Malaysia will have a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) within the next four months, according to the head of the European Commission delegation in the country.
Vincent Piket is reported by the Bernama news agency as saying he hopes to reach an agreement “in the first three or four months of 2009”, with discussions reaching the final stage.
Malaysian minister for plantation industries and commodities Peter Chin had originally suggested the VPA could be signed by the end of 2008, but this has not proved the case.
Ghana was the first country to agree a VPA, a legally-binding bilateral agreement to stop illegal timber imports entering the EU.
