The Egyptian-Sudanese Agricultural Integration Company’s general assembly approved extending the company’s contract for 30 more years.
The company will also include in its high board members the Egyptian Water Resources Minister Hossam El-Moghazy, his Sudanese counterpart and the Sudanese electricity minister.
The decisions come as part of a three-day general assembly held in Egypt’s Agriculture Ministry headquarters to discuss activating the company’s role after a hiatus of eight years.
The assembly brought together Sudanese Minister of Agriculture Ibrahim Adam, Sudan’s Water Resources Minister, the Blue Nile province mayor, Egyptian Minister of Finance Hany Kadry Dimian, alongside El-Moghazy. During the assembly, the potential collaborative agricultural projects and the cultivation of the 100,000 acres owned by the company in the Blue Nile province in Sudan were discussed.
According to an official statement released by the Agriculture Ministry on Monday, the assembly decided to form a legal committee from both parties to review the code of conduct for the company and its founding contract.
The company initially agreed to further collaborate with the private sector, after studying every case separately. There will also be an annual evaluation for every harvest, quarterly evaluation for the company’s finances, and evaluation every five years for the company’s overall performance.
Adam said during the assembly: “Such projects are important for the food security of both countries, and it is more important to be supported by the political leaders.”
The assembly followed an earlier suggestion made by El-Moghazy during his visit to Sudan to activate agricultural integration between both countries. The company was founded 40 years ago on 250,000 acres, which declined to the present acreage of only 90,000, due to conflicts taking place in the province and attempts to ruin the land.