By William Madouk
The Vice President of Uganda, Jessica Alupo, jetted into South Sudan to discuss bilateral relations and convey reaffirmation of Uganda’s effort to push for the implementation of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement.
VP Alupo who is on a working visit to South Sudan last Saturday made this remark after a meeting with President Salva Kiir Mayardit to discuss how to strengthen the existing bilateral ties between the two neighborly nations.
The Minister of Presidential Affairs Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin affirmed what transpired between the two leaders a statement on President Kiir’s official Facebook page.
Alupo congratulated the president for hosting the historic ecumenical peace pilgrimage that saw Pope Francis make a three-day visit to the youngest EastAfrican country.
“The Vice President Jessica Alupo applauded President Kiir for hosting the ecumenical peace pilgrimage and extending an invitation to his Ugandan Counterpart Yoweri Kaguta Museveni who delegated her,” partly reads the statement on the Presidential page.
She also reaffirmed Uganda’s continuous efforts to support South Sudan’s peace process in bringing a lasting peace.
Uganda is the guarantor of the South Sudan peace agreement that was signed in September 2018 between Kiir and Riek Machar, who is the country’s first vice president.
Recently, President Yoweri Museveni attended the graduation of the first batch of unified forces of South Sudan, involving both the national army and the police services, where he called for national interests and not politics of identity.
On June 2022, the government of South Sudan and Uganda agreed to revive a decade old Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was signed in 2012, to improve and promote trade ties between the two countries.
The proposed Cooperation Agreement when signed, would allow the two countries to establish a joint Business Forum where both business communities can meet, interact, and explore investment opportunities.
The investment areas will cover trade and investment, business, safeguard security along roads, and remove non-tariff barriers to let traders to smoothly ferry their goods without any glitches.
In attendance were the Minister of Presidential Affairs of the Republic of South Sudan Dr. Benjamin Barnaba Marial, the Ambassador of Uganda to South Sudan, Brig. Ronnie Balya and several other government officials.