South Korea’s Agriculture Ministry said Monday that it had partnered up with PortugalFoods, a Portuguese food association, at SIAL Paris 2014, an international food exhibition being held in Paris from Oct. 19-23.

PortugalFoods is a Portuguese agro-food association, which was set up in 2009 to promote the nation’s food industry and to build networks with compatriot and foreign firms.

The South Korean government said the partnership was a follow-up measure to the discussion the presidents of the two nations had in July on cooperation between their food sectors. Lim Young-jo, head of the Agriculture Ministry’s national food cluster team and Amandio Santos, chairman of PortugalFoods attended the signing ceremony. 

“Through this partnership, we hope to attract more attention and investment from PortugalFoods’ 100 member companies in South Korea’s food cluster, Foodpolis, which will be set up in 2016,” Lim said.

The volume of bilateral trade between Korea and Portugal has grown to $5.4 million last year since Korea-EU free trade agreement went into effect in 2011.

During the exhibition period, the government plans to consult with 10 European food companies in the hope of attracting more investment in Foodpolis. It will also have extensive discussion with French food companies, Dijon Cereales and Chocolaterie de Bourgogne, which signed pacts with the ministry last year to set up shops in the food cluster.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)