8 November 2016- The APRM Mission to Sudan has embarked on review of the states. Teams were dispatched to Darfur, Nile State, Kassala and Kurdufan. In Kissala the mission’s primary focus was the economic governance and management theme. As a border town interfacing with Eritrea and Ethiopia, trade and commerce are key issues in the province.

In welcoming the participants, the APRM lead on Economic Governance and Management for the Sudan Self-Assessment Dr Mirghani Ibnoaf emphasised the paramount need to work towards a continental standard. He outlined the APRM process and history in Sudan emphasising the benefit of the process for Sudan.

In his remarks Ibnoaf isolated and emphasised the notion of social responsibility as a key principle in economic governance. As Sudan’s first assessment he said, it is important that we engage as openly and as honestly as possible.

In welcoming the mission the Director General, Ministry of Finance, Musa Mohamed Osheila indicated that the eastern States represented welcome the APRM process. He mentioned that the Gadarif, Kassala and the Red Sea are all border states. In particular he asked that the mission note the history of conflict with Eritrea and refugee crisis, including the large number of Internally Displaced Persons in the region. However he went on to state that although these three states are biggest producers of food (Banana, Milk and Mangos), the have extreme poverty stemming from maldistribution. This impacts seriously on the public budget. He ended by asking the mission to note two challenges, human trafficking and the impact of climate change on the region. Trafficking remains a big problem, but the region received an international award together with former US President, AL Gore due to their efforts to curb climate change.

The assessment of the Economic Governance and Management theme for Sudan is being led by Dr Mutual Oyinlola, an Associate Professor at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

In concluding, Dr Ibnoaf highlighted that the review is but the start of a process of working towards implementing the recommendations of the review. In attendance were representatives from APRM Continental Secretariat, Director General – Economic Planning Ministry of Finance, Development and Projects – Ministry of Finance, Department of Planning – Finance, Director General Ministry of Finance and director of Research – Finance.