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Sudan for bigger Indian investment

Published:
2005-06-07
Author:
IANS
Source:
IANS
City/Country:
New Delhi

 

New Delhi, June 7 : Sudan's Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail, on a three-day visit here, Tuesday urged India to step up its investment in Sudan's burgeoning economy, specially in energy and infrastructure projects.

 

Ismail met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh and discussed various ways to strengthen bilateral relations. "We focused on expanding investment opportunities in Sudan. We also discussed various ways to strengthen our bilateral relations," Ismail told reporters here.

 

"We are going to give special incentives to the Indian companies to invest in Sudan. A group of Indian investors led by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will visit Sudan soon to explore new investment opportunities there," Ismail said.

 

India has invested $2 billion in Sudan, including in its oil refinery and the Khartoum-Port Sudan pipeline, one of its biggest investments in any country. Sudan's finance minister, accompanied by Indian experts, is going to visit India to cement more investment deals. The joint ministerial commission's meeting will be held in New Delhi soon.

 

Despite the West's focus on Sudan for its perceived human rights violations in Darfur and ethnic unrest in the west and south, Sudan's economy is said to be in a buoyant phase and is opening up to foreign investors in a big way.

 

Sudan plans to spend around $8 billion over the next three years in beefing up its infrastructural sectors that will include the rehabilitation of its railways, electricity, oil, minerals, international ports and sea ports.

 

"Rest assured. The future of investment opportunities is very optimistic in Sudan," said Ismail.

 

"Indian companies have requested us to allocate more oil blocks to them. I will discuss these proposals with Sudanese oil minister," he told reporters after his meeting with Natwar Singh. Sudan produces close to half a million barrels of oil per day.

 

"Growing relations with India are part of our Look East policy. Many Western companies are now heading to Sudan, but we have assured companies from countries like India, China, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan that they are not going to be replaced," he added.

 

Ismail welcomed India's participation in the UN peace mission to the country to implement the Jan 9 peace accord that ended over two decades of civil war.

 

"India also attended in January the Donors' Conference in Oslo and pledged $100 million as concessional bilateral credits and $10 million as grants for economic reconstruction." said external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna in a separate briefing.

 

"A contingent of 3,500 Indian troops is also being sent at a special request of the UN and the Sudanese government to safeguard the peace agreement. Indian troops form one-third of the total troops," Sarna added.

 

Oil, infrastructure, IT, railways, agriculture, technology and human resource training are some major areas where India can be involved in Sudan.

 

India is one of top foreign investors in Sudan and one of its major trading partners. Bilateral trade is estimated to be $600 million.

 

India is keen to acquire more exploration blocks in Sudan where it has got equity stakes in three concessions, including the Greater Nile Oil Project producing around 15 million tonnes annually.

 

The state-owned OVL, the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), has already expressed interest in two of the exploration blocks that are to be awarded this year by Sudan.

 

(IANS)