Sudanese Foreign Minister Aly Karty expressed a desire to "to plan for the future" with Egypt and discuss all issues, which he called "issues of cooperation, not contention" in a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy on Monday. Karty, who is currently visiting Cairo, said border crossings would be installed to connect the neighbouring countries and roads between them. Such border crossings will lead to "great openness in commercial ties," he added. Sudan's SUNA state-owned news agency reported that Karty had left for Egypt on Monday for a one-day official visit at the request of his Egyptian counterpart. Fahmy said the two foreign ministers "look positively towards the future" and would resume talks on regional issues that concern the two countries following the press conference. The Egyptian-Sudanese border is known to be a smuggling hotspot, and was also recently highlighted in a report by Human Rights Watch as a human trafficking route. In response to the report, the spokesman for Egypt's foreign ministry said, "Since 30 June we have had better control over our borders, especially with Sudan." Border guards often discover vehicles filled with people attempting to enter Egypt illegally. Egypt is scheduled to take part in the upcoming meeting of the Ministerial Council for the Sahel and Sahara, slated to be held in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on 12 and 14 March. Last month, Defence Minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi received his Sudanese counterpart in Cairo Abdel Rahim Mohammed and the two discussed means to strengthen military ties and security cooperation.
