CHAIRMAN: The meeting is called to order and as you will recall we have had this morning 27 countries who have taken the floor as well as the representative of the UNDP. We have now three observers who have asked for the floor and I would also like to inform the Commission that the Representative of Angola has asked us that their statement be included in the Verbatim of this meeting and that is what will be done.
Edmond HARTMANS (Caritas Internationalis) : Unfortunately I was not present when Mrs Killingsworth introduced document C 93/20 but I know that she made reference to the delegates of the NGO meeting on 9 November. The report of this meeting is available as document C 93-Sup.l and has been referred to by several delegates. I hope the delegates can find the time to read this document, it makes a number of specific suggestions to strengthen the presently existing collaboration between FAO, the countries and NGOs and paragraph 17 was particularly mentioned by the delegate of the Netherlands.
As I have already spoken on Commission I, I will here be very brief and not repetitive. However, to illustrate how important a contribution NGOs can make I would like to take an example of my own organization, Caritas Internationalis. During the last 18 months the Caritas network of some 150 autonomous country organizations has made a financial commitment of US$122 million 337 thousand to the war victims of former Yugoslavia, I repeat 122 million plus. For the delegates who wish to have details of this massive relief rehabilitation and development operation I am happy to share copies of a document which gives full details. Obviously there are many other obligations as regards this organization but this is the one outstanding at this moment. For the delegations who wish to have details of this massive relief rehabilitation and development operation I am happy to share copies of a document which gives full details.
As Chairman of the NGO informal meeting I wish to thank the FAO Secretariat particularly Mrs Killingsworth and her collaborators and the introductory speakers and their collaborators for the assistance it has given to the NGO Working Group in all their preparations. I wish also to thank sincerely the
many delegations which have commented on the importance of collaboration with the NGOs as a bridge to reach the most needy.
In reply to the many references to the NGOs' importance let me assure Member Governments and FAO that all the NGOs which participated at the Meeting of 9 November had one great common desire and aspiration, namely to be real partners particularly at the country level in emergency actions and in the development of natural and human resources for the benefit of the most needy people. Many NGOs have the capacity to give immediate help as they are often locally present and have the expertise to participate at very little or no extra cost.
Ms Elena LODI FE (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts): I would like to thank Ms Killingsworth for her exposé yesterday on items 15.1 and 15.2.
The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts - 128 Member Organizations and 8.5 million Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, worldwide, is actively supporting the World Declaration and Plan of Action for Nutrition adopted at the end of the FAO/WHO International Conference on Nutrition (ICN) in Rome in December 1992. In close collaboration with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which we thank for its technical and financial help, WAGGGS is pursuing the implementation of the FAO Plan of Action.
In July, WAGGGS held its 28th World Conference in Nyborg, Denmark, at which FAO and WAGGGS organized a visual display. Printed material in English, French, Spanish and Arabic, on the ICN themes of "Household food security", "Food quality and safety", "Prevention of micronutrient deficiencies", for example, was at the disposal of WAGGGS' Delegates and guests. A similar display was set up with material provided by the World Food Programme.
Pat Dexter, FAO Nutrition Officer, was present at the Conference from 29 June to 2 July. Numerous direct contacts were established with WAGGGS' Delegates, especially from the African and Asian Regions, and further collaboration is being encouraged on a national government /FAO/WAGGGS basis in those countries where WAGGGS Member Organizations are involved in this work.
We are sorry to hear that Pat is leaving FAO and we offer our special thanks to her for her collaboration with WAGGGS.
On 16 October, World Food Day, WAGGGS' booklet "Food and Nutrition - a Choice for Life" was officially announced to the press in London. This booklet, produced with FAO support, provides information on food and nutrition issues and on the importance of a healthy diet for girls and young women. It also describes ways in which Girl Guides and Girl Scouts are working to improve food and nutrition worldwide. The booklet was distributed to all WAGGGS' Member Organizations and widely publicized to other NGOs working in similar areas or with similar constituencies.
