78th meeting of the CITES Standing Committee
Closing Remarks by CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero
8 February 2025, Geneva, Switzerland
Excellencies,
Distinguished Standing Committee Members,
Parties, and observers,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you sincerely for the collaboration and respect demonstrated throughout these discussions.
Congratulations, Chair, for your able leadership in steering us through this complex and demanding agenda. I thank you for your expertise, fairness and steady hand in leading the discussions.
My deepest thanks to our donors and especially Switzerland for your generous financial support so we can meet here at the CICG.
A special thanks to His Excellency Minister Abdukhakimov for joining us earlier this week to introduce us to Samarkand and unveil the beautiful CoP20 logo.
And my profound gratitude to Panama for their generous offer to host CoP21, welcoming us once more to the beautiful Ciudad de Panamá.
For the first time ever, we have reached 600 participants at a CITES Standing Committee meeting—showing the strength of this convention and the commitment of all to achieve the shared goal of conserving wildlife for future generations.
Over the past six days, you have tackled an extraordinarily heavy agenda—87 agenda items with 127 working documents, 14 in-session documents and 50 information documents. I respectfully suggest a ‘period of reflection’ about this new record when you return home.
Compliance with the Convention remains central to your work. I am pleased to see the progress for those fulfilling their commitments and demonstrating clear advancements in effective implementation of the Convention for timber, bird, and marine species. We will continue to assist you in these efforts.
The international community is increasingly recognizing the impacts of wildlife crime on nature and people. International cooperation remains essential in our fight against wildlife crime. The excellent results of work undertaken by our Parties with support from ICCWC also give reason for optimism.
The activities of the Task Forces to combat illegal trade in big cats and timber, the ongoing work and progress to combat totoaba specimen trafficking and protect the critically endangered vaquita, as well as support to Parties in West and Central Africa, are essential and welcome.
This meeting reaffirmed the continued importance of our efforts to monitor the illegal killing of elephants through the new phase of the CITES MIKE Programme. The efforts of many countries to report on and reduce the risks of illegal trade in ivory also have been recognized this week.
For the first time, a Resolution on eels will be considered at CoP20. I am also pleased to see the ambitious workplan on sharks and rays, as well as the possibility for Parties to report the location of shark and ray catch in more detail.
As an example of other successes, under the Review of Significant Trade, a recommendation to suspend trade on emperor scorpions has been lifted and progress being made on the sustainable use of African sandalwood allowed it to be removed from the process.
The Secretariat warmly appreciates your inputs on the draft studies on CITES and Forests, on Paubrasilia, trade in medicinal and aromatic plants, products containing orchids and the impact of CITES exemptions for Dalbergia and Guibourtia.
I am so inspired to see the strong and wide support for youth engagement in CITES. And the first CITES Global Youth Network Summit coming up in May this year will provide an important springboard for the next generation of CITES leaders.
As we come to a close, I want to take a moment to recognize someone truly special—Susanne Bengtsson, our Administration and Finance Unit head, who is retiring after a decade of unwavering dedication to this Convention.
Susanne, your journey has been remarkable. Before joining CITES, you brought your expertise and commitment to the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions and contributed to peacekeeping efforts with the United Nations Secretariat in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
We are deeply grateful—I am deeply grateful—for your invaluable contributions and collegiality. I honestly don’t know what I’ll do without you. You have been my rock, always offering wise counsel and unwavering support.
On behalf of the entire CITES family, thank you. We will miss you immensely, but we also celebrate this new chapter in your life. May it be filled with joy, adventure, and all the wonderful things you deserve.
Many thanks to the CICG colleagues for your assistance these past days. And to our generous interpreters, my heartfelt appreciation for facilitating our communication, even under challenging time constraints.
To my wonderful team: you have stretched yourselves thin, perhaps too thin, for the preparation and smooth execution of SC78. As always, you are immensely appreciated for your incredibly hard work these past months and I wish you a good recovery.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I look forward to our reunion at CoP20, where we will continue our journey to support wildlife conservation for people and planet.
Please don’t forget to celebrate World Wildlife Day, which we will celebrate under the impactful theme “Wildlife Conservation Finance.” We invite you all to join the high-level event online or in-person at the Palais des Nations on March 3rd.
Safe travels, thank you and see you in Samarkand!