This year has seen a series of visits and meetings between President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and his Sudanese counterpart Omar Al-Bashir. The latest came last week when President Al-Sisi paid a two-day visit to Sudan, meeting with Al-Bashir and other Sudanese officials and attending a session of the Egyptian-Sudanese Higher Committee (ESHC). While both leaders reiterated their will to set differences aside and enhance bilateral relations, the most immediate outcome of the visit was Sudan's agreement to lift last year's blanket ban on imports of Egyptian agricultural and animal products and remove obstacles to the movement of goods and people between the two states. Plans to establish electricity and railway links between the two countries and boost trade were also discussed at last week's summit. The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Sudan is close to $1 billion, and direct and cumulative Egyptian investments in its southern neighbour have reached $2.7 billion. The summit came one day after the foreign ministers of the two countries met within the framework of the joint ministerial committee established to help overcome outstanding challenges to bilateral relations. “These continuous meetings, especially at the summit level, keep dialogue open, boost cooperation and contribute to resolving differences,” said a diplomat who preferred to remain anonymous. The first summit meeting between Al-Sisi and Al-Bashir was in January, in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on the sidelines of the African Summit (AU). They then met in Egypt in March, following which Al-Sisi said Egyptian-Sudanese relations were as eternal as the Nile. A third meeting was held in Sudan in July during which the two countries agreed to coordinate efforts to enhance Red Sea security and promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation. The two presidents met briefly again in August on the sidelines of China-Africa Cooperation Forum (FOCAC) in Beijing, where they agreed to develop implementation mechanisms for the joint projects already agreed. Commentators agree that the flurry of high-level meetings signal readiness on the part of both Khartoum and Cairo to set aside differences and focus more on enhancing relations. Perhaps the most significant meeting in terms of resetting relations was the quadrilateral meeting held in Cairo earlier this year which brought together Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri, his then Sudanese counterpart Ibrahim Al-Ghandour, and the heads of the Egyptian and Sudanese security services Abbas Kamel and Mohamed Atta Abbas. It aimed to draw a roadmap for mutual relations between Egypt and Sudan. Following the meeting the two countries issued a joint statement in which they agreed an 11-point framework for greater cooperation. The two sides have not, however, managed to resolve their outstanding differences over the disputed Halayeb and Shalateen border triangle or over Ethiopia's Renaissance Dam, which Khartoum continues to support despite Egyptian fears it will reduce the flow of the Nile. Sudan has filed several complaints with the UN over the Halayeb sovereignty dispute, the last of them a complaint in April that Egypt had included the contested triangle in the presidential elections, while negotiations aimed at resolving the dispute between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt over the dam have made little progress. Sudan's hosting of some Muslim Brotherhood leaders also remains a bone of contention. The differences, which have been amplified by the media in both countries, reached a climax when Khartoum withdrew its ambassador to Cairo in December. The ambassador returned to Egypt two months later. “Analysts say relations between the two countries are set to become increasingly warm. Their expectations are not unfounded given the steps taken this year to place them on the right track,” says the diplomat.
