Ilim Group CEO meets Pan-European forest certification council secretary general to discuss possible collaboration

ST PETERSBURG, Russia, Dec. 19, 2011 (Press Release) - At Ilim Group HQ a meeting between Company' CEO Paul Herbert and Ben Guttenberg, Secretary General of PEFC Council (Pan-European Forest certification system) was held. Sergey Pondar, Ilim Group's Managing Director, Technology and Manufacturing Services and director of PEFC-FSR (Russian national certification system within PEFC) Andrey Ryzhkov were also participants of the meeting. The entities discussed possible collaboration between the Company and the Organization.

PEFC system together with FSC forest certification are two top class international certification practices.

As Paul Herbert said being one of the largest forest leasers of certified forests (5.3 mln ha) in the world Ilim Group is highly interested in spreading principles of sustainable forest management in Russian forest products industry. "Ilim Group was among first companies in Russia to receive FSC certificate. It is important for our foreign customers as it guarantees responsible approach in forest management. However a lot of forest leasers in Russia do not export their products thus FSC certification is not always best choice for them. Ilim Group and PEFC would like to see Russian commercial forests 100% certified as it creates transparent conditions in our industry. This corresponds to our common goal".

As a result of the meeting parties agreed to cooperate in extending Russian certified forests.