On 21 and 22 June, the ATIBT organized the Racewood in Libreville, as part of Gabon WoodShow, the first timber fair in the Congo Basin.

ATIBT has decided to take advantage of the launch this year of Gabon WoodShow, Gabon’s first wood and technology show in Gabon, to join the event and hold a new edition of the Racewood.

The International Technical Association of Tropical Timber (ATIBT) is used to organizing two main events around developments in the tropical forest-wood sector, which alternate every other year:

• the ATIBT Forum, in a consuming country  (last year it was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates) ;
• the Racewood, in a tropical timber producing country.

Opening of the African Wood Forum by the President of the Gabonese Republic

Visit of he President of the Gabonese Republic at ATIBT stand

The Gabonese Minister of Water and Forests at ATIBT stand

This first timber show was launched in Libreville in a context of major changes in the sector, under the patronage of the President of Republic, with a strong ambition: to become the best platform for creative ideas and new technologies, and an exhibition of innovative resources in Africa. The fair had reserved a large collective booth for ATIBT and its African forestry unions, and it also welcomed some members of the ATIBT operating in Gabon (Rougier, Precious Woods, FRM, TEREA, Termolegno…). After the opening ceremony by the President of the Gabonese Republic, the African Timber Forum was launched with the participation of the Ministers of Water and Forests of Gabon and other Central African countries, representatives of COMIFAC, as well as other representatives of the industry, from public and private sector. The Forum concluded with the signing of the Libreville Declaration, with recommendations for the development of a profitable, waste-free, carbon-efficient and socially inclusive African timber processing industry.

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