1.The Seventy-Fifth Session of the Council was held in Rome from 11 to 22 June 1979 under the chairmanship of Bukar Shaib, independent Chairman of the Council.
2.The Agenda of the Session as adopted is given in Appendix A to this report.
3.The Council, having heard a statement by the independent Chairman, decided that provision should be made, as from the present session, to increase the number of its Vice- Chairmen from two to three.
4.Accordingly, the Council amended Rule I, paragraph 1 of its Rules of Procedure as follows:
"The Council shall, at the beginning of each of its sessions, elect [ a first Vice- Chairman and a second Vice-Chairman at the beginning of each of its sessions, 7 three Vice-Chairmen who shall remain in office until the election of new Vice-Chairmen at the next session of the Council".3
5.Certain members stated that in electing the Vice-Chairmen of the Council, due account should be taken of the principle of rotation so as to ensure equitable geographical distribution. Some members considered that it would be desirable to/give advance notice of proposals to amend the Rules of Procedure.
6. The Council elected three Vice-Chairmen for its current session, i.e. José J. Leido, Jr.(Philippines), Atif Y. Bukhari (Saudi Arabia), and Hugo Baeyens (Belgium).
7.The Council elected Parvez Masud (Pakistan) as Chairman of the Drafting Committee, and the following members:
| Regions | Countries |
|---|---|
| Africa | Ghana, Zaire |
| Asia and the Far East | India |
| Europe | France |
| Latin America | Venezuela |
| Near East | Lebanon |
| North America | United States of America |
| South West Pacific | Australia |
8. The Council heard an introductory statement by the Director-General, reviewing the world food and agricultural situation, summarizing the broad lines of action along which he recommended that present problems should be faced, and introducing his Summary Programme of Work and Budget for the 1980-81 biennium. The text of this statement is given in Appendix D to this report.
9. Many members intervened to congratulate the Director-General on his clear, frank and lucid statement, which gave ample evidence of his overall grasp of world agricultural problems. All expressed their strong support of the approach he had proposed. In their statements, the various members made specific reference to their special endorsement of FAO's main action programmes, | including, in particular, the decentralization of activities to the field level, the Technical Cooperation Programme, the Five-Point Plan of Action on World Food Security, the forthcoming World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, the Prevention of Food Losses, the development of fisheries in Exclusive Economic Zones, and such emergency actions as that undertaken to control the desert locust.
10. While these delegations expressed concern regarding the level of the proposed budget, which they felt was too low, they stated their conviction that the consensus which seemed to be already emerging on the broad lines of the programme for the next biennium would result in a similar consensus, or even in unanimity, in the endorsement of the proposed modest level of the budget.
11. The Council paid tribute to R.C. Fortunescu, Chief of Protocol, who was retiring from the Organization after forty-six years' service in international organizations. The Director-General and the delegate of Malta, Dean of the corps of Permanent Representives to FAO, spoke of his efficient devotion and good humour in performing his duties and wished him a happy retirement.
12. Mr. Fortunescu thanked the Council for the honour it had done to him and to the profession of international civil servants.
1 CL 75/1; CL 75/1(a); CL 75/INF/1-Rev.1; CL 75/PV/1; CL 75/PV/17.
2 CL 75/PV/1; CL 75/PV/2; CL 75/PV/17.
3 Deletions in square brackets [ ]; additions underlined.
4 CL 75/INF/5; CL 75/PV/1; CL 75/PV/17.
5 CL 75/PV/14; CL 75/PV/18.
