South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has made a speech at a conference on behalf of a Belarusian trade association.
He was speaking at a meeting in the Zimbabwean resort of Victoria Falls that was aiming to establish an African carbon credits market.
The global market in these credits, where they can be bought by polluters to offset greenhouse-gas emissions, could become very lucrative.
In his speech, Mr Zuma said he was representing the Belarus African Foreign Trade Association (Bafta). He added that it was supporting the African Voluntary Carbon Credits Market Forum and had therefore allocated two million “carbon offsets” to be placed on that market.
It was part of the effort to kickstart the initiative, the former South African president said.
Mr Zuma is a Bafta board member but did not discuss why he was working with a Belarusian organisation.
Belarus is an ally of Russia in its war in Ukraine and has therefore been shunned by many Western nations.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was in Zimbabwe in January, but it is not clear whether Mr Zuma has any connections with him.
During his nine years in power from 2009, Mr Zuma was not known for tackling climate change.