The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) of the Republic of Korea said that the economic working group of the State of Qatar will visit South Korea on 27 May 2024. The two sides amended the Memorandum of Understanding on smart farm cooperation in the presence of President Yoon Suk Yeol of the ROK and His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of the State of Qatar in October 2023, and established the ROK-Qatar Smart Farm Cooperation Committee, a director general-level working committee.
On 22 February 2024, the two sides held the first meeting of the ROK-Qatar Smart Farm Cooperation Committee in Doha, as a follow-up measure of the bilateral summit diplomacy. The Qatari delegation's visit to Korea is part of a follow-up measure of the first meeting of the Committee.
Qatar's economic working group, composed of officials from the agriculture investment and banking sector, is headed by Director Yousuf Khalid Al-Khulaifi of the Agriculture Affairs Department of the Ministry of Municipality of the State of Qatar. From 27 to 31 May, the delegation will visit a Korean model of smart farm innovation industrial complex in the city of Gimje in Jeonbuk State, a province in the southwest of the Korean peninsula, as well as the Rural
Development Administration, smart farm exporters, and other places.
On 27 May, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs will explain, to the Qatari delegation, the current status of Korea's smart farms and related
government policies. Afterwards, the two sides will discuss ways of bilateral cooperation about the agenda talked over in the first meeting of the Committee.
In particular, the networking session following the bilateral meeting on the same day is expected to provide opportunities for Korean companies to discuss investment cooperation with the Qatari side.
Director-General LEE Sang-man of the MAFRA's Agri-Food Innovation Policy Bureau said, "Qatar's economic working group's visit to Korea has served as a clear evidence showing that overseas countries have a lot of interest in the competitiveness of K-smart farms."
Director-General Lee added: "We will make more efforts to advance discussions for cooperation with foreign governments, including the State of Qatar,
to ensure that such interest will lead to an increase in exports of K-smart farms. We will also continue to strengthen export support policies to help Korean smart farm exporting companies expand their business in overseas markets."
Source: mafra.go.kr