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A familiarization visit of wood industry representatives from Finland

A delegation of wood industry representatives from Finland, initiated by the local federation representing the forest-wood sector, the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF), was hosted in Warsaw on December 3-4, 2024. Like our Association, the industry organization from Scandinavia is affiliated with the structure of the Confederation of European Paper Indutries (Cepi), based in Brussels. The main purpose of the visit, as declared by our guests, was to get acquainted with the realities of the operation of the industry based on wood raw material in Poland. What our guests did not hide, the choice of date was determined by entering the final phase of our country’s preparation for the Polish presidency of the EU Council from January 1, 2025. Consequently, one of the leading contexts discussed during the talks were the priorities that will soon be announced in the official agenda of our presidency program, in the 1st semester of 2025.

On the part of our industry partners, the delegation was led by Paula Lehtomaki (CEO of FFIF) who previously held top government positions in Finland, namely Minister of the Environment and Minister of Development Cooperation and International Trade. Representatives from FFIF included: Kaisu Karvala (Dept. of the FFIF Permanent Representation to the EU, Brussels), Atte Isoaho (FFIF Public Affairs) and Marianne Purojärvi (First Secretary at the Finnish Embassy in Warsaw).

The axis of the reconnaissance carried out by FFIF was a series of meetings of a consultative and informative nature with representatives of key government administration bodies, institutions responsible for shaping and implementing policies for forestry and timber. Among the interlocutors on the side of the Polish administration were members of the management of the State Forests, the Ministry of the Development and Technology, the Ministry of the Climate and Environment. At the end of the consecutive meetings, the delegates from Scandinavia had the opportunity to summarize the results of the conducted talks during a bilateral debate with representatives of our Association, which was represented by J. Turski (general director of SPP), K. Godlewska (director of the SPP office), M. Jastrzębski (spec. Paper Section of SPP).

_{Photos: SPP}