Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Centre for Sustainable Rural Development (SRD) and the Vietnam Administration of Forestry co-organised a forum on sustainable forest governance and timber trade monitoring in Hanoi on August 22.
The hybrid forum, the fifth of its kind, formed part of the project “Promoting forest governance and legal timber trade through the EU – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA)” funded by the EU.
It is one of the annual activities aiming to promote the efficiency of forest governance and review the implementation of the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade (FLEGT) and the EVFTA.
The forum brought together representatives from Government agencies, research organisations, domestic and international organisations, associations, independent experts and the media.
In his remarks, Dr. Nguyen Phu Hung, Deputy Director of the SRD under the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA), said Vietnam has been perfecting institutions and policies to realise the VPA.
Associate Prof. Nguyen Ba Ngai, from the Vietnam Forest Owner Association, proposed the State offer preferential policies, and support enterprises in land, credit, tax, infrastructure, market and production capacity development.
Other participants suggested solutions relating to management work, and the improvement of domestic materials, technologies and production.
Vietnam’s forestry product export revenue is expected to stand at 16.3 billion USD in 2022, approximately equal to the target set earlier this year, heard a recent conference of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
According to Nguyen Van Dien, Director of the Forestry Production Development, a total of 372,140 hectares of forest in 31 provinces and cities have been granted sustainable forest certificates.
Statistics by VNFOREST showed that in the first half of this year, Vietnam earned 9.1 billion USD from forestry product exports, up 3% year-on-year, achieving 56% of the target. The trade surplus was estimated at some 7.5 billion USD, a year-on-year rise of 3%.
The US, Japan, China, the EU and the Republic of Korea were major buyers of Vietnamese forestry products, accounting for up to 90% of the total export value.
Vietnam’s wood output reached some 8.5 million cubic metres, fulfilling 46% of the target and up 5.9% year-on-year./.
