- STATEMENTS BY HEADS OF DELEGATIONS
- DECLARATIONS DES CHEFS DE DELEGATION
- MANIFESTACIONES POR LOS JEFES DE LAS DELEGACIONES
CHAIRMAN: Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Fourth Plenary Meeting. I call upon the Head of Delegation of Nigeria.
Al Haji Mohamed GAMBO JIMETA (Nigeria): Thank you, Mr Chairman, for giving me the floor. Before I proceed, please allow me to join the previous speakers in adding my delegation's deepest sympathy and condolences to the delegation, government and people of Iraq over the sad loss of the leader of their delegation. Also allow me to congratulate you and the three Vice-Chairmen on your election. The Nigerian delegation is confident that under your able leadership the Conference during this session will, as in the past, be able to hold useful deliberations on ways and means of improving the global state of food and agriculture for the benefit of all humanity. I wish also to thank the Director-General and his able staff for the excellent documents they have made available to us in order to facilitate our deliberations. Our sympathies remain with the various member countries for the untold hardship inflicted on lives and properties by natural disasters since our last Conference. This dimension is, therefore, an additional task which requires our urgent attention.
Mr Chairman, the issue of food security is crucial, especially to developing countries as it is the key to political stability without which economic and social development would be difficult to attain. Food security entails an adequate aggregate food supply at all times and sustainable policies on food production, storage, processing, research and technology, transportation, environmental issues and marketing systems. It also entails enhanced household income to enable them to have access to food, provision of nutrition, education and population stabilization. It is heartening to note that the problem of food insecurity has been overcome in the developed and industrialized countries which continue to register food surpluses. Regrettably, the problem of food insecurity is still very much with our countries in the developing world. Mr Chairman, millions of families in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America cannot afford three square meals a day and are thus vulnerable to debilitating diseases like kwashiokor and malaria. If we are indeed committed to the goal of global food security, then we must in our deeds and actions learn to be our brothers' keepers.
Consequently, it is imperative that we collaborate in the areas of technology and research to combat this nagging problem, as we hold the unshakable view that food security can only be achieved if there is understanding and cooperation between the north and south in finding solutions to the problems of inequality, protectionism in agricultural trade, the debt burden, environmental degradation, inadequate capital inflow and political instability. This Conference has provided the unique opportunity by seriously addressing this problem.
Mr Chairman, I would like in this regard to commend the efforts of FAO in coming up with the Special Programme on Food Production in support of Food Security in Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries. The Director-General has already embarked upon restructuring the Organization with the ultimate aim of preserving and invigorating this noble objective. This is a good initiative which deserves our full support.
Mr Chairman, poor harvest, deteriorating prices of primary commodities of developing countries and international market and environmental degradation have constituted obstacles to economic development, but the issue of well-known crushing debt burden has been much more pronounced and devastating on the economy. Efforts made so far, though commendable, have not met the yearning and aspirations of those of us concerned. The servicing of debt has meant that a substantial portion of our foreign exchange earnings are devoted to it, leaving a paltry portion for importation of spare parts, machinery and other inputs. The cherished concept of sustainable development would become a mirage if our development partners, especially G7, do not make greater efforts to reduce the debt burden. Indeed we feel that the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Founding of FAO should serve as the beginning of a new chapter in the economic development of low-income food-deficit countries if their debts are graciously written off. This laudable gesture would provide a conducive environment for economic development.
Mr Chairman, it is our conviction that the solution to the food insecurity problem must start at the national level. In cognizance of this fact, the Federal Government has continued to accord priority to sustainable agricultural development in terms of employment creation and diversification of the economy. In order to enhance the attainment of food security, various programmes which include integrated rural development, research and extension, provision of irrigation facilities, development of national strategic grain storage, women in agriculture, afforestation, environmental sustainability, Sahelian incursion, erosion and promotion of food and export production are being implemented. It should be stressed that we need assistance if we are to succeed. It would be encouraging if international efforts were obtained in harnessing our untapped abundant resources that permeate five agro-ecological zones already demarcated for the cultivation of various varieties of food and cash crops, the raising of livestock and fish production. In view of this, I have the singular honour to extend an invitation to the international community to take advantage of the enormous investment opportunities which exist in the agricultural sector in Nigeria.
We now have in place a new investment order which embodies a completely deregulated investment and export processing zone. Distorted information orchestrated by foreign media about an unproven charge of human rights' violation in Nigeria has not been helpful. We therefore crave the understanding of the international community as we believe that Nigeria is in a better position to solve her domestic problems. I wish to assure you that Nigeria is poised to evolve a stable democratic political policy which is a prelude to food security. We now have in place a new political structure conscientiously designed by Nigerians and for Nigerians.
Mr Chairman, let me commend the Director-General for the increased responsibilities in the establishment of activities for the control of transboundary plant and animal pests and diseases and the provision of policy advice to Member Governments to assist in the establishment of a food security framework especially in the low-income food-deficit countries. We also commend the Director-General and his able staff for the comprehensive and in-depth Programme Evaluation Report of the selected programmes and operations under the Regular and Field Programmes executed by FAO during the period 1994-95. The report has highlighted the relevance and achievement as well as the performance in the programme priority areas which were endorsed by the Council.
