CAR's Industry Minister Says Opening of BRICS' Bank in Country Would Be 'Logical Step'

BANGUI (Sputnik) - The establishment of a branch of the BRICS' New Development Bank in the Central African Republic (CAR) will be a logical step after the planned opening of the institution's regional representative office in the capital city of Bangui, the CAR's trade and industry minister, Lea Mboua, told Sputnik.
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"We have earlier agreed to establish the BRICS' regional representative office in Bangui, and it will be logical if we open the branch of the BRICS bank as well," Mboua said.
The minister also expressed hope for an early realization of these plans and said it was necessary to speed up the work in this direction, as well as to preserve the work pace after the visit of the BRICS delegation to the country.
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She also said that the realization of seven projects, including in the energy sector, had been discussed during the delegation's visit, as the development of the CAR's industry was "impossible" in separation from this field.
Apart from that, the minister noted that Central African Republic's authorities count on support of Russian entrepreneurs, especially from the industrial sector, in developing the country's agricultural sector.
"We expect the help of Russia's private sector, manufacturers specifically, to develop agriculture... Unfortunately, all our production is executed with crude methods: we lack technology, and therefore the production output," the minister said.
According to the minister, mechanization of CAR's agrarian sector is currently discussed in order to reach higher levels of production and export. Mboua Doumta also expressed her support of collaboration talks with Russian carmakers such as AvtoVAZ and KAMAZ about purchasing their products. However, it is necessary to ensure technical condition and security of CAR's auto roads at first, Mboua Doumta said.
Addressing partnership with Russia in general, Mboua Doumta stated that it is "developing really fast in accordance to CAR's and Russian presidents' desire."
"I think this relationship will get stronger for the benefit of Russian and Central African people... CAR remains the importer country, Russia is a priority partner for us, we welcome any goods we can import from Russia... Through partnership with Russia we can improve country's supplies and the citizens' life conditions," she added.
In October, CAR's National Assembly President Simplice Sarandji told Sputnik that Moscow and Bangui need to improve economic partnership as the republic needs investments in the real economy and it is ready to collaborate with Russia in resource export, agriculture and trade.
This past Friday, China and Brazil supported discussing the expansion of the BRICS format and stressed the need to clarify the guiding principles, norms, criteria and procedures for this expansion process based on broad consultation and consensus.
BRICS unites the world's largest developing economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. A number of other countries intend to join the economic bloc, including Argentina, Iran, Indonesia, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.