Gareth Thomas, parliamentary under-secretary of state for the Department for International Development, told deputy forests minister Andrews Adjei-Yeboah that only legal timber would be bought from Ghana.
Mr Thomas, who led a four-member delegation to Ghana, said his office was forming a partnership with the ministry of lands, forests and mines to ensure a smooth timber export process and prevent wood from being rejected on the EU market.
Financial and technical assistance from the UK is being supplied as part of a £24m aid package, announced earlier this year, to fight illegal logging in Africa and Asia.
Ghana is planning to establish a licensing scheme under the EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Action Plan’s Voluntary Partnership Agreement to eliminate illegal timber from its trade with Europe.
