Tunisian PM in Khartoum for talks with Sudan officials

By Mohammad al-Khatam

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Tunisian Prime Minister Yusuf al-Shahid arrived in Sudanese capital Khartoum on Wednesday for a two-day official visit.

His visit is the first trip to Sudan by a Tunisian prime minister since former Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was toppled in 2011’s “Arab Spring” uprisings.

Al-Shahid was received at Khartoum’s international airport by Sudanese counterpart Bakri Hassan Saleh.

He is expected to meet later on Wednesday with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

On Thursday, al-Shahid and Saleh will co-chair a meeting of the Sudan-Tunisia Higher Committee at which attendees will discuss security, political, economic, commercial and transport-related issues.

The committee is expected to wrap up its meeting with the signing of 20 agreements and MoUs, including one on the planned resumption of Tunisian Airlines flights to Khartoum, which have been suspended since 1989.

Both Saleh and al-Shahid, the latter of whom is accompanied on his visit by 100 Tunisian entrepreneurs, will also attend a businessmen’s meeting on Thursday to discuss means of improving bilateral trade, which currently stands at less than $100 million per year.