ZIMBAWE and South Sudan are negotiating oil and other bilateral trade agreements as they deepen their political relations that started with support for the liberation movements in the youngest African country that was born in 2011, a top official confirmed.
BY PAIDAMOYO MUZULU
South Sudan director for International Organisations, Ambassador John Andruga Duku, confirmed the development on Thursday in an interview at the end of a study tour of Zimbabwe’s immigration management by a delegation from his country.
South Sudan is rich in oil reserves and is being assisted by the Chinese to exploit the resource.
“It’s true we are working on a number co-operation agreements with Zimbabwe. We need to develop our bilateral agreements and oil and other things will be part of that agreement,” Duku said.
He said South Sudan wanted the agreement reached expeditiously.
“We hope to arrive at a win-win situation for all of us and we need to do it sooner rather than later,” Duku added.
Meanwhile, the South Sudan immigration officials delegation that came for a week-long study tour hosted by the Department of Immigration were thankful for the experience and hoped to implement what they learnt as soon as they got back to their country.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
The delegation was led by South Sudan Interior ministry director for nationality, passport and immigration, Lieutenant-General Majak Akec Malok.
The delegation visited the Chirundu one-stop, Victoria Falls and Beitbridge border posts as well as Harare International Airport.
“We are very grateful for coming home to learn from our sister country how they are managing migration and see what we can use to improve our own our management since independence 2011,” Duku said.
“We want to parachute to the global stage and we came to learn about the best practices in the immigration. We learnt from the area of information communication technology that is brilliant. The new technology —Iris — developed here is good and this will set good South to South co-operation.”
The South Sudanese were also impressed by the uni-visa scheme that Zimbabwe and Zambia have implemented.
