South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit has directed his deputy for Infrastructure Cluster to initiate talks with the governments of Djibouti and Ethiopia on jumpstart infrastructure projects.
Vice President Gen. Taban Deng Gai met with President on Friday and the delegates to engage the two countries in bilateral cooperation.
Deng says the cooperation with Djibouti and Ethiopia would enhance road networking through Pagak-Mathiang-Malakal-Bentiu-Gogrial and ports along the Nile.
“Areas of Bahr El Ghazal region are closer to Djibouti Port than Mombasa Port. He added that the road is important for the import and export of South Sudan resources to the International Market, as it will also serve the oil fields in Bentiu,” he said.
Vice President unveiled that discussions are already ongoing among the governments of South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Djibouti on ways to link the country with Djibouti port.
This week, South Sudan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Djibouti on opening a new trade route for the country. The agreement was signed to enable the country access to the world market through the port.
National Minister of Petroleum, Puot Kang Chol, said Djibouti Port was closer than Mombasa and Lamu Ports and it’s the gateway to the wider market than Sudan and Kenya ports.
“The distance between Djibouti to our oilfields that we have and the distance from Lamu to the oilfields, that one of Djibouti is closer. Maybe some of you do not know,” Puot said.
South Sudan and Sudan signed a cooperation agreement in 2011 for South Sudan to use Sudan’s oil pipeline and pay what the country owed to Sudan for the loss of oil production revenue due to the destruction of the pipeline as a result of the civil war.
Although Port Sudan had been beneficial to the country, the costs of the pipeline had been staggering and paralyzing, leaving the country with a little portion of crude transported through Sudan, the Minister said.