Addressing the meeting, Mr Zubkov read out a message of greetings from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Mr Zubkov said:

"Among those attending this forum, there are representatives of federal government agencies, regional authorities, forestry industry workers, scientists and professors from our leading universities. We've come together to review the industry's performance in the past few years, summing up the experience accumulated over that period, analysing some of the problems and challenges we are facing, and planning state policies for the years to come.

"We had as representative a meeting a couple of years ago, at a national conference on the Forest & Man forum's sidelines. We've come quite a long way since then.

"We regularly discuss forestry-related issues as part of our work at the Russian government's Council for Forest Industries.

"Our mechanism of priority investment projects has proved quite efficient. More than a hundred projects are being implemented at the moment, with total investments at 410 billion roubles and timber consumption at 76 million cubic metres. Even during the global economic downturn of 2009-2010, we managed to implement a number of investment projects, launching several industrial facilities for deep timber processing. The next five years will see the launch of 47 other sites, with overall investments at 273 billion roubles and timber consumption at 43 million cubic metres. Those facilities are to provide an estimated 40,000 jobs overall.

"In 2011, too, the sector operated quite steadily, showing good results. There was 12% growth in timber output; the production of plywood grew by 7% and of furniture, 13%. The timber processing level rose to 65%, as compared with a little over 50 % just a few years ago. This is a result of efforts by all those involved in the industry, and I'd like to thank you all for your contribution.

"Since the current Forest Code came into effect, the Russian government has adopted a set of legislative, organisational and financial measures aimed at advancing the industry. As a matter of fact, we've built a new system of interaction between federal and regional authorities in forestry. We've standardised the managerial structure. We've identified new criteria for assessing how well the regions cope with the functions delegated from the federal centre. We've developed and introduced measures of state support for the industry. Specifically, we've abolished customs duties on deep processed wood and have made decision to subsidise interest rates on loans for re-equipment and inter-seasonal timber stocking. We've left unchanged the fee rates for forest wood and have brought down the fees on the use of forestland and resources.

"We've significantly streamlined our forestry legislation with regard to the prevention of wildfires, toughening penalties for violation of the rules of conduct in forests. An efficient system has been created to prevent and fight wildfires. This enabled us in 2011 to reduce the number of such fires by one third year-on-year, with the affected areas reduced by one fourth and the incurred damage, by a factor of six.

"The Russian government has paid a lot of attention to the construction of modern tree-breeding centres, to provide all regions of the Russian Federation with quality seeds. The construction of six such centres, with 50 million seedlings overall, is nearing completion. We've just seen a display featuring the centre that is about to be launched in Tatarstan. Its seedling capacity was originally set at 4 million, but has now been increased to 12 million. This one is expected to be a major centre; already, it is receiving orders not just from other regions of Russia, but also from CIS countries, such as Kazakhstan.

"Last year, the Russian government provided substantial financial support for the forestry industry. Notably, allocations for wildfire prevention and aftermath relief were increased to 11.8 billion roubles, up from 2.2 billion in 2010. About 2,000 new pieces of hardware were purchased as part of the re-equipment programme. We've just seen examples of that newly acquired hardware. A stride forward has been made, obviously. The government allocated quite a lot of money for the purpose last year (as much as 5 billion roubles), and it is determined to keep up the allocations in the years ahead.

"We will follow through on our forestry reforms. Let me highlight some of the key tasks facing the sector. First of all, there is a need to raise the efficiency of forest protection against illicit logging. This is quite a challenge. According to the Russian Interior Ministry, as many as 16,000 instances of illicit logging were registered last year alone. We cannot rule out that some of the wildfires in Siberia and the Far East have been the result of arsons staged to destroy the traces of illicit logging. Which is why regional authorities, the heads of forest ranger stations, and related public organisations should be vigilant.

"A draft law regulating the turnover of round timber is to be submitted to the government shortly.

"We should also continue our efforts to improve mechanisms of state-private partnerships in developing forests and building infrastructural facilities. Efforts should be made to advance biofuel production from low-quality timber. Its deeper processing will help us to substantially reduce costs in the utilities sector and in transportation. There are great prospects here, and those involved stand to benefit.

"We should also work to further raise the prestige of forest professions, notably through programmes encouraging young professionals to come and remain in the industry.

"These and many other issues are to be brought up at the forum's plenary session, as well as at panel discussions, whose agenda spans all the areas of forestry.

"We're also going to map out new state policies in the industry, setting long-term priorities for its sustainable development. Our forum will get the ball rolling.

"Let me wish you all effective, fruitful work."