1st Meeting of ROK-Qatar Smart Farm Cooperation 

Committee Boosts Cooperation in Smart Farming

Korea and Qatar shared information about their policy directions for smart agriculture; 

discussed ways for research collaboration such as verification of smart farming 

technologies; and discussed an investment proposal for construction of the Korean model 

of a smart farm innovation industrial complex in Qatar. Also, Qatar’s economic working 

group’s visit to Korea is expected to provide momentum for ROK-Qatar cooperation projects 

to move into a higher gear.

Sejong, 26 February 2024 — In the morning of 22 February, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food 

and Rural Affairs of the Republic of Korea and the Ministry of Municipality of the State of Qatar held 

the first meeting of the ROK-Qatar Smart Farm Cooperation Committee in Doha. 

The ROK-Qatar Smart Farm Cooperation Committee is a director general-level working committee, 

operated based on the Memorandum of Understanding on smart farm cooperation amended and signed 

in the presence of President Yoon Suk Yeol of the ROK and Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani 

of the State of Qatar in October 2023. The committee held its first meeting this year to promote exchanges 

and cooperation in the smart farm sector between the two countries.  

At the meeting, the Korean and Qatari delegations to the committee, headed respectively by 

Director-General LEE Sang-man of the Agri-Food Innovation Policy Bureau and by Director Masoud 

Jarallah Al Marri of the Food Security Department, (a) shared information about their policy directions 

for smart agriculture, (b) discussed ways for research collaboration such as verification of smart 

agriculture technologies, and (c) discussed an investment proposal for construction of the Korean 

model of a smart farm innovation industrial complex in Qatar. 

In July 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs enacted the Act on Fostering and 

Supporting Smart Farming. This way, we have been making efforts to expand the policy to foster 

and support smart farming. We are also working hard to promote K-smart farm export. For instance, 

we built pilot greenhouses in promising export markets such as the Middle East, and designated new 

global offices dedicated to support smart farm export.

Meanwhile, the State of Qatar established the Qatar National Food Security Strategy for 2018 to 2023, 

and is showing a keen interest in enhancing its food security through promotion of smart farming. 

In the first half of this year, Qatar’s economic working group will come to Korea to visit a Korean 

model of smart farm innovation industrial complex and smart-farm exporting companies.

Qatar’s visit to Korea is expected to provide momentum for ROK-Qatar cooperation projects to move 

into a higher gear.

Director-General Lee said: “Smart farming is gaining global attention as a way to respond to changing 

global conditions such as climate change and development of the AI industry. We will spare no effort 

in providing policy support for smart farm export. To this end, we will strengthen intergovernmental 

cooperation to ensure that K-smart farming technologies can enter more smoothly overseas promising 

markets, including the Middle East. We will also build a stronger support system for smart-farm 

exporting companies.”