He said even though Ghana would soon be issued a license to export timber products to the European Union markets under the Ghana-EU Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA), not all timber products could be exported.

Speaking to journalists after a joint tour of some forest reserves in the Ashanti Region with Ms Diana Acconcia, the EU ambassador to Ghana, Mr Cheremeh, said although there was no restrictions under the agreement to the quantity of timber products to be exported to the EU markets, only lumber supplied from legal sources would be accepted.

The team visited the Kunsiamoa Bepo shelterbelt, Breku and Bonkro communities in the Adansi South District and inspected progress of work in the forest reserves in these areas to help informed final deliberations and assessments on the ten-year forest governance agreement.

Mr Cheremeh said the EU has over the years supported Ghana to maintain existing forests, preserve it and employed the youth to work in these forests.

He said the certification and licensing of Ghana by the EU to export timber products to its member countries would enable Ghana receive enough foreign exchange to further develop and maintain its forest reserves.

Ms Acconcia, on her part, said final assessments on the country’s forest governance would soon be done in order to complete negotiations on the VPA and the issuance of a license to Ghana to export timber products to European markets.

The aim of the agreement, she said, was to ensure that no illegalities were done in the timber business and that timber products were sourced from legal sources to help protect forest resources.