Guyana and Malaysia are to collaborate and share experiences on the development of their forestry sectors, the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.
A delegation from Guyana, led by Natural Resources and the Environment Minister Robert Persaud recently participated in a bilateral meeting in that country. Accompanying Persaud were the ministry’s forestry specialist Gavin Agard, and Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) Deputy Commissioner Tasreef Khan.
The forestry sectors in both countries’ economies play an important role in national development. To ensure that growth follows the correct trajectory, the Guyanese delegation participated in bilateral meetings with representatives from the government of Malaysia and senior executives from Samling Global Limited, which is the parent company of Barama Company Limited.
Bilateral discussions were centred on cooperation between the governments of Malaysia and Guyana on several broad thematic areas related to sustainable forest management, and avenues for collaboration and capacity building such as monitoring deforestation particularly, within the mining sector.
Extensive discussions with the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) and the Malaysian Timber Council (MTC) related to the implementation of the European Union Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (EUFLEGT) have proven fruitful since Malaysian counterparts have gained extensive experience over the past decade since commencing formal negotiation.
The Guyana delegation also witnessed several commercial forest activities such as a large-scale oil palm plantation and a state-of-the-art plywood factory, which will be further examined for technology and knowledge transfer for improved value added processing within Guyana’s forestry sector.
