Sudanese, South Sudanese officials discuss implementation of financial agreements

October 14, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – Finance officials from Sudan and South Sudan Saturday discussed the issues of bilateral cooperation and the implementation of financial agreements signed between the two countries.

The finance ministers and central bankers from South Sudan and Sudan met in Washington on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In a statement released in Khartoum; the finance ministry said the two parties discussed the implementation of the recent agreement signed in Khartoum with regard to increasing oil production, bilateral trade and remittance between the banks in the two countries.

The two countries signed recently a series of protocols on the border crossing points, the goods that can be exported and financial transactions.

Despite the exportation of the South Sudanese oil, the only source of revenue for Juba, through Port Sudan on the Red Sea, economic and financial relations between the two countries remained very weak or inexistent. In the past, Khartoum closed border and banned bilateral trade since the South Sudan secession to punish Juba which is accused of supporting Sudanese rebel groups.

But, the two governments have recently improved the security cooperation and signed several agreements on the implementation of the Cooperation Agreement endorsed by the two countries in September 2012.

The two sides, also, discussed the need to continue efforts for Sudan’s debt relief agreed as agreed after the South Sudan independence.

The two government believe that their efforts can be facilitated with the lift of economic sanctions on Sudan. However, Khartoum needs to get first the removal of Sudan from the list of countries sponsors of terrorism.

In a related development, unions of businessmen and employers in Sudan and South Sudan discussed the role of the private sector in the implementation of the trade deal agreed between the two countries.

Also, the South Sudanese delegation called on the Sudanese businessmen to invest in the sugar industry and the manufacture and packaging of fruits and rice cultivation in their country.

(ST)