Mr Chairman, we are only at the beginning of the implementation of the Plan of Action, but Girl Guides and Girl Scouts from Botswana, New Zealand, Ghana, Australia, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Guyana, Ireland, Fiji Islands, Swaziland and Honduras, just to mention a few, have already started working in this direction.
WAGGGS' collaboration with FAO is supported by one of the fundamental principles which inspires the Girl Guide/Girl Scout Movement: "Service to others". We are grateful to FAO for its help in making our commitment possible.
May I add just two more words: WAGGGS has just embarked - on 21 September -on a three-year peace initiative "Create peace worldwide". One of the first phases of the peace initiative is a joint project between WAGGGS and the united Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Lino VISANI (Alliance coopérative internationale): Le Conseil économique et social des Nations Unies a approuvé une résolution sur le rôle et l'activité de l'Association coopérative internationale en vue de concourir à la réalisation d'une politique de développement durable. Nous pensons qu'il serait très important et très utile de reconnaître le document tel qu'il a été préparé, afin de valoriser le rôle de la participation populaire dans le développement durable. Nous pensons en effet que cela serait très utile pour renforcer la collaboration entre les organisations populaires, et en particulier les associations d'agriculteurs, les coopératives, les organisations des femmes rurales, de donner un rôle essentiel à la division de la FAO qui s'occupe des ressources humaines dans le cadre du renforcement de son action intersectorielle, en vue de réaliser les plans d'action sur la participation populaire approuvés à la dernière Conférence de la FAO et qui sont, à notre avis, à la base d'une politique pour un développement durable.
CHAIRMAN: Yes, we thank the distinguished delegate from the International Cooperative Alliance and since there are no other requests from the floor I would now give the floor to Ms. Killingsworth for her comments and replies to the different interventions that were made this afternoon and this morning.
Ms K. KILLINGSWORTH (Director, Office for External Relations): We have had over 30 speakers on these two items combined; the interventions have been so wide-ranging and varied, have covered many different topics in such a substantive way that there is no way I could do justice to the debate by commenting on all of them.
What I would like to do is address those issues which called for some reply or comment on the part of the Secretariat and to assure you that we have taken extremely careful note of all of the interventions and all of the points made and we will do our best to assist your Drafting Committee in reflecting the sense of the debate in the report.
First of all, I start by thanking all those delegations who appreciated the document and the effort we had made to be both concise and as complete as possible but at the same time to avoid duplication in the documentation for the Conference and also in your debate. This was noted by several delegations. Some of the major issues in which FAO is actively working with other organizations of the system have already been dealt with on your agenda in this Commission or in others such as Commission I. I make that point in particular because I had stressed yesterday that to the best extent possible we try to make sure that when you are addressing substantive items on your agenda you get the relative information concerning what is going on in the rest of the system, what the
consequences are for the Organization of decisions taken in other fora. In this particular case I would say the best example is the follow-up to UNCED, on which Commission I has had an extremely rich, varied and detailed debate just yesterday.
However, since the delegate of the Netherlands raised a few questions on that, I would like to draw his attention in particular to the document submitted for that item, C 93/10, in particular paragraph 18 of that document which gives a good deal of information on FAO's contribution to the preparation of a Convention on Desertification; paragraph 22 deals with FAO's cooperation with the Commission on Sustainable Development; and paragraph 32 deals with cooperation with NGOs on the follow-up to UNCED. That information in the document was also supplemented by Mr Mahler in his oral introduction on that agenda.
I will not make any comments concerning operational activities for development because, as I also mentioned yesterday, you here in Commission II have had a special document presented to you in the context of your discussion on the Programme Implementation Report with the full text of the Resolution 47/199, and I believe in your report on that discussion you have covered in some detail the major issues which were raised by delegates concerning that resolution.
I would go on then to some questions concerning drug abuse control.
The delegate of the United Kingdom was kind enough to say that some of the more detailed information he requested on FAO's drugs-related activities, both present and future, could be provided to him separately and we are arranging for that to be done. He asked also whether this would be a continuing item on future agendas of the Conference and Council. Certainly to the extent that this remains the priority that it is for the moment in the UN system we will continue to report to you on this subject as we have done essentially in every document for the past several years.
