South Sudan: Nation Gears up for First Investment Conference and Trade Fair
By Staff Writer
JUBA---Blue Spring International in collaboration with the South Sudan’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry is organizing the first South Sudan Investment Conference and Trade Fair. The event scheduled to take place from October 6th to 8th 2011 at Nyakuron Cultural Centre in Juba City is billed to be the biggest investment and business event ever in South Sudan. The main objective of the business summit and trade fair is to bring together the Government of South Sudan decision makers, local and foreign investors for information sharing and networking.
This ground breaking event will be the first of its kind to be held in Juba, where the Government of South Sudan and its ministries will be strongly represented. In addition, the Southern Sudan Investment Authority, the Southern Sudan Business Forum and the South Sudan Chamber of Commerce and various international aid and donor agencies such as the United Nations, World Bank and European Commission will send delegations headed by senior decisions makers. The event will bring together forward thinking, international best of breed investors to meet with government officials and key international development partners .
On July 9th 2011 the world’s newest nation state was born. The Republic of South Sudan (RSS) is the 193rd member of the United Nations and the 54th member of the African Union. Over 80 countries were officially represented at The Independence Day celebration.
South Sudan is about forty years behind in terms of development relative to its neighbours such as Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. There exists an urgent need to develop its infrastructure: road networks, housing, education and health sectors, banking, civil services, insurance, schools and other amenities which are all critical for development. There is a huge opportunity for the donor community, the government, and above all, commercial investors to help in this development.
The country also has an unquenchable thirst for investment in hospitality, road and structural construction, housing, telecommunication, water purification, pharmaceutical plants, warehousing, and electric power generation sectors.
Fishing, livestock husbandry and cattle rearing, manufacturing, transport and communication (airports, rail networks, etc), energy (especially alternative sources of power), mining (oil, gas, and other minerals), education and tourism are all other sectors of the economy are also screaming out for investment and development.
There also exists business opportunities in Risk management and mitigation; Border control & critical infrastructure protection; Transport & Logistics; Security & Peacekeeping; ICT & Telecommunication; Water & Sanitation and Infrastructural development.
The Government of South Sudan is attracting international investments and will be hosting conferences in the six continents in the next three months to request international business community to take up these opportunities and help them meet the challenges that lay ahead. To help facilitate the need for rapid change the government has also put into place business friendly procedures and systems within its ministries and commissions to attract local and international investments. The South Sudan Investment Conference and Trade Fair is one of the conferences planned to provide information and give international investors first hand experience interacting with government officials, local communities and other investors.
Blue Spring International has put together the event whose theme is’’ focusing on the future” to enhance information sharing on the business opportunities and investment procedures in the emerging market in South Sudan.
Participants in the business summit will get first hand information in the investment and business opportunities available in South Sudan.
There will also be a platform for the exhibitors to showcase their products and services to both local and international markets. This event is organized in partnership with Capacity Africa Institute, Denlink International and Consumer Marketing Services.