Mr Chairman, we are well aware of the Programme of Work and Budget (PWB) for the biennium 1996-97 which has been exhaustively considered by the Programme and Finance Committees as well as by other groups. The Nigerian Delegation wholeheartedly supports the Budget level. The proposed Budget is calling for a full agenda of action to confront the challenges facing the world food and agriculture situation. We therefore call on the Member Nations of this important Organization, especially the larger contributors, to endeavour to pay their assessed contributions and arrears so as to make available sufficient resources for strengthening the Organization's capability to better serve its Member Nations thus arming them with the weapons to confront the challenges facing the World Food Security.
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Wilhelm MOLTERER (Austria): Mr Chairman, Mr Director-General, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to begin by saying on behalf of my delegation that we have the greatest sympathy with the Iraqi delegation and that we feel with them on this sad occasion in the loss of the leader of their delegation. This is indeed a moment of trial for them.
First of all I should like to congratulate you, Mr Chairman, on your election to this very responsible function. I should, of course, also like to congratulate the Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of the Commissions of the Conference, and I would also like to express our good wishes for the greater success of this Twenty-eighth Session of the FAO Conference particularly this year because 1995 is a special year for FAO.
This is the year when we celebrate the 50th birthday of FAO. In 1995 Austria celebrates the 50th anniversary of our Second Republic, so we feel particularly linked to FAO on this occasion. Fifty years ago this important Specialized Agency of the United Nations was founded in Quebec, a historic place, where a few days ago the anniversary was solemnly celebrated and the climax of this universal celebration was the adoption of the Quebec Declaration by the Member Nations of the Organization. This declaration underlines the joint will of FAO and its Member Nations not to cease in their worldwide endeavours to overcome hunger and malnutrition.
The year to come, 1996, will again be a year when FAO will be in the focus of public attention because in November 1996 it is expected that the World Food Summit will take place here in Rome and it is expected that from that Summit, through a political declaration which is to be signed by heads of Government and through an action plan, a contribution will be made to the struggle against poverty, a contribution to rational population policies and to good leadership by national governments and to sustainable development. Austria has noted with great interest that FAO intends to hold this Summit in order to discuss problems of global food security just at a time when it can be foreseen that food supplies globally will have reached such a level that neither food security nor appropriate food reserves can in fact be guaranteed. This situation is particularly serious for low-income food-deficit developing countries. Obviously, this requires even greater solidarity from all governments, from the community of nations, in order to be able to overcome the difficulties which we are moving towards.
Ladies and gentlemen, in all western industrialized countries we find that a good part of the population lives in rural regions or regions which have largely rural structures. For instance, in Austria almost 43 percent of our population lives in rural areas. Agriculture and forestry is essential therefore to the well-being and development of these areas. This is why we feel that agriculture has a double role to play. On the one hand it has to produce agricultural commodities, in particular food, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the question of the quality of the food that is produced and of the protection of the environment while producing it is a matter of decisive importance for the future. Agriculture has additional functions to perform which are closely linked to the production function. Agriculture is responsible for the continued health of our soils. Agriculture is responsible for keeping our water clean, water which is one of the most precious things that we have to preserve for the future. Agriculture also makes a great contribution to the stability of certain areas, in particular rural areas. Many of these functions of agriculture were not given due recognition in the past. We must now recognize this multi-function aspect of agriculture in order to ensure sustainable development. For this reason we must also give due recognition, including economic recognition, to these various functions of agriculture, especially in a country like Austria, where agriculture is labouring under difficult conditions, in particular in mountain areas. This is a matter of particular importance.
Another matter which is just as important is that we must have ever closer cooperation between agricultural production and marketing. These two are closely interrelated. Like the connection between agriculture and the economy, this is also a matter of central importance in countries such as Austria. In Austria what is also very important, and even more so for the future, is preservation of the ecology, and we want to strengthen our ecological awareness in developing our sustainable agriculture. We are a new member of the European Union and we want to make it clear that this ecological viewpoint is something that is being massively supported by the European Union and by all Member States thereof. In this connection, we must not forget that in Austria there are more and more farmers who are changing over to organic agriculture. This is of course the most radical form of sustainable agriculture. The number of organic farms in Austria has been growing by leaps and bounds. Over 23 000 farms, that is, over 10 percent of all our farms in Austria, are already organic, and this means we have the highest proportion of organic farming in Europe. One of the basic reasons for this tremendous development lies simply in the demand from consumers and on the willingness of consumers to pay more for these more valuable and healthier foodstuffs.
Allow me now, Mr Chairman, to offer a few comments about the future Programme of Work of the Organization. Austria welcomes the priorities set out in the Programme of Work and Budget of FAO. We give our agreement to these priorities and to the work of FAO but this also means that all Member Nations must honour their commitments as laid down in the statutes of the Organization. The medium-term planning put forward by the Director-General of FAO for 1996-97 seems to us to be the most appropriate approach for dealing with the problems that FAO has to encounter, although, of course, we have to make sure that we are constantly updating those plans to take account of the resources available. The new concept of programme budgeting has proved its worth. It gives a clear division of labour, but we have to adapt our management to this. In Europe too we must have the closest cooperation with the ECE and, on a world-wide level, with OECD. Political changes which have been taking place, especially in Europe, mean that FAO has to take into account the new context in which its work will have to develop.
