The plan is to hold the Global Legal & Sustainable Timber Forum (GLSTF) annually in Macau in the future, International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) Executive Director Sheam Satkuru said during a press conference at the Galaxy International Convention Centre (GICC) in Cotai yesterday, with the aim of “providing a key platform on which to build this global network”.
Themed “Connect, Cooperate and Share to Promote the Recovery of the Global Tropical Timber Market”, the two-day Global Legal & Sustainable Timber Forum 2023, co-organised by ITTO and Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), in conjunction with the Global Green Supply Chains Initiative (GGSC), ended yesterday at the GICC in Cotai.
Macau’s inaugural event, which kicked off on Tuesday, brought together 700 representatives of 37 governments, enterprises, associations, international organisations, and research institutions in the forum, four specialised sub-forums and three related activities.
Satkuru said: “With Macau hosting this event, it is a very good, complementary and very productive and aggressive encouragement for the [sustainable business] operators…”.
Satkuru briefed the media during the press conference about which consensus was reached after the two-day event on how to promote the legal and sustainable development of the global timber industry and accelerate its recovery, including an urgent need to establish strong networks and partnerships, the building and improvement of legal and sustainable timber supply chains, the necessity of the continuation of the GLSTF, and the establishment of legal and sustainable timber industrial parks.
In a speech delivered at the press conference, IPIM Executive Director Sam Lei Chou Sam underlined the “great significance” brought by the forum to Macau: “GLSTF 2023 has contributed to the further development of Macau’s MICE industry and its peripheral industries, boosted the integration of sustainable development and the MICE industry, and played an active role in guiding Macau’s green, diversified, and international development.”
MICE stands for meetings, incentives, conferences/conventions and exhibitions/events.
Lei vowed that Macau would “actively” promote green and low-carbon development, strengthen the development of an ecological civilisation, and foster the high-quality, sustainable development of the timber industry while, at the same time, IPIM would also continue its efforts in deepening cooperation with all parties, making full use of both Macau’s software and hardware facilities and providing all-round support for holding more international and specialised MICE events in Macau.
International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) Executive Director Sheam Satkuru (centre), Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) Executive Director Sam Lei Chou Sam (left) and Global Green Supply Chains Initiative (GGSC) Secretary General Luo Xinjian pose during yesterday’s press conference by the Global Legal & Sustainable Timber Forum (GLSTF) 2023, at the Galaxy International Convention Centre (GICC) in Cotai. – Photo: Yuki Lei
