Officials from Greater Central Asia were engaged in discussions and exchanges on promoting the protection of regional forest ecosystems, restoring vegetation in arid areas and enhancing desertification prevention in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Tuesday.

The Third Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Forestry in Greater Central Asia brought together forestry officials from China, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The conference adopted the Action Plan of Greater Central Asia Forestry Cooperation Mechanism for 2023-2025.

The Greater Central Asia forestry cooperation mechanism was initiated by the Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forestry Management and Rehabilitation in 2014.

The network will continue to leverage its advantages to facilitate the restoration of degraded forests and grasslands, improve vegetation quality and productivity, reduce vegetation loss and degradation, enhance the socio-economic benefits of regional forests and grasslands, and mitigate environmental issues such as sandstorms, according to the meeting.