign companies.
- Maybe your visit to Russia is not by chance coincided with reports that Sudan and Saudi Arabia have agreed to dig for gold and copper in the Red Sea, and with the participation of the "third party." Not disclose who is the "third party"?
- (Laughing) We expandwhenthe time comes.
- A question to you as a former Minister of Foreign Affairs. President Obama extended for another year the sanctions against Sudan. It turns out that Washington has no interest in improving relations with Khartoum?
- It's a long story. Problems in our relations with the United States deteriorated during the war in southern Sudan. But we compromised with the southerners, organized the referendum, the first recognized their independence.
We had hoped that after this it will be possible to announce the reunification of the country, on a voluntary basis. ButtheAmericanshavedone everything, thatthis didnothappen.
On the one hand, they are not happy with an independent foreign policy of the Republic of Sudan, on the other hand - they needed Sudanese oil.
By the way, the U.S. company "Chevron" in the early 1980s has opened the oil fields in the area of present inter-Sudanese border. However, soon the Americans declared that mining work there "unsafe."
And then Sudanese President Jafar Nimeiri was, and subsequent governments the Americans did not want to develop Sudan's oil. As a result, our president, Omar al-Bashir took a course to reach an agreement on oil production with Chinese and Indian companies. With thisAmericahasnotagree also.
At the same time, if before the Americans were looking at Sudan as "Islamic regime", that with the advent of the "Arab Spring" and the change of power in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, they have to adjust their position.
Further line in the Sudanese issue Americans are responsible for the settlement of disputes between Sudan. The process is continuing, I think, that the improvement of our relationship with America is not far off.
In January of the following year at the site of negotiations to further address the situation in Darfur (the conflict region in western Sudan. - Ed.) to be held in Doha (Qatar) and in which the United States are involved, we can discuss with the Americans our relationship.
- You work closely with Russia and China, build links with the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, your long-term partners - Iran, Pakistan, India.They are all members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a country with it observer status. Is it possible that Sudan will join this organization?
- This is very interesting topic. Speaking of distances, the member states of the SCO are far away from us, but the relationship with them in Sudan really close. At the level of our leadership, we will consider the possibility of joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as an observer.
