International Forests Centre created in Russia

Russian Minister of Natural Resources Valery Artyukhov signed a decree on the creation of the International Forests Centre, the Russian Natural Resources Ministry said on Wednesday.

The International Forests Centre was founded in Pushkino (the Moscow region) on the basis of the All-Russia Scientific-Research Institute of Silviculture and Mechanisation of Forestry.

The centre is to coordinate international activities of the natural Resources Ministry on the exploitation, reproduction and protection of forest resources. It will be also responsible for taking measures, implied by international conventions, treaties and agreements in forestry sphere.

Andrei Filipchuk, the centre's deputy director, was appointed the Russian Natural Resources Ministry's official expert for international negotiations on forests.