It's time for our special series on the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations which is due to begin tomorrow in Beijing. Today we focus on Kazakhstan's southern Turkistan industrial zone, where a niche industry is booming. A joint project between China and Kazakhstan under the Belt and Road Initiative has been launched for camel milk powder production. CGTN's Michal Bardavid reports from a camel milk factory there.

Beyond the beautiful red fields of the Turkistan region in Southern Kazakhstan, a new agricultural product is thriving - camel milk. The Golden Camel Group has launched a factory to produce camel milk powder. The production process is ready and is expected to be launched in August.

MICHAL BARDAVID TURKISTAN "This camel milk powder factory is one of its kind in Kazakhstan. According to the officials here, it's also the largest one in the world due to its daily capacity. The agreement to cooperate with China regarding camel milk is one of the 55 deals signed with Beijing within the scope of the Belt and Road Initiative."

ZHAZIRA OZATKYZY DEPUTY DIRECTOR, GOLDEN CAMEL GROUP "Ninety-five percent of our product will be exported to China. Nowadays the market of the China is a very big market for us, there is a big demand for the camel milk in China."

The production capacity of the plant is 100 tons per day. Good news for the farmers in the region who now have agreements with the factory to buy all of their products. The raw camel milk is bought from farmers and processed at the Golden Camel plant into powder.

However once at the factory, the camel milk goes through a selective process.

WANG LIJUAN HEAD OF LABORATORY, GOLDEN CAMEL GROUP "Once the milk arrives at the factory, we would take a sample of the milk and examine different indicators of the sample, for example, the percentage of protein, fat and acidity of the senses it contain, etc. After that, when the milk has met the standard, we will notify the workshop to take the milk."

There are many known benefits of camel milk such as the strengthening of the immune system and its use in fighting diabetes. It's also believed to have the closest components to that of a mother's milk.

Though it is a niche market, the interest in camel milk around the world is on the rise. The Golden Camel Group is aiming to expand its export market to Australia and Europe in the near future. Michal Bardavid, CGTN, Turkistan.