Jakarta – The Indonesian Ecolabelling Institute (LEI) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) have signed acooperation to speed up the implementation of ecolabelling toIndonesian tropical timber products, LEI chairman Emil Salim saidWednesday.

One of the chief aims of the cooperation is to train assessors, he said.

A Mexico-based institution, FSC gives accreditation orcertification to appraising companies.

Indonesia, a member of the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO), is determined to have full implementation ofthe ecolabelling concept by 2000.

Ecolabelling certifies tropical timbers traded at the international market to come from forests with an approved sustainable management system.

Salim said that up to now Indonesia do not have forest timber assessors or appraisers.

"However, forestry companies wishing to be assessed could ask such help from foreign agencies," he said.