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Governor says term of Russian land lease to China will be known within year

The authorities of Russia’s Trans-Baikal Territory announced their decision on leasing out to China a total of 115,000 hectares of land for a term of 49 years
Landscapes in Russia's Trans-Baikal Territory ITAR-TASS/Vladimir Sayapin
Landscapes in Russia's Trans-Baikal Territory
© ITAR-TASS/Vladimir Sayapin

CHITA, June 19. /TASS/. A decision on the time period during which the agricultural land in Russia’s Trans-Baikal Territory, in East Siberia, will be leased to a Chinese company is due to be taken within a year, the region’s governor said on Friday.

"The final decision on the issues of the timeframe of the lease, the cost and the area of the land to be leased and also the purposes of its use will be taken within a year, by the moment of concluding the agreement," Governor Konstantin Ilkovsky said.

The authorities of Russia’s Trans-Baikal Territory announced their decision in mid-June to sign a letter of intent with China’s Huae Sinban on leasing out a total of 115,000 hectares of land for a term of 49 years.

In comments on that, the governor said: "A protocol of intent has been signed that envisages the implementation of a joint project on developing the agricultural land. The amount of investments will reach around 3 billion yuans ($448.9 million)."

The key condition of the agreements with the Chinese is that the enterprises to be created will be registered with local tax authorities. Modern competitive crop and live-stock enterprises and also processing plants are due to be established there that will use environmentally friendly technologies, he said.

Regional Minister for International Cooperation Bair Galsanov said earlier this week that the Chinese investor would be able to increase the area of the land on lease, if the first stage from 2015 to 2018 was successful.

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