Woodworking technology innovation has been formalised as a foundation of Ukraine’s bilateral forestry cooperation with Germany, enshrined in the ten-agreement package that Volodymyr Zelensky and Chancellor Friedrich Merz concluded in Berlin on Tuesday. That is according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture, which confirmed Economy Minister Oleksiy Sobolev and German Agriculture Minister Alois Rainer agreed that new woodworking technologies and innovations would serve as the basis for sector-level cooperation critical to Ukraine’s economic development.
The forestry commitments sit within a broader bilateral expansion across the agricultural, food, and forestry sectors, with both countries agreeing on a revised Agricultural Policy Dialogue format that introduces joint conferences and study tours focused on irrigation, dairy processing, and seed production.
A high-level working group, drawing representatives from ministries, parliamentary committees, the European Commission, and business associations, will be established to coordinate agricultural and food industry reforms, with strengthened ties also confirmed between Ukraine’s food safety regulator and Germany’s Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety.
Biomethane production and sustainable forest management were both identified as priority joint project areas, with Sobolev confirming groundwork has already been laid for initiatives in both sectors. “It is important for us that Ukrainian agricultural producers operate under EU standards, which will help ensure fair competition and strengthen food security. We are jointly working on the development of high-quality vocational education and enhancing food safety,” he said.
Germany’s Rainer anchored the agreement in regulatory convergence, arguing that aligned legal frameworks were the prerequisite for fair competition across European markets. “Equal legal frameworks and standards are the foundation for balanced and fair competition. We have a clear vision of a sustainable and forward-looking European agricultural market and want to shape it together,” he said.
The new deals build on the five-year Joint Statement of Intent that both countries signed at Berlin’s Green Week in January, which established cooperation on forest policy reform, the implementation of the National Forest Inventory, climate adaptation, and environmentally safe forestry technologies. Tuesday’s package adds woodworking sector innovation and technology transfer as the first concrete implementation pillar under that framework.
Tuesday’s summit also delivered a €4 billion German defence cooperation commitment alongside a €266 million support package covering industrial enterprises, energy infrastructure, and vocational education. Zelensky pressed both Merz and EU leaders for full NATO and European Union membership as a condition of any settlement with Russia.
Ukraine’s forestry sector enters this new phase of bilateral engagement on record financial footing, with state enterprise Forests of Ukraine posting net profits of US$167 million last year on timber revenues of US$736 million. State Forest Agency chief Viktor Smal attributed the 2.76-fold increase on 2024 directly to post-2020 reforms aimed at aligning the industry with European standards.
