A new milestone was achieved under China’s ’One Belt – One Road’ initiative when the Kazakh capital’s oldest university, the Kazakh Agrotechnical Research University (KATRU) in Astana, and the Government of Shandong Province agreed on close and comprehensive cooperation in various areas of the food and agriculture sector. The mutual collaboration will include the establishment of joint Agrotechnical parks, research centers, mutual technology and expertise transfers, application of Chinese processing technologies, and cultivation methods in Kazakhstan as well as the introduction of each other’s agriculture varieties in both countries.
A detailed MoU between KATRU, also known as Seifullin University and Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (SAAS) was signed in Kazakhstan’s largest city and business hub, Almaty, in the presence of Kazakhstan’s Minister of Agriculture Yerbol Karashukeev and Mr. Lin Wu, the Secretary of the Party Committee of Shandong Province.
KATRU Rector Professor Kanat Maratovich Tireuov and China’s Party Secretary of the SAAS, Mr. Liang Jinguang, signed the MoU.
“Based on the agricultural technology advantages of the two sides, research institutes in wheat, corn, sleep, cotton, animal husbandry and veterinary medicine, agricultural processing, and other fields will be established to conduct joint research and promote demonstrations,” reads one clause of the MoU.
As the MOU between KATRU and SAAS was signed in Almaty, a large delegation of the Shandong Provincial government led by Tian Weidun, the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Dezhou City, Shandong, visited KATRU’s main campus in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
Shandong is a coastal province in Eastern China, a well-developed agro-industrial region known since ancient times as a major grain producer with large grain storage facilities. Dezhou City is a tourist center with a rich history and cultural heritage sites. It is in the northwest of the Shandong Province.
The largest potato cultivation corporation in China, “Shisіn,” has been collaborating with KATRU since 2017, implementing joint scientific projects under the ‘One Belt – One Road’ initiative, resulting in the registration and cultivation of two new potato varieties in Kazakhstan.
Both sides agreed to establish a joint research center for potato breeding and seed production at KATRU. Mutual research projects, academic exchanges, and training programs are part of the agreement between the Kazakh Agrotechnical University (KATRU) and the government of Shandong Province China, and KATRU and Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences.