REMARKS OF H.E. CHO JUNE-HYUCK
AMBASSADOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA TO CAMEROON
ON THE OCCASION OF THE OPENING CEREMONY
OF THE SECOND CAMEROON AND KOREA AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION WORKSHOP
HILTON HOTEL, YAOUNDE MAY 13, 2013
……….
His Excellency, Mr. Lazare ESSIMI MENYE Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development;
Dr. Tae Beom Seok, Rector of Hankyoung National University;
Pr. Anaclet Fomethe, Rector of Dschang University
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
On behalf of the Korean Government, I am very delighted to be with you today to launch the Second Cameroon/Korea Agriculture Cooperation Workshop. Accept my sincere appreciation for the time you have taken off your busy schedules to be here now and to give this workshop the meaning it deserves.
As you well know, the First Cameroon/Korea Agriculture Cooperation Workshop took place last November 2012, coming on the heels of the laying of the foundation stone of the “Mechanized Complex Development Project for Irrigated Rice Cultivation in the Center Region of Cameroon”, so called Avangane Project.
Today, the project is being carried out on 20 hectares of land. Meanwhile, half a hectare of Korean and Cameroonian rice has been experimented,
hectares has advanced tremendously and is expected to be completed by July this year with the building of pumping station and connection of pipes to run throughout the paddy field.
If we call it the ‘first step’ of our sincere cooperation in the agricultural sector, then I feel very honoured to launch this Second Cameroon/Korea Agriculture Cooperation Workshop. This workshop will further ensure significant and tangible progress, allowing our two nations to cooperate on long term basis in the agricultural sector.
Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen,
First, a Follow-Up Project to the Avangane project which will include an additional 50 hectares of land and the construction of a training center is under discussion. I am sure that this training center will play an important role in transferring Korean rural development experience, know-how and technology to Cameroon. A feasibility study team led by the Korea Rural Community Corporation (KRC) is working on the project and they are present here with us today.
Second, Hankyoung National University in charge of “Avangane Project” and the University of Dschang, specialized in agriculture, will
sign a MOU to promote educational and academic exchange as well as cooperation between the two universities. This MOU is the first one that Korean and Cameroonian universities will sign and it will contribute not only to promoting exchanges between the two universities, but also cooperation between the two countries, especially in the agriculture sector.
Third, we are going to enlarge the scope of our cooperation even further to ‘Saemaul Undong’, which is Korean rural development movement characterized by ‘Can do spirit’. Through our presentation about
‘Saemaul Undong’, we want to share our own experience of rural development and talk about how to combine it with other projects.
Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Comme je l'ai mentionné au cours du premier Workshop, La République de Corée, également considérée comme une nation agricole au début des années 1980, a fait des efforts remarquables pour renforcer sa compétitivité agricole. En modernisant ses systèmes d'irrigation, de mécanisation et instituant le remembrement des terres, elle a réussi à améliorer sa productivité agricole. Aujourd'hui, elle est devenue une nation industrialisée, important 70% de la demande intérieure annuelle de céréales. Cela montre la nécessité d'une coopération profonde entre
nos deux pays, notamment dans le domaine de l'agriculture. En partageant ses expériences avec le Cameroun, la Corée souhaite contribuer au renforcement de la compétitivité de l'agriculture du pays, à la création d'emplois tout en attirant les entreprises coréennes agro- alliées dans ses marchés et dans les marchés sous-régionaux, dans un partenariat gagnant-gagnant.
Grâce à ce deuxième Workshop, nous espérons contribuer à la réussite des projets de coopération dans le domaine de l'agriculture, tel que le projet Avangane et à soutenir la nouvelle politique agricole de deuxième génération, envisagée par le gouvernement du Cameroun.
While hoping that this Workshop will provide an opportunity to evaluate what has been done in terms of successful results, let me conclude by thanking once more, on the behalf of Korean Government, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for their constructive support to the implementation of the second phase of this project, the Hankyoung National University and Dschang University for their willingness to promote educational and academic exchange and cooperation between the two universities.
Thank you for your kind attention!!!!
