Lao wood product makers eye better access to EU markets
Lao wood product makers eye better access to EU markets
Lao wooden product companies will be able to gain easier access to other markets throughout Asean, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Japan in the near future due to cooperation with international organisations and trade partners.
Currently, Laos is embarking on preparations for the negotiation of a Voluntary Partnership Agreement with the European Union in 2016, within the framework of the EU's Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT), through a three day technical meeting from December 15-17.
The “Technical Session on FLEGT in the Lao PDR” is being jointly organised by the Department of Forest Inspection, EU Delegation to Laos, and EU FLEGT Facility. It is hosted by the European Forest Institute (EFI), the GIZ project ‘Support to the Lao EU-FLEGT Process' (ProFLEGT) and the World Wide Fund for Nature.
This is part of the government initiative to ensure improved forest governance and sustainable forest management in Laos.
In his opening remarks, Director General of the Department of Forest Inspection under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Mr Khamphout Phandanouvong, said Laos is working towards strengthening forest governance.
“The FLEGT VPA is a main avenue contri buting to this. Good governance of the forest sector will allow us to maintain our forests for future generations, further develop opportunities for wood processing in the country, add value to our products, create employment opportunities in the forest sector and open a wider range of export marke ts,” he said.
He also added that once the FLEGT VPA is fully operational, timber products from Laos will be in full compliance with the EU Timber Regulations which promote the placement of legal timber on the EU market and those of its trading partners.
Over the past years, the EU and Laos have engaged in a constructive collaboration and dialogue on the FLEGT Action Plan and the EU and its member states have been providing the government and other stakeholders representing the private sector and civil society with information and technical assistance to prepare for Voluntary Partnership Agreement negotiations.
During the technical meeting, the Lao delegation will share progress related to the FLEGT VPA in Laos, particularly in relation to the political and technical level structures, involvement of stakeholders in the process including at both the central and provincial level, development of a definition of timber legality, apart from the process and steps involved in launching the Voluntary Partnership Agreement negotiations.
As part of the Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade to combat illegal logging globally, the European Union is concluding Voluntary Partnership Agreements with timber producing countries. These are international trade agreements to reduce illegal wood harvesting and promote legal timber trade.
Laos has started to negotiate such an agreement with the EU, with assistance from the GIZ project Support to the Lao EU-FLEGT process (ProFLEGT).
ProFLEGT is a joint initiative of the Lao government and German Development Cooperation. It is working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (through the FLEGT Standing Office under the supervision of the Department of Forest Inspection), Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, as well as other government agencies, civil society organisations, academia and the timber processing industry.
In Laos, the World Wide Fund for Nature is working with the Department of Forest Inspection to implement its FLEGT project in support of the Lao EU-FLEGT process in the two pilot provinces of Khammuan and Attapeu.
World Wide Fund for Nature takes a solutions-oriented, integrated and local-to-global approach that seeks synergies with relevant stakeholders to influence drivers of deforestation and degradation.
