Malaysian states may sign VPA at different times

Malaysia may be looking at the possibility of different states within the country making Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPA) with the EU at different times, according to the latest market report of the International Tropical Timber Organisation.

The government has indicated some progress is being made in negotiations with the EU, but that forestry laws specific to Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak needed to be taken into consideration before an agreement could be made.

Peninsular Malaysia is apparantly ready to sign the VPA, but the other two states are still negotiating over customary land rights of forest dwellers.

The ITTO says securing the VPA was crucial to Peninsular Malaysia, whose timber products are mostly exported to the EU.

Although Sarawak’s export markets are mainly in Japan and India, value-added products made using Sarawak timbers in other countries and exported to the EU could fall foul of the EU Timber Regulation being introduced in 2013.