Joint Egyptian- Sudanese committee to start meetings

The Higher Egyptian- Sudanese Committee under Premier Atef Ebeid and Sudanese First Vice President Ali Othman Taha opens in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Saturday.

Director of the Foreign Ministry's Sudan Department Ambassador Rafik Khalil in an interview with Cairo Radio Wednesday said holding of the joint committee at this level has been the outcome of the meeting held between President Hosni Mubarak and Sudanese President Omar Bashir in May.

"Volume of trade exchange between the two countries does not live up to the two countries' aspirations nor does it reach the level of their diplomatic ties," he said.

"The joint committee would deal with political issues of interest to the two countries," he said, that the Egyptian-Libyan initiative would remain the base on which cooperation with the Sudanese would continue to extricate the country from its current dilemma and end its civil war.

Though the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) approves the basic principles of the initiative, it presented reservations to the Egyptian and Libyan governments.

The reservations were presented to the Sudanese government that is now scrutinizing them to forge its answers.

In this respect, Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher will meet today with the Libyan leader to discuss means of activating the initiative.

A large number of agreements, protocols and executive programmes covering the fields of investment protection and encouragement, prevention of dual taxation, maritime and land transport, oil, media, insurance and re-insurance are expected to be signed at the end of the meetings of the joint committee, official economic sources told Middle East News Agency(MENA).

The figure of such agreements would reach 16, sources pointed out.

They also cover social affair,housing, cultural, youth and sports domains,the sources added.

Preceding the higher committee meetings, a preparatory committee will meet on Thursday for a couple of days under the co-chairmanship of Minister of Planning and State for International Cooperation Ahmed El Darsh and Sudanese Minister of Agriculture and Forests Maghzoub Al Khalifa Ahmed.

An official source at the planning ministry said that the preparatory meeting would discuss means of promoting bilateral relations in various fields especially how to increase the volume of trade exchange between the two countries.

The committee is expected to discuss means of coordinating the countries' stances, as both are members of a number of international and regional organizations, the source said.

The two sides would discuss means of activating the free trade agreement between them within the COMESA,the source added.

The committee would examine means of strengthening joint cooperation in various fields, the source said.

The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Sudan amounted in 2000 to about dlrs 85 million.

On the other hand, the Sudanese government Wednesday renewed its approval of an Egyptian -Libyan initiative designed to end the 18-year-old civil war in southern Sudan and forge national reconciliation.

This came following the announcement made by the opposition on endorsing the plan during an emergency conference in Cairo this week.

Ibrahim Ahmed Omar, Secretary General of the Sudanese ruling party, called on opposition parties at home and different political powers to accept the initiative to terminate the military conflict in southern Sudan.

The nine-article overture provides for the setting up of a caretaker government to organize a constitutional conference to establish peace in the south.

Sudan's People Liberation Army (SPLA) rejected the initiative, claming that it was not meeting its right to self-determination.