Asia

The purpose with the activities in Japan is to strengthen the position on wood by eliminating trade barriers for European wood products and organising seminars about wood.

The Japanese are extremely interested in the EU's knowledge of building big and tall. The Swedish Forest Industries Federation is therfore throught the organisation European Wood (EW) an active party in the Japan Wood Dialogue between the EU and Japan. EW group was formed in 2004 and consists of promotion organisations
in Germany (German Timber), Austria (ProHolz), France (French Timber) and Sweden (Swedish Forest Industries Federation).

The EU delegation in the Japan Wood Dialogue consist of EW, the EU
commission's forestry industry division and the European Business
Council in Japan (EBC). Japan's representatives include the Japanese
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Agriculture
and Forestry, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and a number of
research institutes. The purpose of the dialogue is for the EU and the
European industry to be more proactive in the development of Japanese
standards and codes. The ambition is to eliminate trade barriers for European wood and wood products, and to get the european CE marking accepted in Japan.

Furthermore the seminar "Building and Living Sustainably with European Wood" will be held in Japan during 2011. The homepage www.europeanwood.org will also be translated into a Japanese version.

Peter Forsell and Tomohi Sato are project managers for European Wood in Japan.

EW Represents Europe

EW is mandated by the European umbrella organisation CEI-Bois to represent the European sawmill industry in issues pertaining to norms and standards in Asia.

EW was formed in 2004 and consists of promotion organisations in Germany (German Timber), Austria (ProHolz), France (French Timber) and Sweden (Swedish Forest Industries Federation).

Sweden is represented in the European Wood Initiative steering group by:
Jan Söderlind (chairperson) – Swedish Forest Industries Federation
Anders Ek – SCA Timber AB
Roger Simonsson – Moelven Töreboda AB