I could point out, by way of supplement to what I said yesterday in my introduction, that since the discussion which the document reports on, which took place at ECOSOC this summer, we have not only been represented at a meeting of the ACC Interagency Group dealing with drug abuse control but we have provided for the UNDCP, which is acting as a system-wide coordinator on this issue, the FAO Implementation Plan, and recently - just I think last week - the General Assembly also adopted a resolution on drug abuse on which we will be reporting to you next year.
Going on from that subject to some points which were raised concerning international conferences, first of all, the World Summit on Social Development which will take place in 1995. I believe it was the delegate of the United Kingdom who said the focus of this major conference is not yet completely clear and it may be much more clear after the first preparatory committee meeting at the end of January and early February. We all share the feeling that some work needs to be done to clarify the focus of the summit. At the same time that does, of course, have an impact on the kind of input which an organization like FAO can make to the preparations for it. The system-wide input to the World Summit was the subject discussed at the recent ACC in October and the related meetings of the Organizational Committee which prepares for the ACC. We are working on it but we suspect at this point the contributions of individual agencies to the first Preparatory Committee will go forward as contributions of individual agencies rather than a system-wide contribution.
Similarly, the question of the Agenda for Development was raised by a number of speakers. As you know, and as we have reported to you in the past, the Agenda for Development was requested by the General Assembly from the Secretary-General as a parallel initiative to the Agenda for Peace which the Secretary-General had prepared before. We have been asked for, and have provided, some initial input to the elaboration of this document which the Secretary-General is preparing, and the subject was discussed by the executive heads at the recent meeting of the Administration Committee for Coordination.
We have taken careful note of the number of delegations who have pointed out that FAO had a unique and important contribution to make to this document. We certainly agree that this contribution needs to be made. At the moment, however, the procedures, the modalities, for making that contribution have not yet become clear to us.
Going to other international conferences, I believe it was the delegate of France who mentioned the importance of the preparations for the Conference on Population and Development. Here again I would point out that FAO has been represented at the various inter-agency meetings which have taken place, and also at the preparatory meetings of governments to draw up the documentation for this Conference. At the moment, we have found that the annotated outline of the final document for the Conference does not yet reflect the importance of rural development issues, such as rural population dynamics, which are obviously of great importance to this Conference. We welcome indications which we have recently had from New York that some governments are calling for further inter-agency consultations in the context of the preparation of the full document, because we would like to be able to follow your guidance and make the input we need to make to ensure that the issues for which FAO is particularly competent are adequately reflected in the final Conference document.
Similarly, a number of delegations pointed to the need for FAO to make an important contribution to the Secretary-General's report, which has been requested for the 49th General Assembly - that is, next year - on food production and related issues. As I think we also pointed out to the Council in June, the General Assembly, in calling for this report, did not specifically mention FAO. We hope and expect to be consulted on the preparation of that report; in fact, we would expect that we would be able to prepare the report if so requested by the Secretary-General. As you know, we have a number of precedents. Going back a few years, the Agriculture Chapter of the fourth International Development Strategy, as many Member Nations will recall, was prepared by FAO and in fact discussed by FAO's Governing Bodies before being sent forward to New York for incorporation in the wider International Development Strategy document. Similarly, as I mentioned yesterday, FAO was requested by the Secretary-General to prepare the basic document for the General Assembly's discussion at this present session on the need for and feasibility of a diversification facility for Africa's commodities. We did prepare that document entirely here in FAO, and it has been sent forward by the Secretary-General to the GA as FAO prepared it.
These are. examples of how the Organization's expertise can be made available and is made available; but again it requires that the central inter-governmental bodies in New York and the Secretariat of the UN make the call on FAO. So we are pointing that out - we are taking note of your injunction to us to cooperate to the fullest extent possible, but it is an example also of how the Member Nations which are represented here and also
represented in New York can help in ensuring that FAO's contribution is called for when needed in dealing with these subjects, which are so central to its mandate.
