Sudanese officials meet with Bahraini, UAE counterparts

By Adel Abdel-Rahim and Behram Abdul Moneim

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AA) - Sudanese and Bahraini officials on Tuesday agreed to bolster bilateral cooperation on the regional and international level.

The announcement came after a meeting of a Sudan-Bahrain joint consultation committee held in Khartoum, according to a Sudanese Foreign Ministry statement.

Tuesday’s meeting was attended by Sudanese Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Abdul-Ghani al-Naeem and Bahraini counterpart Waheed Mubarak Abdullah Sayyar.

The Bahraini delegation, headed by Sayyar, also included the undersecretaries of Bahrain’s ministries of international financial cooperation, justice, investment, health and employment.

Meetings between officials of the two countries have become increasingly frequent in recent months -- the result of ongoing rapprochement between Sudan and the Gulf States following years of tension due to Khartoums’ earlier closeness with Tehran.

On the same day, Hamad Mohammed Thani al-Rumaithi, chief-of-staff of the United Arab Emirates’ armed forces, held talks in Khartoum with Sudanese counterpart Emad al-Din Mustafa Adawi.

The two men reportedly discussed means of improving bilateral cooperation, especially in terms of military training.

Since 2014, Sudan has scaled back its relations with Iran, formally severing ties with Tehran -- following Riyadh’s lead -- early last year.

At the time, Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said the move was intended to "show solidarity with Saudi Arabia in the face of Iranian schemes to destabilize the region".

Sudan is currently a member of a Saudi-led Arab coalition established in 2015 to fight Yemen’s Shia Houthi militia group, which Riyadh accuses of serving as an Iranian proxy.