RI, China fail to agree on fighting illegal logging

RI, China fail to agree on fighting illegal logging

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia and China have failed to seal a key agreement in a
ministerial level meeting to fight against the trade of illegal
forestry products due to "a widely different perception".

Indonesian Minister of Forestry Malam Sambat Kaban pointed to
China's concept on illegal trade in which the country's
regulation stipulates that all commodities entering China were
deemed legal.

"In the ministerial meeting, officials failed to agree on
efforts to prevent the illegal trade of forestry products from
Indonesia to China as the latter did not care where the
commodities came from," he said at the State Palace on Monday.

The ministerial meeting was held to prepare for the signing of
eight bilateral agreements between Indonesia and China during
Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit after attending the Asian-
African Summit last week.

Despite the failed meeting, Kaban was optimistic that the
upcoming negotiation with China over illegal trade would bear
fruit.

Indonesia and China signed on Monday agreements on a strategic
partnership aimed at improving the already-good bilateral
relations between them which have been built up for more than 50
years.

"To reach a mutual understanding and concept on the illegal
trade of forestry products is a process. I'm optimistic that
eventually we will reach an agreement," said Kaban.

Chinese's booming economy has created a need for oil, minerals
as well as forestry products. The increasing demand in the
property sector -- to respond to the needs of richer Chinese who
build more houses and buy more books and newspapers -- means
there is a greater need for forestry products.

Kaban estimated that illegal trade in forestry products from
Indonesia to China, especially raw timber, in the past couple of
years has reached some 9 million cubic meters valued at Rp 18
trillion (US$1.86 billion).

Indonesia has banned raw timber exports since 2003, following
rampant illegal logging at home which has been caused by a
growing demand for timber from the forestry industry in China and
Malaysia.

A joint study by the Center for International Forestry
Research (CIFOR), Forest Trends and the Chinese Center for
Agricultural Policy last year disclosed that between 1997 and
2002 China's import on forest products rose by 75 percent from
$6.4 billion to $11.2 billion.

Preliminary figures suggest that imports reached almost $13
billion in 2003, with the majority of Chinese forest product
imports coming from Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Canada, the
study said.

Indonesia, Russia and Canada altogether account for over 60
percent of the pulp and paper imports, while Indonesia is the
largest source of plywood and lumber products for the world's
most populous country.

Kaban and Minister of Trade Mari Elka Pangestu had offered
China the opportunity to open its forestry industry in Indonesia,
in order to limit the trade of illegal timber and to ensure a
sustainable timber supply for its industry.

"We have offered them the opportunity to invest in our
downstream forestry industry so that they could receive a legal
timber supply from sustainable resources. We will give them
incentives if they agree to it," said Kaban.

China has made several moves to protect its own forests by
putting a halt to most logging in many areas and closing down
thousands of small factories and mills, resulting in the
skyrocketing import of timber, lumber and pulp.