Ghana signs novel timber deal with EU

Nov 23, 2009. /Lesprom Network/. Ghana has signed a voluntary partnership agreement with the European Union that will allow only legally harvested timber from the country to be exported to the European market, as Ghana Business News reported. The agreement which was signed on November 20, 2009 in Brussels makes Ghana the first country to sign a voluntary agreement with the EU. The agreement which is in keeping with the European Union’s Forest Law Enforcement, Government and Trade (FLEG) action plan establishes the legal framework of surveillance and monitoring aimed at ensuring that all timber imports into the EU have been acquired, harvested, transported and exported in accordance with the law in Ghana. The agreement also creates a national legality assurance system for all timber and timber products sold in the EU, on non-EU markets and on the domestic market. It also provides for independent third-party audits of the entire legality assurance system to guarantee credibility and effective verification and licensing. The first shipments of timber from Ghana licensed under the agreement are expected at the end of 2010. Customs officials in EU Member States will ensure that only timber shipments which meet the legality assurance requirements are imported to the EU. This will give EU operators confidence that all the timber imported from Ghana is of legal origin. The EU represents the number one export market for Ghana’s timber (43% of the total value of its exports, 33% of volume). Ghana is counting on this agreement to pursue the reform of its forestry sector, to ensure that the sector contributes to poverty alleviation and to promote investment in the sector to ensure the future viability of its forest industry. Timber is the fourth highest foreign exchange earner for Ghana behind, gold, cocoa and tourism. It is worth an estimated $400 million a year and more than half of all of the country’s timber products are exported to the European Union. Ghana’s timber sector survived the global economic crisis, when contract volume rose by 20%.9% in the 2Q 2009 as compared to the 1Q 2008. The Timber Industry Development Division (TIDD) of the Forestry Commission (FC) has indicated that a total contract volume of 129,580 cubic metres of wood products and 5,388 pieces of furniture were processed and approved during the period.