JUBA, South Sudan

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Sudan’s Sovereign Council Chairman Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan met to discuss the resumption of oil exports through Sudan, following a pipeline rupture earlier this year.

In a statement after their meeting, South Sudan’s minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, Ramadan Abdalla Mohammed Goc, confirmed that the leaders focused on restarting oil exports, which had been halted since the pipeline's failure in early February.

Sudanese engineers have completed the necessary technical preparations to resume oil production.

South Sudanese engineers are expected to visit Sudan in the coming weeks to assess the readiness of the facilities and facilitate the restart of oil production.

Chairman Al-Burhan arrived in Juba on Monday for the bilateral talks with President Kiir.

Meanwhile, South Sudan’s Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Marial Dongrin Ater highlighted the significant progress made with joint oil operating companies (JOC) towards resuming the production of the Dar blend oil in northern Upper Nile State.

South Sudan, which relies heavily on oil exports, depends on Sudan for transporting oil to international markets.

The Sudanese government suspended South Sudan’s oil exports in March due to issues with the transportation lines.