A 12-year project to privatise forestland and downstream forestry operations in Romania is coming to a close.
Dr Florin Ioras of the Forest Products Research Centre at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, who has been working with the team involved in the privatisation process, said: “It is expected that both the forest restitution process and the increasing private investment in the processing sector will make the Romanian forestry sector an attractive asset for foreign investment.”
He said a short-term priority for forestland privatisation was the development of a comprehensive legal and operation framework that would speed up the restitution process and ensure sustainable management, irrespective of ownership.
In 2001 private enterprises accounted for around 96% of the total production in Romania’s forestry sector and in the last five years the sector’s contribution to GDP was about 4.5%.
Romania’s forestry and timber and wood products industry employs around 221,800 people.
