POST RELEASE

National specialized exhibition and forum
ExpoForest

The National specialized exhibition and forum ExpoForest 2010 was held March 9 through 12, 2010 in the Crocus Expo IEC.

The organizer of the event was Crocus Expo International Exhibition Centre with support of the Ministry for Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, the Ministry for Agriculture of the Russian Federation, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the City Government of Moscow, the International Congress of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists and the Russian Union of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists.

The organizers of the exhibition aim to bring together on the same platform all key national and worldwide players and to offer an excellent platform to encourage networking among scientists and engineers in order to accelerate the development and research in this field as well as implementing new technologies, the newest equipment, materials and components in the timber, pulp and paper, wood processing, wood houses building and furniture industry.

11 regions of the Russian Federation (the Arkhangelsk region, the Leningrad region, the Kaluga region, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, the Moscow region, the Novgorod region, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, St.-Petersburg and the Tver region) participated in the project.

Official Opening Ceremony of the National specialized exhibition and forum ExpoForest 2010 was held March 10, 2010. The following high ranking persons made their welcome addresses at the opening:

• Alexander Beljakov, Chairman of the Committee for timber processing complex of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation;
• Victor Sahanov, Deputy Director General, Head of the research centre of NIPIEIlesprom OAO;
• Oleg Dzidoev, President of the Union of Timber Merchants and Timber Exporters of Krasnoyarsk krai;
• Viacheslav Pshenichnikov, Vice-president of the International Congress of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists;
• Yury Vinogradov, Vice-president of the International Congress of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists;
• Evgueny Konyguin, Executive Director of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs working group for energy saving issues;
• Arcady Zlotnikov, First Deputy Director Crocus Expo IEC.

The significance of ExpoForest 2010 and necessity of its holding was underlined by the most interesting business program of the event.

The forum commenced its work with the conference New Directions of Timber Resources Use. The attendees listened to reports of heads and leading experts in the field and discussed further directions of its development. All speakers adhered to a common opinion, speaking about the importance of restructuring, capable to give a powerful impulse to the development of timber industry of Russia, necessity of increase in manufacturing capabilities and competitiveness.

A working meeting of the Committee for timber processing complex of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation with participation of top managers of the Ministry for Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation 2009 Results of Work of the Wood Industry and 2010 Tasks was held within the frames of the forum.

Practical issues were also widely discussed during business events of the forum/exhibition ExpoForest alongside with subjects related to timber industry complex activity and perspectives of its modernization. The topics of round table talks, seminars and conferences covered the most actual problems: forest protection, usage of geoinformation systems, possibilities and perspectives of waste processing into biofuel, application of new technologies in wooden housing construction. Events covering issues related to introduction of wide usage of biofuel and renewable energy were of special interest.

A distinguished panel of judges defined the winners of the contest Innovations in Timber Industry. Irina Kirichenko, Editor-in-chief of Derevo.ru magazine, and Arcady Zlotnikov, First Deputy Director Crocus Expo IEC, granted the winners awards and diplomas at the Official Closing Ceremony of the forum.

The results of exchange of experience between exhibitors and visitors of the exposition, contacts generated as a result of conferences and seminars holding will certainly have favorable effect on the industry development as a whole, contribute to implementation of social projects and positive development of timber industry infrastructure.