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Stakeholders Discuss Current Issues in the Latvian and French Forest Sector

As part of the visit of the Minister of Economics Ilze Indriksone and the business delegation of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, JSC “Latvia's State Forests” (LVM) Chairman of the Board Edmunds Beļskis and Member of the Board Toms Reiziņš met with the management of the French National Wood and Forest Federation in Paris on 9 February. During the meeting, LVM shared the company's successful experience in the digitalization of supply chain management, introduced the implemented innovations in seedling selection and cultivation, as well as discussed the common challenges of Latvian and French sustainable forestry and biodiversity conservation initiatives.

“In the meeting with our French colleagues, we gained confidence that we are on the right track when it comes to introducing innovations at LVM. Our achievements in the field of digitization of forestry processes and in the selection and cultivation of forest seedlings pleasantly surprised and intrigued our French colleagues,” Toms Reiziņš, Member of the LVM Board, talks about the meeting.

Although deciduous trees make up a total of 65 % of forest stands in French forests, while in Latvia more than half of the forest area managed by LVM is covered by conifers, the implementation of the national policy is essential for both countries. Wood products account for 36 % of France's renewable energy balance. Therefore, the issue of wood traceability is also important for France because the country is currently facing a significant outflow of logs to third countries of the world – this creates significant problems in the context of CO2 accounting and sequestration.

To strengthen the economic relations between the two countries, a return visit of French colleagues to Latvia will soon be planned with the support of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia.  “We will encourage all forest industry companies and non-governmental organizations to take active part in the organization of the visit. We can be proud of what we have done in increasing the efficiency of forestry processes by developing digital solutions, as well as of the decisions made collectively by the entire forest sector for process efficiency. An important thing that we may be able to introduce in Latvia is the French certification of professions related to the forest industry, the high level of independence and quality standards. It would be especially interesting to look at it in relation to issues of biodiversity protection,” concludes Toms Reiziņš, Member of the LVM Board.

Together with the Minister of Economics, a large delegation of Latvian businessmen went to Paris, representing the ICT, renewable energy, technology and environment, wood industry, textile, and manufacturing industries; the delegation was also joined by representatives of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, the Latvian Science Council and Liepāja's Special Economic Zone.