Ladies and gentlemen, as on previous occasions, the Austrian Committee for Freedom from Hunger Campaign gives its support to specific FAO projects in areas such as seed production, training and extension work, and these projects are financed exclusively by donations from the Austrian people. Austria will go on supporting the activities of FAO on a regional as well as on a global level to the greatest possible extent. This is true not only for agriculture, but also for forestry, which is another area of particular interest to us.
Ladies and gentlemen, we hope that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in its future activities and with the full support of all Member Nations, will be able to make a unique and a most valuable contribution to the future good of humankind.
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Philippe VASSEUR (France): Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Directeur général, Mesdames et Messieurs les délégués, chers collègues, permettez-moi à mon tour de présenter mes condoléances à l'Iraq et permettez-moi, dans un registre moins grave, de saluer les cinq nouveaux Membres qui ont rejoint notre Organisation.
Je suis à la fois heureux et honoré de participer à cette 28ème session de la Conférence, qui fait suite à la célébration du 50ème anniversaire de notre Organisation et prépare le Sommet mondial de l'alimentation de 1996. Cela situe toute l'importance des débats qui se déroulent dans cette enceinte.
Il y a peu d'années encore, les Etats Membres de cette Organisation pouvaient se réjouir de perspectives de récoltes abondantes et de stocks mondiaux de céréales suffisantes. J'aurais souhaité me trouver parmi vous dans les mêmes circonstances mais, aujourd'hui, les perspectives sont plus sombres et il est de notre devoir de les évoquer.
Les prévisions de l'évolution de la production agricole mondiale au regard des besoins alimentaires globaux sont peu optimistes et la dépendance croissante de nombreux pays en développement à l'égard des importations de produits céréaliers dans le premier quart de siècle prochain nous oblige à davantage de concertation. Cette Organisation est l'enceinte la plus appropriée pour que s'améliore et s'amplifie cette concertation.
La permanence du nombre de 800 millions de malnutris chroniques évoqué depuis plusieurs années souligne les insuffisances du dispositif international actuel de l'aide au développement et de l'aide alimentaire. La précarité des approvisionnements céréaliers dans le monde et la hausse des cours constatées en 1995 sur les marchés mondiaux vont handicaper davantage encore le soutien à cette population et aux Etats qui ont en la charge.
C'est une situation que l'on pouvait anticiper et sur laquelle mon pays avait attiré l'attention de la communauté internationale tout au long des Négociations d'Uruguay. Cette préoccupation avait alors pu être formalisée dans le cadre d'une décision des ministres sur les mesures concernant les effets négatifs possibles du programme de réformes pour les pays les moins avancés et les pays en développement importateurs nets. Il est en effet essentiel que cette décision puisse rapidement être mise en oeuvre dans les meilleures conditions possibles.
La sécurité alimentaire est l'un des principaux - sinon le principal - défis stratégiques des pays. Nous disposons d'atouts dont deux au moins sont majeurs: le premier atout est la prise de conscience de la mondialisation des problèmes et de l'intérêt de tous à une participation accrue des pays en difficulté dans les échanges commerciaux internationaux; le deuxième atout est la mise à la disposition, notamment par cette Organisation, de données de plus en plus fiables sur lesquelles peuvent s'appuyer les politiques agricoles nationales et les grands débats internationaux.
Je relèverai, dans la masse de données prospectives qui sont à notre disposition, une indication particulièrement inquiétante. Selon plusieurs scénarios, à l'horizon 2025, l'écart entre la production et les besoins devrait s'accroître de manière sensible. Dans cette perspective, deux attitudes sont possibles: ou le repli des pays sur eux-mêmes, ou la solidarité manifestée par une participation active à tout ce qui peut concourir à l'amélioration de la sécurité alimentaire régionale et mondiale ainsi qu'au développement durable si étroitement liés.
L'amélioration de la situation des uns ne suppose pas la dégradation des conditions des autres. Il est nécessaire que les pays dont le climat et la qualité des terres sont favorables à la production agricole maintiennent sur leur sol des exploitations en équilibre, avec pour objectif une offre de produits de qualité en quantité suffisante et donc à des cours raisonnables. A l'heure où je m'exprime, les stocks céréaliers mondiaux sont tombés aux niveau le plus bas depuis des décennies. Ils couvrent à peine aujourd'hui deux mois de la consommation mondiale. Les dernières récoltes ont été en deçà des niveaux espérés; l'offre est limitée et la demande est forte. La première conséquence est évidemment une flambée des prix préjudiciables en premier lieu aux pays importateurs nets les plus démunis. La deuxième conséquence, c'est que nous prenons un risque démesuré en plaçant la sécurité alimentaire mondiale à la merci du moindre accident climatique. C'est pourquoi je tiens à ce que les mécanismes de régulation régionale ou internationale de la production soient dotés d'une souplesse suffisante pour mieux adapter l'offre à la demande et atténuer le paradoxe actuel qui veut que l'on empêche la terre de produire alors que le monde a faim.
