1. The Technical Consultation on the Suitability of the CITES Criteria for Listing Commercially-exploited Aquatic Species was held in Rome, Italy, from 28 to 30 June 2000. It was attended by representatives from 58 Members of FAO, by a representative from one specialized agency of the UN, as well as by observers from four intergovernmental organizations and six international non-governmental organizations.
2. The list of delegates and observers is given in Appendix B. The documents which were before the Consultation are listed in Appendix C.
3. The meeting was called to order by Mr I. Nomura, the Assistant Director-General (Fisheries Department), who welcomed delegates and observers to the Consultation.
4. Mr Nomura, in his opening statement, summarized the origin of the Consultation and the work that preceded it. He also expressed gratitude to the Government of Japan for the financial support to the Consultation and related activities. The text of his statement is reproduced in Appendix D.
5. The agenda as adopted is contained in Appendix A.
6. Dato Mohamed Mazlan bin Jusoh (Malaysia) was elected Chairperson of the Technical Consultation. Mr H.J. Eggink (the Netherlands) was elected Vice-Chairperson. The Consultation agreed that the Secretariat should draft the report which would be adopted at the end of the meeting. Therefore, it was not necessary to appoint a Rapporteur from among its members.
