 On July 26, 2004, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, met in Ankara with Sudan Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail to discuss the situation in the region of Dafur and the position of the respective governments.On May 23, 2005, the Spanish Government offered, through the European Union (EU), two CASA-212 transport aircraft and five military observers to support the peace mission that the African Union had deployed in the Sudanese region of Darfur, as announced by former Defense Minister José Bono.EOn February 24, 2006, the Council of Ministers approved the creation of a permanent diplomatic mission in Sudan, which had an embassy in Madrid since 2001, highlighting that this country, the largest in Africa, had "significant economic potential."