Second Belarusian-African Economic Forum

The second Belarusian-African Economic Forum was held in Minsk, organized by the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus.

Participating in the forum were the BelCCI Chairman Vladimir Ulakhovich, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Mikalai Barysevich, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Mozambique Manuel Jose Gonçalves, Secretary General of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce and the Union of African Chambers Alaa Ezz, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Namibia Clemens Handuukeme Kashuupulwa, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Uganda Johnson Agara Olwa, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Alemayehu Tegenu Argau, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of South Africa (to the Republic of Angola, the Republic of Zimbabwe and the Republic of Namibia concurrently) Aleksandr Sidoruk, representatives of diplomatic missions, accredited to Belarus, and consular offices of Gabon, Zambia, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Sudan, South Africa. Belarusian business was represented at the event by the heads of more than 170 export-oriented enterprises from the heavy, light, and food industries, agriculture, mining, and other sectors.

In his welcoming address to the participants, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Mikalai Barysevich underlined that the dialogue platform of Belarus–Africa forum is becoming traditional. "The more we communicate, the closer we become to each other. This approach fully meets the desire of our country to build up comprehensive and systematic relations with the states of Africa, to develop active work in the markets of the African continent," the Deputy Minister said.

According to him, despite many challenges Africa is facing, the continent's economies continue actively developing; African states are playing an increasingly important role in international affairs and global production and trade chains. The implementation of the ambitious African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement has been launched. The African Development Strategy 2063 has been launched as well. Mikalai Barysevich is confident that their implementation will make it possible to tap into the huge potential of African countries, and it will be advantageous for Belarusian business.

The Chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry noted that the majority of experts associate the development of the global economy with the African continent, and Belarus should take every opportunity to cooperate with the region. "The absolute majority of experts associate the development of the world economy with the African continent. First of all, because Africa is a storehouse of natural resources: manganese, vanadium, uranium, gas, oil, gold and diamonds. In addition, we must take into account that Africa is a very young population," said Vladimir Ulakhovich.

According to the BelCCI Chairman, the countries of the southern continent know Belarusian products: from food to mechanical engineering goods. Belarus can offer services and products in three areas, such as the development of industry in African countries (machinery, construction technologies, including mining), the agricultural sector (agricultural technologies, farm machines and food), as well as education, healthcare and information technology.

"Today's forum is a unique chance for Belarusian business to learn more about the opportunities and the potential of African countries. The most important thing is the opportunity to hold negotiations, and I am sure that they will bring concrete economic results in the future. Inevitably, our cooperation will continue, both because of Africa's growing importance for the development of the global economy and because of our mutual desire to develop our cooperation, which this forum confirms," Vladimir Ulakhovich said.

During the panel discussion "Africa – prospects for cooperation with the Republic of Belarus", presentations of the opportunities for trade and economic cooperation, promising infrastructure, logistics, investment projects in African states were highlighted by the African diplomatic missions' representatives. The participants noted that the economic forum would strengthen ties between Belarus and the African continent, promote the common advantages of economic diplomacy, facilitate mutually beneficial projects.

Within the framework of the forum, a cooperation agreement was signed between the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of South Africa. Thus, the list of the BelCCI partners in Africa, which included 13 organizations in 13 African countries to this day, has been extended.

After the official part of the second Belarusian-African Economic Forum, B2D negotiations were held between representatives of diplomatic missions and Belarusian companies, and B2B talks of Belarusian and Egyptian businesspeople.