India-Sudan relations go back in history to the time of the Nilotic
and Indus Valley Civilzations. There is evidence of contacts and
possibly trade almost 5,000 years ago through Mesopotamia.
The ancient Kush kingdom of Sudan, just south of the first Nile
cataract (modern Aswan), reached its apogee some 2,000 years ago.
Its pre-eminent deity Apedemak, associated with war, is depicted in
the famous temples of Naqa (30 km east of the Nile) as a triple
headed god emerging from a lotus. Some archaeologists confidently
claim Indian influence through the ancient Red Sea port of Adulis!
What is certain is that in the 18th century, Indian
merchants regularly visited the major market town of Shendi
(infamous as the centre of the slave trade) northeast of Khartoum to
buy the leather, gold, wood and animals (camels and horses) of the
south.
The pastoral Beja, some 5% of Sudan’s population, are a Hamitic
people, one of Sudan’s oldest groups. Immortalized for their martial
spirit by Rudyard Kipling as the “fuzzy wuzzies” for their shock of
curly hair, the Bejas claim origin from India. Their language,
spoken from the chest (heart) rather than from the lips, could be
related to ancient Prakrit.
The settled Indian community in Sudan is about 150 years young. The
first Indian, believed to be one Luvchand Amarchand Shah, a Gujarati
trader who imported goods from India, probably came to Sudan from
Aden in the early 1860s. When his business expanded, he brought his
relatives from Saurashtra, who in turn invited their own friends and
family.
An
Indian community grew and developed. From the small towns in the
eastern part of the country, (Port Sudan and Suwakin) the early
Indian pioneers moved into the interior of the country and settled
down in Omdurman, Kassala, Gedaraf and Wad Medani.
Two famous steel suspension rail bridges in Khartoum and Atbara were
imported from India in the first decade of the last century and are
still in use.
In
1935, Mahatma Gandhi stopped over in Port Sudan (on his way to
England by boat) and was welcomed by the Indian community there. In
1938, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (and his daughter) halted in Port
Sudan on his way to Britain and was hosted to a function at the Home
of Chhotalal Samji Virani.
The leaders of Sudan's independence movement were inspired by the
Indian experience. The Graduates Congress (Established 1938)
modelled itself on the Indian National Congress. Jawaharlal Nehru's
letters from prison to his daughter were read and analysed in
intellectual circles.
Sudan's first parliamentary elections in 1953 were conducted by Shri
Sukumar Sen, Chief Election Commissioner of India. India also
provided budgetary support to compensate British civil servants
replaced in 1954-55. In April 1955, the interim Prime Minister of
the Sudan Ismial Al Azhari and several Ministers transited through
New Delhi on their way to Bandung for the first Afro-Asian Relations
Conference. At the Conference itself, the delegation from a still
not independent Sudan did not have a flag to mark its place. Taking
out his handkerchief, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote Sudan on it and put it
on a chair, thus reserving a place for Sudan in the international
community.
India opened a liaison office in Khartoum in March 1955
(well before Sudan’s independence) with Shri M.A. Kidwai as the
first Liaison Officer. He subsequently became India’s Charge
d’Affaires.
India and Sudan have maintained cordial and friendly relations.
India’s National Defence Academy is partly funded with a gift of one
hundred thousand pounds from a grateful Sudanese Government for the
sacrifices of the Indian troops in the liberation of Sudan in the
North African Campaign during World War II.
The two countries have several institutional arrangements
Sudan Block at
National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla
Bilateral Visits
Prime Minister
Jawahar Lal Nehru visited Sudan in July 1957. In April 1963 Vice
President Dr. Zakir Hussain visited Khartoum and in December 1975
President Fakruddin Ali Ahmed came.
The first ever
visit by a team from the National Defence College was in May 2003.
President Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam paid a State visit to Sudan from
20-22 October 2003, a Presidential visit after 28 years. Apart from
meetings with President Omar Hassan Al Bashir, Rashtrapatiji
addressed the Sudanese Parliament and delivered a talk at the
University of Khartoum. Two agreements, Bilateral Investment
Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) and Double Taxation
Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), and an MoU on Cooperation in Information
Technology were signed.
Minister of State
for External Affairs Shri E. Ahamed led a 20-member business
delegation to Khartoum and Juba in November 2005. Indian companies
from energy, power generation, agriculture, railways, civil
construction, mining, urban development, consultancy and trading
were represented. The delegation met with political and business
leaders including the President. The Minister of State came again in
March 2006 for the Arab League Summit which he addressed.
From Sudan, the Prime Minister of the Interim Government, Ismail El
Azhari, visited India in 1955 and again in 1967 as President of the
Sudan. President Jaffer Nimeiri paid a state visit to India in
1974. Foreign Minister Ali Osman Taha (presently the Vice
President) visited India in 1995, and again in April 1997 for the
Ministerial Conference of NAM countries. President Omar Hassan
Ahmed Al Bashir transited through India in July 1999 and again in
2002. First
Vice President Ali Osman Taha transited New Delhi en route Jakarta
in July 2002.
The
Speaker of the Sudanese National Assembly Ahmed Ibrahim Al Tahir
visited India in January 2003 to participate in the celebrations of
the 50th anniversary of India’s Parliament. He was the
only leader received by Prime Minister Vajpayee.
During his visit, Rashtrapatiji extended an invitation to President
Al-Bashir.
Senior Ministers and officials from Sudan regularly visit India.
India-Sudan Joint
Ministerial Commission
An
Indo-Sudanese Joint Committee (formed in January 1995) was upgraded
to a Joint Commission at ministerial level in June 1997 during the
visit of Foreign Minister Ali Osman Taha. The First session of
India-Sudan Joint Ministerial Commission was held in November 1997
at New Delhi and the second in Khartoum in April 2000.
Bilateral
Agreements
India and Sudan have signed several Agreements and
Memoranda of Understanding. Agreements on Economic, Technical and
Scientific Cooperation and Cultural Cooperation were signed in
November 1974. Other cooperation agreements include Science and
Technology, Avoidance of Double Taxation, Promotion and Protection
of Investments, Agriculture, Small and Medium Industries, Foreign
Office Consultations etc.
Humanitarian Assistance
In
response to the Sudanese government’s request, India offered 20,000
tons of wheat as humanitarian assistance to the people of Darfur in
March 2005.
In April 2006,
Central Electronics Ltd of India installed a complete solar
electrification system, funded by the Indian Ministry of
Nonconventional Energy Sources, in remote Khadarab village in Gezira
state, thus bringing light for the first time into the lives of over
2,000 villagers.
In November 2006,
Sudan became the 18th African nation to sign the Indian-funded
Pan-African E-Network Country Agreement with India for the
establishment of a satellite and fibre-optic network that will
provide effective communication and connectivity among the 53
members of the African Union. When complete, the leaders of Africa
will be able to video-conference instantly while the people will
benefit greatly from tele-medicine and tele-education.
In January 2007,
Sudan's President inaugurated the country's first solar photo
voltaic module manufacturing facility at the Energy Research
Institute established by Central Electronics Ltd with Indian
equipment and technology.
In early 2008, in
response to an appeal from the Government of Sudan, India sent
relief supplies for the victims of the worst floods in living
memory.
Indian companies
such as ONGC Videsh Ltd operating in Sudan have also contributed
generously for developmental purposes.
ITEC & OTHER
TRAINING
Sudan is a major beneficiary of the Indian technical and Economic
Cooperation (ITEC) Programme, and over 150 Sudanese nationals
train in India annually. India trains Sudanese diplomats at the
Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi. Other scholarships are also
given.
Sudanese Students in India
Over 30,000 Sudanese have graduated from Indian universities. About
3,000 Sudanese students study in India each year. Most of them are
in Pune, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore.
