CAIRO: South Sudan is open to investment in the oil and minerals sector, the country's deputy minister of petroleum and mining said Saturday, explaining that it is in the interest of the government to diversify economy, years after depending on solely oil. Elizabeth James Bol said South Sudan has “abundant resources” some of which have not been discovered and that government is discussing with the international companies to explore areas with potential oil and mineral resources so that it can move away from dependency on oil. “South Sudan is giant country. It is a young nation emerging out of the decades of destructive civil war. It has a lot of challenges but these challenges will be overcome because the government under President Salva Kiir Mayardit is vigilant and determined to deliver services to expectations of our people”, said Bol. “This country has huge mineral resources. It has gold, zinc, copper and diamonds. Some other minerals have not been discovered. There have been talks about uranium and other minerals”, she said, explaining that exploration needs to be carried out. The official made the pronouncement weeks after the country's ministry of commerce, industry and investment signed number of memorandum of understandings with some international companies to invest in various areas. Some foreign companies including SP Mining, an international company specializing in oil and minerals exploration pledged readiness to establishing relations with the government and to study existing opportunities and possibilities of striking a deal with the country's ministry petroleum and mining to conduct exploration in areas with potential mineral reserves.
