Economic

Industrial Chambers: Merger of Industry and Trade Ministries is Unproblematic

Dr. Abbas Ali Al-Sayed, Secretary-General of the Union of Industrial Chambers and a member of the preparatory committee of the Sudanese Businessmen’s Union, stated that the proposed merger of the Ministries of Industry and Trade is unproblematic. He rejected comparisons with past merger experiences, noting that previous mergers and separations were politically motivated rather than economically, and thus cannot be used to judge success or failure.

He added: “Today we are in a different situation, facing an industrial sector that has been 90% destroyed, according to many industrialists. Most of them have lost their capital needed to rebuild their factories. We now need unified efforts from both the public and private sectors to establish sustainable industrial development.”

He tied the achievement of this goal to the integration of industrial and trade policies and the resolution of weak coordination among the executive bodies responsible for both sectors. He added that the Prime Minister’s approach to merging the two ministries is acceptable, provided it is understood that the ministry functions as an executive body, not a policy-making one. The move should be accompanied by the formation of a Higher Council for Industrial and Economic Development to ensure coordination, strategy development, enhanced institutional effectiveness, and unification of trade, industrial, and agricultural plans.

He proposed that the council be composed of the Prime Minister or his delegate as chairman, the president of the Industrial Chambers Union or his representative as deputy, and include the Ministers of Finance, Investment, Energy, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and the Minister of Industry and Trade, along with representatives from the Businessmen’s Union, including both the Industrial and Commercial Chambers, in addition to industrial experts, technicians, academics, and representatives from major industrial states.

He added, “The council should be managed by a specialized General Secretariat that acts as an executive arm and a permanent technical and administrative body tasked with preparing studies, policies, and submitting recommendations to the council.”

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