MINSK, 11 October (BelTA) - Zimbabwe is showing interest in Belarusian forest management technologies, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Forestry Ministry.
The Forestry Ministry was visited by the delegation of Zimbabwe's biggest logging company Allied Timbers Private Limited, headed by CEO Daniel Sithole. The meeting took place during the working trip of the company's management to Belarus and to OAO Amkodor, in particular. The guests were interested in the efficiency of multi-operation forestry equipment, including the development of windfalls, timber harvesting in Belarus, planting material growing technologies, and the personnel training system.
The delegation of the African country praised the quality of Belarusian products and the performance of domestic foresters. The CEO of Allied Timbers Private Limited stressed that they are primarily interested in technologies that will correspond to the growth rate of trees: in Zimbabwe, the age of ripeness of a pine is 20-25 years, and that of a eucalyptus is 15 years. These are the trees Zimbabweans use in commercial purposes. Daniel Sithole expressed confidence that Belarus will be able to give Zimbabwe the necessary technologies and thus expand cooperation between the countries.
Attending the meeting on Belarus' behalf was head of the production and sales department Alexander Surta, his deputy Vladimir Shut, and also head of the economy and investment department Igor Malashevich. Alexander Surta noted that the Belarusian forestry sector aims at reaching the 65% share of mechanized logging by 2020. “Over the past five years the share of mechanized logging grew from 5% to 50%. Today Amkodor produces a wide range of multi-operation logging equipment,” he said.
