27th Meeting of the CITES Plants Committee
Closing Remarks by CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero
13 July 2024, Geneva, Switzerland
Madam Chair of the Plants Committee,
Members of the Plants Committee (and members of the Animals Committee who are with us),
Distinguished delegates and participants,
Dear colleagues and friends,
I wish to express my deepest thanks to our dear Chair for her impeccable leadership guiding us through our agenda. Once again, her diplomatic and friendly attitude has brought us to a successful conclusion.
I would also like to thank our Vice-Chair for supporting our Chair at all times.
Flore and Damian really make the team of our dreams and it is always a pleasure to work with them.
I want to share with you the great work that Flore and Damian did behind the scenes to ensure that the meeting went well. They arrived in Geneva before the meeting and had to endure long informative sessions with the Secretariat here, remotely and also when we had the opportunity to meet them in other parts of the world.
We are grateful to all the members of the Committee and I hope you will allow me to specially acknowledge our nomenclature specialist, Ronell Klopper, who deals with one of the permanent issues of the Plants Committee and is extremely dedicated, professional and generous with her time to guide the Secretariat.
Thanks to the chairs of the intersessional working groups and the in-session working groups of this meeting of this Plants Committee. Their leadership and hard work have yielded results showing us a clear way forward to report to the Standing Committee and the Conference of the Parties on issues related to the Review of Significant Trade, the Periodic Review, nomenclature and timber identification.
The recommendations of the Plants Committee will also ensure the success of forthcoming initiatives, such as the workshop on African rosewood in September and the next stage of the CITES Tree Species Project.
I admire the dedication and attention to detail of all the members of the working groups. What a committed group of experts! We are certainly all inspired by their passion and dedication.
The Secretariat thanks the 191 Party and non-Party observers present at this meeting. It is clear to me that the future of the plant species listed in the Appendices is in good hands.
Please make sure you have time to enjoy the rest of your stay in Geneva. Thanks to Switzerland for inviting us to a reception this evening. What a beautiful day to celebrate a week of cooperation, partnerships and commitment to plant conservation and sustainable trade.
Thanks to the interpreters, the technicians and administrators of the Conference Center for their help and support.
And finally, my everlasting gratitude to the members of the Secretariat team for their hard work, dedication, commitment, love of nature and buena onda.