A European Union-funded project addressing the timber industry inVietnam and Laos was launched on August 21 in Hanoi by the VietnamAdministration of Forestry, the World Wide Fund for Nature and Centrefor People and Nature Reconciliation.
The four-year project,which includes forest-dependent communities, civil society groups,timber processing enterprises and government agencies, aims to help thecountries comply with an EU regulation that took effect in March. Underthe regulation, all timber products imported to the EU must be certifiedas legal.
Vietnam currently imports approximately40 percent of raw materials for processing and export, speakers at thelaunch ceremony said. Control of imported timber, which ensures thatlegitimate timber is legally harvested under the laws of the exportingcountry, is a key element in the legal timber assurance system inVietnam.
There were currently millions of farmersplanting material forests and more than 3,500 small and mediumprocessing and exporting enterprises in Vietnam, said Nguyen BaNgai, deputy director of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry.
Toavoid complicated procedures of declaring timber origin for Vietnamesefurniture exported to the EU, he urged Vietnam's Government toestablish a credible and effective system for timber licensing, legalityverification and monitoring.
"The project is especiallyimportant as Vietnam and EU are in the final stage of VPAnegotiations, which will finish by the end of this year," he said.
In 2010, Vietnam and the EU began negotiating a tradeagreement with the goal of tackling obstacles to the production andexport of timber products to the EU.-VNA
The four-year project,which includes forest-dependent communities, civil society groups,timber processing enterprises and government agencies, aims to help thecountries comply with an EU regulation that took effect in March. Underthe regulation, all timber products imported to the EU must be certifiedas legal.
Vietnam currently imports approximately40 percent of raw materials for processing and export, speakers at thelaunch ceremony said. Control of imported timber, which ensures thatlegitimate timber is legally harvested under the laws of the exportingcountry, is a key element in the legal timber assurance system inVietnam.
There were currently millions of farmersplanting material forests and more than 3,500 small and mediumprocessing and exporting enterprises in Vietnam, said Nguyen BaNgai, deputy director of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry.
Toavoid complicated procedures of declaring timber origin for Vietnamesefurniture exported to the EU, he urged Vietnam's Government toestablish a credible and effective system for timber licensing, legalityverification and monitoring.
"The project is especiallyimportant as Vietnam and EU are in the final stage of VPAnegotiations, which will finish by the end of this year," he said.
In 2010, Vietnam and the EU began negotiating a tradeagreement with the goal of tackling obstacles to the production andexport of timber products to the EU.-VNA
