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Belarus eager to cooperate with Zimbabwe in agriculture, extraction of natural resources
MINSK, 8 February (BelTA) – Belarus intends to cooperate with Zimbabwe in the extraction of natural resources, transport and logistics, agriculture, and civil engineering. The statement was made by Head of the Belarus President Property Management Directorate Viktor Sheiman after meeting with representatives of Belarusian companies and organizations on 8 February to discuss the advancement of business cooperation with Zimbabwe, BelTA has learned.
The official said: “Last year we signed $58.2 million worth of contracts. MTZ, Gomselmash, Lidagroprommash, MAZ took orders. Vehicles and equipment are now being manufactured. Agriculture is the next avenue of cooperation. The Zimbabwe government will give us 10,000ha of land, which has not been used for agricultural purposes yet. We are going to ship vehicles and machines in March-April. Our specialists are examining the soil composition, evaluating what fertilizers and machines will be needed. Once we grow rice, wheat, and soy, we will sell them on the local market. Plans have been made to plant gardens. We are going to ship citrus fruits, avocados, and mangos to Belarus, Russia, and the European Union market. By the end of the year we intend to lay the foundation in order to start making meat and milk and process them later on. To do that, we are going to need roads built, a large number of freight transported, this is why civil engineering is high on the agenda as well as the establishment of a joint company for logistics, transportation by road. So we are going to explore a set of cooperation avenues: agriculture, transport, logistics, power engineering, civil engineering, extraction of natural resources.”
Upon Viktor Sheiman’s instructions the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry arranged his meeting with representatives of Belarusian companies and organizations to discuss the advancement of business cooperation with Zimbabwe. Chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Viktor Ulakhovich, Ambassador of Zimbabwe to Russia with concurrent accreditation to Belarus Mike Nicholas Sango, representatives of Belarusian companies and organizations took part in the meeting. Participants of the meeting learned about current and future avenues of Belarus-Zimbabwe trade and economic cooperation, opportunities for penetrating the markets of the countries Zimbabwe borders on, about instruments and mechanisms to finance the export of Belarusian companies. “A dozen of people approached me with concrete proposals,” noted Viktor Sheiman. “They are interested in cooperation in agriculture, communications, and power engineering.”
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