Government agencies have performed poorly in relation to the concession licences acquired by the logging company Vaitarna Holdings Private Inc (VHPI) and substantial improvement will be needed in the process towards reaching a timber trade agreement with the European Union (EU), two forestry experts say.
Guyana has applied to the EU to join its Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) programme and has begun work on a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA). A VPA is a legally binding trade agreement between the EU and a timber-producing country outside the EU and its purpose is to ensure that timber and timber products exported to the EU come from legal sources. The agreements also help timber-exporting countries stop illegal logging by improving regulation and governance of the forest sector.
Participation in this process is one of the requirements in the Joint Concept Note under the
