The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Experts Group on Illegal Logging and Associated Trade held a side-event in Medan, Indonesia with support from PROFOR, the Forest Legality Alliance and the Nature Conservancy. 

Participants and speakers included representatives of companies, trade associations, non-governmental organizations, and academia that are actively engaged in:

• efforts to combat illegal logging and associated trade and promote legal trade in forest products
• the development and application of wood identification and tracking technologies

The Private Sector Dialogue was structured as follows:

• Session 1: Actions taken by private sector entities in timber producing economies
• Session 2: Actions taken by private sector entities in timber processing and consuming economies
• Session 3: Development and application of emerging technologies
• Session 4: Linking producers, exporters, processors, and importers: Supply chain case studies

The dialogue allowed participants from a range of APEC and non-APEC countries to exchange knowledge, and create opportunities for synergies between government measures and private sector initiatives. For more information, see related press release on this page.

Photo caption: Tuukka Castren, PROFOR/ World Bank and Prof. Dr. Abdul Rahman, Chair of the APEC Experts Group on Illegal Logging and Associated Trade. Photo courtesy of the APEC Secretariat.