BUSAN < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(BUSAN=Yonhap News) Busan's drone system will be exported to Africa.

Busan City and Busan Techno Park said on August 2 that they recently had a launch on the pilot project of Busan-style drone system at the Ministry of Development, Investment and International Cooperation of Tunisia.

African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Tunisian Government joined the launch ceremony.

The representatives of the Tunisian Government and Busan Techno Park made presentations on the detailed plans to successfully implement the pilot project, explaining the role of each organization and scope of cooperation, and also signed an agreement on the 4th industrial revolution technology cooperation.

The pilot project is an economic cooperation project that was approved at the Ministrial Conference of the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation (KOAFEC) which was held in May at Busan during the Annual Meetings of AfDB.

Busan City and Busan Techno Park will establish drone system in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia and provide training program to nurture drone experts starting next month until April 2019.

The drones are used to create best growing environment for the crops including adjustment of temperature and humidity and management of disease and pests.

The KOAFEC Trust Fund (KTF) will finance the project with USD 991,000 (1.1 billion won).

An AfDB official said, "To develop agriculture of Africa which has 65% of the world's cropland, it is essential to introduce the technology of the 4th industrial revolution," and added, "We need to expand the drone system to all regions of Africa."

Starting with this project, Busan City plans to expand it to various fields such as delivery of agriculture and medicine supplies and facility management (road and power cables), in cooperation with AfDB.

Moreover, Busan will implement technology cooperation project including smart city and smart transport system which are the best policies of Busan.

"The drone project in Tunisia is the first practical economic cooperation project with AfDB," said Jae-min Park, Vice Mayor for Administrative Affairs of Busan Metropolitan City, and added, "We will prepare a foothold for Korea's drone industry to enter African market, and seek for mutual prosperity through cooperation such as drone technology transfer and training program."

joseph@yna.co.kr

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Source Text

** This article was translated from Korean.

Source: Yonhap News (August 2, 2018)