VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Multistakeholder Forestry Programme -MFP has been supporting Indonesia since 2000 to strengthen forest governance in handling illegal logging and improving livelihoods for forest-dependent people. This program is funded by the British Department for International Development –DFID. At a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday (Feb11), Program Director of MFP, Tom Gegg said that the UK supports the agreement of Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade (FLEGT) action plan with Indonesia since the country is one of the biggest trading partners for Indonesia’s timber sector.

 "The UK and Indonesia final agreement that mirrors the same terms as the agreement between the EU and Indonesia and the reason we did this is because the UK has been very supportiveon FLEGT action plan, really support the reforms of Indonesia timber sector and we want to stay as part of this agreement and continue supporting after wards. So UK is one of the strongest trading partners for Indonesia in timber sector. This agreement is showing that we still committed despite our relationship with EU is changing, Tom Gegg said.

Tom Gegg moreover added that in 2016, Indonesia's timber legality assurance system, SVLK, became the first system in the world which is recognized to meet the high standards set by the European Union's Timber Regulation. This is a significant development in tackling deforestation globally. The system has collected information from nearly two decades of partnership between Indonesia and Britain to support forest governance reforms and deliver the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Action Plan// NK/Edt.N