During the Dialogue with RGE Senior Executives at the RGE Journalism Workshop held in Singapore in early December 2014, the journalists were able to gain a good understanding of the state of the global forestry products market and a sense of the problems and opportunities faced by the pulp & paper industry through conversations with APRIL’s President Director Kusnan Rahmin and APRIL’s Sustainability Director Dr. Petrus Gunarso.

At the recent RGE Journalism Workshop held in Singapore, Asian Agri’s Managing Director Kelvin Tio provided an overview on the palm oil industry to the journalists participating in the workshop. He said that Indonesia is still the biggest producer of palm oil in the world, producing 30 mn MT in 2013, which accounted for 53% of the global volume. Indonesia’s output surpassed that of Malaysia, which produced 19 mn MT in 2013.

A total of 24 senior journalists and editors from Indonesia attended a 3-day RGE Journalism Workshop in Singapore from 2 to 4 December 2014. This is the third year that RGE, a group of natural resources-based manufacturing companies founded by entrepreneur and visionary Sukanto Tanoto, hosted this workshop to provide the participants with a unique learning experience to improve their knowledge and professional skills. This year’s workshop is in partnership with the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, and the Singapore Press Holdings.

Asia Symbol (Guangdong) Paper Co., Ltd was named by the Guangdong Paper Association as one of “Guangdong Province’s Outstanding Paper-making Company in 2013-2014”. This honour is awarded after stringent reviews by a panel of experts and the association.

The Asia Symbol (Shandong) Pulp and Paper Co., Ltd. Exhibition Hall has been selected by Rizhao City Science and Technology Association as one of National Science Education Base in Rizhao, China, an initiative that mobilizes the private sector to promulgate “science in practice” so as to improve science literacy in the community.

Asian Agri received “Green” from Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s assessment on companies towards implementing comprehensive, sustainable environmental management, known simply as PROPER. The awards were presented to Asian Agri's General Manager, Freddy Wijaya, by the Minister of Environment and Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia Siti Nurbaya Bakar, on 2 December 2014 at the Auditorium of Manggala Wanabhakti, Jakarta. Also present was Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who addressed his support to the companies who have implemented environmental preservation efforts.