ASTANA – Kazakhstan Vice Minister of Agriculture Gulmira Issayeva briefed the annual China Overseas Investment Fair (COIFair) in Beijing on 15 major Kazakh-Chinese agricultural projects in eight Kazakhstan regions.
“There are approximately 40 projects with the participation of foreign investors in the field of agriculture,” Isayeva said at the plenary session of the fair as reported by Kazinform. “Most investors are from countries such as Russia, Turkey, Germany, Ukraine, France, South Korea and China. The vast majority of the projects are implemented with the participation of Chinese investors. Currently, Chinese companies operate in the following eight regions of the country: the Almaty region (1 project), the East Kazakhstan region (5 projects), the Karaganda region (2 projects), the Kostanai region (1 project), the Kyzylorda region (2 projects), the North Kazakhstan region (2 projects), the South Kazakhstan region (1 project) and Almaty (1 project).”.
She noted the then Prime Minister Karim Massimov oversaw the signing of commercial documents (contracts, memoranda, agreements on establishment of joint ventures) between representatives of the Kazakh and Chinese businesses for projects in the agro-industrial complex during his visit to China in December 2015.
“One of the projects is in a livestock industry and four others are in crop sector,” Issayeva said, highlighting one project of building a tomato plant with a moderate level of activity with the participation of the COFCO Chinese company. She emphasised that the project is included in the list of 51 Kazakh-Chinese investment projects in the agricultural sector.
Issayeva discussed cooperation between Kazakhstan and China in industrialisation and investments, citing the processing of camel and mare’s milk, the production of agricultural machinery, irrigation systems, deep processing of wheat and the creation of its organic fibre.
The vice minister said agricultural and food production, which are part of these investment projects, have high export potential, especially in China.
She also spoke about the investment climate in Kazakhstan, state support of agriculture under the Agribusiness 2020 programme, major changes in the financing of agricultural and industrial companies in 2016-2017 and the attractiveness of the Kazakh trade sector.
China Overseas Development Association (CODA) is the organiser of the fair. This year, forums, seminars, conferences, round tables and many other activities of the fair were attended by around 6,000 participants from 80 countries and regions. The main topic of discussions at the fair was cooperation in the field of production and interaction in the implementation of the “One Belt One Road” initiative.
The main guests of the opening ceremony of the fair were Vice Premier of Chinese State Council Wang Yang and Vice Chairman of Russian Government and Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy in the Far East region Yuri Trutnev. The plenary session was also attended by the Governor of the Irkutsk region of Russia Sergey Levchenko, as well as other officials.