I would like to go on from there to some questions concerning FAO's activities in emergency relief and humanitarian assistance. We have taken very careful note of the very positive comments on the tremendous efforts that the Organization has been making in the last two years in cooperation with the Department of Humanitarian Affairs of the UN, and also of the expressions of appreciation for the unique role and work being carried out by the Global Information and Early Warning System.
We did however note also some warning signals being sounded by several delegations. The United States delegation pointed out that the exercise of coordination can be carried too far, and that we need less talk and fewer meetings. The delegate of France pointed to the concern which we had reported to you in our document in paragraph 11, and which is something that occupies our mind considerably, that is, the multiplication in a number of countries of coordinators - not just the resident coordinator, but humanitarian coordinators and special representatives. The delegate of Germany referred to the fact that when an emergency arises there is sometimes no time to implement coordination. What is important is action. The delegate of the Netherlands also requested some more detail on the work we have been doing in this area, and on the problems we have encountered.
I will not take up your time with a full list of what we have been doing in emergency-related work. I would however like to point out that we have just in the past few months, participated in consolidated appeal processes for Angola, Burundi, Iraq, Rwanda, former Yugoslavia, Zaire, the Programme for the Horn of Africa (called SEPHA) , Lebanon, and Sierra Leone. I have a list here of some sixteen missions and two more assessment reports carried out in cooperation with WFP through the Global Information and Early Warning System.
A comment was made that cooperation be intensified and be permanent with WFP, and I would like to assure you that on this the cooperation is indeed permanent. Our Crop and Food Supply Assessment Missions are carried out' jointly.
That, I must say, is a brief overview on the plus side. What do we have on the minus side? - Or rather, not fully minus but...
Since the DHA was established at the beginning of last year we have noted an extraordinary increase in the number of requests to us for participation in meetings to prepare the work for these various emergency exercises and to provide inputs to reports to various other fora, such as the General Assembly. These have, for instance, moved from a total of eight requests for inputs received in 1991 to 27 in 1992 and 49 in 1993. We receive now, on an average, 7 requests per month for reports of some kind. At the same time, we are having an average of 8 to 9 meetings per month on various emergency-related activities. Luckily, a number of these meetings take place in Geneva, where we do have a small office who can assist us in covering them; but we do occasionally ask ourselves whether we are not getting to a point where the effort required to ensure coordination is beginning to be made at the expense of the action which needs to be carried out to actually address the emergencies. We are working on this at the inter-secretariat level with the Department of Humanitarian Affairs.
As I mentioned yesterday, Mr Hjort is an active participant on the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, and already some improvements have been worked out among the various agencies involved. But we appreciate the recognition which we have noted in this morning's discussion, that sometimes coordination can become end in itself, to the detriment of prompt action at the country level, and that we must at all times be careful that the use of our scarce resources is designed to deal with the real and pressing problems which a number of delegations, such as the delegation for the Netherlands, pointed to this morning.
Talking about emergency assistance seems to take us logically into a discussion on cooperation with NGOs, because cooperation on emergency relief and humanitarian assistance is one of the areas to which not only FAO but other organizations in the UN system have been attaching much greater priority recently, and have managed to establish very fruitful cooperative links with a number of important NGOs working in this field.
I believe the representative of CARITAS referred just now to the resources which are available to NGOs working in the humanitarian assistance field who are on the ground, who are often able to implement extremely quickly.
The Inter-Agency Standing Committee, as Mr Hjort has often pointed out (including to ECOSOC this summer) has the great advantage of being as broad as the problem. It can therefore involve, and does involve, representatives from the NGOs along with representatives of the UN operational agencies, and specialized agencies such as FAO and WHO.
