ENB @ ITTA-4, 16-27 January 2006, Geneva, Switzerland

United Nations Conference for the Negotiation of a Successor Agreement to the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1994, 4th part

16–27 January 2006 | Geneva, Switzerland

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Curtain Raiser
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Mon 23
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Fri 27 & SUMMARY

Highlights from Tuesday, 17 January 2006

On the second day of the UN Conference for the Negotiation of the Successor Agreement to the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1994, Fourth Part, delegates made mixed progress on the working paper. Working Group I continued to address outstanding issues regarding Objectives and Definitions, and tackled the contentious issue of Council session frequency and funding. Working Group II continued discussing Financial Accounts, Administrative Accounts, and the Special Account. Delegates had a chance to socialize at an evening reception and discuss the merits of a Producer Group proposal that was circulated.

Working Group I

WGI Chair Alhassan Attah (Ghana) continued to guide delegates through the working paper, revisiting unresolved issues such as the inclusion of "environmental services" within the Preamble and Objectives, and the criteria used for the delineation of Producer and Consumer members.

Left to right: Alexei Mojarov, UNCTAD, Lakshmi Puri, UNCTAD, Hannah Davies, UNCTAD, and Steve Johnson, ITTO Secretariat

Steve Johnson, ITTO Secretariat

Carlos Moreno Mericaechevarria, Advisor, Legal Services

Koulangna Koutou, Cameroon

Hoda S. Rashed, Egypt, said it was important to include plantations under the definition of "tropical forest resources"

Stephanie Caswell, US, asks for information on the utility of the two tier voting system

Japan and Switzerland favoured one annual Council session, while Brazil maintained that two would be better. Left to right: Luiz Cesar Gasser, Brazil, Miyano Michiko, Japan, Franz Xaver Perrez, Switzerland

J. C. Kala, India said that since this is a commodity agreement, it should focus on forest products, and not the type of forest the products originate from

Sheam Satkuru-Granzella, Malaysia, cautioned against vastly expanding the Organization’s scope and agenda

Koulangna Koutou, Cameroon, noted the importance of convening Council sessions on a binannual basis

The Mexican delegation consults informally with Andres Tobias y Rubio, European Commission

Aulikki Kauppila, Finland and Luiz Cesar Gasser, Brazil consulted on definitions negotiated during ITTA-3

Working Group II

In the morning, WGII deliberated on the name of the Organization's assessed and voluntary accounts. In the absence of consensus, Producer and Consumer members worked from a Chair's compromise text on the Organization's financial accounts during an afternoon Working Group session. Delegates also discussed policy work of the Organization.

WG II Chair Blaser opened the session by proposing to open the floor to comments on the Producer members’ proposal on financial arrangements

WGII Chair Jürgen Blaser, Switzerland, and Lisanne Losier, UNCTAD

WGII Chair Jürgen Blaser, Switzerland, introduces his compromise text on finance

Aulikki Kauppila, Finland, speaking for the Consumer Group, thanked the Producer members for their proposal but noted that members may need to consult with capitals before responding to Producers' proposal

Fredua Agyeman, Ministry of Lands and Forestry, Ghana, cautioned against too limited a defintion of administrative costs

Sandra Ribey, Canada, suggested listing only (a) an Administrative Account, (b) a Voluntary Contributions Account, and (c) other accounts as Council shall deem necessary, in the chapeau to the financial articles

Daniel Birchmeier, Switzerland agreed with Canada on its listing of accounts, and suggested putting the Bali Partnership Fund details in the article on Voluntary Contributions Account

Hideo Fukushima, Japan agreed with the US on simplifying the language of the financial articles to make a logical structure with a general framework under which details can be specified

Marcel Vernooij, the Netherlands, suggested that policy work of the organization be decided by all ITTO member states

Ramón Carrillo Arrellane, Mexico, and Rubén Dario Guerrero Useda, Colombia. Mexico suggested that Consumers take more time to consider the Producers' proposal

Enzo Barattini, Directorate-General for Development, European Commission, has a problem with the definition of a single administrative account to fund strategic activities and preferred two sub-accounts funded through asessed contributions

ITTA-4 Reception hosted by UN Conference President Ambassador Carlos Antonio da Rocha Paranhos