Malaysia and the European Union (EU) on Friday kicked off talks on a voluntary trade agreement relating to forest law enforcement, governance and trade(FLEGT).

The two sides held a meeting at the senior officials level in Miri, Sarawak state in eastern Malaysia. Representing the two sides are Malaysian Plantation Enterprises and Commodities Minister Peter Chin Fah Kui and Director of International Affairs in the European Commission's Directorate General for Environment, Soledad Blanco.

Blanco, who led an 11-member delegation, said the two parties would take a collaborative approach to work out an agreement to ensure that timber supplied by the FLEGT partner countries and consumed in the EU market has been legally logged.

"Our work in the months to come will be to craft an agreement which meets expectations of both sides, allowing us to conclude the agreement by the end of 2007," Blanco was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency at the opening ceremony.

The agreement would cover a clear definition on timber legality, robust trace ability systems to ensure timber of unknown origin would not enter the supply chain, compliance verification system, and a third party independent body to monitor the system functionality, she said.

Meanwhile, local newspaper The Star said, if the voluntary trade agreement is concluded, Malaysian timber products will be able to go to all the EU countries without having to go through negotiations with individual EU members.

At present, Malaysia has to negotiate with individual EU countries to sell timber products there, the English daily reported on its website.

Malaysian plantation industries and commodities minister said his country wants to work closely with the EU on the timber industry.

Malaysia would like to expand its trade in timber products with EU and at the same time fight against illegal logging and promote conservation of forest resources, said Chin.

This southeast Asian country exports more than 2.7 billion ringgit (750 million U.S. dollars) worth of timber products annually to Europe, said The Star.