JEDDAH, 22 January — Saudi Arabia and Sudan have agreed to build a $30 million factory in Sudan. It will produce vegetable oil, officials from the Sudanese Ministry of Industry and Investment and Saudi company executives have announced.
Saudi Arabia also agreed to import from Sudan raw sugar for a refinery in Jeddah, they said.
An agreement on the joint projects was reached during a visit last week to the Kingdom by Dr. Jalal Yusuf Al-Degair, Sudanese minister of industry and investment, who met with officials from the ministries of industry and electricity and finance and national economy.
Dr. Al-Degair said he had reached an agreement with the Savola company regarding the establishment of a factory in Sudan for the production of vegetable oil and plastic cans, at a cost of $30 million. The project covers processing, refining and packaging.
Another agreement with the United Sugar Company — which runs a major refinery in Jeddah that produces 850,000 tons of sugar annually — calls for Sudan to supply the refinery with raw sugar. Sudan will grow 250,000 acres of sugarcane in central and eastern parts of the country.
The Kingdom imports around 120,000 tons of refined sugar annually, half of which comes from Europe.
Saudi Arabia has given a commitment to provide technical assistance to enable Sudan develop the country’s investment authority and enable the investment sector to meet the growing IT requirements.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has resumed the import of meat and livestock from Sudan following a ban that lasted for more than a year in the wake of an outbreak of the Rift Valley Fever in the country.
Meat shipments hit the local market last week. Two days ago a shipment of 11,000 live animals was imported by local traders. Sudan hopes to export two million heads of livestock to the Kingdom during 2002.
According to Muhammad Zarouk of Sudan Line, the country’s national shipping company, a second shipment of 24,000 heads of sheep is awaiting clearance at Port Sudan across the Red Sea. More shipments are planned over the coming weeks to catch up with the Haj season which Sudanese exporters missed last year.
Sudanese government officials and exporters said the ban has cost their country more than $170 million in hard currency.
Sudan accounts for 69 percent of the Kingdom’s livestock imports and 24 percent of meat imports.
