As one of the partner events of the Second Asia-Pacific Forestry Week, the Asia Pacific Forestry Business Forum & Meeting of Outstanding Contributors to Forestry Industry was convened on 11 November 2011,  attracting over 100 participants from the private sector, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations.

The Business Forum aimed to enhance the balance of economic, societal, and environmental interests in regional forestry trade, and provide a platform to exchange experiences about pressing issues occurring to stakeholders during the implementation of related rules, regulations and ordinances through presentations and speeches delivered by presenters from prominent Chinese institutes and international organizations, including APFNet, EU-FLEGT Asia Programme, ETTF.

Mr. Lu De from APFNet opened the Forum by appreciating all the participants’ attendance and emphasizing the significance of the private forestry sector. He said APFNet would put in more effort to facilitate the trade of forest products and exchange information within the region.

Through the presentations made by Mr. Vincent Vandenberk from EFI FLEGT and Ms. Rechel Butler from ETTF, participants gained a comprehensive idea of the European regulations addressing illegal logging and related legal issues, including the introduction and implementation of the milestone regulation, The Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan.

Social responsibility, brand building, quality control, and other issues that forestry enterprises have faced were highlighted in the discussion session; entrepreneurs and officials from forestry enterprises and associations were given a chance to air their views.

The forum closed with concluding remarks made by Mr. Jin Zhonghao from WWF, he reiterated the necessity and significance of the ecological development of forestry enterprises to improve the forestry industry from a regional perspective.

The forum is sponsored by APFNet, with China National Forestry Institute Federation, World Wildlife Fund, EFI, and China National Forestry Product Industry Association as co-sponsors.