Sudan and Qatar have plans to sign a $4 billion agreement to develop the former Ottoman port city of Suakin in northeastern Sudan, in the Red Sea, according to local media outlets.
“The agreement was signed in line with instructions of the leaderships in both countries on the necessity to boost joint cooperation in the fields of transport and communications,” Sudanese Transport Minister Makkawi Awad told reporters. “We seek to establish twinship between the ports of Suakin and Hamad in Qatar.”
The cost of the project’s first phase amounts to $500 million and will be completed by 2020.
Suakin, one of the oldest seaports in Africa, was used by African Muslims who set out for pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.