Such an agreement was reached during the meeting of the Minister for Industry and Agro-Industrial Complex of the Eurasian Economic Commission Artak Kamalyan with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of South Africa to the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus Mzuvukile Jeff Maketuka at the EEC site on January 30.
The parties discussed a number of issues related to establishing interaction and expanding areas of cooperation, increasing trade volumes, organizing and conducting mutual business missions between the states of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Republic of South Africa, joint participation in international events.
The EEC Minister noted the importance of consistent implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Eurasian Economic Commission and the African Union dated October 24, 2019, as well as practical issues of trade and economic cooperation with its individual countries, including South Africa.
“Areas of cooperation of mutual interest may be the development of agricultural production (fruits, seafood), material and technical resources, in particular agricultural machinery, as well as winemaking. Stimulating investments in the agro–industrial complex will contribute to improving the efficiency of agricultural production, infrastructure development,” Artak Kamalyan stressed. – It is gratifying that the dynamics of mutual trade in agricultural raw materials and food shows growth opportunities. And I am sure we have a great potential for this interaction.”
There was an exchange of information on the conditions of access of agricultural products to the markets of integration economic associations (EAEU and the African Union), including the supply of South African products to the market of the Eurasian “five”, on the effective functioning of free trade zones of the EAEU with a number of countries.
The Minister proposed to work out the issue of creating a Eurasian industrial zone on the territory of South Africa, which will become an entry point to the markets of the African continent that have not yet been developed by the EAEU producers.
Artak Kamalyan noted that holding investment events with the involvement of representatives of the private sector of the Union countries and South Africa under the coordination of the EEC will enhance mutual trade, increase trade turnover between the countries.
The parties agreed that in order to implement the agreements reached, the first step will be consultations between representatives of the EEC and interested authorized officials of South Africa, which will allow the parties to reach a new level of exchange of successful agricultural production practices, solving problems of creating modern, competitive industrial and agro-industrial complexes, increasing the volume of mutual trade.
