KHARTOUM, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Sunday said the U.S. is a strategic partner in working with Sudan to "overcome challenges."

Hamdok made the remarks in Khartoum during a meeting with visiting Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing in the U.S. Department of Treasury Marshall Billingslea, according to a statement by the Sudanese cabinet.

The U.S. Department of Treasury said that removal of Sudan from the U.S. list of states sponsoring terrorism "is a matter of time."

The U.S. had imposed sanctions on Sudan since 1997, listing it as one of the states sponsoring terrorism.