CL 129/OD/2

Council

On the occasion of the Thirty-third Session of the FAO Conference, the Director-General will host a Reception on at 19.30 hours on Saturday, 19 November 2005 in the Aventino Room, 8^th Floor, Building B.

Heads of Delegation of Member Nations and Observer Delegations accompanied by one Delegate are invited to collect their invitations from the Document Desk.

Special Events

Council participants are invited to attend:

A Ministerial Event on Food Security and Sustainable Development in Small Island Developing States to be held from 09:30 to 12.30 and 14.30 to 17:30 hours on Friday 18 November 2005.

A presentation on the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, ICARRD to be held from 10:00 to 12:00 hours on Friday 18 November 2005 in the Iran Room.

A presentation on IFAD Programme in the Pacific Islands Countries to be held from 18:00 to 19:30 hours on Friday 18 November 2005 in the Iran Room.

Working Group on Reform

Members of the Council are informed that the disbursement of terminal expenses will be effected in rooms D178 and D180 according to the following schedule:

As the list of Delegates and Observers appended to the Council Report includes only the names of those who have registered as participants, including Permanent Representatives, those who have not yet registered are kindly requested to do so in the Turkish Registration Centre on the ground floor of Building A. Delegates and Observers are invited to check that their names and titles have been correctly listed by consulting the List of Delegates at the Documents Desk and on the web page.

Nomination forms for Member Nations wishing to be elected to the Council are appended to Document C 2005/11. All forms should be completed and signed by the delegate of the country standing for election to the Council and by two nominating delegations, which need not necessarily be from the same region as the candidate.

Such forms should be submitted to room B202, Office of the Secretary-General of the Conference and Council, by 12.00 hours on Saturday, 19 November 2005.

In accordance with Rule XXII-10(g) GRO “Candidates who are unsuccessful in the election to fill the vacancy or vacancies occurring in the first calendar year shall be included among the candidates for election to the vacancy or vacancies occurring at the end of the second calendar year, except where they voluntarily withdraw.”

Nomination Forms for Member Nations wishing to be elected to the Programme Committee or Finance Committee are appended to Document CL 129/7.

Such forms should be submitted to room B202, Office of the Secretary-General of the Conference and Council, by 12.00 hours on Friday, 18 November 2005.

Nomination forms for Member Nations wishing to be members of the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Matters are appended to Document CL 129/8.

Such forms should be completed, signed and submitted to room B202, Office of the Secretary-General of the Conference and Council, by 12.00 hours on Monday, 21 November 2005.

Nomination forms for Member Nations wishing to be members of the World Food Programme Executive Board are appended to Document CL 129/9.

Such forms should be completed, signed and submitted to room B202, Office of the Secretary-General of the Conference and Council, by 12.00 hours on Monday, 21 November 2005.

Since meeting room facilities are very limited, priority will be given to requests for meetings of regional groups ahead of those for bilateral meetings. The latter will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis and availability will only be confirmed 24 hours in advance.

All requests/queries should be addressed to Mr R. Rodriguez, room A375, ext. 55872;
(Tel. 0657055872 from outside the FAO buildings).

The Internet Café is available for Delegates and Observers in the Flag Room, in Building B, ground floor, from 08.00 to 18.00 hours.

Council Documents in Arabic, Chinese, English, French and Spanish are available on the FAO Internet Web Pages, http://www.fao.org/ and can be accessed by clicking on the link at the bottom of the home page, or by typing: http://www.fao.org/unfao/bodies/council/cl129/cl129en.htm
in the browser.

Cloakroom
A cloakroom is situated in the Atrium

Wireless Internet Service

FAO is currently piloting a Wireless Internet Service for conference attendees. The service is available in the main Meeting Rooms (Plenary Hall, Red and Green Rooms), as well as the Nordic Lounge and the Atrium (between Building A and Building B).

Council participants with a laptop or PDA which has Wireless LAN capabilities, conforming to the 802.11b or 802.11g standards are welcome to use this free service.

There are three steps to take in order to connect to the system:

Step 1: Turning on laptop or PDA, while in the Atrium.

Step 2: Allowing laptop or PDA to detect the network “guest_internet”.

Step 3: Opening a browser and trying to connect to an Internet site. The following username and password should be used:

Username: visitor and Password: go2internet

Please note that no support can be provided if problems arise when connecting to, or using, the wireless internet service.

Delegations are reminded that mobile telephones should be switched off during meetings.

World Agriculture Information Center - WAICENT Stand

FAO's hypermedia electronic information services accessible over the Internet are featured at the WAICENT stand, which is located in the Korean Conference Centre area, at the entrance of the Red and Green Rooms (1^st floor Building A). Delegates are invited to visit the area, where they can use one of the computers and explore WAICENT for themselves.

Delegates intending to read a written statement, and who wish to help ensure that the impact of their words is equally strong in all languages, are requested to read at a reasonable speed and to hand an advance copy of the text as soon as possible to one of the messengers in the meeting room. The statement will be photocopied and distributed to the Interpreters before it is delivered. This will also help minimize errors, especially when quoting figures and proper names.

Telephones for internal or Rome calls are located in the Slovak Centre (Ground Floor of Building B), and in the corridor of the first floor of Building A. Before making calls from the Rome area dial “0” and wait for the external dial tone before dialing the number. International phone calls can also be made using calling cards, on sale at the newsstand in front of the Banca Intesa. Calls can be made at discount rates by using these cards on the phones in the Slovak Business Centre.A fax transmission service is available for a flat fee of €1 per page in the Slovak Business Centre (ground floor of Building B).

The Italian Post Office, adjacent to the Banca Intesa bank, is open from 08.25 to 15.00 hours Monday to Friday.

The DHL office, located in Building C (room C005) is open from 10.30 to 18.00 hours Monday to Friday. Dial extension 53767.

In addition, an Express Courier Service is available for despatches/deliveries in Rome, non-stop, from 08.30 to 16.30 hours Monday to Friday. Please call ext. 54881 or 55103 for further information.

Banking Service

The bank "Banca Intesa" (Ground Floor Building B) will be open from Monday to Friday
(08.35 to 17.30 hours) and on Saturday 19 November 2005 from 8.35 to 17.30 hours for the exclusive use of Delegates. Cash dispensers are also available on the Ground Floor of Building B.

Restaurant/Coffee Bars

The Polish Bar on the Ground Floor of Building A and the cafeteria and restaurant on the 8th floor of Building C are available for Delegates. A bar on the Ground Floor at the far end of Building D will also be open from 7.30 to 16.30.

Prayer Room

A Prayer Room is available for use by Council participants in room A250Ter.

First Aid - Medical Emergencies

For medical emergencies dial 30.

For normal medical requirements, please dial 53577 or make your way to the Medical Service, room B162, First Floor of Building B, which will be available during the Council hours.

FAO is a smoke-free area. Smoking is not permitted inside any of the FAO Buildings.