Gansu Province (甘肃省) is located in the northwestern part of China and serves as a key corridor along the Silk Road. However, its exchanges and cooperation with Korea have significantly lagged behind compared to China’s eastern coastal regions.

From this perspective, the Korea-China Regional Economic Association envisions that bilateral private-sector cooperation should expand from the eastern coastal areas to the inland regions as well.

Until now, Gansu Province has mainly been recognized by Koreans as a tourist destination.

However, Gansu is located in the western part of China, along the upper reaches of the Yellow River, covering a vast area of 453,700 km² (ranking 7th largest in China). It is a loess region that merges with the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Mongolian Plateau, forming a fertile area known for its clean agricultural produce.

As such, the region is experiencing rapid growth in its agri-food and agricultural biotechnology industries.

On the 25th, the Korea-China Regional Economic Association (Chairman: Sang-Ki Lee) announced that a delegation from the Gansu Province Science and Technology Association, led by Secretary and First Vice Chairman Bao Junzong (包俊宗), officially visited the association with a nine-member team to hold a discussion meeting aimed at establishing practical cooperation in agriculture, forestry, livestock, and the life sciences sectors.

Bao Junzong, head of the delegation, stated, “Following our visit to Japan, we expect to promote exchanges and cooperation with Korea in agriculture, forestry, livestock, and aquaculture sectors through this official visit to Korea,” emphasizing, “Gansu is a clean area with altitudes ranging from 500 meters to 5,000 meters above sea level, and it holds substantial development potential in agriculture, forestry, livestock, medicinal herbs, and aquaculture."

The delegation was composed of two key officials from the headquarters of the Gansu Province Science and Technology Association, along with Tian Qing, Vice President of the Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and researchers specializing in flowers, fruits, forestry, agricultural economics, and biotechnology.

During the discussion meeting, the Korea-China Regional Economic Association selected its member company, Life Science Technology (LST) Group, as the primary partner for in-depth introductions and exchanges of mutual interests.

LST Group proposed specific cooperation initiatives to the Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences in areas such as livestock feed, seeds, and diagnostic reagents.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, LST Group (Chairman: Cheol Kim) is a life sciences and biotechnology group that operates seven subsidiaries in the United States and Korea. It is well-regarded for supplying a wide range of reagents and biotechnology equipment from major multinational corporations to public institutions and national research centers both domestically and internationally.

Through the discussion meeting, LST Group and the Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences agreed to form a task force (T/F team) to maintain continuous communication and plan to visit Gansu Province later this year at the invitation of the Gansu Province Science and Technology Association.

Meanwhile, the Korea-China Regional Economic Association plans to focus on providing a platform for practical cooperation opportunities by facilitating partnerships between government-affiliated institutions under local governments in China and Korea.