Forestry Minister: Belarusian forestry specialists to adopt Tatarstan's experience

Tatarstan’s delegation of forestry specialists headed by Tatarstan's Forestry Minister Ravil Kuziurov, is now visiting Belarus. The programme includes introduction to the key facilities of the industry, such as the Republican Forest Selection and Seed Centre, the Personnel Training Centre of the Forestry Ministry, the Lesnoy Domik trading platform in Minsk, and the Kopyl experimental forestry.

This is a return visit: in September 2024, the Russian region hosted our delegation. Tatarstan's forestry experience is considered to be one of the best in the eastern neighbouring country — that's why Belarus' Forestry Ministry authorities visited their colleagues at the beginning of last autumn.

“The more you observe how neighbours work — the clearer you see what you need to develop and which innovations to adopt,” Aleksandr Kulik noted the importance of such international visits.

“In general, both our colleagues and we have preserved the traditional Soviet forestry management system, and it still delivers a result,” Belarus' Forestry Minister noted, when addressing similarities between the forestry institutions.

We can and we should take these differences into consideration.

“For example, our colleagues from Tatarstan have taken the production of souvenirs and decorative wood crafts to the assembly line. The school forestry and career guidance is well structured, future specialists of the industry are specially trained starting from school — the region has a special attitude to forests. Tatarstan, same as we, is engaged in selection breeding, cultivation of planting material with a root-balled tree system — and we are interested in their approach. In addition, this is one of the republics that is prepared to detect and fight forest fires. For example, now they are considering the implementation of small aircrafts for patrolling. And as they have great technical equipment in terms of fighting fires — we will show our own as well," Aleksandr Kulik noted.

He emphasised that co-operation with colleagues from Tatarstan will continue.

 “We exchanged visits as the industry authorities. Then, literally in a month or two, the first group of our forestry specialists - foresters, chief foresters, forestry directors will be sent to Tatarstan to study the experience in greater detail — we have already reached this agreement," Belarus’ Forestry Minister shared the results of the talks between the heads of forestry departments.

Moreover, on their return the guests will review the proposal of co-operation with our Personnel Training Centre of the Forestry Ministry.