On Friday morning, 26 February, meeting participants went on an excursion into Braulio Carrillo National Park and rode an aerial tram through the canopy of the rainforest. They returned to the conference site in the afternoon and considered the report of the meeting in a Plenary session. They heard closing remarks from the meeting organizers, IFF Co-Chair Asadi and Costa Rican Vice Minister of the Environment and Energy Carlos Manuel Rodriguez.   (Back to top)

RealAudio from the final plenary:
Gunter Seigel, on behalf of the EU Experts
IFF Co-Chair Bagher Asadi's closing remarks
Micheal Fullerton, on behalf of Canada
NGO statement and ensuing exchange

On Thursday morning, the working groups completed their work on identifying issues that could potentially be advanced as elements through international instruments and presented their conclusions to the Plenary. They met in Plenary for the remainder of the day to offer guidance for the Initiative´s upcoming regional and sub-regional consultations, reviewing the Initiative´s proposed approach and suggested guidelines. They also briefly discussed further action required for building consensus over the period between March 1999 to February 2000. The meeting organizers explained that a drafting committee comprised of the Secretariat and the Rapporteurs of the working groups would be meeting throughout the night to draft the final report of the meeting, which would be presented to participants Friday afternoon for consideration and adoption.  (Back to top)

On Wednesday, 24 February, participants at the Experts’ Meeting continued to meet in four working groups to assess the level of treatment of international forest issues in existing instruments. The groups presented and discussed their findings in an afternoon Plenary, then reconvened to identify international forest issues that could potentially be advanced as elements through international instruments and those that likely would not.  (Back to top)

On Tuesday, 23 February, participants met in four working groups to attempt to identify a core set of international forest issues and presented their conclusions to the Plenary. Participants heard presentations on lessons learned from the implementation of CITES, the CBD and the FCCC in Thailand, Costa Rica and Finland and on ways to integrate the national forest programme concept, the sector programme support approach and the forest partnership agreement concept into an effective and efficient mechanism for international cooperation.  (Back to top)

The Experts' Meeting of the Costa Rica-Canada Initiative (CRCI) in support of Category III of the IFF programme of work opened on Monday, 22 February 1999 at the Meliá Corobicí Hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica. Participants heard opening statements from IFF Co-Chair Bagher Asadi and CRCI Co-Chair Jacques Carette. Jag Maini of the IFF Secretariat gave a presentation recalling the agreed IFF mandate concerning Category III (international arrangements and mechanisms to promote the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests). France Bergeron (Canada) and Patricia Chavez (Costa Rica) presented the results of the CRCI Steering Committee meetings. Jorge Rodríguez delivered a presentation on the Central American experience in developing its regional forest convention. Barbara Ruis gave an overview of general concepts and terms of international legal instruments. Guido Chaves outlined the approach to be used by the Initiative in identifying possible elements and work toward a consensus on the usefulness of having international arrangements and mechanisms for all types of forests. Participants then divided into four working groups to discuss this approach.  (Back to top)