On August 9, 2021, Chinese Ambassador Ma Xinmin met with Undersecretary of Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Sharif Abdallah to exchange views with him on China-Sudan relationship, joint COVID-19 response and other regional and international hotspot issues.

Noting that China and Sudan are strategic partners with longstanding and deep friendship and always give each other understanding and support and see steady and sound development of bilateral relations, Ma said that over the two years since the establishment of the Sudanese transitional government, China-Sudan relations have undergone a smooth transition with positive progress in various areas including politics, business, people-to-people exchanges and epidemic prevention. He mentioned that the talks over phone between Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Sudanese Foreign Minister Mariam days ago charted the course for future development of bilateral relations. Talking about joint COVID-19 response, Ma stressed that China advocates a science-based approach and remains committed to active participation in global cooperation on origin-tracing with an open mind, adding that China is firmly opposed to the practice of politicizing the pandemic or attaching a geographical label to the virus. As Sudan is still faced by grave challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic and flooding, China is ready to do as much as it can to support the Sudanese side, and collaborate with Sudan in carrying forward and developing bilateral friendship, so as to lift our strategic partnership to new heights.

For his part, Sharif said Sudan-China relations have endured for a long time with extensive public support, and set a good example for African countries to develop their relations with China. Sudan values China as a vital strategic partner and is pleased to see bilateral cooperation flourish in economic, trade, cultural and other areas, especially on many international and regional occasions. Sudan is sincerely grateful to China for its supply of valuable medical materials and vaccines to assist with Sudan’s anti-virus battle, he added, saying that this is another good example of the ties of brotherhood between China and Sudan. Aa for the origin-tracing issue, he pointed out that Sudan upholds the principle of science-based response and firmly opposes attempts to politicize origin-tracing efforts. Sudan highly appreciates China’s constructive role in the country’s transition, and will use it as the foundation to enhance its wide-ranging and all-dimensional cooperation with China and get its economic and social development back on track at an early date.