Egypt's parliamentary speaker Ali Abdel-Aal told South Sudanese President Salva Kiir that Egypt fully supports permanent and comprehensive peace in South Sudan. In a meeting on Tuesday morning, Abdel-Aal, who headed an Egyptian parliamentary delegation to Juba, also extended an invitation to President Kiir from Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to attend a forum for peace and sustainable development in Upper Egypt's touristic city of Aswan on 12-14 December. "Egypt fully supports South Sudan and hopes that there will be a comprehensive and permanent peace there and that a peace agreement in this respect will be fully implemented," said Abdel-Aal, adding that "Egypt is ready to provide South Sudan with all the necessary political, diplomatic and logistical support to promote development in the country." Speaker Abdel-Aal also said his visit to Juba aims to promote parliamentary cooperation between Egypt and South Sudan. "We are ready to offer all experience in this respect to the parliament of South Sudan," said Abdel-Aal. On his part, President Kiir said he considers the visit by Egypt's parliamentary delegation a message of support and assistance to South Sudan. "Egyptian companies operating in South Sudan have largely increased and we hope for their number to increase even more once stability is completely restored," said Kiir. The visit of Egypt's parliamentary delegation to Juba, which began on Monday, includes meetings with the acting president of South Sudan's transitional legislative council and minister of agriculture and food security.
