The delegates, on a northern European tour, attended a series of seminars hosted by The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) and WWF to gather information on which forest certification system is best suited Gabon.
The meeting was jointly chaired by Peter Latham, executive director of James Latham plc, and Geert Lejeune, conservation director WWF Belgium, with seminars including a Gabon market overview, developments in the Congo Basin and the UK government programme on illegal logging.
Andy Roby, the TTF’s head of environment and corporate social responsibility, said Gabon was potentially a very important trading partner in the future, as it has 22 million ha of forests and only a 1.5 million population. He said the country needed to move towards certification and the production of plywood and kiln-dried dimension sawn timber.
“We achieved our objective which was to communicate what we are looking for in the UK market,” said Mr Roby.