99. The Commission considered Part A of document ALINORM 72/11, which had been prepared by the Secretariat, and which contained information concerning the preparation and arrangements for the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Regional Conference for Africa to be held in 1973. The Commission was informed, through a Conference Room Document (LIM 3), that a majority of the African countries attending the Commission had held a short, informal meeting and had proposed a revised provisional agenda. In addition, they had also suggested some ways and means in which the necessary advance information required for the Conference could be obtained, including a detailed questionnaire which would be drafted and distributed by the Secretariat, asking for, inter alia, information on the following points:
100. The delegate of Ghana stated that every effort should be made to ensure the success of the Conference and, in this connection, considered that the questionnaire referred to in paragraph 99 above should be sent to the African countries, accompanied by a letter explaining the background to the problems of food control and by the revised provisional agenda. At the same time, the African countries should be invited to set up national ad hoc Committees, with a view to coordinating their participation in the work of the forthcoming Conference. This proposal would then follow in a similar way the methods adopted for the preparation of the Second World Food Congress in 1970.
101. The delegate of Senegal considered that item 1 of the revised provisional agenda did not differentiate between the development of basic provisions regarding standardization, specifications, regulations and food control, and that this item should be appropriately amended.
102. The representative of Africa on the Executive Committee (Tunisia) stated that he was in agreement with the revised provisional agenda, together with the amendment suggested by the delegate of Senegal, and concurred with the recommendations made by the delegate of Ghana.
103. The delegations of the other African member countries present, along with the observers from the Gabonese Republic and the Libyan Arab Republic, expressed themselves in favour of the revised provisional agenda, as amended by the delegate of Senegal, and agreed to promote the aims of the Conference, within their respective countries, in order to help ensure its success. The Commission agreed that the Secretariat should proceed as indicated in paragraphs 100 and 101 above. The revised provisional agenda agreed to is contained in Appendix V to this Report.
104. The Commission considered the report which it had requested at its Eighth session on the administrative and financial implications of establishing a Coordinating Committee for Africa and which was set out in Part B of ALINORM 72/11. The Commission noted that provision had been made in the 1974-75 budgetary proposals for a meeting of a Coordinating Committee for Africa, to be held in the 1974-75 biennium in conjunction with the Commission's Tenth Session. In view of the difficult financial situation, this would be the most economical way of holding such a meeting.
105. The delegate of Ghana, supported by the representative of Africa on the Executive Committee (Tunisia), stated that meetings of the Coordinating Committee for Africa should be held in conjunction with the Commission's sessions in Rome or Geneva, until such time as an African country offered to be the host country. Other African delegations endorsed this view.
106. The Commission agreed to establish, under Rule IX.1(b)(2), a Coordinating Committee for Africa, and also agreed that the first session should be held in Geneva, in conjunction with the Commission's Tenth Session. The African delegates agreed that it would be useful if the Food Standards Conference in Africa were to consider the nomination of a Coordinator for Africa and decided to include an item on this subject in the revised provisional agenda. The Commission agreed that the Membership and Functions of the Coordinating Committee for Africa would be as follows:
“Membership: Membership of the Committee is open to all Member Nations and Associate Members of FAO and/or WHO, which are members of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, within the geographic location of Africa.
Functions: The Committee exercises general coordination in the preparation of standards relating to the region of Africa and exercises such other functions as may be entrusted to it by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.”
