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| Lee Sang-mu, CEO of the Korea Rural Community Corp. (KRC), speaks during a groundbreaking ceremony for the Rural Community-International Education Exchange Center (RC-IEEC) in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. KRC plans to open the agriculture education center, which will train government officials from 50 developing countries. / Courtesy of KRC |
By Lee Hyo-sik
The Korea Rural Community Corp. (KRC) will build a large-scale agriculture education center to train government officials from developing countries, spearheading Korea's efforts to spread its knowhow in agriculture across the globe, the company said Tuesday.
The state-run rural development agency said the center will educate as many as 3,000 foreign trainees annually, and offer more than 50 different academic and field training programs on farming and agriculture-related infrastructure development.
The company said it plans to complete the construction by the end of 2016 and start running the facility in January 2017.
The KRC held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Rural Community-International Education Exchange Center (RC-IEEC) in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday, inviting more than 400 Korean government officials and foreign ambassadors.
"Many developing countries are seeking to learn from Korea about how it developed its agricultural industry," KRC CEO Lee Sang-mu said. "To meet this growing demand, we decided to build the RC-IEEC to more effectively share our knowledge about farming, agricultural infrastructure and experience with the developing world. The planned facilities will enable us to share our knowhow in a more systematic manner."
KRC has already been helping more than 30 countries modernize their agricultural practices and participated in a number of rural development projects for developing countries, sponsored by the World Bank and other international organizations. KRC has also extended assistance to private organizations seeking to produce grains and other crops in farmlands abroad.
"The RC-IEEC will play a crucial role in spreading Korea's experience and knowhow in agriculture by inviting public-and private-sector government officials from 50 developing nations to come and learn," Lee said. "The center will contribute significantly to improving the livelihoods of farming villages across the globe."
The CEO then said Thailand, Myanmar and several other countries have already expressed interest in sending their government officials to the RC-IEEC. "We expect more nations will follow suit. We will do our best to offer practical, easy-to-understand educational and training programs when the facility opens in 2017."
The RC-IEEC will consist of a main building and three guest houses. It will cost KRC about 50 billion won ($43 million) to build.
The four-story main building will have classrooms, conferences rooms and other education-related facilities. The guest houses will be equipped with a total of 200 rooms, a gym, business center and other amenities.
The center will provider over 50 academic and training programs in areas of rural development, rural welfare and individual empowerment.
"We first aim to educate about 1,000 people in 2017 and gradually increase the number to 3,000. Besides regular educational courses, we will offer tailored programs based on students' needs," a KRC spokesman said.
