Miory Regional Executive Committee
On August 24, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko heard a report on the work of the forestry sector in modern conditions and the directions for its improvement, BelTA has learned.
The head of state was presented the report by the Minister of Forestry Alexander Kulik, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Petr Parkhomchik, who oversees the industry, and Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Maxim Ermolovich.
Alexander Lukashenko recalled that a year ago, when appointing Alexander Kulik as Minister of Forestry, he warned of his intention to discuss the situation in the forestry sector. At that time, the President emphasized that the position should be held by a true master – open, honest, principled, who could bring order to this sphere.
"A forest is a forest. Almost half of the country is forest. It is our asset, given to us by God. And we must not only preserve it but also treat it as thrifty owners. We must timely extract mature timber from the forest, process it, so that this work yields results for the country. There were many questions then to former ministers, managers, people related to forestry, so out of all candidates, I chose your candidacy as a person who is absolutely down-to-earth, knows the forest well, and treats it as a nature lover," said Alexander Lukashenko.
"A year has passed. What has changed during this time? Especially in terms of export supplies, market diversification. We have a lot of raw materials in the forest, low-grade, as you say, wood waste, and so on. How do we remove all this from the forest, how do we process it? What do we get from this work?" the President asked.
When appointing the new minister, another task was set – to reduce the cost of timber for the population, so that people would more actively build housing in rural areas. "What is the system here? This is more of a question for the government, but also for you as a member of the government," the head of state noted.
He also inquired about the work on forest reproduction: "How is the work with planting material progressing? What are the problems here? I remember visiting your nurseries a few years ago, and we agreed to allocate additional land areas to you for cultivating planting material. Has this been implemented?"
"Order in the forest is the most important thing," emphasized Alexander Lukashenko.
As Alexander Kulik reported, under sanctions, the Ministry of Forestry has restructured its work. If before the sanctions, 60 thousand cubic meters of lumber were supplied for export monthly, now (after a logical decline) the supplies have even increased and reached 77 thousand cubic meters. This is a historical maximum for lumber export supplies," the minister stated.
Before the sanctions, the main sales market for Belarusian sawn timber was the European Union countries: 56% was supplied there, now supplies to the EU have ceased. Currently, the main consumers are China (52%, previously 37%), Azerbaijan (24%, previously 4%), and Russia (6%).
"The niche has been filled, and most importantly, we have increased both in volume and in millions of dollars. For seven months, we have supplied products worth $90.4 million," Alexander Kulik said.