Africa-Press – Ethiopia. The South Sudanese Water Resources and Irrigation Minister, Pal Mai Deng has acknowledged Ethiopia for its massive infrastructure development that would be imperative in realizing regional integration.
In an exclusive interview with ENA, the minister underscored that building common regional infrastructure development is a sole solution to enhance regional integration and social cohesion among the wider east African nation.
The infrastructure connectivity through electricity, road and railway in particular, would be essential to the borderland communities of the region, Deng noted.
In this aspiration of regional integration, the South Sudanese mentioned Ethiopia which has been taking a practical move through executing various projects in the horn region.
For him, these projects are quite very important not only to the people of Ethiopia, but also to the region at large.
Ethiopia has embarked on tremendous infrastructural development activities and it has been extensively working on electricity, water and roads constructions as connective factors for regional integration.
IGAD, the regional body to deliver on its commitment to accelerate regional integration, water ministers of the member states along with UN officials launched the Ground Water Access Facility (GaFa) initiative in the Somali region of Ethiopia which aims at addressing the water scarcity affecting millions of people in the Horn of Africa.
Asked by ENA about this ground water access facility, Deng said this project would promote cooperation between the countries particularly, within the border community.
“This project is going to enhance the livelihood of communities living in borderland and it is also going to promote development and these will also be part of bilateral relations and technical cooperation between the countries. It actually brings the people together and more importantly, it will also create the platform for knowledge and experience exchange between the countries.”
The water resources and irrigation minister further mentioned the Ethio-Djibouti potable water project as a manifestation of regional mutual development that economically integrates the people of the two countries.
And he said that Ethiopia should be appreciated for its valuable contribution through the water project to the people of Djibouti.
“The Ethiopian government absolutely deserves to be appreciated for extending this service delivery to the people of Djibouti. We know that Djibouti is arid and has problems with safe and clean drinking water for it to have the service.
The country has to rely either on groundwater or on the support from the neighboring countries. And in this case, the Ethiopian government is doing this to support the people of Djibouti with safe and clean water,” the minister elaborated.
Recall Ethiopia is playing an indispensable role in regional integration and the East African nation is usually taken as a critical driver of economic linkages within the region and is making maximum efforts.
In this case, it is worth mentioning that Ethiopia and South Sudan have enjoyed cordial relationships in multifaceted spheres including infrastructure projects to accelerate the process of economic integration in the region.
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