OREANDA-NEWS. A Host Country Agreement has been signed by the Kingdom of Belgium and the European Forest Institute (EFI). EFI will have privileges and immunities of an international organization in Belgium which consequently paves way for building a stronger presence of EFI in Belgium, as EFI said in the press release.

Establishment of EFI Liaison Office in Brussels has already increased EFI presence in Belgium earlier this year. Liaison Office is located in the European Forestry House and it has been operational since February 2013. It aims to strengthen the cooperation of EFI with EU institutions, Member Countries and international organizations represented in Brussels. It will foster the policy?science interface regarding forest related issues and support EFI in advocating for forest research and information in Europe.

The European Forest Institute is an international organization and its Convention has been ratified by 25 European States. EFI has rapidly grown in recent years and it has currently five regional offices in different locations of Europe and FLEGT Asia office in Malaysia.