South Sudan is in the process of establishing contacts with South African companies to market its minerals, said the minister for foreign affairs.
Deng Dau Deng, the acting minister for foreign affairs and international cooperation, told the press after meeting his South African counterpart, Grace Mandisa, yesterday that Pretoria and Juba are in contact to enable South African investors to embrace the South Sudanese opportunities.
“We had a deep discussion on areas of bilateral relations, ranging from petroleum and gas mining,” Deng said as quoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs press unit.
“We also discussed the status of investment and trade, and we had reflections on the issue of livestock and fisheries and the opportunities that exist in South Sudan and the business people from South Africa,” he added.
Deng hailed the contribution of South African companies in oil and mineral sector and called for collaborations of greater heights in various sectors across the country.
Security has been a great concern considered to be scaring away investors from venturing into the South Sudan market.
However, Mandisa said she held fruitful discussions with her counterpart regarding bilateral relations and prospects for peace in the country.
She added that the South African Vice President would come to the country to engage the parties to the peace agreement on the implementation of the revitalized agreement on the resolution of the conflict in South Sudan.
“We have deliberated extensively on several important issues related to our bilateral relations and developments regarding the South Sudanese peace process,” she noted.
“I am very pleased to note that H.E. the Deputy President (South Africa) will be engaging with the parties to the Revitalized Agreement during his working visit,” she said.
Her visit came after the conclusion of the Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) conference held in Johannesburg, South Africa where the BRICS leaders resolved to allow new members into the bloc.
To this effect, countries with strong bilateral relations with South Sudan like Ethiopia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) were accepted into the bloc pending the approval of their membership on January 1, 2024.
While addressing the conference, President Salva Kiir noted that BRICS would heal the economic eyesore in the Global South through equal partnerships between the countries involved.
The chairperson of the Summit, Cyril Ramaphosa—who is South African President—urged all the BRICS partner states’ ministers of foreign affairs to design a document that would detail partnerships with other countries for approval in the next summit.
He further urged partner states’ ministers for finance and the governors of the banks to start using local currencies in transactions instead of hard currency.
In June, South Sudan’s Ministry for Petroleum struck a deal with a South African company to start oil exploration in Jonglei State. This was aimed at discovering the minerals that are available in the state that investors could be interested in.
