Sudanese Egyptian Consular Committee convened in Cairo

CAIRO – 12 May 2017: The joint Sudanese Egyptian Consular Committee held a meeting, Thursday in Cairo, where they discussed issues related to the movement of citizens between the two countries, according to a joint press statement from Egyptian and Sudanese Foreign Ministries.

The Sudanese side was headed by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Abdul Ghani Nayeim, while the Egyptian side was led by Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs, Ambassador Khaled Yousri Rezk.

The Egyptian side agreed to look into the possibility of returning equipment and machineries belonging to the Sudanese miners who have been released in August 2015 upon a presidential pardon.

Moreover, the two sides discussed facilitating the movement of Egyptian trucks to Sudan through the joint ports. They also agreed to extend the exemption for the diplomatic passport holders from obtaining the visa, while the regular passports holders will be granted a free six-month visa, which is only renewable once.

The two sides also agreed to exempt all women, men over 50-year-old and children aged less than 16 years old from obtaining entry visa at the joint ports of the two countries. The same rule applies on the citizens of the two countries residing in the Gulf States, USA, Canada, Australia and European countries who have valid residence from the countries they came from.

The joint Consular Committee was formed following a meeting, in Khartoum on April 2017, of the Ministerial Committee for Political Consultation between Egypt and t Sudan. It is a sub-committee of the Egyptian-Sudanese high committee, which also includes sub-committees for military affairs, security, economy and finance, transportation, education, culture, health, water resources and agriculture.