South Sudan has higher expectations for the upcoming 6th edition of the South Sudan Oil and Power (SSOP) 2023 conference and exhibition, slated for June 14 in Juba.
The two-day conference will be held under the theme, “The Engine of East African Growth.”
According to a post from the South Sudan Oil and Power website, the conference would be a big catch to boost the government’s fresh deals and new investment relationships.
“Taking place under the theme ‘The Engine of East African Growth’, SSOP 2023 is held in official partnership with South Sudan’s Ministry of Petroleum, demonstrating the government’s commitment towards promoting development through petroleum exploration and production while facilitating opportunities for new deals, new investments, and new relationships,” the statement from SSOP’s website read in part.
It noted that the conference is expected to attract investors from East Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Africa.
The focus will also be on selling the country’s resources, such as oil, gold, diamonds, and others.
In September 2022, Puot Kang Chol, minister for petroleum, in an apparent dismissal of climate change policies, said South Sudan was contributing zero carbon emissions. He asked Western countries to exercise fairness in their campaign for the transition from fossil fuels to green energy.
He promised that the country was bound to abide by the principles and guidelines of Cop26.
“I think it will not be fair if my emission is zero and yours is 100 percent, and you say, let’s hang ourselves using one rope. In South Sudan, or Africa as a whole, 90 percent of what we have remains intact. There is no pollution here in South Sudan; it is happening elsewhere, and we are being told that you are the ones polluting the environment. How can we do that, for heaven’s sake?” Puot told the conference.
The First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar, said at the same event that the country must compete with the energy transition by stepping up infrastructural development before transitioning to green energy.
“You are now talking of the transition from fossil fuels to new energy. So, we must compete; whatever we have on the ground, if we can extract it sooner before the move to cleaner energy, that would be good for us; we would have built our roads, we would have built rail, we would have built airports, and we would have built our base of industry,” Machar said.
“We have to get others to come and invest in power while the fossil fuel transition is taking place. We are thinking more of going hydro; between Juba here and our border, Nimule, there are high cataracts that are potential sites for hydropower.”
