Beginning of 2013 will be difficult for Central Asian countries

©RIA Novosti

The beginning of 2013 will be difficult for Central Asian countries because of this year’s drought in the grain-yielding regions of the world, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Director of Kazakhstan Institute of Startegic Research Bulat Sultanov as saying at the conference called Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan: 20 years since establishment of diplomatic relations. “We are concerned about consequences of this year’s drought in major grain-sowing regions of the world: Kazakhstan, Russia, Canada and the U.S. This has already caused a rise of food prices. January-February 2013 will be especially difficult for Central Asian countries. Especially Tajikistan that 90 percent depends on export of Kazakhstan flour. Tea and flatbread is the main food for poor people in central regions of the country,” Sultanov said on the sidelines of the scientific conference. He also stressed that raise of food prices triggered by the drought caused a revolution in Tunisia. The conference was attended by Uzbekistan Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Kazakhstan Alisher Salakhitdinov and covered regional security in Central Asia, enhancement of trade and economic relations between the two countries, as well as interaction in water and energy sectors. Kazakhstan’s harvest in 2012 was half of what it harvested last year. According to Vice-Minister of Agriculture Muslim Umiryayev, this year’s harvest made 14.8 million tons of grain, which is 2.2 times less than last year.

The beginning of 2013 will be difficult for Central Asian countries because of this year’s drought in the grain-yielding regions of the world, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Director of Kazakhstan Institute of Startegic Research Bulat Sultanov as saying at the conference called Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan: 20 years since establishment of diplomatic relations. “We are concerned about consequences of this year’s drought in major grain-sowing regions of the world: Kazakhstan, Russia, Canada and the U.S. This has already caused a rise of food prices. January-February 2013 will be especially difficult for Central Asian countries. Especially Tajikistan that 90 percent depends on export of Kazakhstan flour. Tea and flatbread is the main food for poor people in central regions of the country,” Sultanov said on the sidelines of the scientific conference. He also stressed that raise of food prices triggered by the drought caused a revolution in Tunisia. The conference was attended by Uzbekistan Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Kazakhstan Alisher Salakhitdinov and covered regional security in Central Asia, enhancement of trade and economic relations between the two countries, as well as interaction in water and energy sectors. Kazakhstan’s harvest in 2012 was half of what it harvested last year. According to Vice-Minister of Agriculture Muslim Umiryayev, this year’s harvest made 14.8 million tons of grain, which is 2.2 times less than last year.

news Kazakhstan Kazakh grain Food drought Central Asia