Jul 07, 2009. /Lesprom Network/. The European Commission has upped its fight against illegal logging by pledging €4.5m to the EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) facility at the European Forest Institute (EFI), Timber Trades Journal reports. The money will be used to back the process of negotiating and implementing Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPA), bilateral trade agreements between the EU and wood exporting countries. These agreements are designed to improve forest governance and introduce national verification systems checking the legality of timber imports into the EU. Risto Päivinen, EFI director, and Roberto Ridolfi, head of unit in EuropeAid-F-3, countersigned a new grant agreement between EFI and the European Commission in Brussels. This brings the EC contribution to EFI’s EU FLEGT Facility to a total of €12.8m.