South Sudan ready to receive president Bashir ‘anytime’, says ambassador

March 27, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – South Sudan’s ambassador to Khartoum, Myan Dott, affirmed his country’s readiness to receive Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir whenever he wants to visit Juba.

Dott told Sudan official News Agency (SUNA) that meetings of the Bashir and South Sudan president Salva Kiir have always been a source of optimism because they usually come up with clear visions and practical solutions for all issues,

The South Sudanese diplomat affirmed that his country had been looking forward to his visit since last January and reception committees were formed for the purpose but that the timing of it will be decided by the authorities in Khartoum.

Dott said that relations between Khartoum and Juba are proceeding at a rapid pace towards cooperation especially after the recent agreement in Addis Ababa, stressing that armies of both countries have completely withdrawn from the demilitarized zone, which represents an important move towards completion of security matters.

He added that the significant improvement in relations between Khartoum and Juba has already reflected on lives of the peoples and referred to the foreign exchange rates that have dropped significantly in both countries even before resumption of oil production.

Landlocked South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in July 2011, closed off its 350,000 barrel-per-day output in January last year in a dispute with Khartoum over how much it should pay to send the oil through Sudanese pipelines to the Red Sea.

This month the two countries signed a document setting out a timeline for the implementation of several cooperation deals agreed to last year including resumption of oil exports.

The ambassador affirmed that a technical delegation from South Sudan, headed by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil and Minerals, Machar Achek Adeir, will arrive in Khartoum today to hold talks on modalities of restarting oil exports.
Later in the day the Secretary Generally of Sudan’s oil ministry Awad Abdel-Fattah announced that South Sudan’s first oil exports will reach Sudan between April 15-20 approximately.

“We expect the first batch of southern Sudan’s oil to reach the Sudanese border between 15-20 April and then be transported to Port Sudan,” Abdel-Fattah told SUNA at Khartoum airport where he received Undersecretary Adeir.

“The oil usually travels a distance in order to move from the fields to export sites and this requires a period of approximately a month,” he added.

Both countries rely on foreign currency from oil sales to import food and fuel, but border disputes and other issues left over from partition have prevented them resuming exports.

(ST)