The Forty-seventh session of the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC) and the Associated Sessions of the four Committees (Finance and Administration; Economic Information and Market Intelligence; Forest Industry; and Reforestation and Forest Management) entered its fifth day of discussions today in Antigua, Guatemala.

In the morning, the Committees on Economic Information and Market Intelligence and Forest Industry reviewed and accepted the committees' draft report for submission to the Council. The CEM elected Rob Busink, the Netherlands, as Chair and Moses Wogbeh, Liberia, as Vice-Chair. For CFI, James Gasana, Switzerland was elected Chair and Ruth Turia, Papua New Guinea, was elected Vice Chair. Meanwhile, the Committee on Reforestation and Forest Management (CRF) elected Abdul Rahman Abdul Rahim (Malaysia) as Chair and Alicia Grimes (US) as Vice Chair for ITTC-48, and reviewed and agreed to each agenda item in its draft report to the ITTC, including outstanding issues on recommendations to the ITTC and the Report of the Session. The Committee bid farewell to long-time ITTO Secretariat member Eduardo Mansur who will be leaving the organization in 2012. Following this, the Committee on Finance and Administration (CFA) met to discuss a revised draft administrative budget for 2012. At lunch, delegates participated in a side event on the Responsible Asia Forestry and Trade Program (RAFT) organized by the Nature Conservancy. In the afternoon, the Producers and Consumer caucuses met separately.

In the evening, the CFA continued discussions on the draft administrative budget for 2012. The Chairperson's open-ended drafting group met throughout the afternoon and late into the night, discussing final decisions.