Food security, healthcare named key areas of cooperation between Belarus, Africa

Belarus’ Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Aleinik told the STV television channel about promising avenues of cooperation between Belarus and African countries, BelTA has learned.

Sergei Aleinik named specific proposals suggested by Belarus that are being actively implemented on the African continent. “We have identified key avenues of interaction with the vast majority of African partners,” he remarked. “First of all, this is cooperation in agriculture. All African countries without exception want to ensure sustainable development of their agricultural sector and food security for their people. Thus, Belarus can offer its agricultural technologies, competencies and machinery, as well as fertilizers,” the foreign minister informed.

Cooperation with Zimbabwe is a case in point. “We have completed two stages of the agricultural mechanization program, which allowed this country to achieve complete self-sufficiency in wheat production,” he emphasized. “In 2023, according to Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the country began exporting wheat for the first time in its history,” Belarus’ top diplomat added.

Healthcare is another important avenue of cooperation. For example, Belarus is implementing a project to help run a hospital in Equatorial Guinea. “Naturally, cooperation in the field of healthcare with this country is much broader than that,” Sergei Aleinik clarified. “Everything is laid out in the cooperation roadmap signed by the heads of state during the official visit of the Belarusian president in December. Of course, the healthcare sector is important not only for Equatorial Guinea. We are implementing public health projects in Zimbabwe; other African countries are also showing interest in it, because public health is crucial for all African countries without exception,” the foreign minister concluded.