C'est également mon voeu que tout le soutien possible soit apporté au développement de la production vivrière dans les pays à dominante rurale forte partout où un minimum d'auto-approvisionnement est réalisable. Nous avons l'exemple de la Région Asie dans laquelle certains pays qui disposent de superficies arables limitées ont su privilégier une production agricole, socle du développement économique ultérieur. Cet exemple doit nous encourager dans cette voie. Je souligne, dans un tel contexte, l'intérêt de l'initiative du Directeur général de développer des programmes d'intensification agricole dans les pays à faible revenu et à déficit vivrier. Cette initiative doit nous conduire à améliorer conjointement nos approches de ce problème. Les services français spécialistes du développement sont disposés à l'aider dans cette tâche.
La participation financière et technique des Etats pour prévenir les graves crises alimentaires et les déséquilibres environnementaux qui nous sont annoncés peut être directe; et l'Union européenne, outre les engagements bilatéraux de ses Etats Membres, y consacre déjà de larges efforts. Cette participation peut être également indirecte en passant par des organisations comme celle qui nous réunit aujourd'hui. C'est pourquoi notre Organisation doit avoir les moyens d'agir. La discussion que nous aurons à cet égard sur le projet du budget est essentielle. La France, comme bien d'autres, est soumise à de fortes contraintes budgétaires. Mais nous estimons que l'Organisation pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture, au même titre que toutes les institutions des Nations Unies, doit limiter ses dépenses par une gestion rigoureuse. Il n'en demeure pas moins que les tâches que nous avons reconnues comme prioritaires doivent pouvoir être poursuivies. Des mesures d'économies peuvent nous donner une marge de manoeuvre et des efforts ont déjà été faits dans ce sens. Aller au-delà entraverait l'accomplissement par l'Organisation de ses responsabilités internationales.
Vous me permettrez, par ailleurs, de souligner le péril grave que les arriérés de paiement font peser sur notre Organisation. Il n'est pas normal qu'un tiers seulement des Etats Membres s'acquitte régulièrement de ses contributions. Il n'est pas normal que le principal contributeur à l'Organisation pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture ait laissé s'accumuler un tel montant d'arriérés et soit redevable, à lui seul, des trois quarts des sommes dues à l'Organisation. Il s'agit - et la France s'y attache particulièrement - de maintenir une contribution de bon niveau à cette Organisation tout en l'aidant à bien contrôler son budget et à remplir efficacement ses tâches. C'est le rôle de la Conférence d'y veiller et de faire les recommandations nécessaires.
Pour justifier cet attachement, je mentionnerai particulièrement certaines des activités normatives de l'Organisation où celle-ci peut pleinement jouer son rôle de forum de discussion essentiel à la mise au point d'accords internationaux techniques entre les Etats Membres. Ces règles du jeu deviennent de plus en plus nécessaires, nous le savons, au fur et à mesure de la libéralisation croissante des échanges. Dans le cadre de cette Conférence, nous espérons être ainsi en mesure d'adopter le code de bonne conduite pour une pêche responsable après l'inclusion des résultats de la Conférence de New York sur les stocks chevauchants et les espèces hautement migratoires.
Notre intérêt se tourne également vers l'établissement de normes de gestion durable des forêts internationalement reconnues.
S'il n'est pas dans la vocation de l'Organisation de jouer, au sens strict du terme, le rôle d'une agence de développement, je souhaite rappeler cependant à quel point ses missions de conseil en matière de politique agricole nationale, de vulgarisation et de formation, ainsi que de mobilisation des systèmes, sont essentielles.
Pour conclure, je voudrais féliciter le Directeur général de l'Organisation d'avoir prévu pour novembre 1996 un Sommet mondial de l'alimentation. Je tiens à vous dire que, pour nous, ce sommet est essentiel. La France, dès le début, a soutenu cette initiative, et j'ai le plaisir, aujourd'hui, de vous annoncer que le Président de la République française a accepté de faire partie du Comité international de parrainage du sommet. C'est la preuve de l'importance que mon pays attache à ce rendez-vous.
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Balram JAKHAR (India): Mr Chairman, my dear colleagues, honourable Ministers, ladies and gentlemen, today we had some mishap and I am sorry to say we lost a friend and had the demise of an esteemed friend, the Minister for Iraq, Mr Rasheed, and my heart goes to his family members with all of yours but as with nature we cannot do anything except feel sorry.
Mr Chairman and Delegates, you are and have been a very good friend and a successful man wherever you have worked and I hope in this position you will conduct these proceedings in a way which proves beneficial to all of us. I hope the results will be very encouraging to all of us.
