(Photo: AFP)

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The United States and Sudan will begin the process of exchanging ambassadors after a 23-year gap, the US State Department said Wednesday.

The announcement was made as Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok paid his first visit to Washington.

The US State Department said it will work with the US Congress to confirm a new ambassador to the African country.

The United States closed its embassy in Khartoum in 1996 and pulled out its ambassador. The embassy was reopened in 2002 and has since been led by a charge d'affaires.