Egypt, Sudan to facilitate visa, residency procedures

CAIRO – 21 March 2018: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir discussed on Tuesday with the Secretary-General of the Expatriates Organization, Ambassador Karraral-Tuhami, the organization’s role in facilitating the extraction of official documents of the Sudanese expatriates in Egypt.

During the meeting, Bashir remarked that the organization plays an important role in contacting concerned entities, including judicial authorities and the passport department, to facilitate extracting documents for Sudanese expatriates including passports, birth certificate, as well as divorce and marriage documents.

In the same context, Sudanese Consul General to Cairo, Abdul Hamid al-Bishri, said that Sudanese relations with Egypt witnessed the highest levels of development and stability, and that Bashir’s visit to Cairo has opened new horizons in promoting bilateral relations and cooperation between the two countries.

He added that the Egyptian Embassy in Khartoum provides Sudanese travelers to Egypt with six month visas, along with an extra two months for their settlement. In return, he added, the Sudanese Embassy in Cairo will provide Egyptians six month visas for Sudan, noting that Sudanese people have been exempted from residence arrears.

Furthermore, according to a statement from the Sudanese Egyptian Business Council member, Mohamed Harbi, Egypt and Sudan will see increased cooperation across four fields: leather, food industries, cable industry, and electricity over the coming period.

Harbi revealed that Egypt's economic presence will expand throughout Sudan, Ethiopia and Tanzania over the next few years.

The Sudanese Egyptian Business Council member further added that Tanzania has asked for Egypt to construct factories on its land, which Tanzania help will facilitate.
Harbi expected that the Sudanese Egyptian Business Council would hold a meeting after the visit of Sudanese President Bashir to Egypt, in order to discuss the prospects for expanding investment and trade cooperation between Egypt and Sudan over the next few years.

In light of Egypt's tendency to move towards Africa and operate an industrial zone there, Harbi has anticipated that increased support for economic movements across the African nations will come in the following years.

Statistics showed that Egypt has recorded 273 projects in Sudan, with a total investment of $2.6 billion as of July 2016.

Moreover, trade exchange between Egypt and Sudan left Egypt with a trade surplus of nearly $1 billion.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi received Sudanese President Bashir on Monday at Cairo International Airport. Both leaders discussed the outstanding issues between the two countries, as based on the agreement reached at the recent Addis Ababa tripartite summit.

The one-day visit of the Sudanese president also focused on tackling cooperation across various fields, as well as issues of joint interest.