China-Japan-Korea Joint Communiqué identifying priorities for agricultural cooperation

A Joint Communiqué was issued at the First China-Japan-Korea Trilateral Agricultural Ministers’ Meeting, which was held in Jeju Island of Korea on April 15, 2012. In the Communiqué, the three Parties expressed their strong commitment to closer agricultural cooperation, and identified priorities and modalities for future cooperation.

The Joint Communiqué states that food security, plant and animal disease control, natural disaster response, researcher exchange, economic partnership as well as coordination under regional and international frameworks are the priorities for future agricultural cooperation among China, Japan, and Korea.

The Joint Communiqué declares to intensify cooperation in the following fields:

• To share information on plant and animal diseases of high prevalence throughout Asia, such as Food and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Avian Influenza (AI), and to consider the feasibility of establishing a joint center for disease control;
• To share information on natural disasters, and to exert concerted efforts in preventing and mitigating the consequences of natural disasters to agriculture;
• To evaluate existing researchers’ exchange mechanisms and share information on issues of common interests;
• To promote agricultural trade particularly grain trade, to intensify economic partnership among the three countries, and to push forward sustainable agricultural development;
• To enhance cooperation under regional and global frameworks, such as FAO, G20, ASEAN+3 and APEC.

This was the first trilateral meeting for agriculture ministers. The Second China-Japan-Korea Trilateral Agricultural Ministers’ Meeting will be held in 2013 in Japan.