The thirty-fourth session of the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC-34) will meet from 12-17 May 2003, in Panama City, Panama. The session will consider, inter alia: CITES listing proposals; the role of phased approaches to certification for sustainable forest management (SFM); civil society and private sector partnerships for SFM; measures to improve project formulation and appraisal; preparations for negotiating a successor agreement to the 1994 International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA, 1994); progress on achieving the Year 2000 Objective; issues affecting market access for tropical timber; forest law enforcement in the context of sustainable timber production; progress in implementing ITTO's 2003 work programme; matters related to Article 16 regarding the ITTO Executive Director and staff; review of, and contributions to, the Special Account and the Bali Partnership Fund; and the Fellowship Programme.

The 32nd sessions of the ITTC's Committees on Economic Information and Market Intelligence (CEM), Forest Industry (CFI), and Reforestation and Forest Management (CRF) will also meet to, inter alia: consider the report of the Expert Panel for Technical Appraisal of Project Proposals; hold the ITTO 2003 market discussion; consider reports on completed projects and pre-projects; conduct ex-post evaluations; review projects, pre-projects and activities in progress; consider project and pre-project proposals; and discuss policy work. The ITTC's Committee on Finance and Administration (CFA) will convene its 13th session to review, inter alia: contributions to the administrative budgets for 1986-2003; the status of the Administrative Account for 2003; resources of the Special Account and the Bali Partnership Fund; the auditor's report for the 2002 financial year; and proposed amendments to the Financial Rules to implement a biennial work programme and indicative administrative budget.

The Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the negotiation of a successor agreement to the ITTA, 1994, established by ITTC Decision 8 (XXXII), will hold its first session immediately following ITTC-34 on 20-21 May 2003, also in Panama City.