We have covered in the document, and several Member Nations have referred to, the important and very fruitful cooperation of the Global Information and Early Warning System with some 60 NGOs. But we must also think of the whole problem of the continuum from emergency relief to development which passes through a phase of rehabilitation, to which sometimes not enough attention is paid. I believe the delegate of Pakistan referred to it this morning, and I would point out that the intervention of the delegate of Ethiopia who referred to FAO's work with NGOs funding in Ethiopia over the past years on local rehabilitation initiatives is, we think, a very good example of how FAO and NGOs can cooperate in this very crucial phase of rehabilitation, carrying out the work which is necessary to allow people to re-establish themselves, recreate their livelihoods, and. go on, once the emergency relief phase is passed.
We have noted several interventions concerning the follow-up to the International Conference on Nutrition, and the point raised by the delegate of France, which we most appreciate, concerning the happiness of the French NGOs at having been participants - "à part entière", I believe he said -full participants in the process of preparation of the ICN. I wish to assure you also that they are to be full participants in the follow-up. This follow-up is something to which we attach great importance, particularly at the national level. That is where the work needs to be done, and where the role of the NGOs can be absolutely vital.
The delegate of the Netherlands asked for some clarification concerning FAO's work in consultation with farmer organizations. I would like to refer him to a number of paragraphs in document C 93/2 0 where the subject is covered. We do not have a special section on cooperation with farmer organizations, but in paragraphs 23, 30, 37 and 45 of the first section, and 5, 10 and 38 of the second section he will find references to FAO's
work with such organizations, which I should like to assure him continue to be of major importance to FAO's work.
Cooperation with NGOs concerning sustainable agriculture and the environment: the report of the informal NGO meeting which took place on 9 November, to which also the observer from CARITAS referred just now, testifies to the rich dialogue which we are having and have been having over the past years with NGOs on cooperation in the area of sustainable agriculture and rural development.
As I mentioned also yesterday, the recent FAO/NGO consultation in Asia which was hosted by the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific was also on this subject. I believe that a reference is also made in document C 93/20 to regional programmes of FAO/NGO cooperation which we are finalizing now as proposals, and for which we hope to find funding to promote sustainable development of the smallholder farming systems in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
I believe that the delegate of the United States referred to the recent consultations with NGOs hopefully leading to such regional cooperation programmes. We see here a complementarity between the action of NGOs and the actions of governments for sustainable agriculture, particularly in the area of extension and research. The role of FAO in such programmes would be to provide technical and methodological assistance and to facilitate cooperative activities.
That perhaps raises the broader question of the Organization's relations with not only non-governmental organizations but intergovernmental organizations. I believe it was the delegation of Bangladesh who referred very aptly to the concept of a mosaic, particularly at the country level, this mosaic involving all the actors on the development scene - governments, intergovernmental organizations both regional and global and non-governmental organizations of various types.
As a number of delegates pointed out, these relations are becoming more and more complex. That is why the request from the delegate of Germany for a table or a diagram of these relationships gave me some pause for reflection. On terms of a diagram or a table, I think I am not a good enough artist to do a graphic design that would be readable. There would be so many arrows going in so many different directions that it would be extremely difficult to conceptualize in one table all the different kinds of relationships which exist between these various organizations. I do have some information which I would be happy to provide to the delegate of Germany. For instance, we have a register of all the organizations with which FAO has an official relationship. We have a directory of NGOs particularly involved in rural development, and a number of other lists of various types.
I would also like to point out that we are preparing a database with information on non-governmental organizations working in the fields of most interest to FAO. So together I think these various sources would give a clear idea of what different types of relationships exist, but we will also take this.,under advisement for the next document to make sure that we give you a clear indication of the various types of networks and cooperative activities which we have with these different organizations.
A number of comments were also made about our relations with IGOs and INGOs in different regions which are recorded in some detail in the first part of
document C 93/20. We noted in particular the support for the activities of our regional offices and joint divisions, the joint divisions which we have with the UN Economic Commissions in the various regions, and also support for the joint division which we have with the International Atomic Energy-Agency in Vienna.
I believe that a question was asked by the delegate of Germany concerning activities of the joint division with the Economic Commission for Europe. A number of these activities have been covered in the Programme Implementation Report and the Programme Evaluation Report, and I think you might wish to look at those sections to get more detail than I could give you this afternoon on our work in that joint division. The cooperation was also reviewed at the last Regional Conference for Europe.
