When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991 due to various internal and external problems, Russia continued to be another influential force in world politics. The main manifestations of its power are its military and economic capabilities.
Journalists from various African, Arab countries, Turkey and other countries had the opportunity to visit the tractor manufacturing, machine assembly and Novorossiysk port wheat storage plant in Russia.
The main purpose of the visit is to introduce to members of the media what has been done in the field of food security in Russia. Russia is preparing for a major summit in the sector in 2024. The visit is also a part of the preparations for this conference.
I also had the opportunity to visit this great nation and traveled to Moscow with two Ethiopian media partners from Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation. After a short stay in Moscow, we headed to the port city of Saint Petersburg by train with a group of visiting journalists. St. Petersburg has a cold climate that reaches -7 degrees Celsius like Moscow.
The port of St. Petersburg is one of the seven major ports through which Russian ships transfer goods to Europe and other countries.
The city is not only a political and commercial center, but also a center of various huge industries. The main visiting target of the group was Kirovets Tractor manufacturing Factory (JSC Peterburgsky Traktorny Zavod), a huge center where tractors and various machineries are manufactured.
The factory manufactured and assembles 4,300 different horsepower tractors a year. It also produces not only the engine, but also each screw for the tractors. Which is one of the earliest in the history of tractor manufacturing industries in Russia, and it supplies products to different countries.
We were told that Ethiopia is buying tractors from the factory. Kenya, Egypt and other countries are supplying the products to different countries.
They manufacture and assembled huge tractors with up to 460 horsepower. From the small parts of the tractor to the big wheel and the whole system, it is tested in the laboratory.
Five hundred machines on which each unit of tractor is manufactured are equipped with computerized system. In addition, the factory also manufactures and uses bulldozers and snow plows.
The factory is undergoing an expansion project at a cost of 50 billion Russian rubles.
A day after visiting the center, we had the opportunity to visit Tauras-Fenix – Packaging and filling machinery, a factory where various packaging machines are manufactured and assembled. The factory, which has more than a thousand modern machine used to manufacture packaging machinery.
One of the machines manufactured in the factory is a computerized soft drink packaging machine. The machine produces bottles, washes and dries the bottles, and then helps to package beverages effectively.
The factory has 800 employees and produces 900 machines of various sizes annually. And it also uses a developed expertise mechanical design department.
After visiting the Tauras-Fenix our next trip was to the city of Novorossiysk. We had traveled for four hours by plane to reach the city of Sochi, which is remembered for hosting the Winter Olympics in 2014. After eating delicious fish and vegetable dishes in Sochi, we took a six-hour bus ride to the ancient city of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea coast.
In the city, there is an important port where wheat production is transported to different countries. Novorossiysk Grain Plant, JSC transports wheat to different countries of the world every day.
According to the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s orders, 25 thousand to 50 thousand tons of wheat is distributed to Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Somalia, Eritrea, Central African Republic and Mali. This wheat is mainly transported from the Novorossiysk grain plant.
The grain plant has various modern warehouses and storages, each of which can hold 40 to 100 thousand tons of grains. There are different railway lines that transport the wheat from the warehouse to the vessels using Modern elevators.
According to the deputy general director of the production of Novorossiysk Grain Plant, JSC, Sutchenko Evgeniy; Eight million tons of grain products from the plant center are transported to various countries annually.
An average of 25 ships per month makestheir journey on the Black Sea carrying wheat and other grains from the plant.
After completing the visit of Russia’s economic and industrial activities, we took a bus trip to Sochi, with overlooking the Black Sea.
And finally I can say that the Russians changed their country by working hard in a climate where it seems difficult to survive, where it snows for months. This strength of Russian manufacturing and supply is a result of the cooperation of its people, investors and government.
And I returned to Ethiopia with expectation that Russia will effectively host the big conference of the sector to be organized next year 2024.
BY GETNET TESFAMARIAM
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD WEDNESDAY 3 JANUARY 2023
