The United Nations Conference on the Negotiation of a Successor Agreement to the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1994 met at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland from 26-30 July 2004.

The conference was held under the auspices of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and included over 160 delegates from the International Tropical Timber Organization’s (ITTO) member countries, one potential member, one intergovernmental organization (IGO), one UN body, as well as members of the Civil Society Advisory Group (CSAG) and the Trade Advisory Group (TAG) and several non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Over the course of the five-day meeting, delegates met in two working groups, one dealing specifically with the Preamble and Chapters I-IV and the other with Chapters V-XI of the draft working document (TD/TIMBER.3/4). The negotiations proceeded amicably, although it became clear by Friday morning that more time would be needed to finalize the terms of the new agreement. The main issues that needed further discussion concerned the objectives of the successor agreement and the financial arrangement. During the closing plenary, delegates decided that the Conference would reconvene from 14-18 February 2005, in Geneva. ENB’s coverage of this meeting is available at: http://enb.iisd.org/forestry/itto/itta/