With regard to the OECD, I should point out that we have a regular exchange of documentation, and we have reciprocal participation at our meetings, particularly those of the OECD Committee on Agriculture and the Joint Agricultural Environment Committees and working parties of both organizations.
Finally, if I have not overlooked any particular question, I would take note of the number of delegations who called for a more effective cooperation between the Organization and IICA. Speaking of formal relationships, as I was a little while ago, FAO has had a very long-standing formal agreement with IICA since 1967. We have a number of cooperative activities which are carried out both from Headquarters and through the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean. We have reciprocal representation, for instance, the FAO Regional Conference in Montevideo in 1992, the Inter-American Joint Meeting of Ministers of Agriculture which took place in 1991 in Madrid and 1992 in Mexico City. There has been technical cooperation with IICA for carrying out of initiatives such as the workshop held in Uruguay in 1992 on genetic improvement. We have some joint publications with IICA such as the Catalogue of Latin American Bio-Technology Laboratories. Recently we have had a sub-regional meeting jointly organized with IICA, CATIE and IBPGR which resulted in the establishment of the Central American Network on Plant Genetic Resources. The delegate of Barbados referred to the Amblyómma variegatum Programme. This programme has been developed by FAO through TCP and the Government of Belgium, and IICA is a member of the Steering Committee.
That said, there is certainly scope for discussing further and closer cooperation. We have been informed by Member Nations that IICA has been requested to get in touch with FAO to seek the modalities for such cooperation. We have not yet been approached directly by IICA but we are ready to explore the possibilities, particularly including assistance to the Inter-American Development Bank and its member countries on both technical assistance and investment activities, and of course to come back to you at the appropriate time and report.
If I have overlooked any particular question, I stand ready to come back.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Ms. Killingsworth, for your wide-ranging comments on the remarks that were made by delegations this morning and this afternoon.
It is quite difficult at this stage for the Chairman to sum up. I would not like to sum up what has already been exhaustively - if I may use that expression - said by Ms. Killingsworth. I would like to stress I do not have the pretension of making a summing-up of all the points that were raised because first of all, as I recall - and Mrs Killingsworth said the same in her presentation - Item 15 and sub-items 15.1 and 15.2 of our agenda are more in the nature of information concerning what is going on in terms of the UN system, and FAO's cooperation and participation with other agencies within the UN system as well as with NGOs and IGOs. But taking into account that this is an information item, it would be interesting, perhaps, to give you some views from the Chair and to see if we agree on certain points that might be interesting to collect and to register in our drafting group.
With regard to the recent development in the UN system of interest to FAO and the question of cooperation between FAO and the UN specialized agencies, I think that we all agree that we have had very concise information, although not necessarily with the depth that certain issues were dealt with in Commission I, and even here in this same Commission, but we have been informed of the wide range of cooperation of FAO with different agencies of the UN system, as well as about FAO's participation in the preparation of future global conferences.
In the area of humanitarian and emergency assistance we have also been informed of the work of FAO in the continuum that goes from emergency assistance to rehabilitation and development, as well as on the continuing collaboration of FAO with the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs and the Inter-agency Steering Committee.
A number of delegations have also mentioned the importance of FAO's global information and early warning system and its work to support the assessment of food needs for agricultural relief.
Many delegations have insisted on the importance of FAO's work in the area of Drug Abuse Control and on the continuation and enhancement of this work. We have also been informed - and it is important to register this - that FAO has produced a study on the need for and feasibility of a commodity diversification fund for Africa as an example of FAO's contribution to agriculture, trade and commodity issues.
Many countries, including Barbados, the Netherlands, Colombia and Honduras, have stressed the importance of enhancing cooperation between FAO and IICA, but it is my understanding that this cooperation should not be sought in the sense of IICA replacing FAO in Latin America but in terms of further enhancement of cooperation between FAO and IICA. This is the sense of the mandate given by Ministers in the recent IICA Meeting in Latin America.
