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Korea Rural Economic Institute (President: Oh Se-Ik) hosted an international symposium on December 9, 2010 at Hotel Shilla Seoul under the theme of "Global Food Security and International Cooperation for Agricultural-Rural Development: International Cases and Korea's Role and Implications."
The symposium was a meaningful occasion as it focused on rural development for global food security when Korea's role in the world stage is growing fast. In 2010, Korea played an active role in the field of international development cooperation as it joined the OECD's Development Assistance Committee and hosted the G20 summit.
Participating at the symposium were officials from international organizations such as World Bank, Africa Development Bank, OECD, and New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). Officials in charge of international assistance affairs also took part from the United States, Japan, and Cambodia and delivered speech on topics such as international approaches for rural development, international cooperation cases by region, and agricultural cooperation structure.
Kim Hak-Su, chairman of Asia Economic Community Foundation and former secretary-general of UNESCAP, delivered a keynote speech titled "Significance of Global Food Security and Agricultural Cooperation." After the keynote speech, Christopher Delgado, strategy and policy advisor of World Bank, delivered a speech on international approaches to address global food security issues. Gengezi Mgidlala, agency director for strategy and knowledge management at NEPAD, introduced cases of Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme, and Joe Dewbre, senior economist in the Trade and Agriculture Directorate at the OECD, delivered a speech on the importance of agricultural development in solving the poverty problem.
Hesham Kandil of Africa Development Bank and Vathana Sann of Cambodia's Council for Agricultural and Rural Development presented cases of agricultural cooperation from the point of view of their respective country and region. Kathryn Ting, minister counselor for agriculture at the US Embassy in Seoul, and Akihiko Udoguchi, senior policy advisor of Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries delivered a speech on cases of agricultural cooperation from the perspective of donor countries. Heo Jang, senior research fellow at Korea Rural Economic Institute, and Bae Sang-Du, manager of Bilateral Negotiation & Cooperation Division of the Korean Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries introduced the structure, cases and policies of Korea's international agricultural cooperation. The speeches were followed by general discussions.
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