Exchange between The Timber Trade Federation TTF and Vietnamese BSOs
On 25 June 2021, SIPPO organized an exchange session on “Sustainable Development” between the Timber Trade Federation (TTF) UK and 5 Vietnamese BSOs, namely VIFORES, BIFA, DOWA, FPA, HAWA and 1 CSO, which was the Institute for Resources and Environment (IRE) at Hue University.
On 25 June 2021, SIPPO organized an exchange session on “Sustainable Development” between the Timber Trade Federation (TTF) UK and 5 Vietnamese BSOs, namely VIFORES, BIFA, DOWA, FPA, HAWA and 1 CSO, which was the Institute for Resources and Environment (IRE) at Hue University.
TTF’s CEO Mr. David Hopkins introduced UK’s most important timber trade representation after briefly outlining facts about the UK timber industry. He gave an insight into the organization’s background, organizational build, market representation and objectives. Mr. Hopkins presented TTF’s many services and products and shared some examples of their work on, market intelligence, product information, communication, and advocacy. He specifically emphasized that TTF’s timber branding and visibility made them succeed in the UK.
TTF’s Responsible Purchasing Policy (RPP) was presented by sustainability manager Ms. Xiao Ma. The TTF RPP is a risk management framework for the continuous improvement of TTF members’ awareness of and compliance with the obligations of the UK/EU Timber Regulation, the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) and TTF’s Code of Conduct. It builds the capacity of the members and gives them the tools and guidance needed to create market reassurance and customer confidence. Compliance is monitored through reporting, data collection and analysis as well as an annual audit. Many questions relating to the RPP, branding, membership management and other were asked by the Vietnamese participants, which were answered in detail by TTF’s staff.
Ms. Juliane Lemcke, SIPPO technical wood expert, was very pleased to connect the organizations to each other at this event. “The professional presentations, the friendly atmosphere and the mutual openness were outstanding. This was one of the best online events that I participated in!”, she said.
A fruitful exchange was started and agreed to be continued from both sides. Through the SIPPO network, Vietnamese BSOs were able to voice their needs in further cooperation with TTF. An immediate opportunity to start cooperation between TTF and some BSOs could arise through a DFID-funded FLEGT project which TTF is starting to implement soon.