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Viet Nam’s first network to promote business links between producers of ecologically responsible forest products and concerned buyers around the world was launched by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the WWF Indochina Vietnam Programme.
To promote the newly-launched programme and educate the industry about its services, the Viet Nam Forest Trade Network (VFTN) was holding a five-day exhibition at the HCM City International Furniture and Handicraft Fair 2005, which will wrap up on Friday.
VFTN is a chapter of the Global Forest Trade Network (GFTN), WWF’s worldwide initiative to eliminate illegal logging and improve responsible management of valuable and threatened forests.
Viet Nam is the 24th member of GFTN to join this rapidly-growing network, which is active in nearly 30 consumer and producer-weighted nations throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
By helping processors find legal and sustainable sources of wood, the VFTN will play a valuable role in Viet Nam and throughout the Asia Pacific region.
VFTN representatives say there is great potential for building sustainable forestry in Viet Nam, using industry certification as a key tool.
The organisation provides a supportive framework by which forest managers can work towards this goal. The group facilitates links with a global network of responsibly-minded buyers, helping to stimulate a vibrant Vietnamese forest industry.
The services and market contacts the VFTN provides will support Vietnamese State Forest Enterprises to comply with current Vietnamese Government reforms, aimed at modernising State-owned enterprises and helping them emerge into the increasingly competitive global market.
Danish company Scancom, one of the largest suppliers of outdoor furniture in the world and an industry leader in responsible wood-sourcing, said it has already committed to joining the VFTN and is encouraging its contract manufacturers in Viet Nam to follow suit.
Vietnamnews - (12/10/2005)
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