U.S., Indonesia fight illegal lumber trade

U.S., Indonesia fight illegal lumber trade    U.S. and Indonesian government officials met in Jakarta on Wednesday to convene the first Asia-Pacific Regional Dialogue to Promote Trade in Legally Harvested Forest Products.
   “This first dialogue was a very constructive start to our work, allowing us to exchange information, describe our respective efforts, develop a common understanding of the issues and explore collaborative, regional approaches to address them,” said Mark Linscott, assistant U.S. trade representative for environment and natural resources, in a statement.
   “We look forward to continuing and enhancing this process, including by inviting more countries in the region to future meetings,” he added.
   Other countries that participated in the dialogue included Australia, Brunei, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Solomon Islands and Vietnam.
   The United States and Indonesia developed the initiative through their 2006 bilateral Working Group on Combating Illegal Logging and Associated Trade.
   According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Indonesia’s exports to the United States of lumber, plywood, wood-based furniture and other forest products in 2008 totaled more than $1 billion.