VP Taban briefs president Kiir ahead of his trip to Ethiopia Djibouti

VP Taban briefs president Kiir ahead of his trip to Ethiopia & Djibouti  (newsinvasion24.com)

South Sudan: President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Friday received a briefing from Vice President for Infrastructure Cluster, Taban Deng Gai, ahead of the regional visit to Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Vice President Taban was accompanied by National Ministers who will travel with him for an official mission to Ethiopia and Djibouti for discussions to link South Sudan to the Port of Djibouti.

The Vice President said they came to brief and seek further directives from the President on how to link South Sudan to the port of Djibouti and also to connect South Sudan with the Fiber Optic from Djibouti Port.

During the meeting with the President, V.P. Taban said discussions are already ongoing among the governments of South Sudan, Ethiopia and Djibouti on how to link South Sudan to the port of Djibouti.

The Vice President explained that areas of the Bahr el Ghazal region are closer to Djibouti Port than Mombasa Port. He added that the road is important for the import and export of South Sudan resources to the International Market, as it will also serve the oil fields in Bentiu.

On his part, President Kiir directed the Vice President and his team to engage the government of Djibouti and Ethiopia to enable South Sudan to access the port of Djibouti.

He emphasised the importance of the Djibouti port to enable South Sudan to connect the Fiber optic. He also urged the team to engage the two Countries to support the peace roadmap and work closely on other bilateral engagements.

In his statement to the press after the meeting, Taban said bilateral relations with Djibouti and Ethiopia, respectively, are important to South Sudan, especially the magic infrastructure projects such as road connecting from Pagak- Mathiang-Malakal – Bentiu- Gogrial as well as Fiber optic, and ports along the Nile.