Investment Minister Presents Sector’s Issues and War Impacts  

Minister of Investment: The war is over and we are working to strengthen economic and investment relations

Investment in any country constitutes fertile ground for attracting foreign and local funds to enhance the national economy and push the wheel of development forward through investment projects, in addition to employing local workers and benefiting from global expertise. However, the war that broke out in Sudan and its fires are still raging has destroyed the green of those investment projects, especially in those cities that were directly affected by the war

Minister of Investment Ahlam Medani Mahdi Sabil sat with me to find out the investment position before and after the war and the plans for reconstructing the sector after the war stopped. What did she say in the following interview?

Interview – Nahid Oshi

What is the impact of the war on the investment climate in Sudan?

-Investment represents the utmost importance for Sudan because of the resources and wealth that Sudan enjoys and its major role in creating economic development. The good climate for investment in any country is considered the means to attract investments. Investment is like many economic sectors that were affected by the war, but most of the investments that were affected are national investments due to the presence of many of them within Khartoum State. In addition, foreign investments were slightly affected by the fact that most of them are outside the states that were not affected by the war.

Now Sudan is in the final stage of eliminating the rebellion, especially after the many victories of the Sudanese army in defeating the rebellion.

After the end of the war, will there inevitably be huge investments in reconstruction?

– Post-war Sudan is different from pre-war Sudan, which called for the Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation to develop plans and programs. For the post-war period, most of them depend on investments that have the greatest return for rebuilding what was destroyed by the war by attracting smart investments and partnerships.

The war has ended, and what is happening now are merely operations to establish security. We are now working to strengthen economic and investment relations to create inclusiveness, which will be translated into pumping many foreign currencies to enhance the national economy, to rehabilitate the infrastructure destroyed by the war, and to attract investors to invest in infrastructure, railways, electricity, and energy, as they pose a problem after the collapse of most of them. Because of the war and there are multiple projects in this field, infrastructure projects are of utmost importance to the economy after providing many incentives, guarantees, privileges, facilities and customs exemptions to them, which were guaranteed by the Investment Encouragement Law.

The Ministry of Investment seeks to attract huge investments to rebuild what was destroyed by the war by opening the door to investment in Sudan. All investments with countries of the world are welcome. There must be good strategic planning for the reconstruction of Sudan again and the advancement of the local investor by supporting the local product and encouraging local industries, especially manufacturing industries in general, and Sudanese capitalism, which was completely destroyed.

Sudan is still a promising environment for investment. In fact, the war was an impetus for arranging economic relations and an impetus for administrative and legislative improvement to attract investment and create smart partnerships that benefit the nation and the citizen.

Are there plans after the war ends?

– We are continuing to attract investment. The plans have nothing to do with war or peace. The Ministry of Investment is proceeding as planned to keep pace with what is going on in the investment market in the world. In the past, Sudan responded to the Arab and regional food security initiative and Sudan became and still is the investment destination for all investors due to its huge resources and multiple climates.

As I said, we are continuing to attract investment to Sudan, and we always have something new that needs us to improve it. We aspire to more signing agreements and protocols and activating the previous ones.

Is there an investment map or specific projects offered to investors after the end of the war?

The national investment map is one of the most important plans of the ministry for its major role in promotion. It is considered an important promotional means that enables the investor to make the investment decision from afar. Work is being done to complete it in coordination with the Sudanese Survey Authority, which is the body entrusted with preparing the base map in the country. The authority completed its preparation two years ago. Work is underway to collect information about the map was shared with the states and federal ministries. Coordination was also made with the Arab Planning Institute in Kuwait for technical advice to complete the work on the map.

The post-war stage is the stage of investment, which is the best means of construction and reconstruction, and there are many global experiences that support this

We have many projects ready to promote the post-war era and we are working to complete the preparation according to plan by focusing on infrastructure projects due to the great damage to which our infrastructure has been subjected. Energy projects, especially new and renewable energies, and we have a high comparative advantage for implementation. Water, roads, bridges and railways should be focused on, as they are distinguished by the low cost of transportation compared to other means of transportation, airports, ports, industrial cities, integrated projects in the agricultural field, both plant and animal, and real estate investment.

In the post-war phase, we focus on directing and distributing investments to create balanced development and encourage stability in the states according to their comparative advantage to contribute to preventing reverse migration.