To Sudan:”Thanks for Takaful!”

Sudan, the east African region’s economic power, wants Lankan banks to directly enter the country so that bilateral trade with Sri Lanka could jumpstart. Also the country invites keen Lankan firms to partner in its huge seafood & ocean resource base that appears to be left unattended. “When it comes to trading with Sri Lanka, the majority of our exporters have to open letters of credit through third party banks. We invite Lankan commercial banks to have their own presence in Sudan so that there can be direct lines of credit which will help to uplift our bilateral trade” revealed (HE) Dr. Hassan Eisa Hassan El Talib, High Commissioner of the Republic of Sudan for Sri Lanka on 24th October. (HE) El Talib was addressing Rishad Bathiudeen (Minister of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka) on 24 October at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce during his first courtesy call on Minister Bathiudeen. New Delhi based (HE) El Talib is also accredited to Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. (HE) El Talib was formerly stationed in Djibouti and South Africa.

According to the Department of Commerce of Sri Lanka, bilateral trade between Sri Lanka and Sudan stood at $ 6.18 Mn in 2012, tripling from 2008 bilateral trade volumes. Optical photographic and cinematographic material, vegetables, coconut based products and printed books & newspapers were Sri Lanka’s top exports to Sudan while dried leguminous seeds, power generator sets and rotary converters and agro trucks were the main imports from Sudan. “We believe that our current bilateral trade volumes at around $ 6 Mn could be expanded greatly with closer B2B and banking linkages. When it comes to trading with Sri Lanka, the majority of our exporters have to open letters of credit through third party banks. We invite Lankan commercial banks to have their own presence and open their branches in Sudan so that there can be direct lines of credit which can immediately help to uplift our bilateral trade numbers. In fact, our Central Bank of Sudan gave the first event technical support to Sri Lanka’s banking system to introduce Takaful Banking practice here. We are also looking to boost B2B level cooperation with Sri Lanka by exchange of trade delegations of various Chambers from each country. I invite a strong Lankan delegation for Khartoum International Trade Fair 2014. Sudan has also large seafood and ocean resource stocks and due to lack of technology and a lack of regular workforce to engage in it, it is not yet an ‘industry’ in Sudan.

It is mostly small scale with mostly seasonal shrimp harvesting. Therefore I invite Sri Lankan firms to partner with us and exploit these huge seafood and ocean resources. We are ready to facilitate Lankan firms in this regard. We also encourage Lankan mining firms to partner with us to exploit our mineral sand resources such as iron ores, chromes, and gypsum. ” Welcoming (HE) El Talib to his new position in South Asia, Minister Bathiudeen responded: “We too believe that the current trade levels between us show a strong unrealised trade potential. I shall inform various Chambers in Sri Lanka to study ways of fast-tracking our bilateral trade, including entry of our Banks to Sudan, which I believe is very timely and valuable effort. We thank Sudan for its assistance to our Central Bank to build the Takaful Banking system in Sri Lanka. I am also given to understand about Sudan’s strong Veterinary capacity and strength which we can leverage for our dairy and agro sectors. With the consultation of our EDB and various Chambers, we shall look into the formulation of a strong business delegation to Khartoum International Trade Fair 2014.” Both Minister Bathiudeen and (HE) El Talib also discussed cooperation in education and exchanged official souvenirs thereafter.