French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said France will host a conference with Sudan’s international creditors to help Khartoum address debt issues as soon as the United States removes the country from its state-sponsored terrorism list, reported Reuters.
“As soon as the Americans make their decision, we will be able to restructure the debt together,” President Macron said at a joint press conference with Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in Paris. “I have decided that France will host an international conference with private and public international creditors.”
The French president, however, provided no timeframe for the conference.
“The precise timing of the conference will depend on the timing upon which sanctions are to be lifted,” Macron said.
Prime Minister Hamdok is currently holding talks with Washington to get Sudan’s name removed from the list in order to stabilize the country and to repair an economy battered by years of U.S. sanctions and government mismanagement during former president Omar al-Bashir’s three decade rule.
On the sidelines of a United Nations General Assembly last week, Hamdok expressed hope Sudan would reach an agreement with the United States soon.
Sudan has been on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1993. Syria, Iran and North Korea are also on the list.
Notably, Sudan has been not been able to tap the International Monetary Fund and World Bank for support as the U.S. still lists the country as a state sponsor of terrorism.
In related news, President Macron on Monday said the Sudanese prime minister has met a senior Darfur rebel leader living in France. He hailed an “essential step” for peace in the troubled east African nation.
“We facilitated talks that Prime Minister (Abdalla) Hamdok had yesterday with Abdulwahid Nur, who is in our country,” Macron said at a press conference after discussions in Paris.
