Host Country Agreement signed between Spain and EFI

A Host Country Agreement has been signed by the Kingdom of Spain and the European Forest Institute. The agreement was signed yesterday by Cristina Garmendia Mendizabal, Minister for Science and Innovation of Spain and Risto Päivinen, Director of EFI.

EFI will have privileges and immunities of an international organization in Spain which consequently paves way for building a stronger presence of EFI in Spain.

EFI Mediterranean Regional Office EFIMED has been running in Barcelona since 2007 and now EFI is also establishing a Policy Advice Office at the World Heritage Site of Sant Pau in Barcelona. The number of staff at the Policy Advice Office and EFIMED is estimated to be more than 20 persons at the end of this year. The EFI policy advice activities – current ones and those in the future – will be led from there.

The European Forest Institute is an international organisation and its Convention has been ratified by 23 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. The increase of the staff has been 25% in the past year.