The Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Rural Development Institute (RDI) of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on December 18 and decided to begin the two institutions’ exchange and cooperation in earnest.

KREI President Choi Sei-kyun and RDI Director Li Zhou signed the MOU in front of the two institutes’ related staff members at the RDI in Beijing, China, and agreed to develop a close cooperative relationship.

KREI will prepare concrete plans for practical exchange and research cooperation through the KREI Beijing Office as soon as possible with this MOU as a momentum. At the time that responses to and partnership with Chinese agriculture are urgently needed since the conclusion of the Korea-China FTA in November, KREI visited its MOU partner organizations including the Research Center for Rural Economy of China’s Ministry of Agriculture and the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and discussed the two countries’ collaborative plans in agriculture.

Along with this, the KREI Beijing Office hosted the 12th Korea-China Agriculture Forum on “China’s Policy for Agricultural Industrialization and Industrial Capital’s Entry into Agriculture in an Era of FTAs” on December 17.