Statement of the Director-General
to the Twenty-fifth FAO Regional Conference for the Near
East
Beirut, Lebanon, 20-24 March 2000
Mr President of the Council of Ministers,
Distinguished Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Introduction
It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to the
Twenty-fifth FAO Regional Conference for the Near East,
which, after 38 years, is once again being held in
Lebanon, at the kind invitation of the Government. I
should like to express, on behalf of all the delegations
and the staff of FAO, our sincere gratitude to His
Excellency President Emile Lahoud and to the Government
and people of Lebanon for their warm welcome and generous
hospitality. Lebanon, with its age-long history, glorious
civilization and agricultural tradition, has, under
difficult conditions, been able to make significant
progress in all spheres of economic activity, and notably
in agricultural development.
I should like to thank in particular His Excellency
the President of the Council of Ministers for honouring
us with his presence at this opening ceremony.
State of food and agriculture in the world
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The world is undergoing a rapid pace of globalisation,
and inter-dependence with borders increasingly opened
economically.
The estimates for world cereal production in 1999 have
recently been revised upwards and now stand at 1 872
million tonnes. This is, however, one percent down from
1998, and two percent down from 1997, which was a
particularly good year. The only expected increase is for
rice, while wheat and other cereal harvests will be
lower. For the first time in four years, projected cereal
consumption will exceed production. This will require a
draw-down of 8 million tonnes from stocks which will
therefore amount to 334 million tonnes. Such a level
guarantees a stock-to-utilization ratio within the safety
margin of 17 to 18 percent.
For these reasons, the 1999/2000 marketing season
could register an increase of over three percent in world
cereal trade, equivalent to a volume of 222 million
tonnes. Yet, cereal prices on world markets are generally
lower than last year, a positive factor for the 82
low-income food-deficit countries.
We can also observe an encouraging sign in the
fisheries sector, which registered a partial recovery in
output in 1999 after the heavy falls in production of the
previous year.
But, the most positive factor is the indication in the
FAO report on the State of Food Insecurity in the World
of a reduction by 40 million, between 1990-92 and
1995-97, of the total number of malnourished people in
the developing countries. This annual reduction of about
8 million people on average is encouraging, but it is far
below the figure of 20 million required to achieve the
objective of the World Food Summit.
Emergency situations
Against such a global picture, 35 countries have been
faced with food emergencies. At the end of 1999, the
number of people affected by food emergencies resulting
primarily from natural and man-made disasters was
estimated at about 52 million. However, data indicate
that their relative frequency has changed over the last
thirty years. Whilst in the 1970s and 1980s food
emergencies were mainly the result of natural factors, in
more recent years man-made disasters have done nothing
but increase, especially war, civil strife and financial
and economic crises.
In Africa, the emergency situations arise in
particular from civil strife and recurrent droughts,
whilst in Asia, millions of people have seen their basic
access to food eroded by declining purchasing power as
several economies were devastated by the financial crisis
in 1997/1998. In Latin America, many countries are still
suffering from the devastation caused by El Niño
and Hurricane Mitch in 1998, and compounded by the
torrential rains and floods of 1999. In addition, late
last year, a severe cyclone and extensive floods in
Venezuela. In the Near East, the worst drought in decades
in 1999 seriously reduced food production in several
countries. In this part of the world, in addition to
weather fluctuations, the problem of access to water for
food production will undoubtedly be the main cause of
food supply problems in the future.
The role of FAO in such a context is more important
than ever, primarily in assessing the food and
agriculture situation, determining food aid needs and
informing the international community, thanks to the
Global Information and Early Warning System of FAO, which
is working together with the World Food Programme, the
UNDP and an extensive network of governmental and
non-governmental organizations.
