On 2nd May 2018, the Thai – EU FLEGT Secretariat Office (TEFSO) had arranged the first National FLEGT Negotiation Committee Meeting at the 17th-floor meeting room, Ministry of National Resouces and Environment. The meeting was leading by Mr.Vijarn Simachaya, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of National Resources and Environment, acting as the meeting leader.

This meeting aimed to provide updates on Thai FLEGT VPA Process as well as to update the result according to the third Joint Expert Meeting (JEM3) which was held on 20-22 March 2018. As for the updates of Thai FLEGT VPA Process, Thailand is now under developing 4 annexes (out of 1o annexes) which are Product Scope, Legality Definition, Timber Legality Assurance System, and Supply Chain Controls.

As for the JEM3’s result, it was informed that the EU had been willing to follow up on Thai Legality Reform especially on that related to timber and FLEGT. Also, the EU wanted to receive an update regarding Thai’s product scope if bamboo and recycle product would be included in the product scope. Besides, the meeting had presented and discussed over the agenda of the fourth Joint Expert Meeting and the second Negotiation as well as the next meeting. This was in order to prepare for the next negotiation between Thailand and the European Union.