The Sunday Independent

Russia true friend, in need and in deed, boost for BRICS

ABBEY MAKOE Makoe is an international relations commentator

RECENTLY, the first ship with this season’s fresh fruit from South Africa arrived in the port of St Petersburg in Russia.

In the cargo were apples, pears, tangerines, lemons and grapefruit, a total of 3 500 tons of fresh fruit.

This is great news indeed, not only for the flourishing bilateral relations between Pretoria and Moscow but also for the rest of the family of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa).

The development of BRICS and its impact on global affairs has been somewhat lukewarm. Every opportunity needs to be seized in cementing economic and political ties between members and indeed as a group of like-minded allies.

Relations between South Africa and Russia dates back to the colonial and apartheid days when Nelson Mandela and the ANC found in Russia a reliable ally as they waged the Struggle for the emancipation of the oppressed people in their land.

Struggle icons including Moses Kotane and JB Marks were treated like kings in Russia, where many generations of the Umkhonto we Sizwe soldiers underwent military training in the Soviet Union.

MK soldiers were armed with Russian AK-47s as they waged their military Struggle against the apartheid regime in SA.

Without the feared Russian weapons it is inconceivable that our freedom would have been expedited as it were. The South Africa of today has a lot to thank the Russians for.

Many ANC cadres also studied at tertiary institutions in Russia, later contributing to the enlightenment of the new South African society following the dawn of freedom in 1994.

The Russians were true friends of the ANC and South African people in words and deeds.

Kotane was among the early ANC and SA Communist Party leaders and members who studied at the International Lenin School in Moscow.

Kotane was also bestowed with the highly acclaimed Lenin Peace Prize for his effort in liberating his people and nourishing relations with Russia.

Mandela was unwavering in his support for SA-Russia relations when he came to power as South Africa’s first democratically-elected president in April 1994. He, like many South Africans who visited Russia, never missed the opportunity to visit the burial site of Marks, Kotane and other South Africans who were laid to rest with pomp and ceremony at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.

After the exhumation of the remains of both Marks and Kotane in Moscow and reburial back home in South Africa in March 2015, the Russian government instructed the original burial sites in Moscow be retained as special historical sites.

Such are the ties that continue to bind the two countries.

Last week’s export and arrival of South African fruits in Moscow, therefore, had deeper meaning and implication in the long-time friendship between liberation fighters.

South African fruit has been on Russian shelves for almost 30 years.

The Russian consumer “eats” a tenth of all the fruit that South Africa grows for export.

According to media reports, Georgiy Keshishyan, manager of the chartering department, told TV BRICS about the progress of fruit transportation from South Africa to Russia.

“Baltic Shipping has acted as a fruit shipping operator for 20 years.

This season, we used a refrigerated vessel able to maintain the required temperature in the cargo holds with an accuracy of half a degree, at the same time keeping humidity, CO2 emissions and exchanges.

The quality of refrigerated cargo transportation is much higher than on other devices," Keshishian said.

He added that the cargo is going to St Petersburg directly, without any trans-shipments. The ship is expected to take 21 days to reach St Petersburg from Cape Town, and 25-26 days from Durban’s port of embarkation.

“Next year, Russia and South Africa will celebrate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations. South Africa is already one of the top three fruit exporters to Russia, and we are working to expand trade relations,” political adviser Cecile Heppes said.

Co-operation between the two countries in the supply of agricultural products began in 1994, when South African apples and grapes were delivered to Moscow for the first time in early spring. Since then, the volume of deliveries has steadily increased.

South African citrus fruits are the most popular in Russia. In addition, apples, pears, and grapes are exported.

Suppliers from South Africa manage to maintain attractive prices: high-quality oranges from South Africa are cheaper on Russian shelves than European products.

We need to expand the bilateral relations to other spheres of life. First and foremost, of course, is to rope in other business sectors into the fray.

I have previously cited Russia’s importance to SA. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia possesses a veto power that can always come in handy for SA’s national interest. That’s what friends are for.

SA, however, need to be a lot more clear and explicit about its foreign policy standpoint.

The country cannot afford to be wishy-washy. A foreign policy that is everything to everybody is no good.

A foreign policy that is based on running with the hares and hunting with the hounds is unreliable in the eyes of allies – perceived or real.

Mandela’s administration was unwavering in standing by traditional allies such as Cuba and Palestine.

The Ramaphosa administration owes the SA public a great deal of explaining where it stands on several international matters. It is always wise to make a choice and to stick by that choice. That’s what principles are made of.

METRO

en-za

2021-06-13T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-13T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thesundayindependent.pressreader.com/article/281767042168714

African News Agency