Sudan Endorses National Blue Economy Strategy 2023-2027

The National Blue Economy Strategy (2023-2027) for Sudan was approved today at the Coral Port Sudan Hotel, by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, the Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources, the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry along with the Minister of Transport and the Undersecretary of Livestock.

The ministers reaffirmed their commitment to mobilize domestic and external resources for the full implementation of the strategy in Sudan.

During the closing session of the workshop aims to review and approve Sudan’s draft strategy for blue economy, the Minister of Finance and Strategic Planning stressed that the national strategy aims to develop the vision of exploiting water activities and raising awareness of its importance in order to diversify the sources of the national economy and achieve sustainable development goals.

He pointed out that the blue economy is one of the most important programs of the federal government and the Ministry of Finance with regard to achieving sustainable development goals.

He stressed the need for cooperation of all relevant ministries and sectors to implement the strategic plans for their role in developing the national economy through the development of water-related activities.

For his part, the acting Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources, Engineer Dawal-Bait Abdul-Rahman, stressed the importance of implementing the strategic projects to support the Rainwater harvesting, hydro-generation and irrigation projects to make the most of the country’s water resources, praising the strategy for providing job opportunities, which

contributes to resolving women’s problems and youth unemployment.

In the same context, the Acting Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Dr. Abu-Bakr Omer Al-Bushra, pointed out that the strategy is linked to the plans and programs of his ministry for the green economy, stressing the importance of the strategy in creating job opportunities for women, youth and people with disabilities, which has an impact on development and preserving the permanence of resources.

The acting Minister of Transport, Dr. Hisham Abu-Zaid, stressed the importance of the strategy in enhancing Sudan’s maritime capabilities by increasing the absorptive capacities of ports and establishing new ports to realize development plans that would make Sudanese ports the main controller of trade across the Red Sea, stressing the need to link the strategic plans with the plans and programs of the ministries in order to implement the strategy’s projects.

Meanwhile, Dr. Osman Hassan Belil, representative of the IGAD mission, thanked the ministers, pointing to the importance of implementing the blue economy plans in Sudan to achieve regional integration, and stressing IGAD’s commitment to developing its cooperation with Sudan in this field, to achieve Africa’s aspirations for sustainable development in the context of the African Union Agenda 2063.