Belarus, a leading tractor manufacturer, announced earlier this month plans to redirect its agricultural machinery exports to Africa following the European Union's ban on imports. This shift in trade flows has sparked discussions about its potential benefits for African countries and its implications for the global economy.
"There will be a higher equilibrium of a win-win trade between Africa, Belarus and Russia," Dr. Tafadzwa Ruzive, a PhD in development finance from South Africa's Nelson Mandela University, told Sputnik Africa. "They will get more technology and be able to produce more food at the same time."
He highlighted the advantages of fostering collaborations with Russian and Belarusian manufacturers for Africa's agricultural complex.
"Africa moves from simply being a food importer to actually making food for itself," the development expert explained. "This injection of technology is going to complement existing technologies in the African agricultural complex, making it more robust."
Pointing to the recent signing of a memorandum between Belarus and Zimbabwe for a bus assembly plant and Eswatini's Prime Minister visit to the Minsk Tractor Plant (MTZ) as evidence of growing African interest in Russian and Belarusian agricultural machinery.
"Belarus and Russia are coming along with equipment on affordable credit lines that we can take advantage of and use in agriculture and transport," Dr. Ruzive said. "For decades, it comes from the liberation struggle; they are our dear friends during that time, and they are our friends during this time, and it signifies a strengthening and maintaining of political ties."
The expert also suggested that the move opens up new opportunities "to stimulate the economic systems of the South to be able to industrialize."
He also emphasized the importance of BRICS initiatives encouraging trade in local currencies, which could facilitate investment flows between the countries of the Global South, especially those facing Western sanctions.