8 April 2015 – APFNet and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have agreed to deepen their partnership on sustainable forest management in the Asia-Pacific region.

At a signing ceremony on Wednesday 8 April at the APFNet Secretariat office in Beijing, APFNet Executive Director Qu Guilin and FAO Representative of the Regional Office for the Asia-Pacific, Patrick Durst (on behalf of Assistant Director-General Hiroyuki Konuma), signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) formalizing the new partnership.

“Regional and international cooperation is an important aspect of synergizing sustainable forest management efforts in the Asia-Pacific region” Mr. Qu stated,“in order to ensure maximum efficiency and impact of APFNet’s activities”.

The new APFNet-FAO agreement provides a framework for cooperation with the overall goal of developing capacity in the region for sustainable forest management (SFM). It will be facilitated through technical cooperation, trainings, information exchange, and policy development and implementation, with a focus on promoting SFM and reducing poverty.

The MOU signing took place during the first meeting of the APFNet Board of Directors at the APFNet Secretariat office.