Turkey to build shipyard on Sudanese island

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    Trend:Turkey will build a shipyard for the repair of warships and civil vessels on the Sudanese Suakin Island, the country’s media reported Dec. 27.

    The shipyard’s construction is envisaged by one of several agreements signed between Sudan and Turkey during the visit of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Sudan.

    About ten agreements worth $650 million were signed during Erdogan’s visit to Sudan.

    Earlier, the Sudanese media reported that Sudan’s Suakin Island was leased to Turkey for a period of 99 years. Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir on Dec. 27 night signed a decree on handing over the island to Turkey for rent, according to the report.

    On Dec. 26, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Sudan said that Turkey is ready to carry out large-scale restoration work and restore infrastructure on the Suakin Island.

    Erdogan added that presently, Suakin Island is an abandoned area.

    “Turkey is ready to restore the mosques having historical significance on the island,” Erdogan said.

    For many centuries, Suakin Island, situated in north-eastern Sudan, has been an important trading port in the Red Sea and one of the centers of Islamic civilization on the coast of East Africa.

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