ATBARA, Sudan, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Atbara, a relatively stable city in northern Sudan's River Nile State, is hosting the "Made in River Nile" exhibition, which highlights Sudanese industry's resolve to aid economic recovery and revive national production, even amid the country's ongoing internal conflicts.
From the opening hours of the first day, the exhibition halls were bustling with visitors, exhibitors, and technicians. Over the course of five days, the event brought together around 320 factories and national companies, showcasing more than 2,000 locally made industrial products.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Mohamed Al-Badawi Abdel-Majid, River Nile State governor, said the state had introduced measures to encourage investors to relocate their factories away from conflict-hit areas.
He noted that factory operating fees in the state had been reduced by 30 percent to support the industrial sector and stimulate investment, affirming that the state would provide a stable, investor-friendly environment.
Inside the exhibition halls, products ranged from locally produced cotton and linen textiles with distinctly Sudanese designs to leather goods, metal tools, food products, cooking oils -- most notably sesame oil -- and processed grains, as exhibitors explained production processes to visitors.
At the pavilion of GIAD Industrial Group, one of Sudan's largest industrial conglomerates, Ibrahim Abbakar Ibrahim, director of GIAD Trucks and Buses Company, told Xinhua that the exhibition represents "a collective display of Sudanese industry's ability to survive."
He said the industrial sector had faced compounded challenges, including conflicts and sanctions that limited access to spare parts and modern technologies, as well as widespread destruction of production facilities.
Despite these challenges, he noted, local manufacturers have managed to make some domestic products competitive with imports and even expand into regional markets.
At the pavilion of the General Geological Research Authority of Sudan, around 45 samples of minerals, gemstones, and rocks highlighted the state's untapped resources.
Mohamed Al-Tahir, director of the authority's River Nile office, said the exhibition aims to showcase mineral wealth that could form the foundation for future processing industries during post-war recovery.
Among the visitors, Ibtisam Al-Awad, an employee at a national company in Atbara, expressed surprise at the quality of locally made textiles.
"I didn't expect local factories to be able to produce goods of such high quality," she said, adding, "Given the current economic conditions and rising prices, local products are no longer just an option -- they are a necessity."
Officials say the exhibition is part of a broader roadmap to rebuild Sudan's industrial sector and improve the business environment.
Before the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, industry accounted for about 12 percent of Sudan's economy and employed nearly 20 percent of the workforce. The conflict, however, has devastated the sector. Unofficial estimates put losses at around 50 billion U.S. dollars since the conflict began in mid-April 2023.
The Sudanese Federation of Chambers of Industry previously said that around 550 factories in the capital Khartoum had been destroyed. Earlier reports by the Ministry of Industry showed that 3,493 large and medium industrial facilities were damaged in Khartoum, along with 125 large industrial facilities in Gezira State in central Sudan. ■