I would also like to stress the importance of the work on the follow-up to UNCED. This question has been exhaustively discussed in Commission I but the importance of this follow-up work has also been very much emphasized here in terms of operational activities for development.
Under this Item 15.1 many delegations have referred to the importance of the proposal of the UN Secretary-General to develop an agenda for development as a counterbalance to the Agenda for Peace. It is obvious, and it is in the interest of all member countries of FAO, that FAO should also be essentially a development agency in terms of agriculture and the fight against hunger. FAO has a key role in the implementation of this Agenda for
Development. It is not excessive to mention this, as a number of delegations from both developed and developing countries have stressed the importance of realizing this Agenda.
We have talked about humanitarian issues and emergency assistance, and this is obviously very important, but we must also think in terms of a structural approach and put the question of development on the agenda of the international community, as it is an issue which has been somewhat overlooked recently. Peace is obviously very important, but the question of development and what to to in a peaceful world in terms of resuming development is of the utmost importance, and we here in FAO must have a clear view of what the Organization can do in terms of developing a key role in this Agenda for Development.
Turning to Item 15.2, Recent Developments in FAO's Cooperation with Inter-governmental and Non-governmental Organizations, it is clear that we were satisfied with the information presented on FAO's collaboration with NGOs and IGOs, and there is a general consensus that this collaboration is good and a good level of understanding has been achieved, and that FAO's experience in technical cooperation can be further utilized and developed in cooperation with NGOs.
We have also heard from the representatives of NGOs of the results of the meeting held here on 9 November, and I think we should register the importance of an accrued cooperation between the Organization and the NGOs in many different areas, especially coordination with governments.
In saying that, I would like to emphasize that this cannot be a very extensive summing-up because of the many questions that were put. Some delegations have referred to the lack of precise and up-to-date information, but all of us here are also represented in New York and in different international organizations. I would like however to thank all the participants for their interest in the presentation, for the high level of discussion with regard to these two sub-items of Item 15. This revealed the interest in having FAO collaborate and participate, without duplication of course, with other UN Bodies, and also our high opinion of FAO's substantive task in its original area of work as well as in terms of coordination within the UN system.
In concluding this substantive part of the Agenda of Commission II, I would very much like to thank you all for your cooperation, for your patience and for your contributions, and I would like to reflect the views of everyone in this room by saying that we thank the Secretariat very much. We especially thank Dr Hjort and Dr Shah, who have by their presence here been of almost encyclopaedic assistance to the Commission. I would once again very much like to thank Mrs Killingsworth and the Secretariat.
Ms Charlotte E. ROE (United States of America) : In giving your summary you asked delegates to respond to it, and we do have a response to parts of the summary, which in general was quite comprehensive. First of all, I am a little confused by your observation on cooperation between FAO and IICA. Nothing was ever said about one group imposing itself on the other or replacing the other. In fact, we believe that the fact that there is this perception is an indication that altogether too much competition exists.
I would also observe that following the discussion, as many delegates approached me, I became aware that there are delegates in this room who do
not know what IICA is. It would be very good if FAO invited IICA to the next Council Meeting as an Observer to further explain their activities. However, I do not believe we were simply expressing an interest in enhancing what is already going on between FAO and IICA; we were expressing a strong desire for greater integration of activities on many levels and for a report on that.
Another thread running through the discussion was a desire for greater regionalization of the good things FAO is doing in NGO cooperation and greater emphasis on activity at the country level and more action on the ground. To say that we are "satisfied" with the level of FAO's cooperation with other organizations is something that belongs to a different era. We have heard too many times following a discussion that the result of the discussion shows that we are satisfied with everything that is going on. What we try and do in these meetings is to point out some good examples of what FAO is doing and to say that there needs to be a lot more of that done. If we were simply satisfied with everything that is happening, we would not say anything. There is a slightly different twist.
CHAIRMAN: I thank the distinguished representative of the United States very much for her comments. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Netherlands.
