Sudan and Korea will hold the fifth joint policy consultation on economic cooperation in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum this year, Sudanese Ambassador to Korea Mohamed Abdelaal told The Korea Herald last week.

The two countries’ foreign ministries held the fourth session of consultation in Seoul last March after 11 dormant years.

During last year’s general-director-level meeting, the two sides exchanged views on issues of common interest: increasing the visit of high-level delegates; establishing legal institutions for trade and investment; holding bilateral economic forums; cooperating at international bodies; and facilitating official development assistance.

“Korea’s successful development from the ashes of the Korean War (1950-53) provides a great model of progress for Sudan,” Abdelaal said. “We appreciate Korea’s contribution in providing human resources, education and capacity-building.” 

Sudan and Korea established consular relations in 1976 and diplomatic relations in 1977.

Abdelaal was hopeful that Sudanese natural resources could be combined with Korean capital and technology. He suggested energy, agriculture, food, textiles and leather, petrochemicals and metals as potential areas of investment.

Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Hyundai Motors are currently operating in Sudan and bilateral trade volume reached $300 million in 2013, according to the embassy.

Sudan and South Sudan have an estimated 6.8 billion barrels of oil reserves, of which more than 75 percent belongs to South Sudan. As the country’s main export, oil has helped Sudan’s economy grow at more than 4 percent a year since 2010.

Chinese, Malaysian and Indian state oil companies have formed a consortium with their Sudanese counterpart Sudapet for the production, refinery and export of petroleum. No Korean companies have invested in Sudan’s oil sector.

“Sudan also has abundant natural resources, agricultural land, fresh water supply and livestock,” the ambassador said.

Agriculture makes up a third of the country’s gross domestic product, employing 80 percent of the workforce.

South Sudan declared independence from its northern neighbor, Sudan, after nearly six decades of civil war that killed more than 2 million people.

But a power struggle between South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and first Vice President Riek Machar, has plunged South Sudan into violence since early last year, with 1.2 million refugees and 850,000 internally displaced persons.

After a request from United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Korea dispatched a 270-member contingent of military engineers and medics to South Sudan in August 2013. They have provided peacekeeping assistance as part of the U.N. mission in Bor, Jonglei state.

Korea recognized South Sudan’s sovereignty and established ambassador-level diplomatic relations in July 2011.

“There are still post-independence issues that need to be settled between Sudan and South Sudan particularly marking the border and arranging security,” the ambassador explained, adding that the two governments now had friendly relations.

“There is close security coordination under the auspices of the two presidents, but the presence of some rebel groups in South Sudan remains an obstacle to fully normalizing our relations,” he said.

Sudan has been hit by U.S. economic sanctions since late 2006, after it denied access to joint African Union-U.N. peacekeeping forces in the Darfur region.

The embassy explained that the U.S. has lifted some sanctions to allow agricultural produce, food and communications hardware and software into the country since 2013.

There are currently about 100 Sudanese students studying at Korean universities and the number of applicants has seen a significant rise in recent years, the embassy said.

By Joel Lee (joel@heraldcorp.com)