Mohamed Maait, Egypt's Minister of Finance, participated as guest of honour in South Sudan's 1st National Economic Conference in Juba on Monday. Maait was invited to the main platform with South Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar and South Sudanese Minister of Finance Bak Barnaba Chol, in recognition of Egypt's leading position and support for stability and development efforts in South Sudan. The four-day event, which takes place in Juba from Sept. 4-7, 2023, is themed "Towards a Diversified Inclusive, Sustainable Economic Growth." The conference was attended by a number of ministers and representatives of international economic institutions. Maait affirmed Egypt's keenness to provide all support to South Sudan to achieve comprehensive and sustainable development, given Egypt's successful development experience that contributes to meeting the needs of citizens, improving the level of services provided to them, and turning challenges into promising development opportunities. He said Egypt is looking forward to exploring more opportunities for cooperation in the fields of financial, economic, and investment policies between the two countries, in a way that contributes to dealing flexibly with the internal and external challenges resulting from the negative effects of the war in Europe, including the sharp inflationary wave that reflected in an unprecedented rise in prices of goods and services. Maait pointed out that Egypt is ready to transfer its experience in developing the public financial management of the state with the most advanced automated systems, in a way that helps raise the efficiency of public spending and achieve developmental targets. South Sudan's Finance Minister expressed his country's appreciation for Egypt's leading role in supporting South Sudan, which is reflected in deepening cooperation in various sectors and consistent with the depth of relations between the two countries.
