Polish-Korean talks in the Republic of Korea
14.06.2024
The superior objective of the visit of the Secretary of State Michał Kołodziejczyk to the Republic of Korea held between 9 and 14 June 2024 was providing support to the Polish entrepreneurs under the “Polish mean in the Republic of South Korea” project. The Deputy Minister was accompanied by Director-General of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Bogusław Wijatyk and the Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer Paweł Meyer.
As part of the visit, the Deputy Minister opened the Polish stand on the Seoul Food & Hotel fair, held numerous meetings with the representatives of the Korean administration on further extension of access to the Korean market for the Polish agri-food products and increase of food export from Poland.
Visit agenda
The agenda of the Deputy Minister Kołodziejczyk visit covered a range of meetings with the representatives of the Republic of Korea Government, including:
• 11 June – with Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy;
• 12 June – with the management of the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency;
• 13 June – with Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the management of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS).
Discussed areas
In the course of the visit of the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture to the Republic of Korea the parties discussed the following issues:
• extension of pork meat export to the Republic of Korea, according to all rules of regionalisation due to African swine fever (ASF) i.e. from all establishments located at the ASF-free areas;
• finalisation of the access procedures for poultry meat;
• enabling access of beef meat to the Korean market;
• extension of daily product export by new products;
• perspectives of scientific and technological cooperation between the research institutes supervised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the scientific entities concerned from the Republic of Korea.
Trading in agri-food products with the Republic of Korea
The Republic of Korea is a key partner from among the Eastern Asia countries. Due to long-term dependence on imported food, this country is a prospective output market for Poland. The bilateral talks aimed at speeding up the finalisation of the procedures for access of the agri-food products to the Korean market will be continued in near future.
In 2023, the level of the Polish agri-food export to the Republic of Korea reached EUR 82.6 million (increase by 9 percent y/y). Poland exports mainly milk and cream, which have recently accounted for 90 percent of share in the Korean market, followed by starch and beer.
