Myanmar's southern state to sign MoU with EU on forest products trading

Myanmar's Mon state government has vowed to sign a memorandum of understanding with the European Union (EU) on the legal trading of forest products, the Myanmar News Agency reported Sunday.

The southern state government will comply with Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT), under which Myanmar and EU members are to be engaged only in legal trading of forest products, chief minister of Mon state U Min Min Oo was quoted as saying.

U Min Min Oo urged respective government departments, private businessmen and civil society organizations to cooperate on the move.

Meanwhile, the British government pledged over 4 million pounds to implement the FLEGT in Myanmar.

The project is aimed at reducing negative impact from illegal logging and timber production in European countries, said the Forestry Department, adding that the project encourages not only legal timber production and trading, but also development of the ability of forestry governance.

Noting that deforestation occurs in Myanmar due to weak forestry governance, the facilitator of FLEGT called for Myanmar's participation in the agreement to eliminate illegal timber trade.

According to statistics, Myanmar's forestry coverage shrank to 47 percent in 2010 from 61 percent in 1975. Myanmar's deforestation rate between 1990 and 2010 was 0.95 percent. Endit