Khartoum, Sept 04: Sudan's foreign debts are estimated at 23 billion dollars, a senior official has said. Abeda al-Qoul, a minister at the ministry of finance, was quoted by the state-run news agency as saying that government is exerting great efforts to settle the debts issue with international financial institutions by making symbolic payments. She said that the Sudanese government has been, for the past five year, steady in making symbolic payments to the IMF and the World Bank, as well as Arab financing institutions and funds. Abeda said that her country seeks to join the initiative of the heavily-debted and poor countries (HEPC) in order to obtain finances to enable it from paying overdue payments. Bureau Report