Officials call for joint collaboration efforts to develop sports

By Simon Deng

The Governor of the Bank of South Sudan, James Allice Garang, has called for joint collaboration with stakeholders to invest in sports.

“Sports does a lot for us and there is no doubt about the unity that sports brings, at the same time sports provide opportunity  for investment which in the end results into social -economic development,” said Garang on Friday during the closing of the three- day conference on sport financing in Juba.

Garang encouraged the private sector to support the Ministry of Youth and Sports to establish modern sports facilities to help develop talent in the country.

Ramadan Mohamed Abdallah Goc, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said that as the government they remain committed to support development of sports in the country.

Goc also said the country has immense potential to invest in sports and realize positive outcomes. He emphasized the importance of first developing the sports infrastructure across the country.

 “There is a lot of potential when it comes to sports, there are different sectors for us to build and feel proud of and sports are one of these sectors. We need to think about developing sports infrastructure,” said Goc.

Joseph Geng Akech, Minister of Youth and Sports said they are seeking partnership with the private sector to develop sports in order to foster peace and development.

“The sports financing conference is not a fundraising event but an opportunity to create partnership and invest in sports, to seize this opportunity to engage all sports federations and to identify possible partnership opportunities,” said Akech.