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Third Part of the United Nations Conference for the Negotiation of a Successor Agreement to the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1994
27 June – 1 July 2005 | Geneva, Switzerland
Daily Web Coverage & Daily Reports (in English, French & Spanish):

Highlights from Tuesday, 28 June 2005

On the second day of the UN Conference on the Negotiation of a Successor Agreement to the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1994, Third Part, the pace of negotiations slowed. In the morning and early afternoon, delegates met in two working groups. Working Group I (WGI) continued to address outstanding issues in Chapter I (Objectives) and Chapter III (Organization and Administration). Working Group II (WGII) attempted to reach agreement on bracketed text in Chapter VII (Operational Activities), Chapter IX (Statistics, Studies and Information), Chapter X (Miscellaneous), and Chapter XI (Final Provisions). In the afternoon, delegates gathered in a joint working group to adopt unbracketed articles, and will meet in a joint working group on Wednesday, 29 June, to further consider draft text for the new Agreement.

Working Group I
WGI continued to address outstanding issues in Chapter I (Objectives) and Chapter III (Organization and Administration).
Panel from the Working Group I. From left to right: WGI Vice-Chair Jan McAlpine, US, WGI Chair Alhassan Attah, Ghana, and Catherine Sibut-Pinote, UNCTAD
WGI Chair Alhassan Attah, Ghana, suggested delegates continue discussing, paragraph-by-paragraph, the final working paper from the second part of the UN Conference (TD/TIMBER.3/L.4) WG I Vice-Chair Jan McAlpine, US Catherine Sibut-Pinote, UNCTAD
Franz Xaver Perrez, Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape, insisted on explicit reference of ecological services in the objectives Bipin Behari, Ministry of Enviornment and Forests of India, said that the Agreement cannot be converted into an environmental agreement Cecep Herawan, Permanent mission of the Republic of Indonesia to the United Nations and other International Organizations
Iwan Krolis, Suriname, said the reference to NTFPs and ecological services in the Preamble is sufficient Sheam Satkuru-Granzella, Malaysia, proposed deleting the two overarching objectives of the Agreement and reference to legally harvested forests, NTFPs and ecological services in the chapeau of the objectives On the organization and administration of the Organization, Zhang Zhongtian, State Forestry Administration, People's Republic of China, favored retaining the current name of the Organization
Rubén Darío Guerrero Useda, Colombia, said that qualifying SFM by mentioning “genetic resources” and “ecological balance” excludes socioeconomic and cultural issues, which are other important aspects of SFM Luis Eveline, Honduras, highlighted the importance of ecological services in forests Stephanie Caswell, US, proposed to take into account non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and ecological services in the chapeau of the objectives of the Agreement
John Bazill, European Commission, underscored that ecological services and NTFPs contribute to the notion of sustainable forest management (SFM) Martial Kouame ME, Côte D'Ivoire, refused to remove reference to regional offices Junho Ko, Korea Forest Service, Republic of Korea, favored that Council hold, as a general rule, one regular session a year
Noting that genetic resources are already addressed in the Convention on Biological Diversity, Alejandro Romero Hernández, Mexico, favored removing reference to genetic resources Inga Magistad, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, suggested rewriting the phrase to read “including promoting consumer awareness and encouraging information sharing in voluntarily mechanisms to promote such trade”
Taira Iwasaki, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, said the new Agreement should be a commodity agreement that would take into account emerging issues such as illegal logging Participants at the Working Group I

