Ukraine eager to broaden trade with SA, says senior Aspen executive

Even as the bloody war with Russia drags on, Ukraine is keen to expand trade and investment with South Africa, said Stavros Nicolaou, Aspen Pharmacare Group’s senior executive responsible for strategic trade development, after his recent visit to Ukraine as a member of a South African business delegation.

Nicolaou said he had the strong impression that the Ukrainians were also eager for South Africa to play a greater role in negotiations to end the war.

He said the delegation’s discussions with Ukrainian business leaders had focused on agricultural trade and investment, including grain and fruit. Ukraine was also keen to sell poultry to SA and was contemplating investing in poultry production in this country.

The delegation met Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who visited SA with President Volodymyr Zelensky in April, as well as the Federation of Employers and the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce.

“Sectors that have been identified for further investigation of complementarities and synergies include agriculture, agribusiness. So grain was an important conversation,” said Nicolaou.

He noted that three South African agricultural associations and other business organisations had engaged in conversation with the Ukrainians since Zelensky’s visit to SA.

Ukraine was Europe’s breadbasket, and grain exports were a large source of revenue for Ukraine before the war. They were hard hit by Russia’s blockading of Ukraine’s ports, but Ukraine has managed to recover some of these exports through a successful military strategy of keeping Russian warships at bay.

“There’s also a discussion on the automotive sector, on healthcare, pharma, digitalisation, logistics,” said Nicolaou. The latter included talks on cooperation between the Port of Durban and Ukraine’s main port, Odesa.

And there had been discussions on importing Ukraine’s drone technology, which it has developed greatly during the war with Russia. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has punted the possible export of Ukrainian drones to SA, citing one possible use as the monitoring of rhino poaching.

Nicolaou said he had a separate meeting with Health Minister Viktor Liashko to discuss expanding health cooperation. His firm, Aspen, was already selling medicines in Ukraine and had donated five humanitarian shipments to Ukraine, including drugs, especially oncology and paediatric medicine. Aspen had also provided treatment for the victims of extreme war injuries, such as the loss of both eyes as well as limbs.

He noted that there would be an important health component to the post-conflict recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine.

“There are going to be a lot of people that are going to be damaged by the war and needing healthcare.”

He characterised Ukraine as a fulcrum for business in Eastern Europe.

Nicolaou nonetheless described the visit as “exploratory” because of the uncertainty around the continuing war.

Peace talks

Asked about the next steps for advancing business between South Africa and Ukraine, he said, “I think we’re waiting to see what happens in the next two weeks, as a country, where the US, Russia and Ukrainian peace talks go.

“I think what we would like to do is some type of facilitation as a country, even if it’s not at head-of-state level, even if it’s national security advisers or foreign ministers meeting.”

Nicolaou was in Ukraine at the same time as Zane Dangor, South Africa’s director-general of international relations and cooperation, who met senior officials mainly to discuss SA’s role in the peace process.

Dangor told Daily Maverick earlier that South Africa had begun playing a role with some form of shuttle diplomacy — for example, when President Cyril Ramaphosa met first Zelensky and then Russian President Vladimir Putin during the African Peace Mission to Ukraine and Russia in June 2023.

Read more: SA’s shuttle diplomacy between Kyiv and Moscow is at Ukraine’s direction, says Dirco DG

Dangor said that during his recent visit he had explored whether it was possible to revive this role in the light of the US peace initiative.

Nicolaou said his impression from the trip was that Ukraine was very keen for SA to play a role in peace talks. This was partly related to SA’s strategic positioning in Africa and also because of its position in BRICS.

He suggested SA’s role was even more important since the involvement of the US.

“I think it would be a massive feather in our cap during our G20 presidency if we were able to do some type of facilitation in Ukraine. I think that’s what we’re aiming for.”

It’s believed that Ukrainians are hoping for Zelensky to be invited to attend SA’s G20 Summit in Johannesburg in November to help boost the peace process. DM