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20 May 

21 May 

SUMMARY


Preparatory Committee for the Negotiation of a Successor Agreement to the International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA), 1994 (PREPCOM1)
20 - 21 May 2003 Panama City, Panama 
        

Highlights for Monday, 1

9 May 2003

Delegates to the First Meeting of the Preparatory Committee (PrepComI) for the negotiation of the Successor Agreement to the 1994 International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA, 1994) convened in Plenary and closed doors Producer and Consumer caucuses. The Plenary held an information session to hear presentations on:  new and emerging issues of relevance to the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC) and a future ITTA; the ITTA, 1994; the work of the Working Group on Preparations for Negotiating a Successor Agreement to the ITTA, 1994; and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) guidance on the renegotiation process. Above photo L-R: Stephanie Caswell, ITTO Executive Director Manoel Sobral Filho, PrepComI Vice-Chair Ambassador Carlos Antonio da Rocha Paranhos (Brazil), PrepComI Chair Jürgen Blaser (Switzerland), ITTC-34 Chairperson B.C.Y. Freezailah (Malaysia), ITTC-34 Co-Chairperson Jan McAlpine (US), Consumer's Group spokesperson Aulikki Kaupilla (Finland), and Producer's Group spokesperson Jean Williams Sollo (Cameroon)
Plenary:



Stephanie Caswell, ITTO Consultant, presents a paper that she wrote with Ruben Guevarra on new and emerging issues of relevance to the ITTC and a future ITTA.  Caswell outlined the report's focus on: the work and mechanisms of other relevant organizations, treaties and commodity organizations; emerging issues and developments in international trade, including current market trends, potential role of certification, increased attention to forest law enforcement, and environmental services; and conclusions and issues that ITTC may consider in the context of the development of a new ITTA.



Jürgen Blaser, Chair of the PrepCom, presented the report of the working group on the preparation of the negotiation of a successor agreement to the ITTA, 1994 and summarized the results of a country survey on matters relating to the negotiation of the successor agreement to ITA, 1994. Blaser reminded delegates that PrepComI should focus on context setting, discussion of scope, definitions, objectives, and further work.


PrepCom Chair Blaser, also provided an outline of  ITTA, 1994. He explained that the Agreement: focuses on the world tropical timber economy; contains broader provisions for information sharing; gives emphasis to the policy work of the ITTO; enshrines the year 2000 objective; and establishes the Bali Partnership Fund.




Alexei Mojarov, on behalf of UNCTAD Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero, Mojarov said UNCTAD would provide technical, policy and legal advice prior to and during the negotiations of the successor agreement to the ITTA, 1994, the first session of which will be held in July 2004 in Switzerland.

Links

 ENB Summary of ITTC-33 in PDF (English)

ITTO website, with documents for the meeting (includes provisional agendas),
and information about the ITTO.

Linkages forests, desertification and land issues page, including a brief introduction
to global forest policy.

 UNFF Website

 FAO Website 

Recent SD coverage on Forest:

4th Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe (MCPFE)

 UNFF Country Led Initiative

 International Conference on Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management (CICI)

 Trade and Sustainable Forest Management 

 

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