A local female worker is arranging bottled tomato sauce in the Chinese-invested Xinkang tomato processing factory in Almaty, Kazakhstan on May 10, 2014. (Xinhua file photo/Zhou Liang)
ASTANA, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The central Asian country of Kazakhstan is the world's eighth-largest wheat exporter, but its soviet-era agriculture industry lacks the ability to turn agriculture resources into cash.
This is why when Chinese companies offered to invest 1.9 billion U.S. dollars to upgrade Kazakh food processing industry with 19 projects such as tomato, chicken and meat processing plants, the country saw hopes of adding lucrative value to its agriculture products to make up for losses due to low oil prices.
Gulmira Isayeva, the country's deputy agriculture minister, said "we have great interest from Chinese companies to invest in our Kazakh agricultural production system, we can export to China all products which we can grow in Kazakhstan."
The projects are part of China's "Belt and Road Initiative" launched in 2013 to promote trade with central and southern Asian countries.
Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov said "China is a growing giant, we welcome it's development. There's nothing bad in the growing presence of China in our part of the world."