A workshop was launched in Hanoi on August 23 to help Vietnamesetimber suppliers update with revisions of the Lacey Act of the US ,which is currently Vietnam’s largest furniture trader.

“Supplementaryarticles of the Lacey Act, dated May 2008, provide challenges and alsoopportunities for Vietnam to better improve its management of forest,timber import and processing,” Ha Cong Tuan, Deputy Director GeneralVietnam Directorate of Forestry said in his opening speech of theLegality Training Workshop.

By bettering its management, Vietnamaims to sustain and expand its share of the US furniture market,Tuan noted, emphasising that, “ Vietnam considers the US furnituremarket a high priority”.

In 2009, Vietnam earned 1.2 billion USD from the US furniture market, or 44 percent of its timber export value.

Asnew product declarations under the Lacey Act are enforced fromSeptember, a growing number of US-based forest products importers willseek assurance from their suppliers that products they source have beenlegally produced.

This means they must be able to demonstratethat the timber has been harvested, possessed, transported, sold andexported without breaking any relevant laws in the country where thetree was grown, even if it was processed in another country.

Combatingtimber trafficking was also a highlight of the workshop, which broughttogether representatives from Government, the forestry sector andsuppliers of forest products.

“Cooperating on tackling illegallogging will help Vietnamese producers, because as demand increases,Vietnam can gain market access by increasing its supply of legaltimber products,” said Francis Donovan, Mission Director of USAIDVietnam, which is among the organisers of the event.

Heunderscored his country’s commitment to working with Vietnameseproducers in the supply of legal and sustainable products that meetinternational market standards.

Tuan affirmed that Vietnamhas cooperated with many countries around the world and madegovernmental-level commitments to intensify its forest management toprevent illegal logging.

He cited the country’s participation inthe ASEAN action plan to adapt to the EU Action Plan for Forest LawEnforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT).

“Illegal logging andtimber trade not only undermine conservation, they also lead to reducedprofitability of legal trade, loss of foreign revenue and currencyexchange, uncollected forest-related taxes and depleted forest resourcesand services,” said Chen Hin Keong, the Wildlife Trade MonitoringNetwork (TRAFFIC) Global Forest Trade Programme Head.

Vietnamhas increased its forest coverage from 34.3 percent in 2000 to 39.6percent in 2009. It is among the world’s top five in terms of increasedforest coverage and top ten in terms of furniture exports.

As anexporter of up to 90 percent of its wooden furniture, the country is setto rake in 3 billion USD from furniture this year.

The workshopwas co-organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developmentand the WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN) with support fromthe US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Two similarworkshops will be held, in Quy Nhon, the central province of BinhDinh, on August 25, and in Ho Chi Minh City on August 27./.