Chairman's Letter

A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN

John V. Faraci
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Dear Fellow Employee:
A basic belief at International Paper is ?doing the right thing.? By doing the right things for the right reasons, we will achieve our goal of being one of the best and most respected companies in the world ? as measured by our employees, our customers, our communities and our shareowners. International Paper will be the company where people are proud to work. It will be the company with which customers and suppliers want to partner. And it will be the company that consistently operates with excellence.

"Doing the right thing" means acting ethically. We say in The IP Way that "we uphold
the highest ethical standards and are accountable in all that we do." This means when we are faced with decisions and choices in the workplace, we always choose the ethical course. This applies to every International Paper employee around the world. 

As a way to describe our ethical business standards, we have published this third edition of our Code of Business Ethics. Building on previous editions of our Code, this new edition has been adopted by our board of directors and fully reflects our transformed company and the ethical culture that underlies it. The Code gives you access to the many resources we have in our company for counseling, assistance and reporting. 

Another valuable resource for you is our office of Ethics and Business Practice, which is headed by director Jim Berg. You should feel free to contact Jim anytime you need advice or information on ethics or wish to report a concern. You can write to Jim by letter or e-mail at our global headquarters in Memphis, Tenn., or call him at 901-419-4879. You can also contact the International Paper HelpLine at 800-443-6308or at ethics@ipaper.com.

These resources reflect our belief that the way we conduct our business is as important as the business results we achieve. I encourage you to become familiar with the Code as itruly pulls together all the elements of ethics, personal integrity and compliance that are essential to our global IP community.    

Sincerely,
John Faraci