South Sudan President Salva Kiir and Sudan President Omar Al Bashir will hold a joint press conference at the presidential palace in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Thursday as the two countries attempt to strengthen their relationship, the Sudan Tribune reports.

Kiir arrived in Khartoum on Wednesday on an official two-day visit to discuss bilateral relations.

Relations between the two countries have often been tense after South Sudan ceded from the north in 2011, with both sides accusing each other of harbouring insurgents.

Bashir was at Khartoum Airport to meet Kiir before the two held a closed-door meeting.

In joint statements with his South Sudanese counterpart, Sudan’s Information Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman said Kiir’s visit to Khartoum “lays a foundation for a new phase in relations between the two countries”.

Osman said Kiir’s visit would help establish a framework for stable relations between the two countries and help bring prosperity to both peoples.

South Sudan’s Information Minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, described Kiir’s visit to Khartoum as “important and historic”, saying it would positively contribute to the normalisation of ties between the two countries.

South Sudan has been devastated by an ongoing civil war which first erupted in 2013 with thousands of civilians killed and millions displaced.