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Opening speeches
Saturday 2 October 2004
 On
behalf of the Government and people of Thailand, the Prime Minister,
H.E. Dr Thaksin Shinawatra, welcomed the participants and stressed
the importance of the work of the next two weeks. His country was
proud to be hosting this meeting of the Conference of the Parties
to CITES, the first to be held in Southeast Asia. In particular
he drew attention to the problem of wildlife trafficking. Noting
that illegal trade in wildlife was second only to that in weapons
and drugs and was often linked to organized crime, he urged greater
regional and global cooperation in law enforcement. He reported
that Thailand had recently set up successful local 'task force'
units to respond rapidly to illegal activity and proposed the establishment
of a new regional law enforcement network against wildlife crime.
If there was interest in this initiative, Thailand was ready to
host a meeting in 2005 to pursue it. With this, he declared the
meeting of the Conference of the Parties open. 
Click here to see the full opening
speech.
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 The
Minister for Natural Resources and Environment, H.E. Mr Suwit Khunkitti,
welcomed delegates to Thailand and to the Queen Sirikit National Convention
Centre, noting Her Majesty Queen Sirikit's personal commitment to
conservation of wild fauna and flora. He pointed out that all 10 members
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were now Parties
to CITES and had made significant efforts to promote conservation
and sustainable use of wild species, while meeting the challenges
of rapid economic growth and integration. He noted that, to improve
implementation of the Convention, Thailand had conducted public awareness
activities and training programmes, and had recently reviewed its
Wildlife Protection Act. The Minister emphasized the need for closer
regional cooperation on wildlife trade issues, and called for the
continued development, application and effectiveness of CITES.
Click here to see the full opening
speech. |
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 The
Chairman of the Standing Committee, Mr K. Stansell, drew attention
to the ambitious agenda of the meeting, and noted that the Standing
Committee had nominated outstanding candidates for the various offices,
all of whom had accepted their nominations. He stressed the importance
of adequate financing for implementation of the Strategic Vision
of the Convention, observing that the demand for CITES-related activities
continued to grow, apparently outstripping the willingness or ability
of Parties to finance them. He noted that by July 2005, CITES would
have been in force for 30 years, and observed that during that time
no species included in the Appendices was known to have become extinct
as a result of international trade - testimony to the success of
the Convention.
Click here to see the full opening
speech.
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 The
Executive Director of UNEP, Dr K. Töpfer, observed that CITES
was a practical instrument linking conservation with economic development,
and should be playing an important part in helping to meet the Millennium
Development Goals. He applauded the increasing role CITES was playing
in regulation of trade in economically important wild species, but
stressed that there was a limit to what the Convention could do
in isolation, noting that the way ahead was through cooperation
with other organizations, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations, the International Tropical Timber Organization
and the World Trade Organization. He also noted the importance of
improving synergy between the biodiversity-related conventions in
meeting the 2010 biodiversity target agreed at the World Summit
on Sustainable Development, drawing attention to a meeting on synergy
between CITES and the Convention on Biological Diversity, hosted
by Germany in April 2004 and supported among others by UNEP.
Click here to see the full opening
speech.
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 The
Secretary-General, Mr W. Wijnstekers, expressed his gratitude to the
Government and people of Thailand for hosting the meeting. He acknowledged
the important role of non-governmental organizations in the meeting
and said that CITES should be proud of the openness and transparency
of its decision-making process. He emphasized the need for increased
political will in most, if not all, of the 166 Parties in implementation
of the Convention. He noted that, while CITES had great potential
to contribute to achieving global goals and targets, its budget was
currently insufficient to fulfil expectations. He expressed the view
that CITES should be involved in regulation of trade in economically
important species where it could add value to existing efforts. He
highlighted common misconceptions about the effects of listing species
in the Appendices and observed that implementation of the Convention
was becoming too complicated, indicating that the Secretariat would
continue to identify procedures that could be simplified. Finally,
he acknowledged the diversity of views represented at CITES meetings
and encouraged participants to conduct discussions in a calm, friendly
and respectful manner.
Click here to see the full opening speech. |
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