Mikhael Miatlikov, BelCCI Chairman
The International Legal Forum "AFRICA: Legal Aspects of Doing Business" is the first event of this kind organized by the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry to focus on cooperation between Belarus and the African continent.
The President of the Republic of Belarus has identified Africa as one of the key foreign policy beacons and one of the strategic foreign economic directions of our country.
According to the IMF estimates, six of the world's 10 fastest growing economies are African. The average annual GDP growth rate of the African continent over the past decade has been 4 percent. Africa's enormous and yet far from fully exploited agricultural potential is universally acknowledged, accountig for 65 percent of the world's arable land and about 10 percent of domestic renewable freshwater supply.
I would like to highlight the deepening integration among African countries. The African Continental Free Trade Area, officially commenced on January 1, 2021, is the world's largest free trade zone. It unites 55 countries of the African Union and eight regional economic communities, aiming to create a single market with a population of about 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP of about 3.4 trillion US dollars.
All these figures show that today Africa is a promising partner to build long-term win-win cooperation with.
And our country has a number of achievements so far. For instance, Belarusian exports to African countries quadrupled in the first six months of 2024 compared to the same period last year. Obviously, this is a direct result of a series of high and leaders' level visits to African countries last and this year. It is important to maintain and build on the momentum. Today, the African market is generating a steady demand for food, machinery, equipment and agricultural tools, mineral, chemical products, and metals.
At the same time, I would emphasize the importance of a forward-looking approach and shifting the focus away from ordinary trade to investment and industrial cooperation. Like elsewhere, African governments want their foreign partners to do more than simply sell goods to them. They are interested in retaining and 'grounding' of investments, and building turnkey production facilities in their countries. And in such a case one can reasonably count on long-term preferences through the participation in state programs and public procurement.
In addition to goods supply, it is crucial to build partnerships in the service sector starting now. Here is just one example. There are now around two thousand students from Africa studying in Belarus. Belarusian universities are perfectly positioned to provide African countries with professional training programs covering various profiles: from doctors to engineers. Upon returning home, these specialists will actually be our people in their countries.
Of course, there are certain challenges in building liaison with Africa: understudied market, diverse business behavior and, of course, logistics. But, as they say, a journey of thousand miles begins with a single step.
I have no doubt that Belarusian business has all the potential, experience and desire to gain a foothold on the African continent.
I am confident that the results of the International Legal Forum "AFRICA: Legal Aspects of Doing Business" will have a practical positive impact on the further expansion and deepening of business cooperation between the Republic of Belarus and African countries!
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