DUSHANBE, March 15, 2012, Asia-Plus — A delegation of Russia’s Altai Krai, which is currently on a working visit to Tajikistan, is conducting negotiations with senior representatives from the ministries of agriculture, economic development and education as well as Tajikistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) today.
Besides, they are also scheduled to meet with Russian Ambassador to Tajikistan Yuri Popov today, the Altai regional administration press center reports.
The delegation members also plan to visit Tajikistan’s Center for Agricultural Rehabilitation and Tajik Technical Institute.
On March 16, the delegation is expected to visit the southern Khatlon province, where the delegation members will visit the PANJ Free Economic Zone (FEZ) and flour mills in Sarband.
We will recall that the Altai delegation visited the northern Sughd province on March 12-13. The delegation members held talks with local authorities and visited the SUGHD Free Economic Zone and a number of industrial enterprises in the province.
We will recall that the delegation of Russia’s Altai Krai, led by deputy governor Boris Larin, arrived in Dushanbe on March 12. The delegation’s visit is expected to last until March 18.
Altai Krai is a federal subject of Russia (a krai). The krai”s administrative center is the city of Barnaul. Its economy depends on agriculture.
The krai is situated in the southeastern part of Western Siberia and is part of the West Siberian economic region. 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.
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.
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.
