The governments of Egypt and Sudan plan to jointly build a new port in Wadi Halfa, a city in the northern state of Sudan, in order to develop the transportation sector between the two North African countries. According to reports, on April 7, 2021, a delegation composed of engineers from the Egyptian River Transport Administration and the President of the Nile River Basin Shipping Administration Board of Directors. The Nile River Basin Shipping Administration is an Egyptian-Sudan joint organization responsible for passenger and cargo transportation. For transportation, the port construction consultant agreed to set up a joint committee to implement the project.

After selecting the location of the new port based on the water level requirements of Lake Nubia, a detailed technical study has been conducted on the project, which will help promote maritime navigation by the Nile Valley Waterway Authority. After a meeting hosted by Sudan’s Minister of Transportation Mirgani Moussa in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, on April 12, the Egyptian Minister of Transportation Kamal Wazir announced that the project will be launched as soon as possible.

The meaning of the port

Heba el-Beshbeshi, a researcher at the Institute of African Studies at Cairo University, explained that the border town of Wadi Halfa is strategic. The port will be used to transport passengers and cargo and will help ease disputes. It straddles the Halayeb and Shalateen triangles between the two countries and makes the region an important center of relations between the two countries.

She firmly believes that the port of Wadi Halfa provides an opportunity to promote cooperation in the border area and develop the area for the common good, rather than the border area being the basis of conflict, as in other parts of Africa. Editor/Huang Lijun