Vietnam and the European Union have entered a second round of negotiations for a Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Voluntary Partnership Agreement aimed at curbing illegal logging.
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| Forest rangers of Yok Don National Park in Central Highlands Dak Lak Province examine illegally trafficked logs. — VNA/VNS Thanh Ha |
Approved in 2003, FLEGT was one of the EU's responses to international concerns about illegal logging and trading; the document sets out supply-and-demand measures to combat the problem. The implementation of the FLEGT VPA will establish control and licensing procedures in countries that produce and process timber in order to ensure that only products made from legally-harvested timber can enter the EU.
Ha Cong Tuan, deputy director General of the Vietnam Forest Administration and head of the negotiation delegation, said that the roadmap established last August for FLEGT VPA implementation would be the link between the EU initiative and Vietnam's aspirations for sustainable forestry development.
A third round of negotiations would take place next May and the agreement would be signed by late 2012, Tuan said.
Key provisions still on the agenda included the definition of legal timber, a list of Vietnamese timber and timber products to export to EU, as well as the tracking and monitoring system to ensure their legality.
Tuan said that because Vietnam both exported and imported timber, the negotiation process would be complicated.
In the last few years, EU countries imported over 30 per cent of Vietnam's total timber exports, making it the second largest importer behind the United States with over 40 percent.
About 11 million cubic metres of timber were used to make products to export to the EU last year, Tuan said, adding that 4 million cu.m came from other countries.
Head of the EU delegation Hugo Maria Schally said that it was quite ambitious to follow the road map Vietnam and EU had agreed upon, but it expressed the strong commitment and determination of both sides to combat illegal logging.
The EU has so far concluded a FLEGT VPA with five African countries and one Asian country, Indonesia. It is currently negotiating with other countries including Malaysia, Gabon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
