Roads to Africa. How Ukraine is looking for ways to improve its position on the continent

Artem Gudkov, a native of Rovenki in the Luhansk region, came to Africa for the first time in 2014 – to "reboot," as he says. "Africa captured me at first sight – with its potential, size, ambitions," Gudkov tells  LIGA.net. Within a few months, he and his partners launched a business project in the Democratic Republic of Congo: selling frozen chicken from Ukraine.

"Until then, I had never sold chicken, had never been involved in international trade, had never been to Africa, did not speak French, and knew no more than 100 words of English. But in a few months we found a warehouse, trained a team, negotiated with buyers, and registered the company," he recalls.

When Congo became unstable, the partners returned to Tanzania: "We did a thorough research on all African countries and chose Tanzania to launch the trading company – because of our existing contacts, but also because of the stability of its economy, currency, political predictability and favorable business environment.".

Gudkov is currently the head of the Ukrainian-African Trade Mission, established at the initiative of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy in 2023. His task is to launch a Ukrainian agro-industrial cluster in Tanzania to "feed Africa" using its own resources, with the involvement of international investment, Ukrainian experience and technology.

In 2022, the Ukrainian government realized the failure of its international policy: African countries are the largest group of UN member states, where voting on resolutions on Ukraine showed their rather lukewarm attitude toward Kyiv and their favoritism toward Moscow. This was followed by realization of losses caused by underestimating the continent's economic potential, from which Ukraine could also benefit.

From this text you will learn:

• how Ukrainians in South Africa searched for and finally found each other and what happened afterwards;
• meanwhile, Russia influenced the continent through mercenaries, companies and the church;
•  why African countries are promising for Ukrainian businesses;
•  what is known about Ukraine's military involvement in Africa (it has been).
  
  
  
  

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