Russia has drawn up a draft law to make it easier for private investors to buy into the country’s forests.
The plans will enable investors to lease areas of woodland at auctions. It would also help boost revenues for the state, which in 2002 lost US$20bn due to illegal logging.
Current forestry laws, originating in the Soviet era, restrict investors from accessing the sector.
Deputy economic minister Mukhamed Tsikhanov said he expected investors to fulfil “all the requirements for rational production and use of the forest”.
The draft law will be discussed on February 19 and is due to go before parliament in March.
