A number of international commodity agreements serve solely as forums for information exchange, analysis, and policy discussion.
The new ICA is designed to enhance the ICO's role as a forum for intergovernmental consultations, to increase its contributions to meaningful market information and market transparency, and to ensure that the organization plays a unique role in developing innovative and effective capacity building in the coffee sector.
Among the features of the new agreement is a first-ever "Consultative Forum on Coffee Sector Finance" to promote the development and dissemination of innovations and best practices that can enable coffee producers to better manage financial aspects of the inherent volatility and risks associated with competitive and evolving markets.
Other notable changes include expanding the organization's work in providing relevant statistical and market information and strengthening efforts to develop, review, and implement capacity building projects that are particularly important to small-scale farmers in key developing country trading partners.
The ITTO promotes market transparency by collecting, analyzing and disseminating data on the production and trade of tropical timber; assists in developing, funding and implementing projects and other activities to build capacity to sustainably manage and use tropical forests; and facilitates intergovernmental consultation and international co-operation on issues relating to the trade and utilization of tropical timber and the sustainable management of its resource base.