Rome, 13 March 2007 - The Republic of Korea signed an agreement today with FAO promising to forge resources in order to strengthen sustainable forest management.

The Republic of Korea decided to join an existing bilateral agreement between FAO and Japan to complement the resources. Mr. Tesfai Tecle, Assistant Director-General of the Technical Cooperation Department and Mr. Soo-hwa Lee, Deputy Minister of the Korea Forest Service, signed the agreement in the presence of Mr. Jan Heino, Assistant Director-General of the Forestry Department.

"It is the first time that a country joins an existing bilateral agreement recognizing its value to demonstrate mutual respect as well as establish stronger partnerships," said Mr. Tesfai Tecle, Assistant Director-General of the Technical Cooperation Department.

It is also the first time that the Republic of Korea is supporting an FAO forestry project.

The two countries will work together to implement a five-year FAO project on monitoring, assessment and reporting of forest resources on sustainable forest management in Asia. The project aims to harmonize the existing multiple international and national reporting on forests in Asia, making it easier for national decision-makers to develop proper forest policies and to enhance efficiency of the forest management regimes in the region.

Asian countries recognize that their monitoring, assessment and reporting systems on forests in Asia are mostly outdated. They recognize that they are often not adequately linked to national forest policies and planning and to the overall sustainable development processes in their countries. This means that the performance of forest management is not well known and that policy efforts towards sustainable forest management can be inefficient.

Further, the countries regularly report to different organizations, both at the national and international levels, on the status of their forests. The format and content are mostly different making it unnecessarily burdensome for those preparing it. Sometimes the information provided by the countries itself is different which makes it confusing for the processes, institutions and individuals using it.

Harmonization, improvement and strengthening of forest-related monitoring, assessment and reporting has, therefore, been called by most of the forest-related United Nations agencies, and intergovernmental and international non-governmental organizations.

The Republic of Korea plans to send a visiting forestry expert to work in this field, in reflection of their commitment to sustainable forest management and to share and exchange knowledge and experience with FAO.