South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Saturday vowed to fully implement the resolutions and recommendations adopted at the just concluded first-ever National Economic Conference.

Kiir, while speaking at the closing session of the event in Juba on Saturday, said the conference’s resolutions will provide direction for the government to transform the economy.

 “The resolutions speak to the theme of this conference and will form the basis of the policy direction we will take as the government to transform the economy. I have followed your discussions keenly and would like to address the doubts expressed by some within the population,” Kiir said.  “Some voices have commended the conference based on what they heard from the presenters and others have questioned whether the resolutions will be implemented.”

“For those who have expressed doubt, I would like to assure you that these resolutions will be implemented because we plan to give them government backing,” the president added.

According to the head of state, it will not be up to the Ministry of Finance and Planning to decide what to do with the resolutions, and they will be tabled in the cabinet by the finance minister for further discussion to determine appropriate ways to implement them.

For his part, Finance Minister Bak Barnaba Chol admitted that there was a lot of skepticism about whether the conference’s resolutions will ever be implemented.

“Before the commencement of the conference, there was a lot of skepticism about whether the conference resolutions would hold water. The argument was that there have been several national conferences and workshops held before but to no avail,” he said. “Your Excellency, I have assured them, all the participants that the resolutions and recommendations are not only going to be implemented but will be used as guidelines for the remaining period of our transition towards the elections.”

“This is the first national economic conference and there is no compromise in the implementations of all the resolutions that you have made,” Finance Minister Chol reassured.