Sep 04, 2008. /Lesprom.com/. Ghana and The European Union signed a groundbreaking trade agreement that would stop imports of illegal timber into Europe from Ghana, GNA reported. The deal will offer European consumers a credible guarantee that Ghanaian timber products have been obtained in a manner that protects Ghana's remaining forests and benefits local forest communities. Europe imports more than half the timber Ghana produces for export, from a total forest sector worth an estimated $400 million a year. Illegal logging has been responsible for rampant deforestation in the West African nation, and estimates gathered by the World Bank suggest that around 60% of logging has been illegal in recent years. Globally, the World Bank has estimated that illegal logging and uncollected timber taxes cause losses in assets and revenue in excess of $15 billion annually, more than six times the total official development assistance to the sustainable management of forests. The deal brings to a close a 21-month process and commits Ghana to developing transparent systems for collecting timber taxes and ensuring legal compliance in their forest sector; and the EU to establishing border measures to exclude unlicensed Ghanaian wood from the European market. The two parties have also agreed on the pillars of a FLEGT licensing scheme that includes definition of legal timber, system of verification of legality and timber tracking system, licensing system and independent monitoring. The EU expects that 'FLEGT timber,' as the licensed products are currently known, will begin to be exported by partner countries from late 2009.