Advertisement

Producer's snub casts shadow on forest talks

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0

An international conference on illegal logging and forest governance issues protec?tion began yesterday in Bali A but without the participation of a ma?jor player in the timber business, Malaysia.

The three-day meeting, spon?sored partly by the World Bank, Britain and United States Governments and hosted by the Indonesian Gov?ernment, brings together experts on ways to protect forests and enforce laws from places as di?verse as Brazil, Congo-Brazzaville, the Philippines, Thailand, Mexico and Japan.

Two hundred participants have come from Asean countries, and there are delegations from the US, Britain, China and Canada.

But Malaysia AAflatly rejected any possibility of attending'', said a conference participant. The for?estry expert described Malaysia's decision as AAquite a snub''. and 'a bit of a disappointment to the rest of us here''.

Ma?laysia sent a strongly worded let?ter on Thursday to Indonesia's Director-General for Nature Con?servation, in which it refused to attend, outlining its refusal to attend, sources said.

Calls to check with the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta went unanswered.

Advertisement