GUIYANG, China, Oct. 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On September 17th, the Trilateral Local Governments' Forum on Three Rural Issues 2017 of the People's Republic of China, the Republic of Korea and Japan opened in Guiyang, China. Government officers from the three countries, representatives from the Food and Agriculture Organization and professionals from the agriculture industry attended to discuss the various issues in agriculture.
Although China, Japan and South Korea agree that agriculture is the foundation of society, they are all net food importers. The Secretary-General of Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat, Lee Jong-heon mentioned that the three countries all had food supply and food safety issues. He said in an interview with huanqiu.com, "In the global agricultural competition, China, Japan and South Korea fall behind the United States and Australia. Meanwhile, we face common challenges such as the reduction of arable land and rural labor force."
In recent years the central governments of the three countries have sought to promote co-operation. Deputy Party Secretary of Guizhou Provincial CPC Committee and Acting Governor Shen Yiqin pointed out that this forum not only established a platform for communication, but promoted in-depth co-operation.
The Dean of School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (SARD) at Renmin University of China Tang Zhong said in an interview with huanqiu.com that the agricultural circumstances in China, Japan and South Korea were quite different, therefore there are merely specific areas for them to learn from one another. For example, China's Guizhou, Japan's Saga Prefecture and South Korea's Chungcheongnam-do could share their experiences on mountain agriculture.
