Once in Syktyvkar, President Putin noticed how tangled and neglected the Russian timber industry is.
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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Vladimir Putin Finds His Way in the Forest
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Syktyvkar yesterday to discuss the timber industry and its prospects. Meanwhile, Economic Development and Trade Minister reported that the long-awaited Forestry Code will be adopted at the spring session of the State Duma. Mr. Putin also insisted that WTO timber regulations should be suitable for Russian producers.
On arriving to Syktyvkar, the Russian president went to the city’s suburbs to the demonstration of a felling machine. Mr. Putin was shown a Timberjack feller at work on a piece of woodland outside Syktyvkar.
“This machine can replace 120 people, so the labor productivity rises 120-fold,” Russian Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref explained to the president.
More importantly, Vladimir Putin went to Syktyvkar to attend a session dedicated to the timber industry. The president breached upon his favorite topic at the moment – round timber, or unprocessed timber. The president lamented that the round timber is exported and processed abroad. “Our neighbors earn billions of dollars on the processing, pay taxes and raise pays there while we are still exporting round timber,” the president sounded indignant.
Vladimir Putin also spoke on the illegal felling claiming that “whole countries buy our timber illegally.”
Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko suggested granting preferences for major Russian timber-processing firms to buy round timber. Yet, the Russian president opposed the idea saying that major companies are not interested in round timber. Mr. Gref retorted, however, that it is a WTO requirement.
“We have not been admitted to WTO yet, so don’t scare us with it now,” Mr. Putin remarked. “Let them first admit us on the terms which will be acceptable for us!”
The session discussed the Forestry Code which has not been adopted yet. German Gref reported the code is 99 percent ready and the State Duma will pass it at the spring session. 3,000 amendments have been made to the code, the minister reported.
Andrey Kolesnikov
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 07, 2006
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