Cabinet forms supervisory board of Forests of Ukraine

The Cabinet of Ministers approved candidates for the positions of members of the supervisory board of the state company Forests of Ukraine, the supervisory board includes three independent members and one representative of the state.

According to the message published on the government, the candidacies of Markiyan Vytvytsky, Roberts Stripnieks and Janne Risto Samuel Harjunpää have been approved for the positions of independent members of the supervisory board. Oleksiy Kucher has been appointed as a representative of the state.

"The formation of the supervisory board of Forests of Ukraine will allow the introduction of high standards of corporate governance that meet the requirements of the law and the OECD guidelines. The work of an independent supervisory board will increase the level of trust in the company on the part of international partners and potential investors," said First Deputy Minister of Economy Oleksiy Sobolev.

Forests of Ukraine is one of the largest forest users in Europe and the largest forest user in Ukraine. The state-owned company specializes in forest management, protection, conservation, use and reproduction of forests; hunting management, protection, reproduction and rational use of the State Hunting Fund on the lands used by the enterprise.

The Ministry of Economy recalled that in August 2024, the committee for the appointment of heads of enterprises of particular importance to the economy approved the requirements for candidates for the positions of members of the supervisory board of Forests of Ukraine and announced a competitive selection of independent members.

On April 30, 2024, the government included Forests of Ukraine in the list of economic entities of particular importance to the economy, the appointment of heads and members of the supervisory boards of which is carried out with the participation of the appointment committee.

Markiyan Vytvytsky previously worked in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry of Canada, is a member of the Board of the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce.

Roberts Stripnieks was the chairman of the supervisory board and CEO of state-owned Latvian State Forests, a member of the executive board and the audit committee of the European Association of State Forest Managers. He worked in the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Latvia.

Janne Harjunpää works as the CEO of the East Office of Finnish Industries. He was a member of the supervisory board of Oschadbank, an expert and consultant for the IMF and the World Bank.

Oleksiy Kucher heads the State Regulatory Service of Ukraine. He was the head of Kharkiv Regional State Administration, MP of Ukraine of the ninth convocation.