DUSHANBE, March 12, 2012, Asia-Plus — A delegation of Russia’s Altai Krai, led by deputy governor Boris Larin, is arriving in Dushanbe today for a working visit.
The delegation’s visit will last until March 18 and during his stay in Tajikistan, the delegation is scheduled to hold talks with high-ranking Tajik state officials and visit Khatlon and Sughd provinces.
According to the Altai regional administration’s press center, the delegation members include senior representatives from the Altai regional administration, Altai’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), limited liability companies Almaz, Altayskiye Melnitsy (Altai Mills) and Topchikhinsky Melkombinat (Topchikhin Milling Plant), as well as Altai State University.
The delegation members will hold talks with senior representatives from the local authorities of Khatlon and Sughd as well as representatives of the business communities of these provinces to discuss expansion of cooperation between the regions in sectors like industry, agriculture, energy, transportation and trade.
The Altai regional administration’s press center notes that delegation of Tajikistan’s Khatlon Province visited Altai Krai in April of 2011. The visit reportedly resulted in signing of a protocol of between the regional administrations of Altai Krai and Khatlon Province for the expansion of trade, scientific and humanitarian cooperation activities.
Altai Krai is a federal subject of Russia (a krai). The krai”s administrative center is the city of Barnaul. Population: 2,419,755 (2010 Census).
The krai”s economy depends on agriculture.
The krai is situated in the southeastern part of Western Siberia and is part of the West Siberian economic region along with Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Tomsk, and Tyumen oblasts and the Altai Republic. The krai is favorably located close to major sources of raw materials, has a well-developed infrastructure, especially in the area of heavy industry, and an abundance of natural resources. It is a major industrial and agricultural region of the country.
Altai Krai is one of Russia”s most important agricultural regions. Today, farmland covers an area of 110,000 km², of which 69,220 km², or nearly 41% of the total area of the krai, is cropland. The main crops are hard varieties of spring wheat, buckwheat, millet, peas, barley, oats, and potatoes and other vegetables. This is this only region of Siberia where sunflowers, soybeans, sugar beets, and certain kinds of fruit grow.
Livestock farming specializes in meat, milk, wool, and egg production. Altai Krai is a major wool producer and an important base for breeding fine-fleeced pedigreed sheep, which makes it possible to export more than 30,000 head of pedigreed sheep per year. The territorial market also offers pedigreed swine, poultry, meat, eggs, honey, and wild products such as deer antlers, furs, and pelts.
Fruit-growing in Altai is made possible by specialists of the internationally known Lisavenko Horticultural Research Institute, which has developed a range of fruit and berry varieties adapted to the climate.
Today, Altai Krai not only meets the agricultural product requirements of its own population, but also the requirements of many other Russian regions. Altai exports many kinds of cereals, as well as processed grain products such as wheat and rye flour, pasta products, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, and flax fiber. The krai is Siberia”s largest grain, sugar, and meat producer and its second-largest cheese producer.
