From Politics to Profit: How Minsk and Accra Are Transforming Friendship into Trade Figures

The atmosphere at the Belarus-Ghana Business Forum is extremely business-like. Interest in this meeting is colossal – over 150 representatives of Belarusian companies are ready to offer their ideas for further cooperation.

Representatives of major African businesses have come to Minsk to build economic bridges. Their shared goal is to find areas for developing fruitful cooperation.

Nikolai Borisevich, Director of the National Export Support Center:

"We have enjoyed truly excellent political relations with most African countries for a long time. But now the main challenge is to convert this political privilege into added value in bilateral trade and mutual business. It's not an easy market, as many countries are seeking to enter it. But our advantage is that we're not only bringing our own equipment and technologies, but we're also building our relationships on a partnership basis. And this is also highly valued by our African partners."

The forum is a platform for presenting the key competencies of Belarus and Ghana and discussing areas of cooperation between the companies. Ghana is focusing on the comprehensive modernization of its agriculture sector. And here, Belarusian expertise has proven to be particularly useful.

Bright Kwabena Ofori, Director of Business Development at the African Agribusiness Consortium:

"My company operates in banking and agriculture. We grow rice and other crops. We desperately need Belarusian equipment. Furthermore, Belarus is very strong in agricultural technology, and this experience is very interesting to us. I recently visited BELAGRO and sampled many Belarusian products. I think Belarus has great potential for exporting products to the Ghanaian market."

Dmitry Elkin, representative of an IT company:

"I'm very pleased with their openness to new proposals, because if you look at their region, they are probably one of the most dynamically developing IT countries in Africa. They are absolutely open to our proposals, whether it's ready-made products or support through our extensive experience in the IT industry."

Cooperation in education, healthcare, medicine, and IT is also a focus. The partners also discussed business ideas during B2B negotiations.

Simon Magee, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre:

"We are seeking partnerships across a wide range of sectors: from traditional business to the digital economy, artificial intelligence, and, no less important, mining, which is urgently needed. Ghana is a significant player in the mining sector, particularly in gold mining and processing in Africa and elsewhere. We see a unique opportunity to create synergies that will enable our two countries and peoples to prosper."