Russia
will earmark 400 billion rubles ($13 billion) to finance priority projects in
the country’s forestry industry to make the sector attractive for investment
and address its long-term problems, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.
“We
must also make forestry attractive for investment. We plan to invest over 400
billion rubles in 118 projects in the sector which have received priority status,”
Putin told a State Council meeting which discussed measures to increase the
efficiency of the forest industry.Russia’s forestry business has been in the doldrums for the past two decades, marred by poor governance, low investment potential and the growth of illegal felling and illegal timber sales.
Up to 20 percent of timber logging or about 35 million cubic meters of timber is illegal, with economic damage from illegal timber sales estimated at 13-30 billion rubles ($420-$970 million) annually, according to WWF Russia and World Bank data.
