SEOUL, KOREA - CJ Group will work with the Korea International Cooperation Agency in helping farmers in Vietnam's Ninh Thuan Province. The group said on May 28 that it signed an agreement with KOICA on the 27th and will implement the "KOICA-CJ Saemaul Movement Creating Shared Value Program" within the province in the south central coast.

 

At the signing ceremony on the 27th, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam, Ninh Thuan Province People's Committee Chair Nguyen Duc Thanh, KOICA executive Doo Jung-soo, CJ Corp. vice chairman Lee Chae-wook were in attendance. The private-public partnership program is the first in its kind to transfer "Saemaul Movement" capabilities to a developing country. The Saemaul Movement, or the New Community Movement, was a political initiative launched in the early 1970s to modernize the rural Korean economy.

 

To that end, KOICA will be responsible for overall administrative work and official development assistance funding. Meanwhile, CJ Group will take charge of transferring specific farming technologies such as red pepper cultivation. The red pepper harvested from the province will be used to make red pepper paste products marketed by CJ CheilJedang.

 

The company will plough back some of the proceeds from the sales to the communities to build community centers, elementary schools, drinking water pipelines, and irrigation channels.