The first session of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom I) for the Negotiation of a Successor Agreement to the International Tropical Timber Agreement, 1994 (ITTA, 1994) took place from 20-21 May 2003, in Panama City, Panama.

Approximately 100 participants attended the session, representing 37 member countries, 2 potential members, 2 intergovernmental organizations and specialized agencies, and 3 non-governmental organizations.
Delegates engaged in preliminary discussions on the scope of and issues pertaining to a new agreement. The proposals made during the session will be consolidated and presented to the second session of the PrepCom in November 2003. There was general consensus that: the Successor Agreement should remain a commodity agreement; ITTA, 1994 should be the basis for the negotiations; and relevant new and emerging issues need to be included in the new agreement. The nature of the issues, however, and the extent to which they should be addressed, remained contentious. The Earth Negotiations Bulletin report outlining these discussions in detail can be found online at: http://enb.iisd.org/forestry/itto/prepcom1/