South Sudan and Malawi on Thursday signed trade agreement that will see the latter export it’s surplus food to Juba to help ease it’s widening cereals deficit.
Kuol Athian, Minister of Trade and Industry revealed that the deal will allow Malawian businesses to export food to South Sudan which is facing this year, it’s highest cereals deficit estimated at 465,600 tons.
“There is shortage of food in the country (South Sudan), we have been importing from neighboring countries but our friends from Malawi government have seen our suffering and want to rescue us,” Athian told journalists in Juba on Thursday.
Sosten Gwengwe, Malawian Minister of Trade disclosed that his country is looking forward to export food to offset this year’s cereals surplus estimated at 1.2 million tons.
“We produced 4.2 million metric tons of maize, the country consumed about 3 million and we still have 1.2 million that we can export to other countries,” said Gwengwe.
The Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission report released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) said that the deficit in South Sudan was due to prolonged conflict and floods, leaving millions of South Sudanese extremely food insecure.
Athian revealed that they will issue Letters of Credit to South Sudanese to facilitate them to import food from Blantyre.
Meanwhile, Malawi said it expects to import refined petroleum products from the youngest nation to cut costs of importing from the Arab world.
South Sudan is soon to complete it’s Tharjath refinery in Unity state that will boost it’s capacity to export to it’s neighbors like Ethiopia and Sudan.
“This MOU we signed today will make us (Malawi) to get what we are lacking from South Sudan, and South Sudan will be getting what they are lacking from Malawi,” said Gwengwe.
