According to a press statement received here on Thursday, Ambassador Thamrin is a senior Indonesian diplomat who has undertaken two ambassadorial assignments in strategic diplomatic posts abroad, including the United Kingdom (accredited to the Republic of Ireland and the International Maritime Organization), as well as the Kingdom of Belgium (accredited to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the European Union).
He is a seasoned diplomat with more than 30 years of experience in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, including in the United Nations, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), and Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), the press statement said.
During Ambassador Thamrin’s stint as head of the Indonesian Diplomatic Mission to Belgium, Luxembourg, and the European Union, Indonesia worked successfully with the EU to conclude and subsequently implement the Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade Voluntary Partnership Agreement (FLEGT-VPA) certification in 2016, the first of its kind in the world, to speed up the export of deforestation-free timber from Indonesia to the European Union, taking into account its legality, traceability, and sustainability, the release added.
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“The vision of Ambassador Yuri Thamrin is to strengthen the principle of shared responsibility as a key to attain the goals of ITTO. He is underlining the need for closer cooperation and partnership between both producer and consumer countries as well as other stakeholders,” according to the press statement.
It is believed that the presence of a senior Indonesian diplomat in the ITTO will increase its important role in promoting cooperation to ensure the effectiveness of the international environmental regime, with respect to the protection of tropical timber forests, it said.
No Indonesian has served in the ITTO as an executive director in almost 40 years of its existence, it added.
Indonesia itself is one of the world’s largest exporters of tropical timber products ranging from plywood, pulp, and paper to furniture and handicrafts, it said.
Indonesia has 125 million hectares of forests of which around 33 hectares are licensed for reproduction activities, it informed. Indonesia's annual timber production is pegged at about 45 million cubic meters, and most of it comes from plantations and natural forests, according to the press statement.
Through sustainable forest management efforts, Indonesia’s export of forest products has increased significantly from US$9 billion in 2015 to US$11 billion in 2020, it added.
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Reporter: Aria Cindyara
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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