On July the 18th 2018, the Multi-Stakeholder Implementation Core group known as VPA/FLEGT (hereinafter referred to as “the Core group”) organized the 4th meeting in Hanoi. There were approximately 40 attendees at the meeting including the Group Chairman Pham Van Dien (General Deputy Director of Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST)), Co-Chair Ms. To Kim Lien (Director of Center for Education and Development (CED)), and Ms. Nguyen Tuong Van (Deputy Director of Department of Science and Technology and International Cooperation of VNFOREST).
The following was discussed during the meeting.
Firstly, the Board of Directors summarized the activities within the last 4 months since the last Group meeting in March 2018. Secondly, with respect to updating the process related to the Group, Ms. Nguyen Tuong Van summarized the process for filing a submission to ministries and agencies, which is expected to be officially signed by Vietnam and Belgium in October 2018.
Then, it is expected that VPA will be approved by the Vietnamese Government by end of this year. In addition, members also discussed and updated 7 projects related to the Core group, 6 of which are funded by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Thirdly, the Core group also outlined what needed to be done from now until the next session, which is scheduled to take place at the end of 2018.
General Deputy Director Pham Van Dien highly appreciated and welcomed the contributions from the members of the Core group for the negotiation process and preparation of VPA implementation in the near future.
The fifth meeting, due to take place in mid-November 2018, promises many interesting and significant events such as the anniversary of Vietnam’s Forestry Day on November the 28th, and the (possible) official signing of the agreement between the European Union and Vietnam in October.
