On October 1, 2023, NARO President, Dr. KYUMA Kazuo and France's National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) President and CEO, Mr. Philippe Mauguin had a bilateral meeting aiming at strengthening the partnership between two organizations at the Kyoto International Conference Center where both Presidents also attended STS forum. They signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) on robotics and phenotyping and confirmed the commitment to strengthen collaboration in these areas and explore further research areas in the future.
INRAE is the largest and world-class agricultural research institute in Europe. In September 2016, NARO has signed a MOU with its predecessor, INRA (National Institute for Agricultural Research, France). In 2018, INRA merged with IRSTEA (National Research Institute of Science and Technology for the Environment and Agriculture, France) to become INRAE. Continuing close collaboration with INRAE will be extremely useful in achieving NARO's mission in the agriculture, food and environment fields and for solving global issues.
