Egypt, Sudan sign railway cooperation document

CAIRO – 25 October 2020: Egypt’s Minister of Transport, Kamel El-Wazir held a meeting Sunday via video conference with his Sudanese counterpart Hashem Ibn Auf, in the presence of the Sudanese ambassador in Cairo, to discuss strengthening joint cooperation in the various transportation fields.

The meeting began by discussing the terms of the joint cooperation document in the field of railway connectivity, which aims to provide the necessary funding to start an economic, social and environmental feasibility study for the rail linkage project between Egypt and Sudan.

According to a statement, the project, in its first phase, will extend from Aswan to the south of Wadi Halfa, where this funding will be through coordination and cooperation between Egypt, Sudan and the Kuwait Fund for Economic Development.

During the meeting, Kamel signed the document and delivered it to the Sudanese ambassador in Cairo for signature by the Sudanese Minister of Transport and Infrastructure.

The two sides also discussed a number of road projects such as studying the implementation of the land road between Egypt and Chad through Sudan, to be a gateway for trade between the two countries and between Chad and West African countries, as well as the Cairo / Sudan / Cape Town road that passes through 9 African countries.

El-Wazir confirmed that Egypt is currently implementing the axis part inside the Egyptian territories (Cairo / Arqeen), where the road passes through the governorates of Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut, Sohag, Qena, Luxor and Aswan, and then the road extends from Aswan to the Egyptian border, passing through the Toshka junctions until Arqeen at latitude 22 and from there to Sudan.

He pointed out that this project is of great importance in achieving land connectivity and increasing trade with African countries, as well as serving Egyptian and African citizens, opening new horizons for job opportunities and achieving comprehensive development.

The Sudanese side also requested cooperation with the Egyptian side in the field of maritime transport and in the training of maritime cadres in the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, as the Egyptian Minister of Transport confirmed that Egypt would provide all its capabilities to train Sudanese technical cadres, whether in the Arab Academy or in Egyptian ports and the Egyptian Authority for Navigation Safety Navy.

At the end of the meeting, the two sides agreed to hold a joint meeting to follow up the progress of all cooperation projects and to discuss the development of the Nile Valley Authority for River Navigation, where the Egyptian Minister, emphasized that the coming period must be carried out during which urgent plans to develop the authority, rehabilitate the current river units, rehabilitate workers, and support the authority with specialized technical cadres, to achieve a great qualitative leap for the authority in the field of passenger and cargo transportation.