Khartoum must establish banking presence in South Sudan, bank manager says
March 20, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The General Manager of Sudan’s Export Development Bank Mohammed Rashid Mohammed Salem called for swift signing of cooperation protocols between the central banks in Khartoum and Juba in the wake of the recent rapprochement between the two countries. Salem said that such an agreement would allow for Sudanese banking presence in South Sudan which would help facilitate border trade in line with the deals signed last week. He said that lack of Sudanese banks in South Sudan is an impediment to trade between the two countries which is has a potential of reaching a volume of $2 billion annually and encompassing 175 line of commodities. The agreement, signed in Addis Ababa nder the supervision of the African Union, sets a timetable and the mechanisms to enact a cooperation agreement signed by both countries last September. In addition to oil production, other matters addressed in the cooperation agreement are to be immediately carried out in the next two to three weeks, including security arrangements, the demarcation of borders, the status of people living across borders, trade, economics and pensions. Landlocked South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in July 2011, closed off its 350,000 barrel-per-day output in January last year in a dispute with Khartoum over how much it should pay to send the oil through Sudanese pipelines to the Red Sea. Now both countries say that they are prepared to resume oil exports which is hoped to bring billion of dollars into their beleaguered economies. The Sudanese banker emphasized the readiness of his bank to contribute to the development of trade and exports to South Sudan and support the banking system there. (ST) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
