Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam al-Mahdi welcomed the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar for a two-day visit at Khartoum airport on 23 May 2021.
According to the statement made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sudan, it was emphasized that the visit of the Qatari Minister was conducted in order to strengthen the relations between Sudan and Qatar. During the visit, the Qatari delegation will meet with the Chairman of the Sovereignty Council Abdul Fattah El-Burhan, his deputy, Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, known as “Hemedti”, and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
In Sudan, a top-level Qatari diplomat’s visit was not accepted after Omar al-Bashir’s administration was eased out from power by the military in April 2019, but it was declared by Sudan that this was due to a mistake by the undersecretary of foreign affairs. Last month, El-Burhan and Hemedti made an official visit to Qatar, which is known to have an investment of approximately $3.8 billion in the country.
In addition, at the Paris Conference, which was hosted by France on May 17-18, with the aim of the development of Sudan and attracting the attention of international investors to the country, Soltan bin Saad Al Muraikhi, Minister of State in charge of Qatar’s foreign affairs, said that the State of Qatar will continue to support Sudan. He emphasized that the commitments made previously will continue to be fulfilled and new investment opportunities in Sudan will be seized.
In his speech, Al Muraikhi drew attention to the fact that Sudan has an important potential in terms of investment, despite the economic crisis it has experienced; however, he emphasized the necessity of “a stable peace environment” in the country at the point of transforming this potential into sustainable growth. As a matter of fact, Qatar has been actively conducting diplomacy since 2010 in order to ensure peace and stability prevail in Sudan.
Standing out with its mediation diplomacy since the last years of the twentieth century in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, Qatar has also mediated between the parties regarding the solution of the Darfur crisis in Sudan. In this context, at the Doha Donors Conference held in April 2013, Qatar made commitments to ensure peace and stability in Sudan.
