The forestry sector has been demanded to take measures to achieve the exports target of 11 billion USD for this year.

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong made the request at a meeting of the Vietnam Administration of Forestry (VNForest) in Hanoi on July 5.

He asked the sector to perfect institutions so as to implement the Voluntary Partnership Agreement on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (VPA/FLEGT) between Vietnam and the European Union (EU), which took effect on June 1, 2019.

Cuong said under this agreement, many parties, including people, society, the state as well as foreign partners, will take part in managing the export of forestry products.

Each agency and official must improve their awareness of the agreement to seek benefits for the sector, the official added.

Vietnam earned nearly 5.23 billion USD from forestry exports in the first half of this year, up almost 20 percent year on year.

According to Deputy Director General of VNForest Pham Van Dien, to achieve the exports target of 11 billion USD, the sector will increase coordination with other ministries and sectors to prevent trade frauds by some exporting companies and strictly control the import of timber from high-risk countries.

It will also enhance cooperation with localities to multiply the successful connections between wood processing companies and afforestation households, thus ensuring the legality of domestic timber supply. This will help increase the added value and reduce production costs for Vietnamese wood products, he added.

At the meeting, VNForest reported the forestry production value grew 4.53 percent in the second quarter of this year, 0.08 percent higher than that in the same period last year.

It said amidst the declines in both export volume and value of some agricultural products, the forestry sector’s stable growth has made it a “helping hand” of Vietnam’s agriculture.