On Saturday, the forty-fourth session of the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC) concluded its discussions in Yokohama, Japan. In the morning, Producer and Consumer Groups met in separate caucus meetings. In the afternoon, the Council convened to adopt decisions, including on: the approval of 17 projects and pre-projects; the Action Plan for 2008-2011; revision of the ITTO project cycle; the ITTO/IUCN Guidelines for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in Tropical Timber Production Forests; and on the Thematic Programmes.

After several rounds of discussions between Consumer and Producer groups, it was decided that ITTC-45 will take place in Yokohama, Nov 9-14 2009, and that Guatemala will host ITTC-46 in 2010. The Consumer group elected Michael Maue, Papua New Guinea, as Chair, and the Producer group elected Daniel Birchmeier, Switzerland, as Vice-Chair of the ITTC for 2009. After brief closing statements, Chair Kuehmayer declared the meeting closed at 4:30pm.

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