Signed MOUs with the Rural Development Administration(RDA) and the Korea Rural Economic Institute(KREI)
Constructing the university-research-government cooperation system and Pursuing the globalization of the Saemaul Undong
[April 19, 2013]
YU signed the cooperation agreements with the KREI (left) and RDA to begin globalizing the Saemaul Undong and the Saemaul Undong spirit as well as supporting the ODA projects for emerging countries. Ahead of the 'Saemaul Day' on April 22, YU (President Noh, Seok Kyun) announced that they will fully pursue globalization of the Saemaul Undong and ODA projects for emerging countries through university-research-government cooperation on the 19th.
As part of this, YU signed a cooperation agreement with the RDA (administrator Lee, Yang Ho) at the 3rd floor main conference room of YU main administration building. This is to mutually cooperate in research and education to secure food security and support development of farming and rural areas of emerging countries. In particular, as there is large demand to learn from the experiences of Korea that greatly improved the farm economy through development and distribution of facility cultivation technologies, as well as achieving self-sustainability through the development of the high yielding rice variety named 'Tongil', they are planning to upgrade agricultural technology cooperation for emerging countries through government-academic cooperation. The RDA currently has Korea Project on International Agriculture (KOPIA) Centers in 15 emerging countries. Furthermore, it has established and is operating the 'Asia Food & Agriculture Cooperation Initiative' (AFACI) in which 11 countries in Asia participated and the 'Korea-Africa Food and Agriculture Cooperation Initiative' (KAFACI) with 17 African nations.
Earlier, at 11 a.m. on the 11th, the cooperation agreement with the KREI (acting president, Choi, Sei Kyun) was also signed at the president's office. The two sides agreed to work together to make mutual efforts for Korea's rural development, Saemaul Undong ODA projects and pass on the know-how of Korea's economic development to emerging countries. Accordingly, YU and KREI are planning to mutually cooperate in fostering domestic and international experts in rural development, exchange human and material resources, and collaborate in joint research. Acting president of KREI, Choi, Sei Kyun said in his opening address, "We newly established the international agricultural cooperation support team from this year to provide consulting on agricultural policies for emerging countries. We expect that YU will help considerably in localizing Korea's experiences."
YU President Noh, Seok Kyun replied, "The know-how and the spirit of the Economic development of Korea must be passed on together to maximize effects of ODA projects for emerging countries." He added, "We have established and continuously worked on the 'Park Chung Hee School of Policy and Saemaul', which is a base for academically systematizing and globalizing the Saemaul Undong, the Can-Do Spirit, the Economic development policies and leadership. Therefore, we hope that through this university-research-government cooperation system the efforts and achievements made by YU thus far will be the cornerstone for the success of Korea's ODA projects."