Recently we met in Quebec, all of us and it was a very productive conference. We enjoyed those deliberations and it reminded us of the tasks ahead. It was just not an ordinary thing. Fifty years have passed and we are still far away from the goal we set ourselves. It was just a reminder to all of us of the responsibilities which we have to face. Quebec reminded us that the population has increased. There is virtually a population explosion all over the world and the goal we set at that time has become greater. The Governor General of Canada at that time said: "Gentlemen it is our moral responsibility to feed those hungry millions". There are 192 million children about and when we see everywhere those kids and those suffering human beings our hearts go to them and bleed for them and it is on our shoulders to share with them whatever we have. That is why this FAO is working towards that.
I must congratulate the Director-General who took this initiative to call this conference and the next one here and on the steps FAO has taken. I remember the days when the first Food Summit was held and when my own man, Mr B.R. Sen, who was then the Director-General here took the initiative along with my President, and the late President of the United States, Mr Kennedy, and had the first Freedom from Hunger Campaign and that was followed by the World Food Programme which is being pursued by us. Naturally it is that we have to devise ways and means; we have the know-how, we have the means at our command if we can get together and realize that the responsibility lies on our shoulder to carry out the onerous burden with faces us.
Gentlemen, I come from India - a country which is one of the most populated after China. We have a population of 925 million today - about 50 years back (nearly as old as this Organization) we had a population of 350 million and we were asking for food grains to feed ourselves. The willpower of the people of India, however, the scientists, the government and the farmers has come to stand us in good stead. They have done a remarkable job and I am proud to say on the floor of this Conference today that not only are we self-sufficient in food but we have something to spare for our friends, wherever they may be.
We have marched towards a goal which is quite commendable and I am proud to say that my farmers did their utmost towards that. We have raised the food grain production figure from 51 million tonnes in 1950 to 1951 up to 192 million tonnes in 1994 to 1995. Similarly we have increased our oil seed production which we used to import from 1 million tonnes to 23 million tonnes to sustain ourselves. The same goes for dairy. Dairy gives us more employment than before and from 17 million tonnes this year it now stands in second place in the whole world in food milk production at 63.5 million tonnes next only to the United States. I stand first today in food production according to FAO statistics.
Not only that, but we have created some environment for fruit, vegetables, spices and fisheries. The Minister for Canada predicted and said that we were overexploiting whatever resources there were; we were overstretching ourselves and that we did not realize what we were doing and nature will not forgive us and he said that food was lying idle. It was the same at the Fisheries Conference, the Minister from Spain and Denmark told me that half the food was lying idle. If we are to sustain ourselves however, we have to look towards the existence of natural resources as well, and we have tried to do that and I am looking at agriculture and inland fisheries and their source of income. As a matter of fact, I have mentioned several times before there have been several revolutions sweeping India. First there was the Green Revolution which was the grain revolution, second there was the White Revolution which produced the milk, and third was the Blue Revolution sweeping our fisheries sector in India.
We have raised the poultry production by 200 times. That was quite a thing but what I want to do is share this thing with my brothers all over the world. We have to relate in such a small world today. My ancient people said that this whole world is only one nest so we have to share whatever advantages we have. Land was created great, almighty but only once. We cannot create any more but we are creating daily problems for ourselves. We are not looking towards environmental issues but I have started and India has started to look at the Universe because nature is the mother. If you cannot care and respect nature it would have disastrous effects on our existence so it is natural that we must see the desire to see that fertility is maintained, ecological benefits are maintained environmentally whole products are maintained. We have to see that insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers are all in a very modulated manner. Today we are giving incentives to people to use our bio-fertilizers, bio insecticides and natural resources. Our ancient culture says we have to work from our scriptures - that will do it. But I am worried about one thing, my predecessor, the Honourable Minister for France, was just saying that we must look at the prices also, the prices of work and foodstuff, but if you give high prices how can we expect food grain prices to be low. That is what the problem is. You see what has happened to us, Mr Chairman. In the past year prices have not gone up but prices on fertilizers they are selling to us has gone up. How are we going to do this. Is it something of manipulation. I do not know how to do all this but we have to create something in the environment so that we can coexist. We cannot have this. It is something abominable to see that half the population of some populations we are working with are producing much more than they can consume. It is a question of sharing it. If our neighbour is hungry how can you just allow yourself to over feed yourself. That's what it is, Sir and we have the expertise. We have developed our expertise, I assure you, Sir, that there is expertise available in underdeveloped countries and there are developed countries that are capable of doing it. They must share technology. I think we can do something very positive with others.
Director-General we are at your disposal. We commend your efforts and we have done our best in the technical development cooperation scheme. Please accept my help. Accept my services and my people. We will do whatever you like in any aspect in our fisheries, our agriculture and sciences whatever it is. Here we are, we want to broaden it. We can do it in agriculture development programmes, we can do it in the seeds, fertilizers, bio-fertilizers, macro-nutrients, mechanization, marketing, processing, etc. Everything can be done but it is only a question of where we have to look inside ourselves and see that we must share. My predecessors would have increased investment and agriculture. Investment is not going up, it is going down. We are trying to look inside ourselves, this Nation has given this land to us with a beautiful world. We cannot allow it to be destroyed. We have to see that we are the protectors of it, not the destroyers of it. We must put all resources together and share it with others. God has provided developed countries something much more than what we have, if only they can share what they have. We started agriculture in India with the help of the United States and I've got now 28 universities, I have about 68 Research Stations, I have subsidiary stations, I have everybody working, I am putting everybody in one district, you see. The cooperation we have received before is now missing. Why? I want them all to share it. Sharing is knowledge, it will encourage our resources, it will encourage us to do something positive in this world. The investments we wanted are both public and private. I have complained to the Cabinet why we are going down on this point. Investment must come up because is the most real issue existing on agriculture. It provides about 30 percent GDP of this country.
