China Hosts the First APEC Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Forestry

Representatives from the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and other organizations participated in the meeting on forestry. At the meeting President Hu Jintao announced that China is to increase the total area of its forests by 40 million hectares and its forest inventory by 1.3 billion cubic meters in the period from 2005 to 2020. "China is ready to make new contributions to green and sustainable growth," the president said at the opening ceremony on September 6. He went on to say that forestry cooperation in APEC has huge potential and great prospects, noting that the Asia-Pacific region has the richest and most unique forest ecosystem in the world that accounts for more than half of the world's forest area.