The Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) held a joint international conference with National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan, from March 13th to 14th.

The conference, sponsored and participated in by the Taiwan Farmers' Association, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, and the Irrigation Agency of the Taiwan Ministry of Agriculture, was held under the theme "Sustainability and the Future of Agriculture". It consisted of four sessions: land, agricultural labor, rural development and agricultural sustainability, energy and environmental issues. Experts from seven Asian countries (Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines) participated in the conference, presenting and discussing major agricultural policies and issues in each country.

At the conference, Kim Yong-ryul, Director of the Rural Environment Research Division at KREI, chaired the agricultural labor session, and Um Jin-young, Director of the Agricultural Industry Innovation Division, gave a presentation. In the rural development and agricultural sustainability session, Research Fellow Lim Young-a presented, and in the energy and environmental issues session, Director Jeong Hak-gyun of the Macroeconomic Agricultural Policy Research Division presented on Korea's cases and implications.

Prior to the conference, KREI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with National Taiwan University to promote joint research and personnel exchange.

President Han Doo bong of KREI stated, "We held the conference to broaden the understanding of major agricultural policies and issues in Asian countries and to promote cooperation," adding, "To leap KREI into the world's leading agricultural policy think tank, we actively pursue various internationalization programs and plan to host the 2nd conference in Korea next year."