OREANDA-NEWS. November 26, 2007. Private business should be a priority when investments are attracted into the Belarusian forestry industry, Vice Premier Ivan Bambiza told a session of the Forestry Ministry board on November 26, reported the Official website www.government.by.

Private companies are equal to state forestry enterprise in economic terms and have the right to harvest timber and set up new production facilities, he said. However, enterprises run by the Forestry Ministry have over 100 wood-working shops and are in no hurry to hand over low-profitability enterprises to private business so that the latter could turn such enterprises around.

The Vice Premier noted, private companies master new technologies faster than state-owned ones do. The former were the first to introduce new advanced wood processing equipment, master the production of chip fuel and export the new products. However, their potential is far from being fully tapped. Private companies should work on long-term contracts, participate in building forest roads and set up new specialised enterprises.

By now the Forestry Ministry has issued licences for forest harvesting operations to over one thousand forest companies, with private companies accounting for one third of the total.