MINSK, 22 October (BelTA) – A group of World Bank specialists is in Belarus on a visit on 22-26 October to provide assistance with the implementation of a project designed to develop the national forestry industry, the press service of the Belarusian Forestry Ministry told BelTA.
Belarusian Forestry Minister Vitaly Drozhzha met with the World Bank experts on 22 October. Their visit's program includes not only business negotiations and the review of the project's implementation's progress but visits to several institutions. On 24 October the World Bank experts will take part in the opening of a forest nursery in Glubokoye District, Vitebsk Oblast. On 25 October the team will visit a forest pedigree and seed production center in Minsk Oblast. On 26 October they will visit the Forest Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus in Gomel Oblast. The World Bank specialists are also expected to meet with Belarusian forest export specialists and forest management specialists.
Belarus became a World Bank member in 1992. Belarus initially borrowed $40.714 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and took a grant of over $2.7 million from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to implement a project to develop the national forestry industry. The first agreement between Belarus and the IBRD was signed on 2 April 2015. In April 2018 the World Bank and the Belarusian Forestry Ministry signed an agreement on an additional loan to the tune of €12 million. The project's implementation is supposed to improve the effectiveness of forestry industry administration, forest restoration and forest planting activities.
