Press release 22.9.2003

FOREST ACADEMY FINLAND

- New approach for cooperation with the new EU countries

Forest Academy Finland (FORAFIN) is a Finnish initiative of a new forest
forum aimed at supporting EU's commitment for sustainable forest
management, and developing mutual exchange of views on forestry's role
in socio-economic development, particularly in the new EU countries.
Finland wishes to make a contribution in this respect, because in
Finland, like in many new EU member countries, forests play an important
role in socio-economic development. Finland is also a rather new EU
member country itself.

The economic restructuring process of the Central and Eastern European
(CEE) countries has lead to a number of changes in forest ownership,
management and utilisation in these countries. Meeting these challenges
has been on the agenda of many international forest policy processes.