Foreign Investors Allocate $20M To Russian Regions To Implement 'Forest' Project

The implementation of the 'Forest' project, worked out by the International Institute for Agricultural Development Winrok International, has commenced in Krasnoyarsk Region. The Winrok International company is ready to allocate $20 million to five regions of Russia for implementation of the project. The project will be implemented in the territories of the Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk, Primorsky, Irkutsk and Sakhalin Regions. Anatoly Tsykalov, director of the Krasnoyarsk office of Winrok International, pointed out that this project is an ecological program, which can reduce the number of forest fires in the territory of the region and to decrease the damage causes by forest pests. The main aims of the 'Forest' project are to promote rational use of wood resources and to protect Russian forests. It is planned to achieve these goals by means of prevention of forest fires, control of the population of forest pests and use of new technologies for wood processing. Krasnoyarsk Deputy Regional Governor Anatoly Yakimov was one of the initiators of the project on the side of the Krasnoyarsk regional administration. The project was approved by all administrative and environmental agencies in Krasnoyarsk. Tsykalov believes that the project was not an initiative of foreign investors alone, because the regional authorities are themselves interested in the program, and accordingly, the decision to implement the project was made by both parties.