3. The Panel met in Rome, Italy, from 13 to 16 July, hosted by FAO with funding from the FAO Regular Programme and the Governments of Japan, Norway and the United States of America.
4. The Panel consisted of a core group made up of nine members, five species specialists covering white shark, humphead wrasse and Mediterranean date mussel, and by a member of the CITES Secretariat (see Appendix B). The Agenda adopted for the meeting is included as Appendix A.
5. The meeting was opened by Mr Ichiro Nomura, Assistant Director-General, FAO Fisheries Department who welcomed the participants and provided some background to the convening of this first meeting of the ad hoc Advisory Panel and the importance of its task. The text of his statement is reproduced in Appendix C.
6. Mr Arne Bjorge was elected Chair of the Panel and Mr Jean-Jacques Maguire was elected Vice-Chair. Ms Pamela Mace and Messrs John Field, Robin Mahon and Howard Powles were elected rapporteurs.
