On October 4, Deputy Minister of MARD Le Quoc Doanh worked with CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero to discuss its implementation in Vietnam.

Ms. Ivonne Higuero affirmed that, in recent years, Vietnam and CITES achieved very positive results in CITES management.

“I am very pleased that Vietnam does not grant export quotas for woods such as rosewood and Dalbergia Oliveri. This is a positive result in the sustainable development of these woods,” said the CITES Secretary-General.

Referring to the information that the next COP conference will take place in November, Ms. Ivonne Higuero said that this visit to Vietnam will contribute to helping Vietnam solve related difficulties in the timber trade and capacity building to implement CITES.

"We will do our best to use the necessary resources so that Vietnam can meet the needs of CITES", added Ms. Ivonne Higuero.

Specifically, this aiding process can rely on budget sources and UN funds. An upcoming project will use $175,000 to improve capacity to enforce the convention or issues related to ivory and tiger fang.

The current trend of the market is that fewer and fewer people want to consume illegally traded products, it can be said that this is the result of great efforts from Vietnam.

Listening to comments from CITES representatives, Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh affirmed that Vietnam joined CITES very early, specifically in 1994. Since then, Vietnam has made many efforts to implement the convention with many participating ministries and branches besides MARD such as the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of National Defence, the General Department of Vietnam Customs, the Ministry of Industry and Trade...

“MARD has established an inter-sectoral steering committee to improve coordination and more effective implementation of the CITES convention”, added Mr. Le Quoc Doanh. Vietnam is also gradually building and perfecting a system of legal documents to strictly and effectively implement the convention.

"Vietnam always considers the illegal animal and timber trade as a serious violation with severe punishment. This has contributed to reducing the number of violations in recent years,” the Deputy Minister of MARD emphasized.

In addition, Vietnam also continuously propagates people to change their consumption habits, thereby directly or indirectly affecting the level of violations of illegal animal and timber trade.

According to Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh, in the country, relevant agencies work very closely and transparently to issue import and export permits related to wildlife or timber. The number varies from 7,000 - 8,000 licenses per year.

In addition, in order to effectively implement CITES, Vietnam also continuously promotes links with international organizations and neighboring countries in this regard. Specifically, this includes the Memorandum of Understanding with bordering countries, countries with large supplies in Africa, South America ...

With support from international organizations, Vietnam has implemented many wildlife conservation and control projects such as elephants, tigers, pangolins, bears...

Despite certain achievements, with a favorable geographical position for transportation and transshipment, Deputy Minister Le Quoc Doanh affirmed to Ms. Ivonne Higuero that Vietnam will continue to make more efforts to implement CITES in the coming time.

"In addition to our efforts, Vietnam hopes to receive more support from international organizations, as well as the CITES Secretariat to implement the convention more effectively", leaders of MARD shared and emphasized the areas where Vietnam wishes to receive support

Translated by Hoang Duy