SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources – UNDP head: ‘2020 is once in a lifetime opportunity to support Sudan’

30/1/2020: Multiple sources – UNDP head: ‘2020 is once in a lifetime opportunity to support Sudan’

• Radio Dabanga

• Sudan Tribune

Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) called for the international community to boost its support to Sudan to accelerate the transition to civilian rule, sustainable peace and development.

After three-day visit to Sudan, Steiner also outlined how the UNDP will help critical state institutions manage key political and economic challenges, including progress in human rights, applying the rule of law and delivering justice.

Steiner added that the UNDP also aims to enable the political and social participation of women and youth through supporting regulatory reform to enable economic growth and as advancing measures to suppor the emerging digital economy.

The UNDP will also work with the ministries of Agriculture and Energy on solar powered irrigation to boost productivity and lessen dependence on fossil fuels in agriculture - a critical sector that contributes 30 per cent of Sudan’s GDP and employs 80 per cent of the population.