The 58th Session of the Standing Committee (SC58) of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) entered its third day of deliberations in Geneva, Switzerland. In plenary discussions throughout the day, the SC addressed, inter alia: financial matters; the development of indicators for the Strategic Vision 2008-2013; enforcement matters; introduction from the sea; Purpose-of-Transaction codes on permits and certificates; trade in crocodilian specimens; and elephants.
In the morning, some parties and non-governmental organizations expressed concern that Egypt had not been implementing recommendations to end its illegal trade in great apes. Egypt expressed its full commitment to implementing the recommendations, and noted bilateral talks with Cameroon and Kenya to address the illegal activities. The SC requested that the Secretariat send a strong message to Egypt, calling for fulfillment of all recommendations by CoP15.
Most of the afternoon was spent discussing elephants. Several countries regarded the information presented in documents reviewing the status of the elephant, trade in its specimens and the impact of the legal trade as old, inaccurate and incomplete, and requested that further work on this be conducted. Many in the SC voiced concerns with recent reports of large-scale seizures of illegally traded ivory. Kenya, on behalf of the African range states, said that the African elephant action plan had been completed and sent to parties for comment.