RIYADH – A Saudi-Sudanese expert group will be formed soon to discuss ways to put the initiative of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holly Mosques, on food security into action in Sudan, Dr. Mustafa Othman Ismail, Sudanese Investment Minister, told the Saudi Gazette on Sunday at the end of the two-day Saudi-Sudanese Forum at the Council of Saudi Chambers here.
Expressing his gratitude to the Saudi government and the Council for hosting the first of its kind forum for businessmen between the countries, he said the gathering bore many fruits in very short time for both Saudis and Sudanese, and hoped that the forum, after reviewing it, will be repeated either every year or two years. “For example, eight Sudanese governors of the most important Sudanese states, participated in the forum, have signed a number of agreements with Saudis in the fields of agriculture, animal resources, vegetable and fruits growing, and meat production,” he said. “These governors will leave today to both Jeddah and Madinah to present their investment projects to more businessmen in those two cities,” he added. “One of the most immediate outcomes of the forum is the formation of Foras (Opportunities) Company with a joint fifty-fifty Sudanese-Saudi capital of $100 million. The Saudi part has covered almost 50 percent of its share of the capital, while we are (still) working to collect the Sudanese side share,” he said further. “The objective of this new joint company is to develop investment opportunities into implementable projects and prepare their infrastructures and then offer them for investment to investors in both countries,” he pointed out.
The Sudanese minister also said that one of the tangible outcomes of the forum is the agreement to establish a Saudi- Sudanese poultry farm company with the aim of achieving self sufficiency in poultry in Sudan within three years, and then to export to the Kingdom and Gulf states. The company is open to both Saudi and Sudanese, as well as Arab investment. The Sudanese part has presented a portfolio containing 356 projects for investment at a cost of $30 billion carefully studied by the Investment Authority in Sudan to suit Saudi investors. The projects include 147 economic projects, 117 agriculture projects on 8-hectare land provided with all services, 76 industrial projects, and 16 projects in oil and minerals.