F.C. PRILLEVITZ (The Netherlands) : I am very happy with your summing-up. I have only one point to make - Ms Killingsworth said a lot about it - and that is the growing need for coordination with agencies for humanitarian aid. Perhaps you could stress that in the Report. I must apologize for asking for information available elsewhere in the documentation. As I know my new job will be in the sphere of coordination, I am very happy with the warning from the podium about growing coordination in every field.
Kiala KIA MATEVA (Angola): C'est une occasion pour moi pour féliciter Mme Killingsworth pour l'introduction de ces deux points, mais mon intervention va se limiter au point 15.2.
A la lecture des documents C 93/20 et C 93/20-Sup.l, le Secrétariat mérite des félicitations puisqu'il a fait un effort en introduisant quelques innovations comme il est dit au paragraphe 2 du document C 93/20.
Par ses actions la FAO collabore avec les ONG des différentes catégories, celles qui ont ou non un statut officiel et sur les différentes activités pour lesquelles, elle, la FAO a reçu mandat.
Monsieur le Président, la section I du document nous donne un aperçu de la coopération dans les cinq régions. Cela démontre l'expérience que la FAO possède. Ainsi elle est le catalyseur entre les pays d'une région, elle connaît tous les problèmes des ONG. Cette collaboration entre la FAO et les ONG qui existe déjà devrait être renforcée. La FAO peut aussi faire connaître les expériences d'une région vers une autre, d'un pays vers un autre dans la même région ou d'une autre région.
Le document nous rappelle que les bureaux régionaux sont les principaux véhicules de la coopération entre eux. Ainsi la FAO a le grand avantage de les connaître toutes. Par conséquent, il est nécessaire d'avoir un annuaire FAO sur les ONG par pays pour information, présentant les données les plus
significatives après étude par le Secrétariat, sous une forme facilement accessible. S'il existe déjà, la délégation de mon pays demanderait que cet annuaire soit actualisé. Ce document serait identique à celui des projets par pays qui bénéficient de l'assistance technique de la FAO, et élaboré en 1992. Ma délégation laisse au Secrétariat la liberté de chercher les données à y mettre; les relations, disons le type de relations existant entre les ONG et la FAO. Je sais que ce travail, s'il n'est pas prévu dans le budget, exigera des ressources extrabudgétaires.
En Angola le nombre des ONG nationales et étrangères ne cesse de croître. Celles-ci interviennent dans plusieurs domaines. La déléguée du Sénégal a cité quelques domaines. Dans mon pays, compte tenu de notre situation de guerre, les actions des ONG sont très limitées, surtout dans les centres urbains. Le Bureau de la FAO a du pain sur la planche. Une fois de plus je voudrais joindre ma voix à celles qui ont précédé en insistant sur la collaboration très étroite entre la FAO et les ONG qui doit toujours exister et être poursuivie. Je vous remercie.1
CHAIRMAN: I hope that you do not have to be the coordinator or coordinators ! I thank very much both the United States and the Netherlands delegations. I just wanted to say that I am not trying to influence the wording of what is going to happen in terms of the Drafting Group. I am sure that all the interested delegations will be present and those who have made their interventions will try to make their point clear or will try to have the precise fine tuning.
With regards to the IICA I think there was a recommendation from the Ministers in the sense that the new Director-General should sponsor a study on the means for further strengthening the cooperation and interaction with FAO, that is true, and that is why I referred to enhanced cooperation in the sense of strengthened cooperation and inter-action between the two institutions. Perhaps it is true that a number of delegations do not know the mandate or what IICA is and that IICA should be invited for further meetings but this is something that should be discussed and I think that we have,from the observations that were made, good material for discussion in the late Session of the Drafting Group tonight. If there are not more observations I would want again to thank you very much for the understanding, for your cooperation, for the work and declare this Session adjourned.
The meetincg rose at 16.15 hours.
La séance est levée à 16 h 15.
Se levanta la sesión a las 16.15 horas.
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1 Texte reçua vec demanded' insertion auprocès verbal
