ITTO, FAO and APFNet convene an Indo-China Regional Workshop on Forest Products Statistics

ITTO, FAO and APFNet held a Regional Workshop on Forest Products Statistics for Indo-China from 17 to 19 September 2014 in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. This regional statistical workshop aimed at providing assistance to a number of member countries in the Indo-China region to strengthen their statistical collection, analysis and reporting abilities. Participants from Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam attended the workshop.
 
In his opening remarks, Mr. Emmanuel Ze Meka, Executive Director of ITTO, highlighted that reliable and timely statistics are a key element for improving economic information and market intelligence on the tropical timber sector, as well as in crafting adequate policies to improve the contribution of the sector to the national economies.
 
The first two days of the workshop were focused on the improvement of data collection/validation in the participating countries. It was also an opportunity to discuss and resolve trade discrepancies between trading partners in this region. Participants presented their experience and solutions for improving statistics quality and vowed to increase their cooperation in order to solve trade discrepancies.
 
On the last day of the workshop, the participants visited two wood-based panel factories (Yunnan Yujiabao Artificial Wood Co., Ltd and Kunming Xinfeilin wood-based panels Co., Ltd) where they could observe wood flooring, wood pellets and furniture manufacturing.
 
The workshop gave the opportunity to strengthen the international collaboration on data collection on wood products and reinforced ITTO and FAO joint effort on data quality improvement.
 
During the workshop, Mr. Emmanuel Ze Meka, Executive Director of ITTO, met Mr. Qu Guilin, the Executive Director of  APFNet, and discussed issues on promotion of cooperation between ITTO and APFNet.
 
Prior to the workshop, Mr. Ze Meka also met with Mr. Wang Shouwen, the Assistant Minister of Commerce of China who is responsible for international cooperation in Beijing on 15 September 2014, to discuss issues relating to promotion and enhancement of cooperation and collaboration between ITTO and the Government of China.