Javier Puyol yesterday had a farewell discussion with the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Prof. Elvis Ngolle Ngolle.

Forestry governance, public contract award in the forestry sector and forestry control were among the salient issues discussed by the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife, Prof. Elvis Ngolle Ngolle and the Head of the European Commission to Cameroon, Javier Puyol who came to beat good bye at the end of his stay in the country.

Earlier considered a simple farewell discourse, yesterday’s meeting ended up being a veritable think tank where Prof. Ngolle Ngolle accompanied by his close collaborators on the one hand and Javier Puyol brainstormed to rectify some of the things that went astray in the whole gamut of forestry management. The European Union diplomat was particularly concerned about the implementation of the forest governance programme which has remained fallow since its conception, a state of affair which the Minister of Forestry and Wildlife equally expressed his worry at the stumbling blocks that have stood on the way of its execution. He however assured that the programme could fully go operational in the days ahead.

Javier Puyol who leaves the country next week, was equally disturbed that independent observers have not been very present in control missions undertaken by the forestry control team, an idea which the minister validated stating inter alia that other missions would be organised, notably to the forestry unit exploited by one particular company (name withheld) to ensure that they take part in the exercise.

The Forestry and Wildlife boss dismissed allegations that ambassadors had hi-jacked forest management in the country following the visits organised to some forestry exploitation units by some diplomats. He promised signing some of the thorny files, particularly the one concerning the Forest Law Enforcement on Governance and Trade (FLEGT) and taking practical measures to elbow out poachers. “We are proposing to create a common market for bush meat and to ban the selling of such meat elsewhere as from January, 2009”, Prof. Ngolle Ngolle told the diplomat.

In his last words, Ambassador Puyol wished that efforts at exploiting forest be in a sustainable manner be intensified, stating that he knew it was really a difficult task. Prof. Ngolle Ngolle on his part expressed government’s readiness to continue to collaborate with its partners for better results.