Sudan to form high national committee

The Sudanese government has set up a high national committee to select the projects to be presented during hosting of the ministerial summit of Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

 On Saturday evening, the government approved 11 development and trade projects for COMESA, which represents the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, part of the African Free Trade Project, which includes 26 countries in Africa, stretching from Cape Town to Cairo.

According to the Secretary-General of the COMESA Coordination Unit at the Sudanese Ministry of Commerce, Mohamed Ali Abdullah, his country received support last month from COMESA, after it was able to pay the contributions and allow the scheduling of arrears for 10 years.

 Abdullah said that the support received by Sudan amounted to about 4.4 million euros, including 2 million euros for projects to be sent to the Secretariat of COMESA, projects allocated to ministries and interests, approved by the National Committee, and selected 11 projects will be sent in the coming days.

Khartoum is currently organizing many workshops to familiarize and enlighten the COMESA programs, and harmonize its programs and projects with the national programs and the strategic objectives of the country, especially that require the participation of Sudan in regional and international organizations.

Sudanese Minister of Commerce, Sadiq Mohammed Ali, said in a press statement, that the customs tariff workshop is a continuation of a series of programs and workshops that will be conducted in the country's states, to introduce the trade opportunities available within COMESA.

COMESA has a population of 389 million and annual imports reach 32 billion dollars. Their gross domestic product (GDP) is more than $ 230 million, thus providing a major global market for internal and external trade. The African Free Trade Association (AFTA) is known as the Tripartite Triangle, formed by the integration of three African economic entities into a single comprehensive entity of more than 600 million people. These are SADC, East African Community (EAC) and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).