Bilateral Trade: Sudan

Lord Chidgey Excerpts

Thursday 16th November 2017 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Courtown]

My Lords, Her Majesty’s Government keep a continual watch on activities in Sudan. Noble Lords will realise that actually carrying out a dialogue with Sudan enables us to make continued representations against human rights abuse.

[Lord Chidgey (LD)]

My Lords, Transparency International ranks Sudan as 170th out of 176 countries in its global corruption index. It says that:

“Corruption is present in all sectors and across all branches and all levels of government”,


and that patronage and cronyism prevent the growth dividend associated with increased trade from reaching the average Sudanese person. What confidence does the Minister have that the economic growth and prosperity generated by increased bilateral trade will not be lost to a corrupt elite?

[The Earl of Courtown]

My Lords, the noble Lord made some very interesting points. At the fourth round of the strategic dialogue in October, we discussed a range of issues including the peace process, human rights, development, migration, trade and counterterrorism. We urge the Government of Sudan to engage in the macroeconomic reforms necessary to ensure that all Sudanese citizens can benefit from the lifting of US economic sanctions.