1st meeting of the Liaison group 16-17th February 2017 in Ljubljana, Slovenia – China and CEEC Forestry
The Liaison Group of the Executive Coordinating Body of the Coordination Mechanism for Cooperation in Forestry between China and CEE Countries met for the first time on Friday 16th of February 2017 in Ljubljana, Slovenia to discuss the priorities and modalities of the future work of the 16+1 Forestry initiative. The second day of the meeting, the members of the Liaison Group joined the field trip to observe the forest management system of Slovenia and the presentation of Slovenian good practices of the forest management and of forest mechanization. The Austria and European Commission also joined the meeting as observers.
The delegates from 16 eastern and central European countries and China, members of the Executive Coordinating Body of the Coordination Mechanism for Cooperation in Forestry between China and CEE Countries met at the 1st meeting at Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food and adopted the Rules of Procedure Rules of Procedure for the functioning of the Executive coordinating body and the Liaison group of the Coordination Mechanism for cooperation in forestry between China and CEE countries and to adopt the Biennial program of activities of the Coordination Mechanism for Cooperation in Forestry between China and the CEE Countries for the period 2017/2018.
The Liaison Group discussed the priorities in scientific and business field of cooperation under the Coordination Mechanism for Cooperation in Forestry between China and CEEC and provided the guidelines for future development of the initiative 16+1 Forestry. Over 40 projects from the scientific research and business cooperation from 16+1 countries were discussed and streamlined to define the common priorities in the scientific and business cooperation in the field of forestry between 16+1 countries.
On Friday the 17th of February 2017 the participants have joined the Presentation of Slovenian good practices of the forest management and of forest mechanization.
Background
The Coordination Mechanism for Cooperation in Forestry between China and CEE Countries is a comprehensive plan to enhance cooperation in forestry. It has been discussed and established through a series of discussion on a wider 16+1 initiative.
On 6 November 2015 The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food of the Republic of Slovenia and the State forestry Administration of the People’s Republic of China signed in Beijing a Memorandum of understanding on establishment of the Coordination Mechanism for the Cooperation in Forestry.
On 24 November 2015, the 4th Summit of China and Central and Eastern European Countries (hereinafter referred to as “CEECs”) formulated and issued the Suzhou Guidelines for Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries, which confirmed that the Participants support Slovenia in leading the efforts to establish a China-CEEC coordination mechanism for forestry cooperation. The 1st China-CEEC High-Level Meeting on Cooperation in Forestry will be held in Slovenia in May 2016. It also issued the Medium-Term Agenda for Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries, which wrote that during 2015-2020, “the Participants will identify new channels of cooperation and encourage all-round exchanges in the forestry sector.
On 24 May 2016, the 1st China-CEEC High-Level Meeting on Cooperation in Forestry discussed and passed the Action Plan for the Cooperation within the Framework of the Coordination Mechanism for the Cooperation in Forestry between China and CEE Countries.
The Liaison Group (LG) consists of members from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, China, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, N. Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, and Slovenia, and observers from Austria and the European Commission will also take part in the meeting, and is an administrative body for the 16+1 forestry initiative.
Draft Biennial programme 2017-18
The draft Biennial programme 2017-18 sets the objectives and tasks and proposes a plan of work on each level of cooperation (administrative management, scientific research and education cooperation; Business and investments opportunities). The plan of work follows the priorities set in the Action plan for cooperation and is enhanced by your contributions.
The work on administrative matters is concentrated on providing administrative support for the work of the Liaison group, setting up of the web site and country visits to promote the mechanism and address any bilateral issues. As the Cooperation mechanism develops further and actual project work will be well under way, the cooperation on administrative level will become a useful tool in fulfilling the mandate of the Action plan i.e. to identify and avoid any administrative barriers.
For more info please contact the Executive Coordinating Body at 16and1-forestry.mkgp@gov.si
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