10 July 2014, EUFLEGT news - Forest and environment officials from five central African countries gathered in Douala, Cameroon, to share their experiences of developing and implementing the public information requirement noted in the annexes of their respective VPAs. The regional FLEGT unit (Cellule FLEGT régionale) of the Economic Community of Central Africa States (CEEAC-ECCAS) organised the meeting.

For VPA countries, implementing the annex is an essential step toward making their forest sectors more transparent and accountable.

Cameroon and the Republic of the Congo presented their own dedicated VPA websites for making information about the VPA and other elements of the EU FLEGT Action Plan available to the public. Both countries are well into implementing their VPA commitments, and they shared lessons learnt in creating, compiling and making information available. Ministries in charge of forests in both countries are setting up systems to manage  and update their public information.

Country representatives issued a statement at the end of the meeting recommending that their national governments, the CEEAC-ECCAS and the EU fulfil their public information commitments. The statement is available from the regional FLEGT unit.

Source: www.euflegt.efi.int