Working Group II
WGII Chair Blaser opened the session, saying that if substantial progress were not made by the afternoon, conclusion of an agreement this week was doubtful.
WG II Chair Blaser opened the session, saying that if substantial progress was not made by the afternoon, he doubted that agreement could be reached this week. Above photo: WG II Jürgen Blaser (Switzerland) and Lisanne Losier, UNCTAD
David Brooks, US, proposed softening an alternative paragraph on sanctions to say the Council “may” take appropriate measures as deemed necessary Charlotte Cudby, New Zealand, agreed to keep references to ITTO committee structure in the Agreement Boumediene Mahi, Algeria, favored retaining language on appropriate and differential and remedial measures for members as per UNCTAD Resolution 93 (IV), the Paris Declaration and the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s
On the content and timing of the Agreement, Daniel Birchmeier, Switzerland, suggested focusing on the need to review financial mechanisms Yusra Khan, Indonesia, supported US proposal to add language regarding other committees and subsidiary bodies the Council shall deem appropiate Li Quiang, Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China
Enzo Barattini, European Commission, proposed an amendment specifying that Council may only dissolve “any such other committees and subsidiary bodies” that it may establish itself Juan Carlos Gonzalez, Venezuela, refused EC propposal of deleting reference to establishing “such other Committees as the Council shall deem appropriate and necessary” Afolabi Oyebo Macarthy, Nigeria
Rócia Silva Oliveira, Brazil, questioned differing definitions of “key policy work” Alain Ngoya-Kessy, Congo, reminded delegates that the Council cannot dissolve committees set up by the Agreement, only those it sets up itself
Fredua Agyeman, Ministry of Lands and Forestry, Ghana
Koichi Ito, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, said that the function and content of Annexes will depend on final wording on entry into force Marcel Vernooij, Ministry of Agriculture of the Netherlands, proposed compromise text that “Council could review the effectiveness” of the Agreement
Merethe Luís, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, said that in principle it should not be necessary to list all elements of key policy work in an Agreement Sandra Ribey, Natural Resources Canada, supported EC proposal of inserting text allowing Council to “establish or dissolve committees and subsidiary bodies
Francisco Javier Mejia, Honduras Chairman Jürgen Blaser and Lisanne Losier, UNCTAD

Joint Working Group
WGII Chair Blaser announced that the one objective of the joint session would be to agree on clean text from both groups that could be sent to the legal drafting committee. Above photo (from left to right): Alhassan Attah, Ghana, Chairman Jürgen Blaser, Lisanne Losier, UNCTAD, Catherine Sibut-Pinote, UNCTAD, and Alexei Mojarov, UNCTAD
Luiz Cesar Gasser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil Luis J. Macchiavello, Ambassador of Peru, requested clarification on why ITTO’s tax exemption should be limited by national legislation
Participants at the joint working group

Relevant Links

ITTO website, with provisional program, documents for the meeting, and information about the ITTO.
 UNCTAD.
 UNFF Website.
 ENB summary from ITTC-37: (HTML, PDF, TEXT).
 ENB summary from ITTC-36: (English: HTML, PDF, TEXT) (French: HTML, PDF, TEXT).
 ENB summary from ITTC-35: (English: HTML, PDF, TEXT) (French: HTML, PDF, TEXT) (Spanish: HTML, PDF, TEXT).
 ENB summary from ITTC-34: (English: HTML, PDF, TEXT) (French: HTML, PDF, TEXT) (Spanish: HTML, PDF, TEXT).
 ENB summary from ITTC-33: (English: HTML, PDF, TEXT).
 ENB summary from ITTA, 1994 renegotiation: (English: HTML, PDF, TEXT) (French: HTML, PDF, TEXT).
 ENB summary from ITTA, 1994 (second part): (English: HTML, PDF, TEXT) (French: HTML, PDF, TEXT).
 ENB summary from UNFF-5: (HTML, PDF, TEXT).
 YMB summary from the Europe and North Asia Forest Law Enforcement and Governance Conference: (HTML, PDF, TEXT).
 SD summary from the United Nations Forum on Forests Country-Led Initiative on Lessons Learned in Monitoring, Assessment and Reporting on Implementation of IPF/IFF Proposals for Action: (HTML, PDF, TEXT).
 SD summary from the International Conference on Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management (CICI): (HTML, PDF, TEXT).
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