The ECE Timber Committee and the FAO European Forestry Commission emerged from the International Timber Conference held in 1947 as the key elements of the United Nations tasked with working on matters related to the forest sector in Europe. During their first 70 years of joint activity, the Committee and the Commission have contributed to post war reconstruction, to the expansion of the forest sector, to meeting the major challenges of the sector and to promoting and monitoring sustainable forest management. This paper chronicles the history of the Committee and the Commission's work, in the context of the 2017 celebrations of the 70th anniversary of ECE and to mark the 70th anniversary of the fruitful cooperation of ECE and FAO on forests in the region.