Off the wire
• Ministers call on African countries to ratify free trade arrangement  • Nepalese President expresses happiness over growing participation of women in politics in Nepal  • Arab Israeli lawmakers clash with Netanyahu after supporting Hezbollah  • Kenya's medalist Kipsang eyes London win, gold in Rio  • Albania committed to helping out with EU refugees crisis: PM  • Feature: China funded modern railway fulfils career dreams of Kenyan women  • UN, Algeria call for more efforts to end violence against women  • BMW emphasizes future mobility at 100th anniversary in Munich  • U.S. stocks turn higher around midday on oil recovery  • LME base metals mostly increase on Monday  
You are here: 　 Home

South Sudan to open embassy in Tanzania

Xinhua, March 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

South Sudan, a new member of the East African Community (EAC) is set to open its embassy in Dar es Salaam, a senior Tanzanian official said on Monday.

Tanzania's Minister of Foreign Affairs Augustine Mahiga said that leaders of the youngest African nation expressed the need to strengthen bilateral relations with Tanzania.

"When we met with the South Sudan's Second Vice President, James Wanni Igga, at the just-concluded EAC Heads of State Summit in Arusha, he promised to strengthen business relations with Tanzania on various sectors, including agriculture," the minister said.

Mahiga said the Tanzanian government planned to organize an official trip to South Sudan by a delegation of members of the business community from Tanzania to carry out an assessment of various investment opportunities.

He said apart from business relations, South Sudan also plans to establish closer relations with Tanzania in the education sector. He said South Sudan would in future send its students to the country's public colleges and universities.

According to Mahiga, despite Tanzania signing a lot of business and investment contracts, their implementation always proved to be a problem compared to Kenya and Uganda.

Last week, EAC Heads of State decided to welcome South Sudan into the bloc. Chairman of the EAC and Tanzanian President John Magufuli said the decision was based on intensive deliberations by the EAC Council of Ministers which had a week-long closed-door meeting on the subject.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011 as the outcome of a 2005 agreement that ended Africa's longest-running civil war.

Made up of the 10 southern-most states of Sudan, South Sudan is one of the most diverse countries in Africa. It is home to over 60 different major ethnic groups, and the majority of its people follow traditional religions.

Independence has not brought peace to South Sudan, however. The 2013-2015 civil war displaced 2.2 million people and threatened the success of one of the world's newest countries. Endit