Talks on transition of Kazakh land to China speculation - PM.

ASTANA, January 20 (Itar-Tass) - Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov has described the further discussions on transition of Kazakhstan's land to China as speculation.

"The Kazakh land that belongs to our people will never be given to
anyone. I want to repeat these words once again," he told a meeting of the
committee for management of land resources.
"All rumours on transition of Kazakhstan's land to China or anyone
else are pure speculation. This is our official position. The other
question is whether we will sell products grown on this land. Yes, we
will, because this brings us revenues," Masimov said.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev told a meeting of the Foreign
Investor Council in early December that China requested Kazakhstan to
provide 1 million hectares of farmland to grow rapeseed and soybeans.
Soon after the meeting Kazakh citizens organized a rally in front of
the Chinese Consulate and drafted a petition on inadmissibility of
transition of the Kazakh land to foreign countries.
The rumours did not stop even after Deputy Agriculture Minister Arman
Yevniyev explained that China will get the Kazakh land "not in lease, but
for joint production." "In this case the talk is about the production of
soybeans and in the future - about corn and rapeseed."
"The project will be launched in early 2010. China's partners
coordinate the creation of relevant processing facilities on the territory
of Kazakhstan," he said. "This will be partnership relations among the
development institutions of China and Kazakhstan. By 2014 we will be able
to speak about 0.5 million hectares for growing soybeans, this is about 1
million tonnes of the export potential."
-0-isk/usn