The two-day Global Legal & Sustainable Timber Forum (GLSTF) 2023, co-organised by the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) and Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), kicked off yesterday at the Galaxy International Convention Centre (GICC) in Cotai, which, according to the organisers, involves the participation of about 70 forestry ministers, prominent entrepreneurs, heads of international organisations, and renowned experts from 36 countries and regions.
Macau’s inaugural GLSTF, themed “Connect, Cooperate and Share to Promote the Recovery of the Global Tropical Timber Market”, features a forum, four specialised sub-forums and three related activities, all of which “focus on the market demand in the private timber sector”, the organisers noted in a statement. The results of two major international collaborative research projects, namely “About the Construction of the Global Timber Industry Index Platform” and “Research on the Collaborative Operations of the Blockchain-Based Timber Traceability System”, were released yesterday for the first time, the latter of which was conducted and followed up by a local research team in cooperation with international institutions.
Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong said in his opening remarks that the “2023 Global Legal and Sustainable Wood Industry Summit” “marks Macau’s first step in endeavouring to hold professional international conferences on the theme of timber in the city and a milestone in our participation in sustainable development”, which supports Macau’s participation in the nation’s development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Lei also said he believed that the success of the forum would speak volumes about Macau’s efforts and the leading role it plays in sustainable development, while demonstrating its strengths as the formally recognised “Best Convention City (Asia)”.
Lei vowed that the government would continue to set up a quality MICE platform, aiming to build on Macau’s role as a hub connecting the markets of the Chinese mainland, Portuguese-speaking countries and Belt and Road (B&R) countries and regions, while beefing up its functions in “connection, co-operation and sharing” to push forward cross-disciplinary and cross-sectorial collaboration.
In addition, according to Lei, the government will also continue to “deepen our cooperation and exchanges with international organisations and redouble our efforts to attract more professional world-leading conferences and exhibitions to Macau”, aiming to help accelerate the cultivation of the new “MICE + industry” and “industry + MICE” patterns, driving the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA) and Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.
Meanwhile, ITTO Executive Director Sheam Satkuru said during the ceremony that the event was being attended by almost 30 percent of the ITTO secretariat, congratulating “China as being one of the largest members of the ITTO, which contributes greatly to the work of the organisation and also its membership in order to fulfil the second mandate of the ITTO, which is to diversify the international trade in tropical timber from sustainably managed and legally harvested forests.”
ITTO, a multinational organisation, consists of 75 governments globally representing 80 percent of tropical timber exporting countries and 90 percent of importing countries, Satkuru said.
ITTO, which is headquartered in Yokohama, was set up in 1986.
“The sustainable management of tropical forests is always the first step to ensure the legality of the wood and the non-forest products that are derived from tropical forests,” said Satkuru, who pointed out that “the purpose of the GLSTF is to explore ways in which we can enhance a dynamic recovery of the tropical wood industry”.
Yesterday’s ceremony was also attended by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng, Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) Director Zheng Xincong, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the MSAR Commissioner Liu Xianfa, and Minister of Forest Economy of the Republic of the Congo Rosalie Matondo.
Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong (left) and International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) Executive Director Sheam Satkuru deliver their respective speeches during yesterday’s opening ceremony of the two-day Global Legal & Sustainable Timber Forum (GLSTF) 2023, at the Galaxy International Convention Centre (GICC) in Cotai. – Photo combo: Yuki Lei
