On 29th of August, a conference was organized on the theme of clusters in Seklerland in the business incubator in Târgu Secuiesc (Kézdivásárhely). The conference organized by ASIMCOV, has been opened by Mr. Tibor Bokor, Mayor of Târgu Secuiesc, Mr. Sándor Tamás, president of Covasna County Council and Mr. Csaba Borboly, president of Harghita County Council.
Mr. Csaba Borboly, county council president held a speech about the Ciuc cluster in wood industry, founded in Harghita County in March 2014, namely the Hargita Wood. According to him, local forest resources have to be used by local communities through the collaboration of private and public spheres and taking into consideration the social, economic and ecologic role of forests.
“Our goal is to have a sustainable forest management in our forests and accordingly the aim is that the exploited wood should leave the region at highest processed level as possible. Hence, jobs could be created and the produced income would boost the local economy as well ”– highlighted Mr. Csaba Borboly.
Within this issue several programs and projects have been launched, as presented below. Starting from 2010, Harghita County Council is partner in the Robinwood Plus interregional project (http://www.robinwoodplus.eu/). This goal is also served by the economic development programme of Harghita County Council, entitled ‘Together for a stable future!’, elaborated for the period 2012-2020 (http://biztosjovo.hargitamegye.ro/). Besides, the county council has launched several other programmes as well, in the fields of wood processing and forest management, which all have the set objective to create jobs and to generate income.
The programme entitled as ‘Build from wood!’ fosters the collaboration between forest owners and wood processing people on micro-regions and urges the foundation of efficient management organizations for using forest resources. The county council president affirmed that he is glad for knowing the first public institutions and schools made from wood, were successfully built in the county.
At the same time, Mr. Csaba Borboly urged the establishment of a forum, where all the concerned actors in using forest resource would have the possibility to share their opinions, have a dialogue. Within the framework of this, even recommendations for legal regulations could be formulated and initiated.
The county council president also presented the local wood market programme as well, the goal of which lies in using the locally exploited wood in Harghita County, if possible, and to establish a balance between local demand and supply. It is important to encourage the local wood processing activity and also to present best practices in this regard, for the very reason, Harghita County Council established the sub-webpage for forest managements (http://erdogazdalkodas.hargitamegye.ro/). Within the event, it was also mentioned the establishment of a possible Sekler furniture brand, where enterprises fulfilling the set requirements, may join. This would be a great step in reaching the Romanian markets, but it would motivate the network building between wood workers, too.
Last but not least, the issue of collecting forest fruit and mushrooms was also talked within the debate, namely about processing and using these, as well as the importance of professional training in this respect.
Finally, Mr. Csaba Borboly will make a report about sustainable buildings, as member of the Committee of the Regions’ ENVE Commission, hereby having the possibility to come up with recommendations based on the new EU forest management strategy. Accordingly asked those presents and interested to signal if they have proposals and visions in this regard, since common thinking has always greater results.
Miercurea Ciuc, 30th of August 2014
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