Côte d'Ivoire became the 10th
recipient country of the K-Ricebelt project and welcomed cooperation with the
Republic of Korea.

- Cote d’Ivoire became the 10th recipient country of the K-Ricebelt project by concluding the MOU 

- New Cabinet of Cote d’Ivoire with the focus on "food production" welcomed cooperation with the Republic of Korea 

In the afternoon of the 18th (Wednesday) local time, Minister Chung

Hwang-keun of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of the Republic of Korea had
a meeting with Minister Kobenan Adjoumani of Agriculture and
Rural Development of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire in West Africa, as a
special envoy of South Korean President, and signed the memorandum of
understanding (MOU) to include Côte d'Ivoire as the 10th recipient country
of the K-Ricebelt project and made committment to enhance rice productivity of Côte
d'Ivoire through agricultural cooperation between the two countries. 

Côte d'Ivoire is known as "Ivory Coast" and is the first African
country which began diplomatic relations with the Republic of Korea in 1961.
The country achieved a rapid economic growth which is on par with Korea's until
the 1970s. However, it has suffered civil war until recently. Also, while Côte d'Ivoire's territory is larger than three times the size of the
Republic of Korea, its rice production meets less than 50% of consumption
and its rice import reached 900 billion won a year. 

At the meeting with Minister Chung Hwang-keun, Minister Adjoumani
mentioned that the recent structural transformation of the government of Côte
d'Ivoire decided to include "food production" to the original title
of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, reiterating that the
government is focusing on achieving food sovereignty. The Minister
also went onto explain that the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire would like to
learn Korea's agricultural development experience in more detail by participating
in the K-Ricebelt project, as the Republic of Korea achieved rice
self-sufficiency and therefore is the "role model" of  Côte
d'Ivoire.

On his third visit to Africa after taking office, Minister Chung Hwang-keun
will meet Vice President Tiémoko Koné of Côte d'Ivoire who
had a meeting with President Yoon Suk Yeol at the United Nations General
Assembly in September and discuss the direction of agricultural
cooperation between the two countries in more detail on the 19th. The Minister
also will attend the "National day" event hosted by the Embassy
of the Republic of Korea in Côte d'Ivoire joined by high-profile
political and economic figures of Côte d'Ivoire, promoting bilateral
exchanges and making an all-out effort to win Korea's bid to host the World
Expo 2030 in Busan.