South Sudan Invites Russian Companies to Explore for Oil

"The country is not being explored, and we are inviting the Russian companies to carry out exploration in the areas of oil, in the areas of minerals, in areas of agriculture and the industrialization of South Sudan through the construction of hydroelectricity that we have. Up to now this has never been done, and this visit is an open way for many companies in Russia to come to South Sudan and do what they feel they can do in our country," the minister said.

"We have come here to tell our brothers and friends and sisters in Russia that South Sudan is open for business and that areas of oil is just a small portion of it. But there are so many other things that the Russian companies are openly invited to explore South Sudan in so many areas. The oil sector is just what we have now," he noted.

"As I said from the beginning that this is our first very important visit to Russia. A few minutes ago, I signed a contract with a company which will be coming to South Sudan, and that is the beginning of how we are going to work together. That company is mainly interested in minerals and oil exploration. We also have a company that will be working," the foreign minister stressed.

"You know that the longest river in the world is passing at our backyards, the Nile. So we have companies that are going also to study how we can construct hydroelectricity in South Sudan. This is the beginning," he highlighted.

"By the visit of these companies to South Sudan, they will be able to see exactly what they want to do in South Sudan. We have given them the green light to come. We have opened the way for any Russian company to come to South Sudan. Some will come and carry out the feasibility studies, some will come and take the seismic imaging of the minerals under the ground and some will come and see the feasibility studies of how they construct their dams. And some will do that in the area of industrialization," the foreign minister emphasized.