MINISTERIAL MEETING ON FORESTS

1. At its 32^nd Session, the FAO Conference requested that the Organization address the topics of international cooperation on forest fire and maintaining international commitment to sustainable forest management. Accordingly, in June 2004, the Director-General notified Ministers responsible for Forestry of his intention to convene a high-level meeting on these issues and subsequently extended, in November 2004, his formal invitation to them to participate. Observers accredited to attend the 17^th Session of the Committee on Forestry, 15 to 19 March, FAO, Rome, will also be granted access to the Ministerial Meeting on Forests.

Registration

2. Registration of participants and collection of delegates’ meeting passes will take place from 08.00 to 09.00 hours on Monday, 14 March 2005, in the Turkish Registration Centre, Building A. Pre-registration and collection of delegates’ meeting passes will also be possible on Friday, 11 March, and Saturday, 12 March, from 08.00 to 17.00 hours and on Sunday, 13 March, from 09.00 to 12.00 hours. Delegates are kindly requested as far as possible to pre-register to avoid delays in obtaining entrance to the FAO complex on Monday morning, 14 March 2005.

Opening of the Meeting and Statement by the Director-General

3. The Meeting will be opened by the Director-General in the Plenary Hall, Building A, 3^rd Floor, followed by his Statement to the Meeting. There will then follow Statements by Heads of State or Government in attendance.

Election of the Co-Chairs

4. Following consultations among delegations, the Director-General will propose to the meeting the names of the two Co-Chairs who will preside over respectively the opening and closure of the sessions in plenary as well as the two Discussion Groups to be convened in the Red and Green Rooms.

Adoption of the Agenda and Arrangements for the Meeting

5. The Co-Chair presiding over the morning plenary session will propose that the meeting adopt the agenda (Provisional Annotated Agenda - document FO:MM/05/1), and will then describe the arrangements for the conduct of the two Discussion Groups and the adoption of a Ministerial Statement.

6. Delegates will then be invited to reconvene in the Red and Green Rooms at 10.00 hours for discussion of the two substantive items on the Agenda.

Discussion Groups

7. At 10.00 hours, delegates will reconvene in the Red and Green Rooms to participate in two Discussion Groups. These discussion groups will be chaired by the Co-Chairs of the Ministerial Meeting. Following an introduction by the Secretariat on each topic, Ministers will be invited to address the following issues:

• Discussion Group 1: International Cooperation on Forest Fire (Red Room, Building A, 1st Floor - document FO:MM/05/2)

• Discussion Group 2: Maintaining International Commitment to Sustainable Forest Management (Green Room, Building A, 1st Floor - document FO:MM/05/3)

8. It is envisaged that the morning’s discussions will conclude at 12.00 hours. The Discussion Groups will then reconvene from 14.00 to 16.00 hours in the same Rooms as for the morning session.

9. At the conclusion of the Discussion Groups’ debates, the Chairs of the two Groups will invite all participants to reconvene in the Plenary Hall at 16.30 Hours.

Speaking Arrangements

10. The Chair of each Discussion Group will determine the speaking order of invited participants. In anticipation that many delegations will wish to contribute to the discussion, heads of delegation are kindly requested to limit their interventions to a maximum of three minutes. It is foreseen that delegations will have the opportunity to speak on each issue in the respective discussion group. Ministers will be allowed to speak in their own language, subject to their advising the Secretariat and providing beforehand 6 copies of a typed text in one of the official languages of the Organization (Arabic, Chinese, English, French or Spanish). Time permitting, and at the discretion of the Chair, interventions by Observers will be received.

Adoption of a Statement of the Ministerial Meeting

11. The meeting will reconvene in the Plenary Hall, Building A, 3^rd Floor, at 16.30 hours to hear the conclusions of the two Discussion Groups presented by the two Co-Chairs. It is then envisaged that a Ministerial Statement reflecting these conclusions will be adopted by the Meeting.

Closure of the Meeting

12. The Meeting will be formally closed by the Co-Chair who did not preside over the opening session in plenary.