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LVM and the Ministry of Agriculture Sign a Memorandum of Cooperation with "Forests of Ukraine”

To develop and strengthen international cooperation in the field of forestry, on 28 September 2023 JSC “Latvia's State Forests” (LVM) and the Ministry of Agriculture signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation with the Ukrainian state specialized economic enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” (DP “Ліси України”).

The purpose of the Memorandum is to establish a sustainable partnership in the field of forestry, developing and strengthening cooperation in the field of forestry, making sound decisions with the aim of strengthening forest management, combining efforts to find external and non-governmental sources of funding for activities and projects, as well as restoring the forests of Ukraine affected by hostilities, including solving the issue of Ukraine's demining of forests.

The parties agreed on cooperation in a number of areas, such as effective forest management and preservation of forest biodiversity, automation of operations and introduction of IT technologies, as well as use of environmentally friendly technologies and planning of forestry operations. The parties also agreed on cooperation in the cultivation of forest planting material with a closed root container seedling system and in other areas.

“The Memorandum once again confirms our readiness to provide support, knowledge and recommendations to our colleagues – managers of the state forests of Ukraine. At the end of October, it will be 24 years since the founding of Joint Stock Company “Latvia's State Forests”. During these years, the forest areas of the Latvian state have been purposefully managed, ensuring both the sustainability and value increase of the forests, as well as the preservation and increase of natural values. During these years, we have gained valuable experience, learnt a lot, and learnt from the foresters of our neighbouring countries, we continue to develop and introduce the latest technology support in our daily work. Our experience will be valuable to our Ukrainian colleagues because there is still responsible work ahead, the results of which will be appreciated by future generations,” says Pēters Putniņš, Chairman of the LVM Board.

The tripartite Memorandum was signed by Raivis Kronbergs, State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Pēters Putniņš, Chairman of the Board of LVM, and Yuriy Bolokhovets, General Director of the Ukrainian State Specialized Economic Company “Forests of Ukraine”.

Within the framework of the Memorandum, the parties plan to organize the exchange of experience of specialists and employees, joint meetings and study trips, as well as the exchange of scientific and technical information on research and development in the field of forestry.