Sudan and Ethiopia have pledged cooperation in fields of security, trade and agriculture in areas on both sides of the common border, the Sudanese news agency (SUNA) said Tuesday.
Reporting from Gedaref town in east Sudan, SUNA said senior officials of Sudanese and Ethiopian provinces along the border Tuesday signed what they named the Gedaref Declaration at the end of three-day meetings on development of the border areas on both sides.
In a statement during the opening session, Sudanese official Al-Amin Daffallah said the meeting represented a great push for good relations and mutual understanding between the two countries.
The talks came within the context of the previous meetings between the two sides in Adis Ababa and Khartoum.
Daffallah went on to say that the two countries share a deep-rooted social trade relations throughout history
He said this meeting will be a good chance to translate common interests into reality in different fields, particularly the safety of the borders.
The two sides underlined in the declaration the need for maintenance of peace and security as a prerequisite for development of the neighboring provinces, the agency said.
It added that the two sides agreed on carrying out feasibility studies for building roads linking towns of the Sudanese and Ethiopian neighboring provinces and on maintenance of the Doka (Sudan)-Gondar (Ethiopia) road to be started before the upcoming rainy season.
Headed by the governors of the Sudanese Gedaref and Ethiopian Amahara, the two sides agreed on reactivation of border trade, farming, health and veterinary agreements, SUNA said.
They also agreed to hold regular meetings every six months with the coming one to be held in Gondar next October, it added – (Agencies)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
