The symposium started with the formal welcome speech by Jaromir Vasicek, Deputy Minister for Forestry of the Czech Republic. Information on IUFRO, its status and achievements was provided by its Executive Secretary, Heinrich Schmutzenhofer. Five sessions covered topics such as the role of legislation in general, a questionnaire assessment of the present situation within each country, the role of private and public forest owners, sustainable forestry development, nature and landscape protection, and harmonization of legislation with the EU. The research group was happy to welcome colleagues from Georgia and Iran for the first time. I thank the Forestry Development Department and the Forestry and Game Management Research Institute of the Czech Republic for their willingness to publish the Proceedings of the 2003 Symposium. The 2003 Symposium was a big sucess and everybody felt that there was a high demand for a follow-up in order to continue the discussions on open questions (left open and new ones) and to consider latest developments concerning the sector. I am glad that we shall be able to organize the 6th International IUFRO 6.13.00 Symposium on "Legal Aspects of European Forest Sustainable Development" in Poiana Brasov / Romania, in June 2004. We also envisage organizing the 7th International Symposium of our Group in April 2005 in Serbia.
