More Slovenian Forestry in EUSTAFOR

The Executive Director visited Slovenia on 24-26 October 2016 to discuss further cooperation in forestry between EUSTAFOR and its Slovenian members. The visit started with the meeting with Mr. Dejan Židan, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, who explained the recent structural reform of state forestry in Slovenia and the national forest policy priorities and challenges ahead. The newly created state-owned company, Slovenski državni gozdovi d.o.o. (SiDG), has been given an ambitious task to contribute towards building up a domestic wood value chain. At the same time the organisation will have to deal with demanding sylvicultural and forest protection challenges due to the intense expansion of  the bark beetle infestation in Slovenia’s state forests.

The Executive Director’s visit was also a very good occasion to set up cooperation with Slovenski državni gozdovi d.o.o. (SiDG), which will become the 31st member of EUSTAFOR as of 1 January 2017. Mr. Miha Marence, SiDG’s acting manager, and his team explained the legal and organizational aspects of the new company and gave field presentations on the high value of the state forestry assets they have been managing since 1 July 2016.

During the same visit, the Executive Director met Ms. Irena Šinko, General Manager of the Farmland and Forest Fund of the Republic of Slovenia, who re-confirmed the continued cooperation of her organization with EUSTAFOR. Following the establishment of SiGD, the Farmland and Forest Fund will continue to be responsible for management of all purchase and selling transactions of  state-owned forest land on behalf of the government of Slovenia.