News

07.12.2023

EEC and Afreximbank intend to develop trade and economic cooperation

The issues of establishing interaction in such areas as developing exports, eliminating barriers to trade, implementing cooperation projects featuring companies from the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union and Africa and their financing, technology transfer, as well as coupling of payment systems, including mainstreaming of settlements in national currencies, were discussed by Sergei Glazyev, Minister in charge of Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission, and George Elombi, Afreximbank Executive Vice President (Corporate Governance and Legal Services). The meeting took place at the bank's headquarters in Cairo on December 5.

“Fulfilment of a high potential for the development of trade and economic cooperation between the EAEU and Africa is largely linked to deepening the EEC’s interaction both with countries and with integration structures and development institutions of the region,” noted Sergei Glazyev, emphasizing the role of Afreximbank as one of the key development institutions in the African Union.

The EEC Minister noted that promising joint projects for companies from the EAEU States and African countries could be production of chemicals, machinery and equipment, including agricultural machinery, cultivation of crops and livestock products, their transportation, as well as such areas as mineral exploration, mining and processing, energy, electronic services and others. 

Sergei Glazyev and George Elombi noted that the functionality and tools available to the EEC and Afreximbank, when effectively leveraged, would have a significant impact on increasing trade turnover between the EAEU States and African countries.

According to Sergei Glazyev, the solution to these problems must begin with eliminating bottlenecks that limit trade between regions, including through joint work on optimizing supply chains, certification and examination, searching for mutually beneficial forms of settlements for trade operations using national currencies, including digital ones, addressing other issues of providing financial services related to foreign trade supplies, primarily in the field of freight and insurance, establishing direct correspondent relations between financial organizations of the EAEU countries and African banks. 

The parties agreed that in order to attract entrepreneurs of the EAEU States and African countries to the implementation of joint projects, it is necessary to promote increased awareness of each other’s trade and economic opportunities and the mechanisms for setting prices for basic exchange commodities by using information systems to search for potential partners and goods, mutually recognizing ratings, as well as conducting joint Eurasian business missions to African countries.

As a result of the meeting, the parties agreed to continue to develop a constructive dialogue in the field of regulating economic activities in the EAEU and the African Union, including through joint events and exchange of information, as well as to work on the issue of deepening and institutionalizing cooperation between the EEC and Afreximbank in order to achieve more effective and practice-oriented trade and economic cooperation at the level of the EAEU countries and Africa.

For reference

The meeting was held to develop contacts between Mikhail Myasnikovich, Chairman of the Board, and Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank, made on the sidelines of the July 2023 Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg and the One Belt, One Road forum held in Beijing in October 2023.

Afreximbank is a pan-African supranational multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra- and extra-African trade, and Africa's foremost regional integration bank playing a critical role in supporting the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Afreximbank works with African and non-African export credit agencies, development finance institutions, commercial banks and other multilateral institutions.