Mr Chairman, one other thing. Your own necessity has also been increasing in our discussions; the question of subsidies. You must realize that among other governing countries food subsidies are a necessity in order to protect certain sections of the population. In India we have many private subsidies with the intention to protect the interest of the international community which is very aware of the difficulties that could and would arise. Problems on unemployment, economic and social security and starvation could be witnessed with an abrupt turn around of macro economy quality.
Mr Chairman, it is essential that you know the arguments of such a situation. Certain times I have said it that I provide some subsidies for irrigation purposes. If I provide farmers with 50 percent subsidies it is the farmer who complains so these are not subsidies. I can do much more in the world trade situation also but I cannot give more than that as subsidies to my farmer. The conclusion of the Uruguay Round of Trade Negotiations, with the problems that developing countries would face and the policies they would need to mitigate these difficulties. There are still pitfalls ahead and we must remember that, hardly had the ink dried at Marrakesh, when many trade disputes broke out. There is talk of quotas and "managed trade" even today. While we agree that international trade, including that in agricultural commodities, should be liberalized, we must ensure that there is equity and justice in trade. Again, our objective should be to ensure the protection and progress of the vulnerable sections of our population, so that their conditions are not adversely affected. In this connection, I would like to point out that there has been considerable concern about the level of food production, growing population and poor living standards of small and marginal farmers in all parts of the world, who may not be able to compete in a completely open global economy. I would like to inform FAO, the Director-General and all you members here that we are holding a Small Farmers Food Convention in Delhi. It is a Food Convention for the small and marginal farmers, who constitute 70 percent of India's total population. One of the major difficulties facing not only the Food and Agriculture Organization but also the UN system in general is the lack of adequate resources to carry out their activities. Cut-backs in resource allocations to the FAO would evidently have a deleterious impact on the Organization's programmes, especially for the developing world. The international community must act in concert and try to augment the resource base of the Organization.
Mr Chairman, I have tried to acquaint you, briefly, with some of the developments regarding agriculture in our country and have also attempted to highlight certain issues, which we feel require greater attention and effort. It is my earnest hope that the deliberations of this Conference will assist the international community in finding suitable and just solutions to the problems of the agriculture sector all over the world and in the future nobody will go hungry and everybody will share whatever boundaries we have.
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Augustin Frédéric KODOCK (Cameroun): Monsieur le Président, permettez-moi au nom de la délégation camerounaise d'adresser mes condoléances à la délégation irakienne pour le décès de Son Excellence le Ministre de l'Agriculture d'Iraq, Khalil Abdul Moneem Rasheed.
Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Directeur général, Excellences, Mesdames et Messieurs, permettez-moi tout d'abord de m'associer aux précédents orateurs pour vous féliciter, Monsieur le Président, pour votre brillante élection à la présidence de notre auguste assemblée.
Ces félicitations s'adressent aussi aux membres de votre Bureau qui, j'en suis persuadé, vous assisteront efficacement dans l'accomplissement heureux de votre haute et noble mission.
Je voudrais également saisir cette opportunité pour renouveler les remerciements et la profonde gratitude du Peuple et du Gouvernement de la République du Cameroun à vous, Monsieur le Directeur général de la FAO, pour votre récente visite au Cameroun, lors de votre dernier périple en Afrique centrale. Cette visite constitue pour nous un témoignage de plus de la sollicitude constante et multiforme dont le Cameroun a toujours été l'objet de la part de la FAO.
Je voudrais enfin apporter l'appui de mon pays à la déclaration faite au nom des Pays africains par mon collègue et frère chargé de l'agriculture, de l'élevage et du développement rural du Gabon.
La situation générale de l'alimentation et de la nutrition, globalement satisfaisante, cache en réalité des disparités profondes et insupportables. Le quart de la population des pays en développement, soit environ 800 millions de personnes, parmi lesquelles près de 200 millions d'enfants, souffrent de malnutrition chronique.
En effet de nombreux pays contiennent encore des poches de famine et de malnutrition, notamment à cause des caprices des saisons, des instabilités sociales de diverses origines et du manque d'infrastructures en milieu rural. Dans ce tableau sombre, l'Afrique, en dépit d'énormes richesses et potentialités qu'elle renferme, se distingue malheureusement par des performances désastreuses et des perspectives alarmantes. Plus de la moitié des pays les moins avancés se trouve dans notre région.
