Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir speaks at the opening ceremony of a conference in Khartoum, Sudan, on April 2, 2017.(Xinhua Photo)

KHARTOUM, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Sudan is to participate, for first time, in summit meetings of Chief of Staff of America-European-African Group (AFRICOM) in Stuttgart, Germany, according to Sudanese army spokesman.

Sudanese Army's Joint Chief of Staff Emad Eddin Mustafa Adawi will lead Sudan's delegation to the meetings, the spokesman said.

"Sudan's participation in these meetings is an indicator for surpassing the phase of sanctions lifting to cooperation in issues that Sudan is committed to combating such as cross-border crimes, terrorism, illegal immigration and money laundering," said Sudanese army spokesman Ahmed Khalifa Al-Shami, in a statement Monday.

"This participation is evidence on the breakthrough in the relationship with the United States and a move towards lifting Sudan's name from the U.S. list of countries sponsoring terrorism and fully lifting the American economic sanctions," he noted.

The U.S. military command in Africa (US-AFRICOM) is one of the U.S. Unified Combatant Commands under the U.S. Department of Defence. It is responsible for the U.S. military operations in and relations with 53 African countries. It is headquartered at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany.

Sudan's participation in these meetings comes after a relative improvement in the relationship between Khartoum and Washington, which, last January, partially lifted economic sanction been imposed on Sudan since 1993.

Sudan's name is still in the U.S. list of countries sponsoring terrorism.