On Tuesday, March 31st, Minister for Agriculture Armands Krauze participated in a meeting of the forest-rich countries’ alliance “For Forest Group+” in Stockholm, Sweden.
During the visit, Minister for Agriculture Armands Krauze, together with the agriculture ministers of the “For Forest Group+” member states, learned about Sweden’s forestry experience, as well as discussed several internationally relevant forestry issues. Among other matters, the ministers discussed the European Commission’s plan to introduce additional forest monitoring indicators, thresholds, and ranges that would allow the EU to compare the management approaches of EU member states and assess the state of EU forests. The EU Birds Directive, changes to the Deforestation Regulation, and several other issues important to the sector were also discussed.
“Sustainable forestry means thoughtful and responsible management, where decisions are based on data, knowledge and a long-term vision. Our task is to manage forests in a way that preserves their biodiversity, productivity and value for the future generations, while also ensuring economic and social benefits for today. Therefore, a flexible and practically implementable approach, high-quality data and international cooperation that help make smart and balanced decisions are particularly important,” Minister for Agriculture Armands Krauze noted.
The objectives of this alliance are to defend national competencies in forestry, rejecting a “one-size-fits-all” approach, balance climate and economic objectives, and to improve forest monitoring and data quality. The Member States of “For Forest Group+” are Latvia, Austria, Finland, Slovenia, Sweden, France, and Italy. Latvia joined the alliance in August 2025.