Simply Sudan’s Strategic Partnerships – Where are we headed?
Dr. Adel Abdel Aziz Al-Faki
adilaalfaki@hotmail.com
The principle of strategic partnership is based on the existence of a reasonable level of common interests between a country and another country in the same region or outside it. Common interests include the main sectors of the country: political (including diplomacy), military and security, economic, scientific and information, media, environmental, and humanitarian.
This means that we should not look at one aspect of the relationship to decide to establish a strategic partnership.
For example, if the volume of trade exchange between us and a country is very large and exceeds others, this is not enough to establish a strategic partnership with this country without considering other factors. The most prominent example of this is our relationship with the United Arab Emirates UAE ,where the value of trade exchange between us and this country amounts to $4.4 billion, where we export to it worth $2.3 billion, and import from it worth $2.1 billion, according to the latest available official statistics. Despite this large trade exchange that surpasses everything else, this alone is not enough because our interests intersect with this country at the present time politically, militarily and security-wise.
Accordingly, deciding which country is more deserving of strategic partnership should be the subject of collective thinking by scholars and thinkers in the sectors of politics and diplomacy, military and security, economics, media, information and technology, environment, and humanitarian affairs. Thinking based on information and statistics and not just impressionistic, wishful or ideological thinking.
The weight of the main sectors mentioned above in the overall strategy varies from one sector to another, and it can be the subject of intensive discussion within the strategic planning cell, but it is agreed that the security axis will receive the highest rate, followed by the political and economic elements.
Within each sector separately, there will be a scientific study based on confirmed information.
For example, in the military and security axis, the value and depth of the relationship between the SudaneseArmy SAF and the army of the country in question must be determined and monitored, joint training, sources of military equipment for each army, and the joint use of ports and airports.
Then, he monitored the value and depth of the relationship between the security and intelligence agencies in the two countries, information exchange and cooperation, joint training, security files of common interest, and joint security operations.
As for the economic axis, the elements of the analysis include the size of the economy of the country in question, the volume of trade exchange with it, the ease of transporting goods and services between our country and the country in question, the ease of moving money, scientific exchange and training agreements and knowledge transfer.
Such in-depth studies are what determine and illuminate the path for the decision-maker, which countries are more beneficial to establish a strategic partnership with: China, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, or do we return to the embrace of the United States US and the Bretton Woods Agreements? In the next article, we will detail. And Allah is the Grantor of success.
