UZDA DISTRICT, 16 March (BelTA) – A presidential decree has been drafted to gradually introduce a digital system to keep track of timber and transactions with timber, BelTA learned from Press Secretary of the Belarusian Forestry Ministry Anastasia Dokuchayeva.
For the last few years the Forestry Ministry has been working to develop a universal state automated information system to keep track of timber and transactions with timber. The relevant instruction had been given by the head of state. The press secretary said: “We are supposed to work out the system and deploy it all over the country by 1 January 2021 provided the system is economically effective. As we develop the system, no doubt we would like to know what the general public and the private sector think about it. We see that today not all the colleagues of ours are ready to start working in the new conditions as from 1 January instantly. With this in mind, we've developed a draft presidential decree, which provides for introducing a digital timber tracking system in steps.”
If the decree is passed, the system will become operational all over the country by the end of 2021. “It will allow our country to approach the matter in an economically rational manner,” the press secretary noted. According to the Forestry Ministry, the approach will be convenient for the private sector and for the state-run forestry enterprises.
A pilot system has been developed and has been tested by the Uzda forestry enterprise for months. “We see that the sample works. We can deploy it for industrial use in Q4 2020,” Anastasia Dokuchayeva noted.
Two more forestry enterprises (the Grodno one and the Drogichin one) will begin testing the pilot system by the end of March. Three more forestry enterprises will join the process in April. Thus, the digital timber tracking system will be trialed by six forestry enterprises.
