Posted on February, 01 2008

Register and join us next March!

As in 2007, the Bolivia Forest and Trade Network (FTN) is organizing for the second year in a row a Forestry Products Business Mission for those companies that are part of the GFTN and are interested in establishing trade relations with certified Bolivian producer companies, or those in the process of certification.

The business mission will take place between March 24-28 within the 2008 EXPOFOREST International Forest, Wood and Technology Fair aimed at the wood sector and scheduled for March 26-29 in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (www.cfb.org.bo/CFBFerias).

The Bolivia FTN invites all companies that are a part of the GFTN to participate in this Business Mission which includes technical visits to production forests located in northern Bolivia, as well as important industrial companies in the cities of La Paz and Cochabamba, to participate in the Business Roundtable organized by the Bolivian Forestry Chamber in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

The objective of the Business Mission is to show visiting businessmen the potential supply of Bolivian forestry companies and members of the FTN and in this way, facilitate market links between supply and demand. This has been possible thanks to the support of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Royal Embassy of the Netherlands.

The previous Business Roundtable brought together 200 participants from 20 countries from Europe, Asia, North America and South America. It is hoped that these statistics are improved this year. This peak in trade that is currently being experience by the forestry sectors is confirmed considering that Bolivia is the world leader in sustainable forestry production with more than two million certified hectares of forests.

As before, the Business Mission organized in 2007 by the Bolivia FTN also brought together companies from the FTNs in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and China who were able to have successful business meetings with participating companies of the Bolivia FTN as well as with other potential companies that supply wood and / or forestry products, as well as visit the field and transformation companies.

PROGRAMME: 

March 24, 25 and 26: 

Business mission organized by the Bolivia FTN. Meeting aimed at bringing together visiting companies -wood and / or forestry product buyers- GFTN participants with members of the Bolivia FTN.

The Mission includes:

• Technical visits to wood companies located in La Paz, Cochabamba and Riberalta (Beni) manufacturers of doors, parquet, garden furniture, decking and sawn wood.
• Trips to certified forests and industry in Riberalta-Beni (Northeastern Bolivia).
• Meetings between visiting buyer companies and Bolivian producers from Riberalta (Beni) and Cobija (Pando) organized by the Chamber of Exporters of the North.
• Tour of Riberalta, Bolivia’s most extensive forestry region.

March 27 and 28:

Business Roundtable organized by the Bolivian Forestry Chamber with support from WWF Bolivia. Bilateral meetings (maximum time 20 minutes) with companies that have been pre-selected by each participant (buyer and/or producer).

LOGISTICS AND COSTS:

• Visiting companies must cover their trip expenses (travel and lodging). Attached please find a list of hotels and airfare information. The prices listed for hotels are the regular rates however WWF will negotiate a corporate discount for those companies that register for the event one month in advance. The discount could range between 30 to 40%.
• WWF-FTN Bolivia will cover the registration costs for the EXPOFOREST 2008 Business Roundtable for visiting companies and for those companies that are members of the Bolivia FTN.
• WWF- FTN Bolivia will cover the following costs for the visitors: food and land transportation during the technical visits in the cities of La Paz, Cochabamba and Riberalta.
• WWF-FTN Bolivia will facilitate logistics related to hotel reservations, transportation and general coordination and support during the days in which the Business Mission will take place as well as for the meetings related to the Business Roundtable.

Visiting companies must cover their trip expenses (travel and lodging). Attached please find a list of hotels and airfare information. The prices listed for hotels are the regular rates however WWF will negotiate a corporate discount for those companies that register for the event one month in advance. The discount could range between 30 to 40%.

Interested companies should complete the attached Application Form.

For further information contact:

María del Carmen Carreras
Coordinator, Forestry Trade FTN-Bolivia
Tel: 591- 3- 312-3094
Fax 591-3-3430406
Cel. 591-73123281
e-mail: mcarreras@wwfbolivia.org
www.panda.org/bolivia/ftn