Bilateral Trade
(In US$ million:
official Sudanese figures)
YEAR
INDIA’S EXPORTS
INDIA’S IMPORTS
1998
63.36
26.51
1999
63.81
5.46
2000
77.54
5.46
2001
87.72
9.24
2002
104.62
5.93
2003
115.96
33.17
2004
197.10
27.90
2005
317.84
30.77
2006
599.04
25
2007
546.59
16.43
India, which in the seventies was Sudan's largest trading
partner, sells engineering goods, drugs and pharmaceuticals,
agro-chemicals, machinery and instruments, transport equipment and
vehicles, textiles, etc. India buys raw hides and skins, gum arabic,
cotton, leather and metal scrap.
Bilateral economic relations reached an inflection point in 2003
with India’s investment of more than US$ one billion in the oil
sector. Indian
investment in and loans to Sudan are estimated to be around US$ 3 bn.
India is now the second largest exporter to Sudan. India is
everywhere in Sudan through the ubiquitous Bajaj auto-rickshaws,
scooters, Tata buses and trucks, pumps and pharmaceutical products
(not to mention Indian films) found in all towns and cities. Maruti
cars entered the market in mid-2006. Indian Basmati rice was
formally launched in November 2006 and Mahindra Scorpios in November
2007. Indian tractors will be widely seen from 2008.
Much water has flowed since the Rs. 120 mn Line of Credit from India
in 1980 disbursed by Exim Bank in 1982 (still to be repaid). During
Rashtrapatiji’s 2003 visit, a US$ 50 million line of credit was
extended to Sudan (the first ever on a Government-to-Government
basis) for Indian goods and services in power, solar energy,
railways and laboratory equipment.
At the Donors'
Conference on Sudan in Oslo in April 2005, India (as its
contribution to making unity attractive) announced a grant of US $
10 million and a concessional Line of Credit of US $ 100 million.
Half the grant is being used to set up a state-of-the-art hospital
in Gogrial town of Warrap State in South Sudan (an area badly
ravaged by the Civil War) and half for a vocational training centre
in Darfur, supply of hospital equipment and other projects.
In September 2006,
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) signed a formal contract with
the National Electricity Corporation of Sudan for the US$ 457
million Kosti oil-fired 500 MW power project, partly funded by a US$
350 million loan from India's Exim Bank.
Exim Bank of India
has also given US$ 41.9 mn for the 200 Km 220 KV Singa-Gedaref
transmission line being implemented by Angelique International Ltd
of New Delhi and supplier's credit of US$ 26.44 mn for a 2,000 TPD
dry process cement plant. India has also agreed a US$ 150 mn soft
loan for a railway project to be done by IRCON as well as an equal
amount for a sugar project.
The first ever
exclusive "Enterprise India Advantage Sudan" trade fair in Khartoum
in August 2006 in which 78 Indian companies participated gave a new
thrust to commercial relations, with business worth US$ 150 mn
reported.
Indian companies
are also looking for business opportunities in Southern Sudan.
Enterprise India Advantage Southern Sudan is planned for 2009 in
Juba (capital of South Sudan). India opened its Consulate General
in Juba in October 2007, the first Asian country to do so.
To
give a sustained focus to India-Sudan trade relations, the Mission’s
commercial focus is a non-exclusive five-plus-one policy. The five
priority sectors in which India can respond to Sudan’s developmental
requirements are infrastructure, agriculture, human resource
development, information & communications technologies, and small &
medium industries. The “plus-one” is commercially viable investment
in the energy and manufacturing sectors (oil, electricity, gas,
pharmaceuticals, small and medium industry). To achieve this, the
Embassy has formulated a Target and Introduce Programme (TIP) under
which one new Indian product is introduced every semester.
For further information contact the Embassy of India in Khartoum. We
respond to all email queries within eight working hours.
Address
61, Africa Road, Mailing Code 11111, P O Box 707, Khartoum
II (Sudan)