Emergency situations also require FAO to revive
agricultural production by evaluating needs, in
cooperation with other UN agencies in the framework of
consolidated appeals for humanitarian assistance and,
especially, by providing direct assistance to farmers. In
1999, agricultural assistance implemented by FAO in the
Near East amounted to about 132 million dollars, serving
10 countries. This translates as the supply to affected
farming communities of agricultural essentials such as
seeds, tools, fertilizers, fishing gear and livestock, as
well as veterinary supplies. This assistance has been
carried out in response to natural disasters, notably the
severe drought that last year hit several countries in
the Region; the floods and the earthquakes. The
Organization has also provided help to farmers suffering
from human-induced disruption.
Other "crises"
But the world is also increasingly faced with other
"crises". These relate to the quality and especially the
safety of food products, and to the impact of new
agricultural techniques, resulting mainly from rapid
advances in biotechnology. Recent problems facing
governments have included the "mad cow" crisis, the
presence of dioxins and listeria in the food chain as
well as the marketing of products containing genetically
modified organisms.
This is an area where FAO will undoubtedly be called
upon to play a greater role. Public opinion, sensitised
by the media, wants objective information on possible
risks and requires effective measures of protection.
While such "crises" have occurred in developed countries,
they create concern for the authorities and the
populations of developing countries that do not have
sufficient capacity of analysis.
The Organization must continue to respond to these
challenges and demands. Its appropriate bodies, such as
the Commission on Genetic Resources, are actively working
on the drafting of codes of conduct. An
inter-departmental programme has been initiated to deal
with all technical aspects of the issues. The programmes
of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques for
Food and Agriculture will be reinforced to increase their
contribution in these areas. As for questions of ethics,
these are being examined by an internal committee
supported by a panel of experts. Finally, the Codex
Alimentarius remains the leading instrument for
determining international standards - a crucial activity
in a context of globalization and growing trade.
While recognizing the importance and urgency of these
issues, FAO must nevertheless concentrate on ensuring
that information provided is scientifically based and
established by internationally recognized experts.
State of food and agriculture in the Near East
Region
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I wish now to focus on the Near East Region. The
Region is becoming increasingly more dependent on food
imports particularly cereals, dairy products, sugar and
vegetable oil. Most countries of the Region have pursued
in 1998 and 1999, with varying degrees of intensity,
programmes of reform, especially macro-economic reform,
and agricultural market liberalization and deregulation
policies. In addition, an economic cooperation endeavor
took place through the establishment of the Arab Free
Trade Area (AFTA) which was signed by 18 countries in
1998. The main objective of AFTA is trade liberalization
for encouragement and promotion of intra-regional trade
through the gradual reduction of tariffs, reaching the
target of 19 per cent after ten years. In addition,
several Mediterranean countries have concluded trade
agreements with the European Union.
Agricultural production in the Region has been
seriously affected by a number of internal and external
factors particularly natural hazards, civil strife, wars
and climatic changes. The two devastating droughts that
hit several countries of the Region in 1997 and 1999
impacted negatively on agricultural and livestock
production.
Since 1997, FAO has implemented the agricultural
component of the Oil-for-Food Programme in Iraq with
original allocation of 46.15 million dollars. In 1999,
FAO was entrusted with implementing the same agricultural
component worth of 128.4 million dollars in the three
northern Governorates of Iraq. Such responsibility
included international procurement, as well as
distribution with equity to beneficiaries of a wide
variety of inputs in all sub-sectors of agriculture and
livestock in the country. In addition, FAO is executing
assistance projects in Iraq funded by the donor
community, UNDP and FAO's Technical Co-operation
Programme for the control of animal diseases and the
aerial control of crop pests as well as for increasing
seed and honey production in the whole country.
Almost all easily accessible conventional water
resources in this Region have already been committed;
therefore the future emphasis must be directed to
increasing the efficiency of water management systems, as
well as to move seriously towards tapping new
non-conventional water resources to be utilized for
increasing agricultural production. Water policies in the
Region are increasingly, but slowly, being reformed
towards enhanced water demand management. This implies
the promotion of satisfactory operation and maintenance
by institutions in order to ensure conservation and
quality, but it also means addressing the crucial issue
of attaching some economic value to water use in
agriculture. Every effort ought to be paid to increase
the stakeholder's participation in the responsible water
management decisions, in order to utilize water more
efficiently.
