Accra, July 19, GNA - Mr Gareth Thomas, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State of Department for International Development of the United Kingdom (UK), on Wednesday said the European Union (EU) would continue to buy only legal timber from Ghana.

He said the only incentive that could be awarded to Ghana

in the promotion of its timber exports was for the Local

Government Ministry of the United Kingdom to expand its

quota of legally exported timber from Ghana. "We will not tolerate any illegal timber on our markets," he

told Mr Andrews Adjei-Yeboah, Deputy Minister of Lands,

Forestry and Mines, when he led a four-member delegation to

his office to discuss issues pertaining to timber exports to the

UK and the EU markets. Mr Thomas said to prevent the export of timber that would

be rejected on the EU market his office was forming a

partnership with the Ministry of Lands, Forestry and Mines to

put in place modalities that would ensure a smooth export

process. The partnership would be in the form of financial and

technical assistance to speed up the sensitization process

among stakeholders on the need to discourage the marketing

of illegal timber, both locally and for export. Mr Thomas said 24 million pounds had been made

available for sensitization programmes in timber-exporting

countries in Africa and Asia to drum home the need for such

countries to focus on only legal timber for export. "There is the urgent need for all countries to discourage the

use of illegal timber to ensure sustainability," he said. Mr Adjei-Yeboah said Ghana was poised to comply with the

Voluntary Partnership Agreement with the EU that mandated

member countries to ensure that only legal timber was

exported to the EU. He said the issue of illegal timber could not be wished away

or eliminated in a day due to demands on the domestic

markets. "The issue of illegal timber has to do with a large number of

people's livelihood and so care has to be taken in dealing with

those involved since it has several dimensions in terms of

social, economic and financial implications, among other

things. Mr Adjei-Yeboah said because the Government was

discouraging the sale of illegal timber, some Police officers

were taking advantage of the situation to enrich themselves by

impounding and defrauding people they suspected of

engaging in the trade. "We want to create a forum with timber merchants where we

would be able to dialogue with them and make them

appreciate the Government's effort in curbing the sale of illegal

timber," he said. The team, earlier in the day paid a working visit to the

Timber Market in Accra to have a first hand knowledge about

the domestic timber trade. n