By Anadolu Agency
June 7, 2026 8:34 amSudan is seeking to revive and expand energy cooperation with Türkiye as it looks to rebuild key infrastructure and attract investment, with Sudanese officials calling on Turkish companies that left during the conflict to return.
Speaking to Anadolu on the sidelines of the Istanbul Natural Resources Summit, Sudan’s Energy and Petroleum Minister Moatasem Ibrahim Ahmed said cooperation between the two countries across the energy sector had been disrupted by the conflict but is now being restored.
“Before the conflict started in Sudan, there used to be cooperation between the Turkish government and equivalent organizations in the government of Sudan,” Ahmed said.
“It was affected during the conflict, but now we are resuming the cooperation and bringing it back to its original state, and then we are going to develop it and move on,” he added.
The renewed engagement comes after a series of meetings between Turkish and Sudanese officials. Last month, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil Idris, while Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar held talks with Sudanese officials on potential cooperation in mining, electricity, and oil and gas.
Ahmed said discussions covered all areas of the energy sector, including electricity, mining, oil and gas, and renewable energy.
“We have MoUs with them. We have agreements with companies and even at the government level,” he said. “We are expecting, maybe in a couple of months, a delegation from the government of Türkiye and the Ministry of Energy to come down to Sudan, and then we can actually start executing the agreements.”
Ahmed said Sudan has invited Turkish companies to invest in both producing oil and gas fields and new exploration areas.
“We want them to come and invest in the already producing blocks and increase the production from them, and we ask them to come and invest in the new blocks,” he said.
The minister said Sudan’s energy infrastructure has been heavily affected by the war, creating significant reconstruction needs across the sector.
“We have to rebuild the whole sector now—the energy sector, the infrastructure, the generation, the transmission, and the distribution,” he said.
Ahmed noted that some equipment needed for the reconstruction effort is already being sourced from Türkiye, adding that Sudanese officials recently visited Turkish factories supplying transformers, cables and other components for the country’s energy network.
He also urged Turkish investors who left Sudan during the conflict to consider returning. “There are large opportunities there. We are interested in Turkish investors specifically.”
“Now we are recovering, and we are rebuilding our country,” Ahmed said. “We will facilitate for them whatever they need. We will protect them. We will give them security.”
– ‘Missing link is execution”
Hussein Elsiddig Elhafyan, special representative to the Sudanese prime minister, said Sudan’s location gives it strategic importance as an energy corridor linking Africa, the Red Sea and neighboring markets.
“It’s very strategic. We consider it as a corridor for energy,” he said.
While Sudan and Türkiye have enjoyed strong political relations for years, Elhafyan said the challenge has been turning agreements into tangible projects.
“There is a great political will between the leadership of the two countries for so many years, for decades. The missing link is the execution,” he said. “We have lots of cooperation, we have lots of memorandums of understanding. However, execution is not up to the mark.”
To address that, Sudan and Türkiye are working on a mechanism that would bring together representatives from both sides to oversee implementation and ensure agreements are translated into action.
“It’s not about words anymore, but about action, great projects that benefit both countries,” Elhafyan said.
He added that several delegations are expected to travel to Sudan in the coming weeks as the government moves to advance cooperation initiatives.
Delivering a message to Turkish businesses, Elhafyan said: “Sudan is open to you.” “Our hearts and minds … with open hearts and open arms to welcome investors to Sudan.”
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