Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will pay a two-day visit to Cairo for talks with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi later this week. It will be his first visit to Egypt since the removal of President Mohamed Morsi. He is due to visit Cairo at the weekend (October 17-18) in response to an invitation from president al-Sissi. Sudan's Ambassador to Egypt said the visit would give a new start to bilateral relations. He said earlier talks, last week, between Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Karti and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri reflected the desire of the two countries and their commitment to promote bilateral cooperation. The foreign ministers, he said, had agreed on the need to strengthen the institutional structures of bilateral cooperation. On Thursday, last week (October 9), President Al-Bashir returned from Saudi Arabia where he performed the Hajj and held talks with Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Sudanese officials said the two parties had agreed to activate signed bilateral agreements and to convene the joint ministerial committee to discuss a legal framework to remove the obstacles facing Saudi investments in Sudan. The talks followed a Sudanese decision to close the Iranian cultural center in Khartoum. Sudan's Foreign Ministry said that the center's activities had exceeded its mandate and posed a threat to the intellectual and social security of Sudan. Source: Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency
