South Sudan and Chinese governments have signed technical cooperation agreements that will see Chinese companies build some 47 drilling boreholes and support water supply projects in the country.

In an interaction with the media following the signing of the cooperation deal, the Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan, Hua Ning said the signed cooperation agreements between the two countries will support millions of the population and enable them to have access to clean water.

“I am very honored to sign two cooperative projects between China and South Sudan, one is bore holes drilling and water supply project. Chinese government is going to help build 47 drilling boreholes of which 32 are normal wells and the rest are hand pumps,” Ning said.

Lack of sanitation and insufficient access to clean drinking water are some of the factors that have killed millions of people across the country.

“We understand that nowadays millions of South Sudanese people still lack access to clean water that’s also the major concern of the Chinese government and the Chinese Embassy here,” he said.

For his part, the Undersecretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mayen Dut Wol, commended the Chinese government for standing in solidarity with the people in the course of the country’s five-year civil war that has forced millions of people to flee their homes.

“What China has done is still up to this moment on the ground and you have been there with us during our crisis since 2013 up to this moment and we want this spirit to continue so that people of South Sudan and China continue to work together,” he said.