Fiftieth Session of the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC) and Associated Sessions of the Four Committees

The fiftieth session of the International Tropical Timber Council continued its deliberations in Yokohama, Japan on 5 November 2014. In the morning, delegates convened a Joint Committee Session to continue an agenda item on ex-post evaluations of completed projects. Later in a Council session, delegates discussed enhancing cooperation with CITES.

Delegates continued discussions on the election of the next Executive Director (ED) of ITTO debating whether to hold an initial vote to narrow down the field of candidates (as proposed by the Consumer group), or to continue seeking consensus before undergoing any voting (as proposed by the Producer group). After much deliberation, delegates agreed to discuss the matter further in their respective caucuses, then hold a contact group on the matter, and only conduct an initial vote if the field of candidates is not narrowed by Thursday morning.

In the afternoon, a panel discussion was held on ITTO’s past, present and future, where several experts were invited to share their opinions on and visions for ITTO in the coming years. This was followed by the Annual Market Discussion.

The contact group on the selection of the Executive Director met into the evening.