From 16 to 20 July, representatives from the Volyn region of the Ukrainian state forest management enterprise 'Ukrainas Meži' (ДП “Ліси України”) visited Latvia to learn about the Latvian forestry sector and gain experience to improve their company's operations. During the visit, the 'Ukrainas Meži' delegation also visited the 'Latvijas valsts meži' (LVM) Mazsili forest nursery, the Renda cone drying facility, and the wood chip storage facility in Kuldīga.

Currently, the forestry reform initiated before the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing in Ukraine, with many small forest management enterprises being consolidated into one large state-owned company – 'Ukrainas Meži'. For this reason, on 17 July, representatives of 'Ukrainas Meži' also met with members of the LVM board and council to learn about the company's main lines of business and economic performance indicators.

'Latvijas valsts meži' has over 15 years of experience collaborating with Ukrainian state forest managers. We have organised educational study trips, explained our experience with forest reform in Latvia, and shared various recommendations to support the establishment and development of the Ukrainian state forest management enterprise. I would like to express my deepest respect to our Ukrainian colleagues for the fact that even in wartime conditions, they are planning investments in the establishment of new forest nurseries to restore forests damaged during the war and to replant 1 million hectares of forest,' stated Pēters Putniņš, Chairman of the LVM Board.

The first positive results of the sector's reform are already visible in Ukraine. In the first quarter of 2023, despite the war and its impact, the profit of the state enterprise 'Ukrainas Meži' was 800 million Ukrainian hryvnia (UAH), which is nearly 19 million euros (EUR). In contrast, before the full-scale Russian invasion, in 2019-2020, it was 150 million UAH, which is approximately 3.5 million EUR per year – as Yuriy Bolokhovets, acting Director General of 'Ukrainas Meži', stated in an interview with 'Business Telegraph' this spring.

Meeting with LVM representatives, our Ukrainian colleagues also shared their experiences, describing how difficult it is to organise forestry under wartime conditions. The state forest manager must ensure wood supply for the army's needs, while simultaneously, it is impossible to carry out wood supplies in territories within 20 km of the front line, as well as in occupied territories of the country.

During the four-day visit, the Ukrainian representatives visited the 'Latvijas Finieris' forest nursery 'Zābaki', met with representatives of the Forest Certification Council of Latvia, the Ministry of Agriculture and the State Forest Service, the leadership of the Latvian Forest Owners' Association and VMF Latvija, and learned about wood measurement methodology at SIA 'Koksnes plūsmas datu centrs'.