The $6 billion Emirati investment package is the first international investment in Sudan after the 25 October coup d'état

UAE will build a new port in Sudan

photo_camera PHOTO/AFP - Image of Port Sudan

The United Arab Emirates has signed a memorandum of understanding with Sudan under which the Gulf country will invest $6 billion for a new Red Sea port and a major agricultural project in the African country. This was announced by Sudanese Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim and the chairman of the DAL Group, Osama Daoud Abdellatif, the country's largest Sudanese company and a partner in the deal with the UAE.

Abdellatif said the investment package includes a free trade zone, a major agricultural project and an impending $300 million deposit for the Central Bank of Sudan. The new port to be built on the Red Sea, valued at $4 billion, is a joint project between the DAL group and Abu Dhabi Ports

general-abdel-fattah

The new infrastructure will include an industrial and free trade zone and a small international airport, a project that could compete with the country's main national port, Port Sudan, located 200 km to the south. This port was closed by a political blockade for six weeks at the end of last year, resulting in the loss of business for major international shippers.

The agreement with the UAE also includes the development of an agricultural project in the city of Abu Hamad in northern Sudan between Abu Dhabi IHC and DAL Agriculture. According to Abdellatif's statements, the project would include a wheat, cotton and other crops plantation that would connect to the new port via a road linking the two points financed by the Abu Dhabi Development Fund

protestas-sudan

According to Sudanese government sources, the new deal was agreed between General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed during a recent visit to the Gulf country. "The UAE wants a stable Sudan so that they can make more and more of these investments, but we are not waiting for everything to be perfect," Abdellatif said.

This investment package from the UAE is the first such foreign deposit to Sudan following the coup of 25 October 2021, when the military seized power, self-appointed Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burham as President of the Transitional Military Council and deposed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.

mohamed-bin-zayed-al-nahyan

This military takeover dealt a blow to Sudan's transition to democratic government and the possibility of reforming the country's economy with billions of dollars in loans and aid from major Western governments and international financial institutions, after three decades of repression and international isolation under the autocratic Islamist President Omar al-Bashir.

Western countries suspended billions in investment to Sudan after the military takeover, leading to the drying up of foreign currency and thus the collapse of the economy, which has also suffered from poor harvests. This situation has meant that already a third of Sudan's population is currently facing a food crisis caused by climate impact, political unrest and soaring food prices.
 

More in Economy and business