There is no time frame for Malaysia and the EU to sign a Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), the country’s plantations and commodities minister has said.
Negotiations are under way to establish a VPA, which would ensure the legality of Malaysia’s timber exports to Europe, but no target date has been agreed. However, minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said the EU had indicated it wanted the VPA to be concluded before the EU’s due diligence leglislation, which was rubber stamped by the European Council last week, comes into force in 2012.
To date, the EU has concluded VPAs with Ghana, Congo and Cameroon, while negotiations with Malaysia, Indonesia and Liberia are ongoing.
