Sudan Waits for Removal from Terrorism List, Eyes Partnership with Boeing

The Sudanese Prime Minister, Abdullah Hamdok, called on Sudan Airways Tuesday to work on a new partnership with the American Boeing Company.

Hamdok wants to cooperate with the American aircraft industry corporation for the "return of the national carrier to its leading position at the forefront of Middle East airline and Africa airlines.

The Sudanese Prime Minister met with a delegation from the Boeing Company, in the presence of the U.S. Chargé d'Affairs, and the Sudanese Minister of Transport., Hashem Ben Ouf.

Sudan hopes that its name will be officially removed from the terrorist lists in the coming period. This will enable it to deal with many companies, states, and organizations that it could not deal with during the past years.

The Sudanese Prime Minister said in a previous interview that the removal of Sudan's name from the American terrorism list will take place in December.

He added that "Sudan will need to develop its banking system and civil service to keep pace with the return to the world again after removing its name from the list."

on his part, Ben Ouf said that the Boeing delegation’s visit to Sudan was "a practical translation of removing Sudan from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism."

He added that the meeting with the Boeing delegation was about future dealings between the U.S. company and Sudan Airways.

The director of Sudan Airways Yasser Temo also considered that cooperation with Boeing opens new horizons for work and development in Sudan Airways.

The Sudanese banks had begun their preparations to return to the global banking market after a hiatus of more than two decades after the U.S. administration decided to remove Sudan from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism.

On October 23, Khartoum and Washington reached an agreement to remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. The U.S. said that $ 335 million compensation should be paid to the families of the victims of the attack on the destroyer Cole on the coast of Yemen in 2000 and the families of the victims of the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar Al-Salam in 1998.

Later, U.S. President Donald Trump announced the removal of Sudan from the list of states sponsoring terrorism, "which Washington placed on it in August 1993 after accusing it of supporting and harboring terrorist groups.