Minister of Forestry Economy Henri Djombo of Congo, Republic of the

conservation and sustainable forest management.

In prepared remarks, Djombo said his country depends on forest resources for economic development but is "deeply committed to biodiversity conservation and sustainable forest management.

On his part, the Congolese Forestry Economics minister Henri Djombo said the ordinary session will particularly renew the general secretariat and adopt the sub-regional convergence plan which establishes priorities to be achieved within a 10 year period.

This fund will be housed with the African Development Bank,” Republic of Congo’s Environment Minister Henri Djombo said late on Friday at the close of a biannual meeting of environment ministers from across Africa.

With a troop of lowland gorillas watching from the Bronx Zoo's Congo Gorilla Forest exhibit, Djombo was joined by officials from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the zoo's parent organization, and Congolaise Industrielle des Bois (CIB), a private timber company.

Djombo said that protecting the Goualogo Triangle, an area rich in biodiversity but originally part of the Kabo Forest Management Unit, a logging concession allocated to CIB, reaffirms this commitment.

The park will be a pioneer in conservation in central Africa and one of the main tourism resources in our country," Djombo said at the time.

Djombo is also the current head of the Conference of Ministers in Charge of Central African Forests (COMIFAC), recognised by the Congo Basin Forest Partnership, which was launched two years ago in South Africa, as the central policy- and decision-making body for the conservation and sustainable management of forests in Central Africa.

To avoid the regional plan running aground halfway through its 10-year life, Djombo said more funds are needed.

Minister Djombo said it was a great day to receive from SGS the SCPFE, an organization that ensures a transparent foreign commerce for all timber products from Congo, and an example which other countries of the Congo Basin should follow.

Frederic Massalo, Minister Djombo said that further components of the Service, fauna and traceability, remain to be developed and implemented in a similar way to prevent the illegal trade in fauna products and control the legality of timber exports from Congo.