08.01.2021
During the wishes of the presidency of Gabon, the president once again expressed his desire to promote local wood processing.
In his speech to the nation on December 31, 2020, the President of the Republic, Ali Bongo Ondimba, announced the ambition to create 50,000 new jobs in the timber industry over the next five years through the local, on site wood transformation.
“Our goals are specific and ambitious, I agree. Within 5 years, we are targeting the creation of 50,000 new jobs in the wood industry alone. We will achieve this through the local, on-site transformation of our resources, ”he said.
The Covid-19 pandemic has weakened the job market. The realization of this ambition should breathe new life into the fight against unemployment in Gabon.
Since 2009, the timber industry has been booming and occupies a prominent place in the industrial landscape of the country. To date, this sector is the second largest source of employment and Gabon provides 8% of the wood used in the world. 80 species are currently exploited and 400 others are known and considered as exploitable.
For ATIBT, this decision is particularly important for the country, and would mean an increase of around 400% of jobs in the sector. The specific lines of this strategy are not yet fully known, but it is true that different paths exist to move in the direction of this development. The second and third processing of wood will have to be pushed very hard, because that is where the most important source of jobs is.
This orientation should be accompanied by economic and fiscal incentives allowing this development, which cannot take place without considerable investment, and the training of managers and technicians of the entire timber industry.
In addition, the resource will also have to follow, to bring the raw material wood to the factories which will have to increase in size and number. These are many challenges for the entire Gabonese timber industry.
Source of the illustration : "Le Nouveau Gabon" media
