Kazakhstan may purchase land for grain terminal in Georgia

Georgian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Paata Kalandadze revealed that Kazakhstan may purchase land for a grain terminal on the Black Sea coast of Georgia.

Kazakhstan plans to purchase a grain terminal in a port in the Black Sea, and one of the options under consideration may be Georgia's ports on the Black Sea coast, he said.

He believes all conditions, including the existing transport infrastructure of the Black Sea ports of Georgia and the level of relations established between the two countries, contribute to this.

In late 2009, Kazakhstan's Agriculture Minister Akilbek Kurishbayev appealed to Prime Minister Karim Massimov with a request to consider the acquisition of a grain terminal in a port on the Black Sea. The Kazakhstan government and agriculture ministry are currently studying new export routes for grain supplies.

In late 2008, Kazakhstan had wanted to build a grain terminal at the Georgian port of Poti, but the country eventually pulled the plugs on the plan when Georgia and Russia went into a war.

Kazakhstan harvested a record 20 million tonnes of grain in 2009.