News

First Common Baltic Forest Days will take place in Estonia

24. avril, 2012

Within the Estonian National Forest Week, the first common Baltic planting of birch will be opened on 25 April in Kohila parish, Estonia, jointly by the Minister of the Environment of Estonia Keit Pentus and Minister of Agriculture of Latvia Laimdota Straujuma.

Invited guests include representatives from Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian national and local governments, non-governmental institutions and the forest industry, as well as the Estonian school children. 5 000 birch seedlings will be planted, grown in Estonian wood nursery Juhani Puukool.

The event is jointly organised by Kohila municipality, Embassy of the Republic of Latvia in Estonia and subsidiary of Latvijas Finieris in Estonia Kohila Vineer.

Kārlis Eihenbaums, Ambassador of the Republic of Latvia in Estonia: "It is a true pleasure and pride that we can directly contribute to greening our neighbour land Estonia. For Latvians, tree planting has even been a sacred act since ancient times. It is a comprehensive measure of friendship, understanding and hope for a better future. I am convinced that this Latvian investment in Estonia will be mutually beneficial and find a fertile ground for further development, since it begins with such a deeply symbolic event."

Uldis Biķis, CEO of Latvijas Finieris: "Continuing to develop our Birch Program, we would like to share our knowledge and we are open to new ideas from our Estonian colleagues. Joining the Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian experience provides opportunity to create an industry-wide competence bank for the whole Baltic region and better represent the joint interests of the three neighbouring countries in the global marketplace."

Forest Days in Latvia have facilitated the creation of Latvijas Finieris Birch Program. Last year Birch Program celebrated its 15th anniversary and since 2007 this tradition has been successfully implemented also in Lithuania. In cooperation with Lithuanian forest industry representatives and Forest Policy Department of Ministry of Agriculture of Latvia, State Forest Service, Latvian State Forests, Latvian State Forest Science Institute Silava and Latvijas Finieris as a private industry enterprise, a research study has been launched with the topic Forest Selection and Genetics.