WHEREAS, the Seminar on the Promotion of Tropical Timber and Timber Products organized by the UNCTAD/GATT International Trade Center and held in Geneva, Switzerland, on 17 May to 11 June 1971 noted the existence of common problems on forest products research and marketing among Southeast Asian nations like the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, India and Burma;

WHEREAS, the Philippine participants in said seminar proposed that a symposium be held in Manila among these Southeast Asian nations to deliberate and chart out a course of action to solve these common problems;

WHEREAS, the Food and Agriculture Organization has been requested to extend the facilities of its offices to explore the possibilities of getting cooperation from appropriate regional bodies or entities concerning the symposium. Among the subject matters to be taken up are:

a. Coordination on research programmes on tropical timber.

b. Standardization and metrification of mechanical forest products.

c. Identification and analysis of other common problems to research and trade in the region.

d. Conclusions and recommendations on common course of action; and

WHEREAS, there is a need to create an agency to coordinate and centralize all activities relating to the preparation, organization and proceedings of this proposed symposium as host country;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby constitute a Coordinating Committee composed of the following:

Jose E. dela Rosa , Vice-Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Wood Industries Development	Chairman
Benjamin F. Sanvictores, President of the Plywood Manufacturers ™ Association	Co-Chairman
Renato Arevalo, President of the Philippine Lumber Producers ™ Association	Member
Director Jose Viado of the Bureau of Forestry	Member
Commissioner Manuel Monsalud of FORPRIDECOM	Member
Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources	Adviser

This Committee shall be charged with the following functions:

1. To advise the Food and Agriculture Organization and other UN agencies concerned that the Philippine government is ready to host the proposed symposium in the event that said agency shall be able to implement its work plan for the symposium;

2.To coordinate the activities of all Philippine working groups and participating agencies with the participation and organization of the symposium;

3.To collect, review and submit to the symposium with the assistance of the appropriate government agencies the necessary data, statistics and technical paper pertinent to the local problems on marketing and research of Philippine lumber and forest products.

The Committee may create such subcommittees as may be necessary in the performance of its functions. For this purpose, the Committee may call upon the Philippine Association for Permanent Forests and the Society of Filipino Foresters for the necessary assistance relative to the proposed symposium.

The Committee may request any department, bureau, office, agency and instrumentality of the government, including government-owned or controlled corporation, for such assistance as may be needed in the performance of its functions.

Done in the City of Manila, this 2nd day of November, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-one.


By the President:

(SGD.) ALEJANDRO MELCHOR
Executive Secretary