CAIRO — Egypt and Sudan signed April 22 a memorandum of understanding to establish an Egyptian-Sudanese joint company whose work will focus on agricultural, animal production and food industries, in a bid to support food security and the national economy in the two countries as they face a great risk amid the stalled negotiations on Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The two countries fear the dam’s filling and operation will affect their shares of the Nile River water. 

Sudan is known for its livestock, which neighboring Egypt frequently imports. The two countries have intensified cooperation on several levels, including the military, cultural and economic levels, thus showing a more remarkable and noticeable convergence than ever before.

The Egyptian Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, Ali al-Moselhy, said in a press statement April 22 that the economic cooperation between Egypt and Sudan is outstanding, and the signing of the memorandum aims to boost trade exchange and food security for the people of the Nile Valley. The memorandum is the fruit of serious and great work that has been ongoing for years and that materialized with the plans to establish the company, he noted.

Moselhy continued that the establishment of the joint company with a large capital aims to achieve more cooperation at the economic, commodity and commercial exchange and food industry levels, all the while achieving food security in the fields of meat, agriculture and commodities, and consequently support the national economy of the two countries.