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EU, Cameroon team up in fight against illegal timber exports
“This Agreement is a major step forward in our fight against illegal logging and will contribute to economic development and poverty alleviation in Cameroon."
- European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs
The European Union has signed the Voluntary Partnership Agreement with Cameroon, the largest African exporter of timber products to the EU, to stop illegal trading of wood products to the EU.
By July 2012, all shipments of wood products from Cameroon to the EU will be required to carry a license showing that they contain timber and wood products from a legal origin.
The agreement is an indication of a strong joint commitment between both parties to eradicate illegal logging. It also underpins Cameroon’s ongoing reforms towards good governance of the forest sector and development. European consumers, on their part, will have confidence that wood products, such as furniture, imported from Cameroon are of legal origin.