A working group on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) has made its debut in Hanoi to help Vietnam in forest management.
The group, jointly established by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the European Commission (EC), focuses on training in the skills needed by businesses in buying forest products, building an information system on FLEGT and creating a control system for the trade of timber and forest products.
In previous years, Vietnam led other countries in Southeast Asia in meeting the International Forest Supervision Council (FSC)’s standards on forests and wood materials. However, the country is step-by-step losing ground on this score, affecting the psychology of its timber purchasing partners and negatively impacting the forestry sector’s operations.
Nguyen Ngoc Binh, Director of the MARD’s Forestry Department, said that raising the awareness and improving the skills needed to implement the FLEGT law in order to better meet the FSC requirements comes high on the ministry’s list of priorities.
At the debut ceremony of the FLEGT working group, EC Ambassador to Vietnam Sean Doyle stressed that Vietnam is one of the world’s 10 leading exporters of wood products so the country’s voluntary participation in the implementation of the EC-initiated FLEGT law will help its products penetrate more deeply into the EU and world markets.
However, the Forestry Department head admitted there are difficulties in controlling the sources of wood materials, 80 percent of which must be imported.
According to President of the Vietnam Association of Timber and Forest Products Nguyen Ton Quyen, woodworks rank fifth among Vietnam’s export staples in export turnover, after crude oil, garments, footwear and seafood.
In 2009, Vietnam’s woodwork export turnover reached 2.25 billion USD, down 9.9 percent year-on-year. Of that, such exports to the EU – the country’s second largest woodworks importer--decreased by 39 percent because many Vietnamese wooden products had yet to satisfy the FLEGT law’s strict regulations./.
The group, jointly established by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and the European Commission (EC), focuses on training in the skills needed by businesses in buying forest products, building an information system on FLEGT and creating a control system for the trade of timber and forest products.
In previous years, Vietnam led other countries in Southeast Asia in meeting the International Forest Supervision Council (FSC)’s standards on forests and wood materials. However, the country is step-by-step losing ground on this score, affecting the psychology of its timber purchasing partners and negatively impacting the forestry sector’s operations.
Nguyen Ngoc Binh, Director of the MARD’s Forestry Department, said that raising the awareness and improving the skills needed to implement the FLEGT law in order to better meet the FSC requirements comes high on the ministry’s list of priorities.
At the debut ceremony of the FLEGT working group, EC Ambassador to Vietnam Sean Doyle stressed that Vietnam is one of the world’s 10 leading exporters of wood products so the country’s voluntary participation in the implementation of the EC-initiated FLEGT law will help its products penetrate more deeply into the EU and world markets.
However, the Forestry Department head admitted there are difficulties in controlling the sources of wood materials, 80 percent of which must be imported.
According to President of the Vietnam Association of Timber and Forest Products Nguyen Ton Quyen, woodworks rank fifth among Vietnam’s export staples in export turnover, after crude oil, garments, footwear and seafood.
In 2009, Vietnam’s woodwork export turnover reached 2.25 billion USD, down 9.9 percent year-on-year. Of that, such exports to the EU – the country’s second largest woodworks importer--decreased by 39 percent because many Vietnamese wooden products had yet to satisfy the FLEGT law’s strict regulations./.