Only in few countries of the Region are agricultural
exports important sources of foreign exchange earnings.
Generally, exports of agricultural commodities assume a
limited role in the total value of the Region's exports -
averaging only about 6 percent of the total exports - and
consist mainly of fish, fruits, vegetables and cotton. On
the other hand, the value of agricultural imports has
continued to be as high as thrice the value of exports.
Intra-regional trade remains low - not more than 8 per
cent of the total foreign trade - stagnating at this
level for several years.
Highlights of FAO activities in the Near East
Region
The food security situation continues to be of concern
to many countries of the Region. In spite of the
commendable efforts of several countries, notably with
the support of FAO, the situation remains serious. In
this connection, the Organization has assisted countries
in the Region to focus on a number of major food and
agricultural production improvements &endash;
particularly in the areas of water management, yield
increases and more equitable accessibility of food to the
majority of the peoples.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Special Programme for Food Security
As you know, FAO launched the Special Programme for
Food Security in 1994 after its unanimous approval by the
Council. The Programme is designed to assist low-income
food-deficit countries to rapidly increase food
production and productivity on a sustainable basis,
reduce the year-to-year variability of production, and
improve access to food, as a contribution to equity and
poverty alleviation. To date, over 75 developing
countries have requested to participate in the Programme.
The lessons learned and results obtained so far have led
to the extension of on-going country programmes and a
rapid incorporation of new countries. I am pleased to
report that by January 2000, the Programme was
operational in 55 countries, including 5 countries in the
Near East.
Within the context of the Special Programme for Food
Security, the Organization has followed up with the
implementation of the trilateral cooperation among Near
Eastern countries, other developing countries and FAO, in
accordance with the provisions of the South-South
Cooperation initiative.
Training programme for multilateral trade
negotiations
FAO has also continued its efforts in supporting
countries of the Region to assess the implications of the
World Trade Organization trade negotiations on
agricultural development and achieving sustainable food
security. Some 14 countries of the Region are presently
members of the WTO, and six others have applied for
membership. As most of the countries in the Region are
relatively dependent on trade, there is a growing need to
understand the forces that influence international trade
in agriculture. Yet, most countries of the Region still
do not have the capacity to meet effectively the
challenges or take advantage of the opportunities flowing
from the Uruguay Round Agreements while also preparing
themselves for the next round of multilateral trade
negotiations.
FAO has been providing technical assistance to several
countries of the Region on formulating and implementing
their national commodity policies and programmes.
Recently, FAO has launched an "Umbrella Programme for
Training on Uruguay Round and Future Multilateral Trade
Negotiations on Agriculture", and organized 14
sub-regional training workshops, two for the Near East
Region: the first was held in Cairo in September 1999,
and the second is scheduled for May 2000 in Muscat.
Meanwhile, FAO continues to provide information on and
make assessments of the global market situation and the
outlook for some 80 agricultural commodities.
Food insecurity and vulnerability information and
mapping system
A vast effort is also under way to establish the Food
Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping
System, as decided at the World Food Summit. This system
is being set up at international and particularly
national level, with the full cooperation of United
Nations system partners within the framework of an
inter-agency committee. The system contributes to the
design and implementation of appropriate policies and
programmes to combat poverty and food insecurity. Two
countries in the Region have already requested assistance
in establishing national systems.
Regional Economic and Technical Cooperation
FAO supports and encourages collective action in
dealing with common problems and joint utilization of
resources for the mutual benefits of all countries
concerned. It has thus encouraged the development of
regional projects and the establishment of networks and
associations of agricultural institutions for the
promotion of technical cooperation and the exchange of
experience and information. The Technical Cooperation
among Developing Countries provides one such framework
for promotion of cooperation based on mutuality of
interests, shared benefits and interdependence. In this
context, FAO has continued to strengthen efforts for
collaboration with international, bilateral,
multi-lateral donors and regional specialized funding
agencies such as the Islamic Development Bank, Arab Fund
for Social Economic Development and other regional and
national development funds. FAO will continue its efforts
in this direction.
