First Sudan-South Sudan border crossing to re-open in October

The Sudanese delegation headed by Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok that visited South Sudan last week, agreed with the South Sudan government to open four border crossings. The first one will be officially opened on October 1.

During the three-day visit of the Sudanese high-level government delegation to South Sudan last week, the two countries discussed their shared economic and trade interests.

The meetings concentrated on the resumption of exports and border trade, Entisar Dawoud, spokeswoman for the Sudanese Ministry of Trade told reporters last week. Radio Dabanga reported on Friday that the two parties agreed on opening the transport of goods and passengers by land and by water in the near future.

In a joint statement on Friday, the two sides said they also agreed “to remove all barriers to banking transactions”. Bank branches will be established in both countries. A joint strategy on oil and gas trade will be developed during meetings of the Joint Political Security Mechanism (JPSM) in the South Sudanese capital Juba on September 4 and 5. The two parties further agreed to enhance cooperation in the fields of security and intelligence “for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries”.

On October 1, the El Jebelein-Renk border crossing will be officially opened. The resumption of traffic at the El Meiram-Aweil, Buram-Timsah, and Khurasana-Bankwig border crossings will follow later.

‘Historic’

The Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maryam El Sadig El Mahdi, described the visit of the delegation to South Sudan as “historic”.

In a press statement at Khartoum Airport upon return of the delegation from Juba on Saturday, she stated that the two Foreign Affairs ministries agreed to review all agreements signed between the two countries after South Sudan seceded from Sudan in July 2011.

She said that the Prime Minister and the Special Envoy for Peace in Sudan, Ambassador Abdelrahman Bakheet, “engaged into intensive negotiations and accomplished many tasks aimed at boosting peace in the two countries”.