Qatar’s economic working group and South Korean ministry discuss smart farm co-operation

The Qatari The delegation 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 from May 27-31. Pictured is a greenhouse in the Smart Farm Innovation Valley, Gimje.

An economic working group from Qatar is slated to visit smart farm exporters in South Korea, followed by bilateral discussions for co-operation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) from May 27.

According to a statement from MAFRA, Masoud Jarallah al-Marri, director of the Food Security Department of the Ministry of Municipality, will be leading Qatar’s economic working group, comprising officials from the agriculture investment and banking sectors.

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 from May 27-31.

Qatar’s economic working group will hold a meeting Monday with MAFRA, which will explain the current status of South Korea’s smart farms and related government policies. Afterward, the two sides will discuss ways of bilateral cooperation regarding the agenda discussed 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 South Korean companies to discuss investment cooperation with the Qatari side.

Lee Sang-man, director general of MAFRA’s Agri-Food Innovation Policy Bureau, said: “Qatar’s economic working group’s visit to Korea has served as clear evidence showing that overseas countries have a lot of interest in the competitiveness of K-smart farms.

“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 businesses in overseas markets.”

South Korea and Qatar amended the memorandum of understanding on smart farm co-operation in the presence of Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in October 2023 and established the ROK-Qatar Smart Farm Co-operation Committee, a director general-level working committee.

On February 22, the two sides held the first meeting of the ROK-Qatar Smart Farm Co-operation Committee in Doha, as a follow-up measure to the bilateral summit diplomacy. The Qatari delegation’s visit to South Korea is a follow-up to the first meeting of the committee.