Cardboard and paper cabinet

The government of Viktor Zubkov intends to increase the depth of timber processing

Viktor Zubkov, it seems, will go down in the history of the inhabitants of the White House as the prime forester. No one before him devoted so much time to forestry matters . And, at least, the next Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is also unlikely to be so actively involved in forestry. Mr. Zubkov created a special council for the development of the forestry industry under the government and headed it. He decisively travels around forested regions. He plans to monitor the situation at least monthly, as he announced last Friday at the first meeting of the new council. Although the new prime minister may appear as early as May, so there is very little time left for monthly monitoring.

At the council meeting, Mr. Zubkov presented figures that were unpleasant for representatives of the forestry industry. The annual global export (legal) of unprocessed wood is 130 million cubic meters. Of these, 51 million cubic meters are Russian round timber. The share of the Russian timber industry in the country's GDP is only 2%. Export of highly processed products is minimal. In particular, Russian exports of cardboard and paper do not exceed 2% of the world.

The prime minister named the creation of full-cycle joint ventures as a priority of his forestry program to fight for a place in the world market. “We need to finish purely raw material supplies and move on to creating high-tech joint ventures on Russian territory,” he emphasized. For this, Mr. Zubkov believes, the main thing is to remove all barriers to investment in the industry. “There are not enough available loans,” the prime minister complained. And he set a task for the Development Bank: to replace the credit resources of other banks with its own funds. The investment fund's money, according to Mr. Zubkov, will have to go “only to complex projects that have one hundred percent guarantees of environmental safety.”

Deputy Minister of Industry and Energy Denis Manturov, who oversees the industry at the departmental level, hastened to warn businessmen who want to use the cash desk of development institutions. “You shouldn’t have any illusions that the funds will go to everyone! First of all, they will be directed to infrastructure projects,” he said. And he said that five worthy projects were selected at the Friday meeting. “The cost of each of them ranges from 800 million to 2 billion euros. We hope that they can be launched next year,” the deputy minister noted. In particular, investment happiness will come to the Vologda, Arkhangelsk and Kostroma regions.

Prime Minister Zubkov also demanded bureaucratic recording of his forest plans. That is, the actual and final official paper. “We need a clear government strategy. Long-term planning,” he said. But, as it turned out, ministries and departments do not know how to quickly write concepts and strategies. Mr. Manturov explained that it would take six months. By August 1, 2008, the document will be ready for consideration at a government meeting.

Mr. Zubkov on Friday decided on the personal composition of the forestry council. This body included the ministers of regional development Dmitry Kozak, industry and energy Viktor Khristenko, natural resources Yuri Trutnev, transport Igor Levitin, head of the Federal Customs Service Andrei Belyaninov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Andrei Belousov, Deputy Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, as well as governors and scientists and entrepreneurs. The Council will meet at least once a month. The next meeting is planned to be an off-site meeting - in one of the many Russian forest regions.

Vera KUZNETSOVA