Business news

MINSK, 4 April (BelTA) - Belarus hopes for a considerable increase in the trade with Kenya, Belarus’ Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov said at a meeting with Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kenya’s Sameer Group Naushad Merali on 4 April, BelTA has learned.

“Eastern Africa is very attractive for Belarus as a promising and steadily developing market. We assess the current level of economic cooperation with Kenya as still being far from the existing economic potential of our countries. The trade turnover of slightly over $18 million in 2016 is quite low, and we believe that it will increase manifold in the near future. We hope that your visit to Belarus will lay down the necessary foundation that we will use to develop fruitful cooperation with businessmen of Kenya in the spirit of mutual partnership,” Andrei Kobyakov said.

Belarus is aware of Kenya’s ambitious plans to develop agriculture, ensure food security, develop road and energy infrastructure, introduce energy saving technologies and improve environment. Belarus is ready to offer its advanced technologies, equipment and services for the implementation of these projects. “Our country is one of the world’s leading producers of haul trucks, tractors and other farm machinery, trucks, fertilizers and food products. Belarusian products are well-known on the African continent for its reliability, simplicity of operation, and attractive prices. We supply our equipment to almost every African region,” the Prime Minister added.

Belarus is also ready to offer modern financial mechanisms and attractive terms for the purchase of equipment. These include export lending, supplies on leasing terms. Belarus is also interested in providing the region with dairy products, tinned food, baby food and other products.

“These are only a few promising areas for cooperation. The parties can find much more. We are ready to consider concrete proposals in every area of mutually beneficial cooperation,” Andrei Kobyakov stressed. The Prime Minister expressed readiness for constructive discussion of a wide range of issues.

Naushad Merali noted that the visit of the Belarusian delegation to Kenya in October 2016 was an important step in establishing cooperation. He stressed readiness of the Kenyan business for a fruitful dialogue with Belarusian partners.

Sameer Group unites 15 companies with over thirty years of experience in Eastern African agriculture, finances and insurance, banking, automobile industry, construction, power engineering, developing activities, ICT, and trade. The Sameer Group annual turnover exceeds $1 billion. The company employs 24,000 people.