Timber, log sourced from PNG are legal, says minister

All the timber and logs sourced from Papua New Guinea are legal, says Forest Minister Douglas Tomuriesa.
He was speaking when opening the Apec expert group on illegal logging and associated trade meeting at the International Convention Centre in Port Moresby on Saturday.
Tomuriesa told delegates that this was since 1990 when the Government, through the PNG Forest Authority and SGS, have been curbing illegal logging practices.
“With the assistance of the government of Japan through Jica, we have installed a state-of-the-art remote sensing system for monitoring of illegal practices in PNG,” he said.
“Even then, we have been and are cooperating with every international effort aimed at detecting illegal logging and ensuring compliance with all legality standards and protocols for the timber and the log merchant trade.”
Tomuriesa said that through the meeting, he was aware of the issues of forest certification and matters relating to chain of custody of wood trade. “I support these efforts and will endeavour in my capacity as minister to ensure compliance with these marketing tools for our wood products,” he said.