{"id":57852,"date":"2025-11-27T21:13:54","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T18:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=57852"},"modified":"2025-11-27T21:13:54","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T18:13:54","slug":"a-new-player-in-an-old-field-that-company-this-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/27\/a-new-player-in-an-old-field-that-company-this-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Player in an Old Field\u2026 That Company\u2026 This Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abdel Latif Al-Bouni<\/strong><\/p>\n

As for the company, it is\u2026 the Egyptian\u2013Sudanese (take a breath) Company for Development and Investment (take another breath) of Multiple Purposes (did you breathe?).
You may rightly ask, dear reader: Why don\u2019t economists economize on language?
It seems they wanted to express the vastness of their field of work\u2014and to show that in the name\u2014so they sacrificed elegance for clarity of purpose. And Allah knows best\u2026<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get straight to the point:
Based on its mandate, this company held the first Egyptian\u2013Sudanese Businessmen Forum last year.
They decided to keep going\u2026 so they planned the second forum, with the same name, for December 2025 (good and blessed).
To pave the way for the upcoming forum, they held three preparatory workshops:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    One on the food and pharmaceutical industries in both countries<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Another on transport and border crossings<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    A third on the banking sector<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    (As the Sudanese song says: \u201cWhere are the two tonight\u2026 we used to be close like grapes and figs.\u201d<\/em> I think the singer has ties to Egypt\u2014mentioning grapes and figs\u2014or maybe he took it straight from the Qur\u2019an\u2026 In any case, all is good.)<\/p>\n

    Each workshop was preceded by preparatory meetings.
    (See how these people play the ball from afar?)
    This is what you might call gradual playbuilding<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    The remarkable thing is that each of the three sectoral workshops was practically a full conference of its own.
    In every workshop, there was brainstorming by experts, specialists, academics, and statesmen.
    The outputs of these workshops are now ready for the December forum.<\/p>\n

    This step-by-step effort is basically setting up the ball<\/em> for the promised forum.
    No need to rush\u2014let\u2019s wait and see how the forum will shoot that ball\u2026 for those who live to see it, God willing.<\/p>\n

    If there is a comment\u2014or if you prefer, an analysis\u2014of the above, it is that this company has introduced a new player<\/strong> into an old field<\/strong>:
    the field of Egyptian\u2013Sudanese relations.<\/p>\n

    This new player is the economy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    Yes\u2014the economy, a player that knows only mutual benefit: \u201cYou scratch my back, I\u2019ll scratch yours.\u201d<\/em>
    It doesn\u2019t do tricks or political maneuvering.
    They benefit, we benefit.<\/em>
    Or in Sudanese idiom: \u201cBlessed be the one who benefits and gives benefit.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

    Even in economics, the capitalist class preferred the cute name \u201cbusinessmen.\u201d
    All that governments in both countries must do is open the way, remove the barricades, and let capital move freely between the two.
    Frankly, the state in both countries is more of a barrier than a facilitator\u2014and I hope this issue is raised in the December forum.<\/p>\n

    This initiative surpasses all previous attempts at bringing the two countries closer\u2014attempts full of clich\u00e9s:
    Nile Valley unity\u2026 integration\u2026 eternal relations\u2026 shared national security\u2026
    Nice sentiments with very little return.<\/p>\n

    What is widely agreed on is that relations between the two countries are truly existential\u2014forced by geography and reinforced by history.
    Another point of consensus: the current level of cooperation is far below what it should be.<\/p>\n

    Why?\u2014Maybe the answer will appear in the next forum, or the one after it.
    The literature on this topic is abundant, but it needs someone to gather it, analyze it, and derive the right prescription.<\/p>\n

    The bourgeoisie\u2014the capitalist class\u2014is the one that united Europe after long wars and narrow nationalism.
    The European Common Market as infrastructure, then the European Union as superstructure\u2014these were fruits of capitalist class integration.<\/p>\n

    Beginning with the economy is like placing the horse before the cart.
    So let us be optimistic this time, despite all the pains, shortcomings, and discouraging history.<\/p>\n

    By the way, the shared history between the two nations needs reexamination; it was written by those who strategically sought to keep the countries apart\u2026
    This, of course, is not one of the topics of the upcoming forum.
    (You see, dear Dr. Nasr al-Din\u2014today we didn\u2019t mention Muhammad Ali Pasha.)<\/p>\n

    If what we\u2019ve said sounds like a call to sideline politics and focus on the economy, that does not<\/strong> mean dispensing with politics.
    Politics is a necessary evil\u2014the general framework within which all other structures operate.
    It holds all the levers.<\/p>\n

    What\u2019s required is that politics operate in the language of economics<\/strong>, not the other way around.<\/p>\n

    Economic activity revolves around macro policies crafted by political decision-makers:
    tax policy, customs policy, exchange rates\u2014these control any economic activity.
    Therefore, I hope the upcoming forum keeps in mind that these macro policies must be harmonized between the two countries.<\/p>\n

    Voluntary concession of certain aspects of what we call sovereignty for greater mutual benefit is the only real path to integration\u2014this is proven by global experience.
    This part needs some unpacking\u2014God willing, another time.<\/p>\n

    In my view, the current circumstances in both countries\u2014especially Sudan\u2014offer an opportunity for a breakthrough<\/strong> in their relations.<\/p>\n

    So leave the noisy TV arguments to those who enjoy them\u2026
    And open this new page\u2014whose first line was written by the company with the very long name\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Abdel Latif Al-Bouni As for the company, it is\u2026 the Egyptian\u2013Sudanese (take a breath) Company for Development and Investment (take another breath) of Multiple Purposes (did you breathe?).You may rightly ask, dear reader: Why don\u2019t economists economize on language?It seems they wanted to express the vastness of their field of work\u2014and to show that in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":57853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57854,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57852\/revisions\/57854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}