Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok addresses a press conference at the Khartoum airport upon return from Washington on Dec. 8, 2019. Hamdok said Sunday that his recent visit to the United States achieved headway in the effort to normalize ties between the two countries. (Xinhua/Mohamed Khidir)

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said Sunday that his recent visit to the United States achieved headway in the effort to normalize ties between the two countries.

"So far we have managed to remove five conditions out of seven to normalize the relations with the U.S., where we have settled files of delivering humanitarian assistance to the conflict zones, human rights, religious rights, putting peace as a priority, and not to establish relations with North Korea," said Hamdok at a press conference at the Khartoum airport upon return from Washington.

"There are only two files remain, including cooperation in the field of combating terrorism and paying compensation for the two incidents of the destroyer Cole and Washington's embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi," noted Hamdok.

In 2016, a U.S court ruled that the Sudanese government is to pay around 300 million U.S dollars for the victims of the the attack on the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole and additional sum as a compensation for the bombing of U.S embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi.

The United States started imposing economic sanctions on Sudan in 1997 and has been listing it as one of the countries sponsoring terrorism since 1993.

However, in October 2017, the United States decided to lift its economic sanctions on Sudan permanently, but kept it on its terror sponsors list.

Responding to a question on whether the rapprochement with the United States would affect the relations with other countries, Hamdok said the Sudan-U.S. rapprochement would not be at the cost of other countries.

On Nov. 30, Hamdok headed to the United States for an official visit, his first visit to Washington, where he held talks with the officials focusing on the issue of removing Sudan from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism to end international sanctions imposed on Sudan because of the war in Darfur.