Photo: Julia PYKHALOVA
On the sidelines of the second Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum, Obed Bapela spoke about what is needed to bring the economies of Russia, the EAEU and the countries of the African Continental Free Trade Area closer together.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the country’s readiness to exchange best integration practices to speed up the economic development of African countries.
Obed Bapela points out that the past forum lays the foundation for early concrete actions in the mutual interests of Eurasia and Africa.
According to him, the issue that requires priority coordination is the optimization of logistics routes to facilitate interregional trade.
“There is a continental free trade zone in Africa, uniting 54 states, which reduces the tax burden on the turnover of locally produced goods. It is important to enter into a dialogue with Russia on creating such an interregional model, which will be synchronized both logistically and in terms of excise and other taxes,” Obed Bapela said.
Another important area of joint work could be the fight against illegal trade.
“It is important to synchronize the legislation regarding the measures to control the illegal movement of merchandise, to unify the digital control systems. So that law-abiding investors in our countries are protected”, emphasizes Obed Bapela.
He was confident that there was a sufficient number of businessmen willing to establish economic ties between countries. In addition, in order to prevent illegal trade, it is important to establish cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of Russia, the EAEU and African countries.
Illegal trade is destroying the South African economy right now. In many ways, this is a result of the ban on the sale of alcohol and tobacco introduced during the coronavirus pandemic.
The result was an explosive growth in the illegal trade, leading to much of the market for daily consumer products being controlled by illegal producers. This highlights the importance of a comprehensive regulatory impact assessment before implementing such bans.
“In the example of the tobacco products market, at one point the country was filled with illegal cigarettes, this is a big problem for legal manufacturers,” says Obed Bapela.
The illegal market reduces the amount of taxes collected, which directly reduces the well-being of the country’s population. Sharing experiences in combating illegal trade could significantly accelerate the pace of economic development in South Africa and the entire African region.
Cooperation between Africa and Eurasia has significant potential to accelerate the economic development of the two regions, synchronizing approaches to sectoral regulation of the most important industries and gradually increasing trade through the development of legal competition.
Practical steps in these areas are already in demand, so it is important to immediately increase practical cooperation, Obed Bapela is sure.
