ATIBT opens an office in Congo

From left to right : Camille Renard (ATIBT France), Alain Tiotsop, Caroline Duhesme (ATIBT France), Antoine Ngassaki et Johentisia Phalone Obami

ATIBT deploys and announces the opening of an ATIBT office in Brazzaville, Congo

In May 2015, the signing of the Headquarters Agreement with the Government of Congo was an important first step in establishing ATIBT’s institutional status by welcoming the Government of Congo as a new member. Today, ATIBT opens an office in Brazzaville with a team of three people.

It took several years for the ATIBT to actually implement this headquarters agreement, but today the association meets all the requirements to implement several projects. These projects are joint and all share a common objective: to develop and support sustainable forest management in the Congo Basin by enabling better involvement of the private sector of the timber sector in FLEGT processes.

These projects provide more information and awareness to forest companies, structure the sector and enhance participation in national meetings. Of course, there will be many interactions with UNIBOIS, UNICONGO, but also companies.

To constitute this framework of exchange and consultation, the ATIBT has a team of 3 people:

FLEGT-certification référent : Alain BERTIN TIOTSOP
Coordinator of the FAO project : Antoine NGASSAKI
Administrative Assistant and Accountant : Jothensia PHALONE OBAMBI

The projects are:

supported by the European Union, the « FLEGT-IP » project, implemented since 2015, aimed at strengthening the capacities of professional associations in the private forestry sector.
supported by the PPECF (funded by KFW), the project to support third-party verified legality in FLEGT-REDD processes.
supported by FAO, the project to involve the private sector in the revision of the regulatory texts and technical documents of the VPA / FLEGT, signed in June 2018.

Summary note of these projects (in French): Présentation et cartographie projets ATIBT Congo – août 2018

Other participations in specific initiatives supported by the AFD and the professional associations of the Congo are also monitored through the technical assistance project for the implementation of the VPA FLEGT led by FRMI and ATIBT.

Today, the team is constituted, the premises are found, the projects are ready to be launched and the tasks of the coming months are identified. A launch workshop will be held in September.

This team, accompanied by the ATIBT team, has new challenges and the whole ATIBT team is enthusiastic to carry out these projects!