President of the Republic Omer Albashir, issued a Republican Decree establishing a Commission to consider various issues of investment, to be chaired by Adviser of the President and Rapporteur of the Higher Council of Investment Mustafa Osman Ismail with the Ministers of Justice, Finance and National Economy, Industry, Investment and Chairmen of the Federation of the Sudanese Businessmen as its members and Ambassador Ahmed Shaour as a member and Rapporteur. The Commission is to consider and settle any grievances with an apparent full mandate to consider any grievances filed to the President of the Republic and Chairman of the Higher Council for Investment besides taking all measures necessary to address these grievances in coordination with the federal and state investment authorities prior to forward their recommendation to the Chairman of the Investment Authority for final decision. The mandate of the Commission further includes referring disputes that it cannot settle to arbitration. The Commission will also coordinate between the investment authorities at the national and state levels with regard to regulations, policies and procedures of Investment. It is to be noted that the newly-established commission held its first meeting Wednesday morning.

Counting of votes started today morning Thursday in 666 polling stations where voters cast ballots to elect a new governor for the South Kordofan State. The National Elections Commission(NEC) closed Wednesday evening the voting centers of the supplementary elections in the state which began on Monday where the polling percentage ranged between 75 to 80%. The Chairman of the Higher Committee for Elections Adam Abdeen affirmed that the last day of the electoral process has not witnessed any problem, lauding the experience, hoping it would lead to peace, development and stability in the region.
On his part, Minister of Water Resources, the supervisor of security of the Higher Committee of Elections Tao Kanjala indicated that the elections were conducted peacefully, assuring that the elections will go smoothly until the announcement of the result. He stressed that the Constitution of the Sudan confirms that the people are responsible for electing the(Walis) governors

The Vice-President of the Republic Ali Osman Taha was briefed on efforts being exerted by the Consumer's Protection Society to raise the awreness of the citizens with regard to water, food, medicines, environment and building materials.
The Society's Chairman said that the Vice-President stressed the importance of the society in supervision of food, calling for the cooperation between the society and popular committees in the districts to avoid food and environment pollution He added that the meeting also touched on the Consumer's Protection Act.
In a separate development Mr. VP was briefed on arrangements underway for Sudan participation in the conference of the United Nations Science, Education and culture Organization (UNSECO) in Paris, in October. Following the meeting of the Vice President of the Republic with the Committee Wednesday at the Secretariat General of the Council of Ministers, the Minister of General Education and Chairperson of the UNISECO National Committee Farah Mustafa explained that the UNSECO National Committee in Sudan was now preparing Sudan vision in accordance with the priorities of the Arab region in the fields of education, culture, science, communications and other humanitarian sciences. Mr. Farah said that Mr. Taha gave directives on the importance that the committee carry on preparation of a united vision that represents Sudan's vision in the conference and consolidate its stance in the international and regional organizations as to serve the interests of Sudan.

The National Assembly has listened, in its sitting of Wednesday chaired by the Speaker Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir, to the reply of the Minister of Finance and National Economy, Ali Mahmud, for an enquiry submitted by the member Mahdi Akarat, constituency No. 9 of Bara about delay of implementation of Bara-Omdurman highway. The Minister attributed the delay to lack of technical standards in the quotations submitted by the companies for implementation of this important road which will link the areas of production with those of consumption with length of 341 km and cost of 232 million dollars.
The minister added that technical committee was formed to review the implementation envisage with the National Corporation for Roads and Bridges, disclosing that a number of companies submitted quotations to implement the road, stressing that 15 million pounds of the local component were allocated to pay as a contract advance, pointing out that the foreign component is now being studied by the Chinese Export Bank and whenever approved the implementation phase will be launched.
The parliament also endorsed a report about the performance of the Ministry of Labor and draft bill on Khartoum North University, established to absorb northern Sudanese students studying in the south and when secession occurs have to return back to the north.

Sudan's delegation to the Spring Meetings which held in Washington last April chaired by the Minister of Finance and National Economy, Ali Mahmud briefed Wednwsday the President of the Republic Omer Albasher on the outcome of the meetings. The President of the Republic gave directives for the completion of the technical and political sides concerning writing off Sudan's foreign debts during the coming period.
The minister said in press statements following the meeting that the President received, during the meeting, a report on the outcomes of the visit concerning writing off Sudan's foreign debts which were discussed by the World Bank and the donors during the meetings.The minister added that the meeting completed all the technical needs with regard to writing off the debts by 90%,affirming that the dialogue is still open in the issue with the WB, the donors and the African Development Bank (ADB). He described the Spring Meetings in Washington as positive but need more efforts to complete the technical and political necessities for writing off the foreign debts.
It is to be noted that the British State Minister for Cooperation will arrive in Sudan, during the coming days, to review a number of issues with the government senior officials top of which the Sudan's foreign debts. The Minister of Finance and National Economy, Ali Mahmud said the visit comes in the context of the exchanged visits between Sudan and the western Countries to discuss the joint issues The minister added that the British official will be accompanied by the Representative of the USAID.