318. The Council expressed its concern at the situation in which some members had found themselves because of the late receipt of the Programme and Finance Committees' reports. This had happened because there had been only three weeks between the end of the last Committee session and the beginning of the current Council session. The Council asked the Committees to take this question into account as far as practicable in the scheduling of their future sessions.
319. The Council noted that the Reports of the Twenty-Fifth and Twenty-Sixth Sessions of the Programme Committee included comments on a number of items not covered elsewhere on the Council agenda, including the Committee's reviews of Fellowships, Register of FAO Activities Related to Agricultural Research, the Food and Nutrition Review, Methods of Work of the Council, the Investment Centre, the progress report on Sahelian Zone Operations, the Role of the Council in Agricultural Development Policy and the organizational matter mentioned in Director-General's Bulletin 74/17.
320. The Council expressed the hope that the Director-General and Member Nations would continue to devote attention to the alleviation of some of the major problems identified by the Programme Committee with regard to effective implementation of the Fellowship Programme. It also invited the Committee's continued attention to the Investment Centre and in particular to the reasons for the relatively low investment by the World Bank in activities in the fields of forestry, fisheries and general agricultural development.
321. The Council expressed its appreciation of the considerable amount of detailed and in-depth work which the Programme Committee had performed in reviewing the various activities of the Organization, thereby relieving to a large extent the work of the Council and facilitating its discussions.
322. The Council noted the information given by the Chairman of the Finance Committee on the following matters: staffing and workload of AFF Division; travel criteria; developments in implementation of country programming; progress report on FAO/UNEP relations; contract procedures; report on communication in UN system - use of computer; report on the utilization of FAO shipping; developments with regard to Building D; IOB information systems, ECOSOC resolution.
323. In its discussion of this item, a number of points were mentioned on which the Director-General was asked to present at a subsequent Council session detailed reports on policy and programmes and progress made, including: the recruitment of consultants and associate experts, especially those from developing countries; the award of contracts to firms in developing countries; the relatively low amount of IBRD investment in forestry, fisheries and general agricultural development; and the activities under the FAO Bankers Programme. Mention was also made concerning the importance of resolving certain reported problems in administration of fellowships and concerning the possible value of holding technical meetings away from the Rome Headquarters. The Council noted that the Finance Committee followed regularly the question of the use of computers.
324. The Council decided that its Sixty-Fifth Session should be convened in Rome, from 10 to 14 March 1975.
1 CL 64/3, CL 64/7, CL 63/3, CL 64/5.
2 CL 64/PV/18.