Regional Strategies for Agricultural Development
and Food Security
The Organization has steadily expanded its
co-operation with Regional and Sub-Regional Economic
Groupings of developing countries and countries with
economics in transition. In this context and in
collaboration with the relevant regional and sub-regional
institutions, it is elaborating regional strategies for
agricultural development and food security designed to
promote sustainable agricultural and food production,
better access to food, food safety, and the enhancement
of trade in food and agricultural products. Each regional
strategy draws extensively on the findings, conclusions
and recommendations in the Strategies for National
Agricultural Development - Horizon 2010 which were
prepared in follow-up to the World Food Summit.
TeleFood
Within the framework of World Food Day, FAO launched
TeleFood in 1997 which is a global campaign to raise
public awareness of the plight of the 790 million hungry
people in the world. It also helps to raise funds to
finance small-scale projects aimed at improving the
productivity and living standards of rural poor farmers
in developing countries. Since then many national media
outlets of Member Nations of the Region, especially
satellite channels, have joined hands with FAO in
promoting TeleFood's objectives. At the regional level,
Arab Radio and Television (ART) and the Arab News Network
(ANN) were among the leading Pan-Arab operators that have
promoted the goals of TeleFood in this Region. A very
successful celebrity auction organized by FAO and ART was
held in Cairo on 19 October, 1999.
TeleFood funded projects are currently being
implemented in at least 12 countries of the Near East
Region. In addition, a number of project proposals are
under preparation for implementation in the near
future.
Parallel meetings to the Twenty-fifth FAO Regional
Conference
I am pleased to point out that parallel to this
Twenty-fifth Regional Conference, two other main
gatherings of high relevance to the Region food security
have been convened. The first is a forum for the regional
non-governmental organizations and civil society, while
the other is on intra-regional trade.
Non-governmental organizations play an important role
in the rural and agricultural development of our Members
Nations. The engagement of NGOs and civil society in the
World Food Summit was much valued and added to the
strength of the Plan of Action which in turn calls for
collaborative efforts from all sectors of society to
achieve the objectives set in Rome. Against this
background, FAO decided to organize the NGO/Civil Society
Consultation in parallel to its Regional Conferences with
the view of benefiting from these active players'
experiences in fields relevant to FAO mandate and to help
the organization formulate its policy and strategy in
cooperating with grass roots organizations. The
recommendations of the NGO/Civil Society Consultation
will be submitted to this body for consideration.
In conjunction with the Conference, there will be a
consultation on intra-regional trade in the Near East.
This consultation will focus on major issues relating to
the fostering of cooperation among the countries of the
Region to facilitate trade to bring about national
agricultural development and food security.
Agenda of the Regional Conference
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
This Twenty-fifth Regional Conference will examine the
key issues relating to the fight against food insecurity
and vulnerability, poverty and degradation of the natural
resource base. The major issues on your agenda
include:
- The World Food Summit Follow-up will examine the
actions taken by FAO in its endeavours to support the
implementation of the seven commitments of the Summit
of November 1996 and the Summit Plan of Action prior
to the mid-term review which is scheduled for
2006.
- The Framework for Sustainable Agricultural
Development will review the Region's agricultural
resources and their utilization and will look at the
sector's structure and performance trends.
- The Animal Health Forum will focus on the need for
establishing "a Regional Forum or a Commission for
Animal Health", because, while some animal production
constraints may be managed at country level, control
of outbreaks of transboundary animal diseases requires
consolidated and aggregate Regional efforts.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your Regional Conference will have to take up the
challenge of fighting hunger and poverty on the
continent. I therefore await the outcome of your
deliberations with great interest and wish you every
success in your work.
Thank you.
