Barber Cho, Secretaryof MFCC, participated in the Global Legal and Sustainable Timber Forum 2026 (GLSTF 2026), held on 22–23 September 2026 at the Galaxy International Convention Centre in Macau, China. The forum was co-hosted by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and Macao’s Commerce and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), and organized by the Secretariat of the Global Green Supply Chains Initiative (GGSC). It provided a platform for dialogue on sustainable forest management, legal and sustainable timber supply chains, responsible trade and industry resilience.
The forum’s focus was closely aligned with MFCC’s responsibilities for forest certification and timber legality. For MFCC, the connection between forest management and market requirements is particularly relevant: standards and official documentation provide a foundation, but their implementation must be supported by traceability, verification and credible evidence. Participation offered an opportunity to consider how the Myanmar Forest Certification Scheme (MFCS), Myanmar Timber Legality Assurance System (MTLAS) and developing traceability tools can contribute to this wider framework.
The Secretary presented the perspectives prepared for the GlobalTimber Association Network (GTAN), by emphasizing the producer-country readiness and the complementary roles of certification, legality assurance and Due Diligence Systems (DDS). The Secretary presented the distinction between vertical readiness, which strengthens national evidence, supply-chain controls and risk assessment, and horizontal evidence interoperability, which helps producers organize that evidence for different market requirements. The central message was that Myanmar should concentrate on technical consolidation while learning from other producer countries.
The Guidebook for Assessing Timber Legality in Myanmar and CoC Control Procedure has been displayed and the guidebook has drawn high interests from the participants. The guidebook explains existing Myanmar regulations, documents and procedures in a form accessible to external readers. It supports examination of evidence without claiming that the existence of official documents automatically establishes legality or sustainability. The guidebook is also available for download here.
Several lessons from GLSTF 2026 are particularly relevant to MFCC’s future work. Discussions among resource persons and participants highlighted key challenges, including market disruptions, resilience, and compliance costs. Myanmar has been experiencing these challenges for many years, making the discussions especially relevant to its current circumstances. GLSTF 2026 therefore provided MFCC with a valuable opportunity to draw lessons from international experiences, reflect on Myanmar’s own challenges, and identify practical approaches to strengthening institutional readiness and long-term resilience.
The practical follow-up is to strengthen the evidence linking forest sources, custody transfers, processing and final consignments; test an MTLAS-based DDS; and pursue suitable MTLAS and MFCS pilots. These activities should be coordinated with the Forest Department, MTE, private operators and relevant stakeholders, while preserving their distinct responsibilities.
The participation reinforced the importance of maintaining technical capacity during market disruptions. For MFCC, the immediate priority is to improve demonstrable performance and readiness through evidence-led work. Stronger systems can support future market assessment, while recognition and actual market access remain separate decisions subject to applicable requirements. U Kyaw Kyaw Win, Chairman of Myanmar Forest Products & Timber Merchants Association, also participated together.
