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Belarus in talks with WB over $40m loan for forestry industry

06.03.2015

MINSK, 6 March (BelTA) – The talks with the World Bank over a loan continue, Forestry Minister Mikhail Amelyanovich told a press conference on the forest management in the Republic of Belarus and Finland's experience, BelTA has learned.

When asked whether Belarus needs additional funds to approximate its forestry management standards with the Finnish ones, the minister noted: "We are negotiating the $40 million loan with the World Bank, of which $5 million will be used to purchase seeding lines and build greenhouses which will grow seedlings and planting stock. Part of the funds will be spent on new equipment."

According to the minister, the area that Belarus lags Finland worst of all is the cultivation of planting stock. When planting forests Finland uses 98% of ball-rooted planting stock while Belarus only 2%. Belarus is set to increase this figure two times in 2015 and up to 30% by 2020. This will be enough for Belarus, said Mikhail Amelyanovich.

As was reported, the negotiations on the project to develop Belarus forestry industry envisaging a World Bank loan were scheduled for late January this year. The project aims to promote more sustainable forest management practices in Belarus. In addition, the project involves the measures to improve the system of wildfire early detection and suppression.