Enviro News Asia, New York — Indonesian Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni held a bilateral meeting with International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) Executive Director Sheam Satkuru at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, United States, on Tuesday (12/5).
The meeting focused on strengthening cooperation between Indonesia and ITTO in supporting sustainable forest management, developing sustainable tropical timber industries, and enhancing the global competitiveness of Indonesia’s forestry products.
Accompanying the Minister of Forestry at the bilateral meeting were the Director General of Sustainable Forest Management, the Director General of Watershed Management and Forest Rehabilitation, the Senior Advisor to the Minister of Forestry, and the Head of the Bureau of Public Relations and International Cooperation.
During the discussion, the ITTO Executive Director highlighted Indonesia’s strategic role as the largest forested member country in Asia within the organization and welcomed the active presence of Indonesian forestry representatives in ITTO through existing institutional mechanisms.
ITTO also reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Indonesia through various ITTO-funded projects, including peatland ecosystem management, mangrove rehabilitation and conservation, and the development of forest-based products.
Minister Raja Juli Antoni stated that Indonesia encourages ITTO to further strengthen its support for improving the competitiveness of the tropical timber industry, including through technology transfer and more targeted capacity-building programmes.
The Minister also reaffirmed Indonesia’s commitment to continuously strengthening the Sustainable Forest Management and Legality Verification System (SVLK+), including through the integration of geotagging technology to improve transparency and traceability across the entire supply chain from upstream to downstream operations.
According to the Minister, SVLK+ provides credible assurance that Indonesian forestry products originate from legal and sustainably managed sources while strengthening accountability and national forest governance.
Indonesia also invited ITTO to support broader international recognition of SVLK+, particularly in consumer countries, in order to improve market acceptance of Indonesia’s verified sustainable timber products.
The bilateral meeting formed part of Indonesia’s broader effort to strengthen forestry diplomacy at the global level and expand international collaboration in support of sustainable forest management, responsible forest product trade, and the forestry sector’s contribution to sustainable development and global climate action. (*)
