Joint Summary: Inaugural Meeting of the U.S. – China Bilateral Forum on Combating Illegal Logging and Associated Trade

The inaugural meeting of the Bilateral Forum under the U.S. – China Memorandum of Understanding on Combating Illegal Logging and Associated Trade took place in Washington, DC on June 13, 2008. Both China and the United States were pleased with the success of the meeting. The initiation of the Bilateral Forum represents an important step in furthering cooperation to combat illegal logging and associated trade. The two sides held in-depth discussions on some key issues related to this effort. The Bilateral Forum exchanged initial ideas on how to improve information sharing to support joint efforts under the Memorandum of Understanding, including the establishment of a mechanism to exchange such information on a regular basis. The discussion also focused on developing a common understanding of the definition of illegal logging and associated trade and on approaches to identifying the legality of timber. A series of technical discussions on these topics will take place later this year. The two sides may also schedule a senior-level face-to-face meeting in conjunction with the next meeting of the U.S. - China Strategic Economic Dialogue, under the auspices of which the two governments launched this important effort. In addition, the United States and China approved Terms of Reference for the operation of the Bilateral Forum at this inaugural meeting. The Chinese delegation was led by Zhu Lieke, Deputy Administrator of the State Forestry Administration, consisting of representatives from the State Forestry Administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Customs and the Chinese Academy of Forestry. The United States delegation, led by Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, Environment and Science Claudia McMurray and Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Environment and Natural Resources Mark Linscott, included additional representatives from the Department of State and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, as well as officials from the Department of Justice, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Treasury.