Trade between Russia and Namibia significantly declined by about 41% last year due to geopolitical tension, an official has revealed.
According to Minister of Trade and Industrialisation Lucia Iipumbu, the country is working on initiatives to increase bilateral relations in various sectors such as agriculture, mining and healthcare amongst others.
“Of course, by 2022, our trade statistics will have decreased by 41%. We all know why, and it’s because of the situation we’re in. However, this should not deter us from looking at the potential, particularly in sectors where we believe we have a competitive advantage,” she said during an Invest in Namibia forum at the Russia-Africa Business Summit in Russia on Thursday.
“We already know that Russia is very strong in agriculture, minerals, and health care. There are numerous sectors in which we believe we can collaborate and cooperate in the future. And, because we are here to market Namibia, we have a variety of investment opportunities that will be unlocked by the speakers who will follow me,” she added.
In a plenary session at the Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum Russian President, Vladimir Putin said Russia is ready to share its expertise in the field of agricultural production with African countries and to assist in the introduction of the most advanced technologies.
He asserted that with Russia being one of the leaders in the field of information and communication technologies, Russia is expanding cooperation with African states in the field of information security, artificial intelligence, and the digital economy.
“We have good experience in creating and using information technologies in tax administration, registration of property rights, provision of electronic public services to citizens and legal entities, companies. We can assist interested African countries in launching similar systems and are always ready to share our best practices in the context of technological development,” Putin said.
In order to further expand the entire range of trade and economic ties, Putin noted that it is important to move more energetically in financial settlements on trade transactions to national currencies, including the rubble.
“In this regard, we are ready to work with African countries to develop their financial infrastructure, to connect banking institutions to the Financial Message Transmission System created in Russia, which allows cross-border payments to be made regardless of some of the currently existing and restrictive Western systems. This will help increase the stability, predictability and security of mutual trade exchanges,” he said.
This comes as Simonis Storm Geopolitics Report reveals that Namibia’s top import products from Russia in recent years included wheat, ammonium nitrate (used in high nitrogen fertiliser for farmers), frozen chicken and frozen sardines.
Meanwhile, Namibia’s main exports to Russia in recent years included oysters, fresh grapes, collector’s items, frozen crabs and dates.
“Trade between SACU and both Ukraine and Russia combined is less than 2% of total SACU trade. Given that recessionary risks in developed markets have heightened, we do see this as a downside risk to Namibian trade in coming months,” said the firm.
