The Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir on Sunday held intensive bilateral talks that tackled mechanisms to enhance bilateral relations at the political, economic and security levels.
During a press conference after their meeting in Cairo, Sisi said he also touched on the momentum that both counties’ relations gained in the past period across different fields of cooperation.
The Egyptian head of state reaffirmed during the talks that Egypt will remain a strong support for the brothers in South Sudan, and will continue its efforts to support all means of promoting peace, stability and development there, and will continue to work to support the national South Sudanese efforts aimed at consolidating the foundations of peace and internal stability, and in terms of it opens prospects for development and prosperity for the masses of the South Sudanese people, and preserves the structures and institutions of the state and its capabilities, in order to continue the path of stabilizing peace, achieving development and addressing the roots of the challenges that exist there.
The Egyptian head of state further confirmed that they have followed the outcome of the first round of the Joint Higher Committee that convened in Cairo in July 2021 and the opportunities it brought for coordination and consultation,” Sisi said during the press conference.
According to Sisi, this is in addition to the resulting agreements that were signed by the two sides in the fields of irrigation, trade and industry.
Sisi also said they agreed on the importance of giving new impetus to bilateral ties to expand to broader horizons of cooperation by increasing the rate of trade between the two countries, growing Egyptian investments in South Sudan and easing access to Egyptian exports.
In July this year, Minister of Irrigation Mohamed Abdel-Ati visited South Sudan for talks on bilateral cooperation that included the digging of wells and the construction of dams for irrigation and electricity generation purposes.
Egypt has also been helping South Sudan to build and operate water points. Abdel-Ati’s visit came a few weeks after a visit by counterpart Manawa Peter Gatkuoth to Cairo in the month of July.
The Egyptian president reiterated that Egypt will always remain a firm supporter of South Sudan and will continue its efforts in support of all means to promote peace, stability and development there.
Sisi further confirmed Egypt’s full support for Kiir’s efforts to achieve peace in the country and for the efforts exerted by various parties to proceed on the path of implementing the transitional period’s milestones, according to the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS).
Following the high-level meeting, the two leaders also exchanged views on a multitude of current regional and international issues of mutual interest, primarily ongoing developments in the East Africa region and the Horn of Africa, and ways to contain their possible repercussions on the rest of the region’s countries.
The talks also touched on various aspects pertinent to Nile water issues, the ongoing coordination between the two countries in this regard and current developments of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) dossier.
Sisi also noted that he underscored the importance of reaching a legally-binding agreement that regulates the filling and operation of the dam, based on rules of the international law and UN Security Council resolutions on the issue. The Egyptian head of state committed to promoting stability in the entire region and opening up of broader prospects for cooperation among Nile Basin countries.
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