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| A delegation of high-level government officials of Korea and Colombia attend a meeting, March 1 (local time). Courtesy of Rural Development Administration |
By Lee Kyung-min
A delegation of high-level government officials has discussed ways to fortify cooperation with three Central and South American countries in the areas of agriculture and spatial data management, the land ministry said Sunday.
Among the priorities of the delegation was to promote Korea's bid to host World Expo 2030 in Busan, mostly by strengthening ties with policymakers in Paraguay, Colombia and Guyana. They are members of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the intergovernmental organization in charge of overseeing and regulating World Expos.
The land and foreign ministries, two of the agriculture ministry-affiliated agencies ― Rural Development Administration (RDA) and Korea Forest Service ― as well as the Korea Real Estate Board, a land ministry-affiliated organization, visited the countires from Feb. 27 to March 3 (local time).
The delegation spent two of the five-day trip in Paraguay to discuss cooperation in agriculture research, forest services and spatial data management.
During the meeting, Edgar Esteche, the president of the Paraguayan Institute of Agrarian Technology (IPTA), expressed great interest in expanding cooperation with Korea, as cemented by Korea Partnership for Innovation of Agriculture (KOPIA), an RDA-led global development project.
The IPTA head said more public-private partnerships between the two countries will bear outcomes to the advantage of both in the long term.
Gloria Padres, the country's land administration head, and Paraguari Mayor Ariel Simbron showed particular interest in Korea's experience in spatial data management and land administration.
Christina Goralewski, president of the Paraguay's National Forestry Institute, highly assessed and praised the performance of Korea's forestry business firms operating in the country. She said that the stalled talks due to the pandemic to advance the forestry businesses between the two countries should promptly resume.
The delegation had a two-day visit to Colombia thereafter from March 1 to March 2.
The visit was in response to Colombia's repeated request for Korea to help it innovate and reform its land administration, as sought by the country's rural administration, environment and foreign and land administration authorities.
Colombia's minister of agriculture and rural development Cecilia Lopez Montano was among the top policymakers who said that Korea's help is vital to land reforms for "permanent peace and just distribution of wealth," according to the delegation.
The two countries held a forum to discuss policy steps, as tested and revised by previous case studies. Among the topics of heated discussion were low-carbon agricultural technology and genetic resource preservation as part of a long-term growth strategy to tackle climate change.
The meetings with officials of Guyana focused on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+), a goal for the global forest circle to better achieve sustainable management of forests and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks.
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