The authorities of Russia's Republic of Crimea will assist in organizing business missions of Crimean entrepreneurs to African countries, the first of which may take place before the end of 2024 in Burkina Faso, said the permanent representative of the Republic of Crimea under the Russian president, the region's deputy prime minister Georgy Muradov.
"African countries are a very promising area for the development of mutually beneficial cooperation. One of these countries could be Burkina Faso, I recently had a meeting with a representative delegation from this country. We agreed to create organizational structures at the level of chambers of commerce and industry, business councils, business missions of Crimean and African businessmen," Muradov said.
According to him, Crimea is preparing proposals for interested Crimean businessmen on various areas of cooperation with Burkina Faso - these areas can be both trade and technical assistance. Muradov did not rule out the possibility of the first business missions before the end of this year.
The permanent representative also noted that Crimea, with its favorable geographical location, could become a "gateway" for the development of close trade relations with African countries.
"Why is Crimea interesting? First of all, it is close to the African continent. It takes 4-5 days to get from Egypt to us by a merchant ship. African countries can offer fruit, coffee, cocoa, peanuts, juice concentrates. All this is available in Russia, but it is expensive because it goes through intermediaries. We want to make a deal for direct supplies between these countries and the Russian Crimea. There is a willingness to conduct such trade relations at fair, lower prices," Muradov said.
He added that African countries are interested in Crimean agricultural products: wheat, flour, meat and dairy products, sunflower oil, as well as fertilizers. In addition, Crimea is ready to supply household electrical appliances, electric welding equipment, build passenger ships and pleasure boats.
"I can say that in the direction of Africa, we see a tremendous propensity for the development of economic cooperation with Russia, including Crimea, for traditional technical assistance to African countries - their industry, transport, agriculture. In addition, these countries are ready to pay in rubles for the construction of new facilities and new technologies. This is mutual interest and mutual cooperation," Muradov concluded.