Congolaise Industrielle des Bois welcomed Rt. Hon. Lord Goldsmith, the UK Minister for Pacific and The Environment and Her Excellency Madam Rosalie Matondo, Minister of Forest Economy, Republic of Congo to its concessions

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CIB was honoured and delighted to welcome The Rt. Hon. Lord Goldsmith, the UK Minister for Pacific & the Environment and Her Excellency Madame Rosalie Matondo, Minister of Forest Economy, Republic of Congo, to our operations in Pokola on 24th March to see first-hand how our sustainable forestry operations balance the needs of environment and wildlife with improving living conditions for people living in and around our concessions.

The delegation was impressed by the world class processing facilities for semi-finished and finished products, which is one of the most ecologically friendly operations in Africa, with a waste wood fired cogeneration unit – the only one of its kind in Republic of Congo - supplying free electricity to employees and offices and using spent steam for drying timber.

CIB, together with its partner the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) hosted a roundtable to discuss various initiatives and projects on environment and biodiversity conservation. As one of the world’s largest contiguous FSC® certified tropical hardwood concessions, CIB elaborated on its commitment to sustainable and responsible forestry while developing the economy and conserving the forest for future generations.

According to The Rt. Hon. Lord Goldsmith,

“I came here as a follow up to COP26, where Congo Basin countries had a huge impact. I’m looking forward to building on the relationship that already exists between the UK and the Republic of Congo. We are very keen to do more, to be a stronger partner to the Republic of Congo and this visit has shone a light on how we might do that. It has been both inspiring and eye opening.”

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‘’We’re proud to host the delegation and to have the opportunity to discuss areas to further develop cooperation between the two countries. As a leader in sustainable and certified forestry operations, we’re excited to share our experience and explore how we, and other businesses, can continue to support environments and communities.”

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Ashish Malik -

Vice President, Wood Products Africa and Europe

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Joining the meeting in Pokola, Emma Stokes, Director WCS for Central Africa said,

“The collaboration between the Government of Congo, the CIB and the WCS to improve biodiversity conservation in logging concessions surrounding protected areas is a pioneering approach that we hope can be scaled to other concessions in the country and Congo Basin as a whole.”

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