Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/chinese-investment-sparks-economic-boom-in-sudan Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript With a 40 percent stake in Sudan's oil industry, China has become Sudan's largest investor, financing part of a major economic boom and in exchange exporting one-third of the resource-rich African nation's oil output. Margaret Warner reports from Khartoum about the challenges facing Sudan's economy. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. MARGARET WARNER: Deep in the heart of Sudan, the Chinese are riding to work. At the Khartoum oil refinery on the outskirts of the Sudanese capital, Chinese know-how and labor are helping Africa's largest country realize its economic potential. MOHAMED ATIF AHMED, Deputy General Manager: All the stationary equipment are Chinese, and they are brought here in pieces and, of course, built here in this refinery. MARGARET WARNER: Mohamed Atif Ahmed is the deputy general manager of the Khartoum refinery. It began operating in the year 2000. And when phase two, now being built by a Chinese construction company and its workers, is up and running next month, the facility will be refining 100,000 barrels of Sudanese crude into petroleum products each day.The Chinese comprise one-third of the workforce here, while two-thirds are Sudanese. Ahmed concedes the collaboration posed some difficulties at first. MOHAMED ATIF AHMED: The official language is English language in this refinery, so we have a real communication problem in the beginning. MARGARET WARNER: But China is getting far more out of this business deal than just free English lessons for its staff here. The refinery is just one small part in an overall investment that has given China a 40 percent stake in Sudan's oil industry; a third to a half of Sudan's half-million barrel a day crude oil output ends up in China, helping to meet that country's voracious thirst for energy. SUDANESE BUSINESSMAN: They have a double benefit, actually. The first one is that they have an investment in Sudan, which is a good investment. And the second is they have some oil which they can take to China.