Vietnamese firms have been urged to prepare for the impending Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (VPA/FLEGT).
Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese firms have been urged to prepare for the impending Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforꦍcement, Governance and Trade (VPA/FLEGT).
The agreement is expected to generate significant opportunities for the expansion of wooden product exports to European markets.
The VPA/FLEGT is expected to conclude negotiations and be signed at the end of this year.
According to Nguyen Ngoc Thang, Manager of the World Wildlife Fund Vietnam's project for supporting VPA negotiations, was quoted by Cong Thuong newspaper as saying that the VPA/FLEGT would help eliminate legal risks for wooden export firms selling to European markets while promoting the domestic wood industry of more than 3,500 firms and 300,000 labourers.
The signing of the VPA with the European Union – a very strict market with high requirements for timber and wood products – will also enhance the trust of Vietnam's other major partners that have similar requirements for wood origins, such as the United States, Australia and Japan, experts said.
Still, many firms are not sufficiently aware of the impact the VPA/FLEGT will have on their operations and have not made adequate preparations.
The VPA/FLEGT requires participating firms' operations to comply with FLEGT legal requirements.
Vietnam's wood and wooden product exports were expected to expand by 12-15 percent in 2016 from 6.9 billion USD last year, according to the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCM City.
Vietnam was the fourth largest wood exporter in the world, trailing after China, Germany and Italy.-VNA
The export value of wood and timber products in the first two months of 2014 increased 8.4 percent to 796 million USD, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The country's exports of wood and wooden products in the first quarter surged by 20.1 percent against the same period last year to 1.4 billion USD, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).
The export value of wood products is forecast to reach 7 billion USD next year, said General Secretary of the Vietnam Timber and Forest Products Association (Vifores) Nguyen Ton Quyen.
Final negotiations to complete a Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) and Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) between the European Union (EU) and Vietnam is expected to be completed by late 2015.
Wood export firms have pegged their hopes on the outcome of the forestry restructuring plan to assure the recognition of a Vietnamese wood brand and to expand market share.
Under a draft to amend and supplement the Government's Decree 125/2020/ND-CP on administrative sanctions for violations of tax and invoice regulations, the Ministry of Finance has proposed classifying the failure to issue invoices into five different levels. Infraction levels will correspond to fines of 1 million VND to 80 million VND, depending on the nature and number of invoicing violations.
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A draft resolution on piloting a digital asset and cryptocurrency market is being developed, aiming to create a broad-enough regulatory sandbox that enables investor participation and provides practical grounds for policy refinement in areas such as risk management and anti-money laundering.
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The maximum retail price of E5 RON92 petrol has increased by 207 VND to 19,608 VND (0.75 USD) per litre while that of RON95-III rose by 234 VND to 20,074 VND per litre.
Illustration photo. (Source: VNA)
