Malaysia has offered to hold bilateral meetings with Indonesia to discuss the problem of illegal logging.
Suboh Mohammad Yassin, head of the Malaysian delegation at the 35th session of the International Tropical Timber Council in Japan, told delegates at the opening ceremony that his country wanted a meeting, even though previous offers had not received any response from Indonesia.
Mr Yassin said Malaysia viewed illegal logging “seriously” and had strengthened its laws to crack down on people involved. He said 26 illegal loggers had been convicted and imprisoned since 1993 and the nation’s tree cover now extended to 76.5% of the land mass.
He said the country was committed to sustainable forest management and conservation, and had implemented its own certification scheme.
Mr Yassin called on Indonesia to exercise its political will and address illegal logging “rather than shouting and blaming others”.
He criticised Indonesian forestry minister Mohammad Prakosa’s recent appeal for EU countries to ban Malaysian wood based products suspected of containing illegal timber.
