11th multi-stakeholder core group meeting on VPA-FLEGT

On June 8th, Viet Nam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST) coordinated with relevant units to organise the 11th Multi-stakeholder Core Group Meeting on the Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forestry Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (VPA-FLEGT) with the participation of over 40 members from government agencies, non-governmental organisations and research institutes.

With the facilitation of Mr. Pham Van Dien – Deputy Director of VNFOREST, Chairman of the Core Group, and Mr. Cao Chi Cong - Vice President of Viet Nam Timber and Forest Product Association (VIFOREST), Co-chair of the Core Group, the meeting mainly focused on the updates on the VPA/FLEGT and VNTLAS (Viet Nam Timber Legality Assurance System) implementation and exchanges on Core Group activities, of which reviewing the achievements, lesson learned since Core Group 10 and discussing future actions for the group.

Mr. Van Dien expressed his high regard for the insightful information and updates on the VPA-FLEGT and VNTLAS implementations from the Core Group members, as well as their contributions to the joint activities. The results of the Core Group are to be synthesized and raised at the upcoming 5th Joint Expert Meeting (JEM) and Joint Implementation Committee (JIC) meetings on VPA-FLEGT, which will be on the 13th and 17th of June.

This event was organised by the Multi-Stakeholder Core Group on the VPA-FLEGT Agreement, with the support from the project "Support for the implementation of the VPA-FLEGT in Viet Nam". The VPA-FLEGT project is commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ) and jointly implemented by the Viet Nam Administration of Forestry (VNFOREST) and Deutѕche Geѕellѕchaft für Internationale Zuѕammenarbei (GIZ) GmbH.