The relationship between Sudan and China is making continuous progress towards new horizons after the two countries agreed to promote their ties to a strategic level, Sudanese analysts have said.
"The two countries are heading towards consolidating their standing ties on mutual benefits and sharing of balanced development," Mohamed Hassan Saeed, a Sudanese political analyst, told Xinhua.
"Since the visit of the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to Beijing in 2015, where he agreed with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to promote bilateral ties to a strategic level, the two countries have achieved remarkable progress in the development of relations in all fields," said Saeed.
"The two countries can utilize their potentialities and enter into new economic partnerships, particularly in the field of agriculture, where Sudan enjoys huge fertile lands, water resources and labor force, and China, in turn, maintains advanced agricultural technologies," he said.
Saeed regarded China's Belt and Road Initiative as another opportunity which Sudan can benefit from.
The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, aims to build trade and infrastructure networks connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road trade routes to seek common development and prosperity.
"Sudan is one of the first countries which welcomes the Belt and Road Initiative. Sudan regards the initiative as it would achieve prosperity for the friendly countries, actively contribute to the development of the areas along the initiative and promote the level of relationship among these countries," he said.
He added that the initiative would bring about great economic gains for the concerned developing countries as it consists of development and trade projects, pointing to how Sudan can benefit from the initiative.
"The initiative is likely to reactivate Sudan's internal and external trade activities and avails great investment opportunities for Sudan under the huge projects that China would establish in countries covered by the initiative," he said.
"Sudan needs Chinese funding to develop its infrastructure with reasonable interests and longer periods of repayment of the loans. Sudan needs basic infrastructure such as railway lines and free trade zones," he said.
In the meantime, Balla Ali Omer, also a Sudanese political analyst, told Xinhua that "Sudan and China, throughout the years, have maintained model ties that embody profound significance and represent a model for the South-South cooperation."
He added that Sudan-China ties are deeply-rooted, saying: "This was evident in the Chinese pottery works found in the ancient (Sudanese) Meriotic Kingdom thousands of years ago."
"China has greatly supported Sudan, both in the past and present, where during the 1970s, China gifted Sudan the Abu Usher Hospital, Hantoub Bridge and Medani-Geddarif Road," said Omer.
