Kazakhstan and France developing agricultural cooperation

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NUR-SULTAN (TCA) — Investment opportunities in Kazakhstan’s agriculture and measures of state support for investors were presented during a major agricultural forum in Rennes (France) last week. The event gathered over a hundred participants, including representatives of the government, agriculture associations, and business community of France, Kazakh Invest national investment promotion company reported.

During the forum, a delegation comprising the Kazakh Deputy Minister of Agriculture Rustem Kurmanov, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to France Zhan Galiyev, representatives of Kazakh Invest, research centers and businesses held a series of meetings with the heads of large agricultural companies in France.

During the meetings, French business representatives learnt about Kazakhstan’s niche investment projects in the scientific field as well as in processing of agriculture products: meat, milk, potatoes, sugar beets, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables.

“France is one of the leaders in Europe for crops production and processing. Representatives of French businesses show great interest in projects for livestock and crop production. To date, more than 30 new niche agricultural projects have been selected and packaged. Together with local businesses, we plan to ‘package’ 20 more projects by the end of the year. In general, based on our estimates, additional unrealized potential in these area is about $10 billion,” said Saule Sabyr, a Project Manager at Kazakh Invest.

Following the meetings, Kazakh Invest and French companies MERIAL and LosteGroup signed memorandums for production of livestock vaccines and introduction of technology know-how in beef products processing.

Sergey Kwan

TCA

Sergey Kwan has worked for The Times of Central Asia as a journalist, translator and editor since its foundation in March 1999. Prior to this, from 1996-1997, he worked as a translator at The Kyrgyzstan Chronicle, and from 1997-1999, as a translator at The Central Asian Post.
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Kwan studied at the Bishkek Polytechnic Institute from 1990-1994, before completing his training in print journalism in Denmark.

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