Senior Indian diplomat visits Sudan
Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The Indian State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shri V. Muraleedharan, arrived in Khartoum on Monday for a two-day visit to Sudan for talks with the authorities and the business community.
The visit is the first by a senior Indian official in over a decade despite the strong economic and investment bonds between New Delhi and Khartoum.
Muraleedharan posted on his official tweeter account that he looks forward to meeting the country's leadership, businesses and Indian community in Sudan over the next two days.
He is due to hold talks with Foreign Minister Dr. Mariam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi and other dignitaries on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest.
He will call on the President of the Sovereign Council of Sudan Lt. General Abdul Fattah Al Burhan and Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdouk.
The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Indian official will also visit South Sudan for talks on issues of mutual interest.
Recently, disgruntled eastern Sudanese ethnic communities blocked the Red Sea Port, Sudan’s only sea port through which oil from South Sudan is exported, a development that has worried India, which is one of the leading petroleum investors in Sudan.
The communities, which are protesting lack of investment in their regions despite Sudanese exports and import going through their regions, have turned down an appeal by the government and mediators to re-open the port. They have allowed only medical supplies to come in.
-0- PANA MO/MA 18Oct2021
