About US$273,000 will be spent on communication activities for the VPA/FLEGT agreement. Photo laodong.vn

HÀ NỘI — The FAO-EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Programme will allocate US$273,000 for a project aimed at assisting Việt Nam in developing and implementing a communication programme on the Timber Legality Assurance and Agreement (VNTLAS) for stakeholders in an appropriate and effective manner.

This was a legally binding trade agreement aimed at improving forest governance, promoting the legal trade of timber and timber products exported from Việt Nam to the EU market.

Phạm Văn Điển, deputy head of Viet Nam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST), made the statement at the workshop entitled “Public disclosure of information and communications for implementation of the Việt Nam-EU Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA)/FLEGT”,  organised by VNFOREST and the Food Agriculture Organisation on Wednesday in Hà Nội.

Điển, the project’s manager, said the project would help Việt Nam implement its commitments on disclosure to stakeholders, including access to information as committed by the agreement. Accordingly, appropriate communication materials, information and access channels for relevant units on the content of VPA / FLEGT Agreement and VNTLAS System will be developed.

After VPA/FLEGT between Việt Nam and EU was signed in October 2018, the two sides worked together to prepare the necessary conditions for the official agreement to be ratified and implemented.

“The project has important implications in the context of VPA/FLEGT Agreement between Việt Nam and the EU. The project will contribute to addressing essential issues of information, communication and information disclosure under the VPA/FLEGT Agreement for effective implementation,” Điển said.

Nguyễn Tường Vân, deputy director of the Department of Science and Technology and International Cooperation under VNFOREST, said the project focused on assessing information needs of stakeholders on VPA/FLEGT, evaluating the availability of information published in accordance with Annex VII of the VPA. The project involved providing and disseminating information to domestic wood processing enterprises, foreign-direct investment enterprises and communication agencies.

The FAO-EU- Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Programme is part of a global network of actors supported by the EU to implement the FLEGT Action Plan, adopted in 2003 by EU Member States in response to the global environmental, economic and social consequences of the illegal timber trade. The Action Plan outlines a series of supply- and demand-side measures to improve forest governance and legality in the forest sector and ultimately enable Sustainable Forest Management. — VNS