2. The Expert Consultation was held in Rome, Italy, from 25 to 28 May, hosted by FAO, with funding from the FAO Regular Programme and the Governments of Japan, Norway and the United States of America.
3. The meeting was attended by 11 experts from ten countries, with expertise covering the terms of reference for the Consultation, and by a member of the CITES Secretariat (see Appendix B). The Agenda adopted is included as Appendix A. Four working documents were prepared as resource material for the meeting, providing information on:
(i) the fundamental principles of CITES;
(ii) the administrative and monitoring implications of listing and down-listing;
(iii) a case study on queen conch; and
(iv) a case study on sturgeons.
4. The meeting was opened by Mr Ichiro Nomura, Assistant Director General, Fisheries Department who welcomed the participants and provided some background to the work undertaken by FAO in relation to CITES and commercially-exploited aquatic species. The text of his statement is reproduced in Appendix C.
5. Mohammed Pourkazemi was elected Chair of the Consultation and Hank Jenkins was elected Vice-Chair.
