President Putin went round the Vilga tree nursery and met with officials of the forestry and timber industry.
Speaking to them, he said attracting investment to the timber industry was one of the most important objectives. He noted that the Government had been considering this question for some time and that a new wording of the Forest Code was being prepared.
President Putin expressed confidence that Russia had every chance of becoming a major exporter of high-quality forest products, and that the forest industry could bring in large profits.
He stressed that Russia possessed nearly one-quarter of the world’s timber resources. The Russian forests, he said, are without any exaggeration an ecological shield for our planet.
President Putin also mentioned the problem of financing the reproduction and protection of forests, noting that this burden was mainly shared by forestry enterprises, not all of which had the required funds.
He also said that one of the ways of increasing the effectiveness of forests was customs and tariff regulation.
The President said he also considered it necessary to improve the work of state agencies in fighting such problems as forest fires, tree diseases and wanton tree felling.
During his brief visit to Karelia the President also inspected the Kondopoga pulp and paper mills. The open joint stock company Kondopoga is a major newsprint producer in Russia and Europe. The mills are situated on the eastern shores of Lake Onega and have a workforce of 7,300 people. By 2002 their annual capacity had reached 545,000 metric tons of newsprint. Newsprint is also exported to such countries as Germany, Finland, Sweden, the United States, France, Norway, the United Kingdom, India and Turkey.