KEY CONCLUSIONS
Economic integration boosts the development of the continent
«Establishment of regional economic
associations is an existing global trend of modern development of the humanity.
At the moment Africa has eight regional economic associations that pursue the same
objectives: to create favourable conditions for people and for business. The point
of these economic associations is by jointly effacing boundaries for goods, workforce,
capital and services to create more favourable conditions for implementing
their national sovereignty and realizing their economic and social development
potential,» Tigran Sargsyan, Chairman of the Board, Eurasian Economic
Commission.
«There are 55 countries in Africa,
and our leaders have come to a conclusion that it is important to integrate the
continent and make a transition from fragmented economies to a major economic block.
This is the largest block of this sort due to the free trade zone,» H.E. Amani
Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, African Union Commission.
«If you can enter the global market,
you have no barriers for development. But as we do not have such options, we start
with the integration scheme, interacting with neighbouring countries,» Caleb
Fundanga, President, Institute for Finance and Economics of the Republic of
Zambia.
Russian companies’ interest in African market facilitates cooperation
between EAEU and Africa
«The African continent is of special
interest for Russia. Today almost all our major companies work there,» Sergey
Katyrin, President, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.
«It is the development of business
processes that forms the economy, and our companies that are now actively interested
in the African continent, the EAEU countries, can support this trend of
cooperation between the largest associations: EAEU on one side, and 55
countries of the African Union on the other,» Nataliya Zaiser, Chair of the
Board, Africa Business Initiative Union.
PROBLEMS
The existing international economic system does not take into account interests of many territories
«Many states believe that the existing
economic system and international division of labour are not fair. Their national
interests are not taken into account, and the principles identified by the World
Trade Organization and in cooperation agreements between regional associations
and countries do not fully correspond to their ideas of fairness,» Tigran
Sargsyan, Chairman of the Board, Eurasian Economic Commission.
«Everybody sees Africa as a mainland,
as a continent. But what about the overseas territories? What about all these small islands? They
also have huge maritime territories, and nobody knows how to develop them separately.
<...> Can Russia help us draft a roadmap, an action plan to manage our ‘blue
economy’?» H.E. Usha Chandnee Dwarka-Canabady, Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade of
the Republic of Mauritius.
Business greatly depends on politics
«It is very difficult to build
a business without political agreements. In any country, no matter how democratic,
business always has to look to the authorities, their opinion on how much they
can cooperate with specific countries and their economies, and how this
cooperation is encouraged by their own leaders,» Sergey Katyrin, President,
Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.
«We had the idea to introduce a
common currency on the continent, but we faced some challenges and failed to
reach an agreement. How can we have a common currency if countries have different
policies, including in finance?» Caleb Fundanga, President, Institute for
Finance and Economics of the Republic of Zambia.
Russian banks are hardly present in Africa
«A great hindrance for our business
in African countries is the fact that there are no settlements in our national
currency, no correspondent accounts in roubles, which results in poor presence
of Russian banks in African countries,» Nataliya Zaiser, Chair of the Board,
Africa Business Initiative Union.
SOLUTIONS
Market expansion and development of integration
«The bigger the market, the more
consumers there are and the better is the private sector, the more jobs there
are and the better is the quality of life. <...> We advocate for the market
economy, and for us private sector is a sector that we should rely on in order
to develop the market. In this context partnerships with other regions and
private sectors of other regions is of great importance,» Liberat Mfumukeko,
Secretary General, East African Community (EAC).
«Most African countries have a
very low income level. If we want to level up to medium or even high income, we
need to develop the market to make it much broader,» Caleb Fundanga, President,
Institute for Finance and Economics of the Republic of Zambia.
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