§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the Yokohama conference on forest conservation.
§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd[holding answer 14 December 1992]: Two meetings relating to forest conservation were held in Yokohama recently. These were the 13th International Tropical Timber Council—ITTC—and the first preparatory committee for the renegotiation of the international tropical timber agreement—ITTA. Some progress was made in the ITTC towards our objective of improving the capacity of the International Tropical Timber Organisation to help tropical timber producing countries manage their forests sustainably. The ITTA renegotiation will continue in a second preparatory committee meeting in Quito, Ecuador in January.
§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on Her Majesty's Government's policy at the conference at Yokohama on the conservation of northern forests.
§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd[holding answer 14 December 1992]: Two meetings relating to forest conservation held in 130W Yokohama recently were the 13th International Tropical Timber Council and the first preparatory committee for the renegotiation of the international tropical timber agreement. The ITTC and ITTA focus on international trade in timber from tropical forests.
We are pursuing our policies towards the conservation of non-tropical forests in other forums such as the meetings next year of European Forestry Ministers in Helsinki and of Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe members in Montreal.
Along with other European Community and G7 Governments, we are committed to producing plans for the implementation of the forest principles agreed at the UN Conference on Environment and Development last June and for the establishment of an international review process.