Khartoum and Juba sign agreement on postal services exchange
January 6, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese Postal Services Company (SudaPost) and South Sudan’s Ministry of Telecommunications and Postal Services have signed on Monday an agreement on postal exchange.
The agreement would allow for the resumption of postal services between the two countries following a two-year halt.
The signing ceremony took place in Khartoum in the presence of Sudan’s minister of Science and Telecommunications, Tahani Abdalla, South Sudan’s undersecretary of the Ministry of Postal Services and Telecommunications, Juma Steven Luga and the director of Sudan’s National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC), Izzeldin Kamel Amin.
The managing director of SudaPost, Mubarak Abdu Salih, signed the agreement on behalf of the Sudanese side while the director of International Relations and deputy director of postal services Luxang Lemi, signed on behalf of South Sudanese side.
According to the agreement, Khartoum will be the main exchange center for South Sudan’s mail and SudaPost would offer training opportunities for southern engineers and technicians in the postal service track and trace system known as the International Postal System (IPS).
SudaPost has committed to freely deliver more than 2,000 parcels belonging to South Sudan which were not delivered due to service stoppage in the last two years. Both sides have agreed to continue the postal service irrespective of the political situation.
The pact provides for the activation of the financial transfer services between the two countries after obtaining the approval of South Sudan’s central bank besides stating that Juba could take advantage of relations and regional agreements signed by Sudan in the area of postal services.
Amin said that the visit of South Sudan’s delegation comes in the framework of the cooperation agreements signed between the two countries, pointing that the southern delegation is negotiating with the NTC and Sudatel Telecom Group to reach an agreement which allows continuation of efforts to activate telecommunication network between the two countries.
He added that the two sides would also sign a memorandum of cooperation at the end of the visit of South Sudan’s delegation.
In September of 2012, both Sudan and South Sudan signed a series of cooperation agreements, which covered oil, citizenship rights, security issues, banking, border trade among others.
Last March, the two countries signed an implementation matrix for these cooperation agreements.
(ST)