The Director of the Marine Environment Department at the Higher Council for Environment and Natural Resources, Dr. Awatif Abdul-Gadir, has presented Sudan report at the Meeting of Regional Experts to Adopt the IGAD strategy for the Blue Economy, which began on Wednesday, March 30, in Addis Ababa.
Dr. Awatif reviewed the traditional blue economy sectors in the country in the areas of ports, maritime and river transport, fisheries and fish farming and electricity generation from rivers, pointing to the emerging sectors, especially tourism, sea water desalination, salt and gypsum mining, as well as future sectors in the fields of oil, gas and various minerals exploration in the Red Sea and the marine biotechnology.
The report also tackled the challenges facing the blue economy, especially in the areas of financing, the national capacity building, pollution, weak infrastructures for the tourism sector, the lack of accurate information about the blue economy sectors, as well as the conflict of competencies and the challenge of products and services’ marketing.
It is to be noted that the meeting of regional experts reviewed reports on the blue economy in the IGAD member states, and will review the regional strategy for the blue economy and its implementation plan.
The meeting will conclude its sittings on Thursday, prior to the ministerial meeting to approve the regional strategy for the blue economy on Friday, headed by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr. Jibiril Ibrahim