South Sudan joins regional trade body
South Sudan has been officially admitted to the Horn of Africa Development Initiative, the regional body that aims to foster economic, infrastructure, social, and human development among countries in the region.
Agak Achuil Lual, Minister of Finance and Planning confirmed Thursday that joining this initiative will benefit his country on road connectivity, energy, and telecommunications.
“We want to join this group because there are areas we can benefit from, the programs which have been financed by the European Union (EU) is almost to the tune of 15 billion Euros. One of the issues we want them to help us on is the road connecting to Ethiopia,” he told journalists in Juba.
Achuil said that they are aiming to increase trade with Ethiopia and Djibouti two countries already under this initiative.
“If there are roads they will open opportunities for development and extension of electricity from Ethiopia to South Sudan,” he disclosed.
The Horn of Africa initiative was established in 2019 to promote regional economic integration as a way to foster peace, stability and sustainable development in the region.
Somalia, Kenya and Eritrea are the other member countries in the Horn of Africa Initiative.
The Horn of Africa countries face common security, development, and social challenges which call for a coordinated, regional approach.
