بلومبيرج: في انتظار القرار النهائي لتيلرسون: كبار المساعدين يؤيدون رفع الحظر عن النظام

Quote: Shaking Hands Other signs that the two sides are warming to each other have emerged recently. Sudanese newspapers reported in March that the head of the country’s intelligence service visited Washington on the invitation of Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo, meeting with him and then-FBI director James Comey. The CIA declined to comment when asked to confirm the visit. Trump and Tillerson shook hands with General Taha al-Hussein -- a top aide to Bashir who has since been removed from his post, according to the Sudan Tribune -- during Trump’s visit with Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia last month. In past administrations, staff would have ensured that such an encounter never took place. Because of the charges he faces, Bashir was dissuaded from coming to the event. Asked about the handshake, a State Department official said there had been no scheduled meeting between Tillerson and al-Hussein, and the interaction was “entirely spontaneous in the context of the summit.” Sudanese officials later circulated photographs of the two handshakes in an apparent effort to demonstrate how ties were improving. It will take more than an easing of U.S. sanctions to provide a big boost to Sudan’s economy. The country was ranked 168th of 190 nations surveyed on the ease of doing business in the World Bank’s annual “Doing Business” report, lagging behind countries including Zimbabwe and Madagascar