The Russian Federation has launched several international forestry initiatives during its first attendance of the FAO's Committee on Forestry (COFO) in Rome on March 13, 2007.

Mr. Valery Roshchupkin, Chief of the Federal Forestry Agency of Russia and head of the Russian delegation, made three appearances during the opening day of the COFO's 18th session at the FAO headquarters in Rome. He spoke at the opening plenary, at the thematic session "Forest Health", and at the special information session "Russia's Forests: National and International Dimensions". Ms. Elena Kulikova, Head of the Forest Program of WWF-Russia, was a co-presenter at the special information session.
Russia's key forestry initiatives announced at the FAO meeting are:
establishment of an International Training and Development Center for Forest Monitoring and Assessment, with three hubs in Russia, that could become an important implementation tool for the FAO Global Forest Resource Assessment program (FRA-2010), international conventions (CBD, UNFCCC) and processes (FLEG);
promoting, through FAO and World Bank, broad international cooperation in research and assessment of climate change-related forest dieback in boreal and temperate zones as well as coordinating top-priority mitigation and adaptation efforts;
broadening, through the FAO, institutional support to forest education programs and competitions for schoolchildren (which is a "most efficient investment in the future of forests").
The Russian delegation also conducted bilateral discussions on the raised issues with the FAO senior management and with the delegations of Brazil, Canada, Finland, Germany, Japan, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, MCPFE, UNFF, and the World Bank.