Egypt's Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr described a recent visit by Egyptian Prime Dr.Hisham Qandil to South Sudan as "important and timely", expecting it to further promote bilateral ties to the good of the two countries.

Egypt's relations with South Sudan are strategic, Amr said, adding that Egypt succeeded to maintain strong relations with the people of South Sudan even after they opted to secede from Sudan.

He highlighted Egypt's continuing support to South Sudan in the health and education fields, especially in scholarships and knowledge transfer.

Egypt built four electricity plants with the capacity of two megawatts each in South Sudan, besides the establishment of three medical facilities and three schools at the cost of EGP 75 million, Amr said, noting that Egypt offered 500 scholarships to South Sudan's students in Egyptian universities in addition to the 225 ones provided by Al-Azhar and other 33 offered to trainees in the electricity sector.

The Egyptian Fund for Technical Cooperation with Africa offers training courses to 150 southerners in different domains annually, Amr added.

Amr spoke about Egypt's plans to set up three pilot farms in South Sudan, each of an area of 100 feddans, besides a fishery on on an area of 200 feddans.

There are ample investment opportunities for Egyptian businessmen in South Sudan, Amr said, urging the Egyptian private sector to invest in the promising infrastructure and agricultural projects in the nascent country.