Daewoo Logistics wary about its farm project in Madagascar

By Ben Hancock
SEOUL, Feb. 11 (Yonhap) - Daewoo Logistics Corp. expressed wariness Wednesday
over growing political unrest in Madagascar and hoped that the situation would
not affect a massive farm project it is pushing in the Indian Ocean nation.
"It may be a bit of a dangerous investment," Shin Dong-hyun, a Daewoo Logistics
official, told Yonhap News Agency, commenting on spreading anti-government
protests in Madagascar. "We hope the situation will get better in the near
future."
The South Korean shipping company is pushing to farm corn on an area half the
size of Belgium for 99 years in return for investments in labor and
infrastructure but has not received full government approval.
Shin, who supervises the project at Daewoo, said his company has completed and
submitted all necessary surveys to the Madagascar authorities.
Violent anti-government protests have swept through the Madagascan capital of
Antananarivo in recent days. Security forces fired into a crowd of street
protesters over the weekend, killing 28 people.
Shin denied that Daewoo's farm project in Madagascar is linked in any way to the
unrest, but foreign news outlets such as the BBC and the New York Times have
suggested that the turmoil is at least partially due to Daewoo's proposal.
The two media outlets cited growing unrest among the country's agricultural poor,
who see the Daewoo deal as a "betrayal" by their government.
"I don't think the political turbulence is related to this project," Shin said.
"The news reports were a lie."
Asked whether Daewoo was comfortable doing business with a government that has
killed protesters, Shin said the deal is not being exclusively made with the
incumbent Madagascan government and stressed that his company will pursue the
project with whoever is in power.
"If they want economic development in Madagascar I think they will need this
project," Shin said, rejecting the notion that the deal is "neo-colonial," as
suggested by its critics.
Shin said the farm project is a commercial deal based on profitability but
stressed that it is also beneficial to Madagascar, a poor nation eager to develop
its economy.
He said the aim of the project is not to boost South Korea's food security.
"We will follow where we can maximize the profit," Shin said, whether that lies
in reselling produce to Madagascans or in other international markets, including
Seoul.
Shin acknowledged that the falling international prices of grain are making the
Daewoo project in Madagascar less attractive.
hancock@yna.co.kr
(END)