20.06.2025
The latest edition of the Republic of Congo's APV-FLEGT newsletter (January-February-March 2025) focuses on the issue of supplying the local market with timber, highlighting the launch of the Private Sector Support Project – Domestic Timber Market (ASP MIB Congo), led by ATIBT with financial support from the European Union Delegation.
This project, officially launched on January 21, 2025, in Brazzaville, aims to strengthen the structure, competitiveness, and sustainability of the domestic timber sector in the Republic of Congo. It is part of a drive to formalize a sector that has remained informal for too long, despite its important economic role.
In the editorial of the newsletter, the National FLEGT Focal Point, Théophile Ntiakoulou Loulébo, emphasizes that this project responds to a long-standing concern of the Congolese government, identified in particular in the 2020 Forest Code: to improve the supply of processed wood for the domestic market and to better regulate artisanal practices.
The article also points out that the artisanal sector accounts for around 15% of the volume of logs harvested, according to ATIBT estimates. Despite its economic weight, this segment of the sector still operates largely outside the regulatory and fiscal frameworks, to the detriment of sustainability and competitiveness.
The MIB project, with a budget of €2 million, aims to support artisans and SMEs through:
Speaking at the event, Alain Tiotsop, project manager for ATIBT, presented the main areas of work for the next four years. The representative of the EU Delegation, Augustin Bondo Thiani, emphasized that the European Union's intervention is part of a strong partnership with the Congo, based on a shared vision: “forests are a renewable resource that must be managed sustainably.”
By promoting the ATIBT initiative in this way, this APV-FLEGT letter helps to anchor the MIB project in national priorities and encourage all stakeholders—public authorities, private operators, and civil society organizations—to commit to better governance of the domestic timber sector.
Download the full letter here: APV-FLEGT Congo Newsletter – No. 33 (January-February-March 2025)
