Russia invites Belarus, Kazakhstan to invest in agriculture

Russia has invited Belarus and Kazakhstan, its partners in the Customs Union, to invest in Russia's agricultural sector in regions east of the Urals, local media reported on Thursday.

Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told a forum that investments in Russian agriculture regions carry a huge potential for the Asian-Pacific countries.

"Sooner or later, we would need to attract foreign investments, from the APEC in the first hand. Now within the Common Economic Space, we offer exactly the same possibilities for the Belorussian and Kazakh investors," he said.

Shuvalov noted that Russia's wheat and foods export potential to the Far East countries has exceeded the potential of oil and gas.

"Export of wheat and ready-made foods must be more important than our oil and gas export possibilities. Feeding a (huge) number of people in the swiftly developing economies is a big responsibility and big opportunity for Russia," Shuvalov said.

Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan have been working on formation of an agricultural union which would unite meat, milk, grain and other foods producers in these countries.

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