Dans ces pays à faibles revenus, où par ailleurs la population croît plus vite que la production agricole, le déficit vivrier se creuse davantage chaque jour, se traduisant ainsi par une aggravation de la situation alimentaire qui interpelle la communauté internationale en général, et notre Organisation en particulier. Cet état de chose, qui constitue une menace permanente pour la sécurité de notre village planétaire, est inacceptable.
En outre, améliorer la qualité de la nutrition et les conditions de vie des populations, libérer l'humanité de la faim, bref, nourrir et mieux nourrir le monde, constituent un grand défi à relever rapidement, au risque de rentrer dans le 3ème millénaire avec des stigmates physiques et moraux de la faim.
La communauté internationale, au nom de la solidarité humaine, a le devoir de veiller que chaque homme, chaque femme et chaque enfant mange et boive à sa faim.
Au moment où la FAO fête son 50ème anniversaire, malgré de nombreux progrès accomplis, force est de constater qu'il reste encore beaucoup à faire pour relever ce défi à l'aube du 21ème siècle et surtout pour garantir de manière permanente la sécurité alimentaire pour tous.
Notre Organisation a largement prouvé qu'elle était à la hauteur des espoirs placés en elle, pour peu que les Etats Membres lui accordent leur soutien politique, moral et financier. A cet égard, je voudrais apporter notre plein appui au Programme de travail et budget 1996-97 proposé à l'examen de notre instance. Par ailleurs, le Cameroun salue et félicite le Directeur général pour les mesures courageuses et novatrices qu'il a mises en oeuvre pour rapprocher l'Organisation de ses membres et pour accroître l'action de la FAO. Nous l'encourageons à continuer sur cette voie, certes difficile, mais bénéfique.
La préoccupation de mon Gouvernement depuis 1990, grâce au dynamisme et à l'enthousiasme de ses populations, est de mettre en oeuvre la nouvelle politique agricole qui a reçu l'approbation et le soutien manifeste de la communauté internationale.
Les buts poursuivis par cette nouvelle politique agricole sont: former et responsabiliser les producteurs ruraux, améliorer l'outil de travail de la terre et des produits des champs, augmenter et diversifier la production vivrière, promouvoir les exportations agricoles, rendre accessibles pour tous les nourritures de bonne qualité, en un mot, réduire la pauvreté au niveau de tous les ménages et surtout des ménages ruraux.
Au niveau de la production agricole proprement dite, de grands efforts sont déployés dans tous les domaines complémentaires, en vue d'une synergie performante des activités qui concourent à l'éloignement du spectre de la faim dans notre pays et ce au travers de la promotion de l'exploitation et de l'utilisation rationnelle des déchets organiques des ménages et des élevages dans les plantations; la recherche et la vulgarisation des technologies performantes et adaptées aux contextes locaux dans l'optique d'une meilleure valorisation des récoltes et d'une réduction sensible de la pénibilité du travail; la mise en place d'un Plan semencier national, en vue de l'approvisionnement de toutes les zones agroécologiques en semences à hauts rendements; l'organisation de la filière fruits et légumes; contrôle de qualité, industrialisation, petite transformation artisanale amorcée dans le cadre du projet de diversification des exportations agricoles avec le concours financier apprécié des bailleurs de fonds (la Banque mondiale, l'Agence canadienne pour le développement industriel, l'Union européenne et la Caisse française de développement); en ce qui concerne la maîtrise et la gestion de l'eau pour l'agriculture, initialement limitée à la riziculture dans le cadre de grands projets de cette filière, mon pays est déterminé à étendre l'irrigation sur une gamme variée de produits vivriers au niveau des paysans.
A cet égard, c'est avec un grand intérêt que mon pays suivra le renforcement et l'exécution du Programme d'action spécial sur la mise en valeur des ressources hydriques rurales. Des prospections en vue d'une coopération effective et soutenue avec les pays du Moyen-Orient et de l'Afrique du Nord sont en cours dans le cadre de la coopération technique entre les pays en développement (CTP). Une ONG internationale réalise avec les populations de l'Extrême-Nord des petits périmètres irrigués qui contribuent à la multiplication des cycles de certaines cultures, à la réduction des effets de la sécheresse, et en fin de compte à l'augmentation de la productivité des sols et des cultures.
Dans le cadre de la sécurité alimentaire, nous élaborons un programme d'appui spécifique en direction des femmes rurales intitulé "Femmes rurales et développement de l'agriculture: une approche axée sur le genre". Les appuis définis dans ce programme portent d'une part, sur l'élargissement de l'accès des femmes aux ressources productives, et d'autre part, sur l'amélioration de l'environnement productif des femmes par la maîtrise de l'eau, la promotion des infrastructures rurales de base et particulièrement de soutien à la production végétale et animale.
Nous comptons, pour la réalisation de ces objectifs, pouvoir tirer avantage de l'exécution du Programme "Femme et agriculture" contenu dans le Programme de travail et budget 1996-97 et pour lequel nous sommes convaincus que les activités de transformation et de commercialisation des produits agricoles qui constituent des débouchés appréciables de la production rurale et des ressources non négligeables de revenus, gagneront en tonus et consolideront davantage le partenariat femme rurale et femme urbaine.
Dans le secteur de la production animale nous pensons que sa contribution vitale à la sécurité alimentaire ne peut être effective qu'avec la mise en place des infrastructures adéquates de stockage et de transport de la viande et des produits halieutiques dans notre sous-région et l'accès aux protéines animales de qualité à la majorité des populations.
Pour ce faire nous entendons étendre et réhabiliter les abattoirs modernes; mettre en place des chaînes de froid; encourager l'exportation de la viande et la production des cuirs et peaux dans la sous-région Afrique centrale; promouvoir la consommation des aliments traditionnels non conventionnels (ATNC) dans le but de multiplier les sources de protéines d'origine animale.
Dans le secteur de la recherche, avec l'appui de la FAO, nous avons élaboré un plan à long terme de la recherche englobant l'agriculture, l'élevage et les forêts. Dans le cadre de ce plan, le Cameroun compte une fois de plus sur la coopération de la FAO dans les domaines communs prioritaires ci-après:
- Développement d'un pôle régional de conservation des ressources génétiques forestières. Le Cameroun, "condensé" de la diversité biologique des Afriques sahéliennes, forestières et des plateaux offre des atouts exceptionnels pour une conservation in-situ de certaines essences particulièrement menacées. Les résultats obtenus au Cameroun peuvent être facilement transférables dans l'ensemble de la région.
Dans le domaine forestier, le Cameroun vient de boucler la réélaboration de son programme d'action forestier national qui met l'accent sur la gestion durable des ressources forestières et envisage dans les tous prochains mois une table ronde internationale dans le cadre de la recherche de financements pour la mise en oeuvre de ce programme.
Un tel programme, vous vous en doutez, nécessite d'importants financements aussi bien au niveau des ménages d'agriculteurs qu'à celui de l'Etat.
Je ne saurais terminer mon propos sans saisir une nouvelle fois l'occasion qui m'est offerte pour renouveler l'expression de profonde gratitude du peuple et du Gouvernement camerounais à l'égard de l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture ainsi qu'aux autres agences soeurs du système des Nations Unies, notamment le Programme alimentaire mondial et le Fonds international de développement agricole pour le soutien appréciable qu'elles n'ont cessé d'apporter au développement agricole et rural du Cameroun.
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Lui JIANG (China) (Original language Chinese): First, on behalf of the Chinese delegation, we wish to offer our condolences to the Iraqi Government on the loss of a distinguished leader. I would like to ask the Iraqi delegation to convey our sympathy to their delegate's family.
Mr Chairman, after the successful conclusion of the Ministerial Meeting on World Food Security, we are now gathering in the headquarters of FAO for the Conference. I wish this session an equal success. At the same time, I express my appreciation to FAO's Secretariat for all the preparatory work it has done.
China is a large agricultural country with a huge population. Therefore, China's agricultural production and food security have an important bearing on the whole world. I would like to take this opportunity to brief the distinguished delegates on China's agricultural development.
The Chinese Government has made it clear that the objective of economic reforms is to establish a system of socialist market economy. In order to ensure the smooth implementation of reform and development, the Chinese Government attaches great importance to agriculture and work in the rural areas, emphasizing that top priority should be given to agriculture in economic activities with a view to consolidating the status of agriculture as the foundation. Over the past two years, agriculture in the rural economy has maintained its momentum of sustained and healthy development.
In 1994, although hampered by serious natural calamities, China's agricultural production still achieved a fairly good harvest, with the total grain output reaching 445 million tons. Major livestock products also registered increases by a large margin. The annual meat production reached 44.993 million tons, up by 17.1 percent over the previous year; the output of eggs and milk respectively reached 14.79 million and 6 089 million tons, an increase of 25.4 percent and 8.2 percent as compared with 1993. The total production of aquatic products reached 21.43 million tons, a rise of 17.6 percent as against the previous year. The current situation augurs well that our country's agriculture will achieve further progress this year.
1995 is the last year of China's 8th "Five-Year Plan" for national economic and social development. At present, the Chinese Government is in the process of formulating the 9th "Five-Year Plan", in which an important element is earnest to strengthen agriculture as well as develop and make prosperous the rural economy in an all-round way. During the 9th "Five-Year Plan" the principal task is to ensure the steady increase of basic farm products, such as grains, cotton and oil-bearing crops, and the attainment of reaching a new level of food-producing capacity. Our goal is, by the year 2000, to increase food production by 50 million tons, making the gross output reach 500 million tons, that of meat and aquatic products reach 48 million and 18.5 million tons respectively, so as to meet the basic consumption needs of the population for a better-off livelihood.
China has adopted the following main measures to develop agriculture further: first, speeding up the advancement of agricultural science and technology to improve the conversion rate of technological achievements; second, increasing agricultural input, strengthening construction of the agricultural infrastructure, improving conditions for agricultural production and the ecological environment and increasing yields; third, further improving policies for agriculture and rural areas. I believe that, through implementing these measures, the goals for agricultural development set up by the Chinese Government will surely be reached.
We have noted that, since the last Conference, the global food and agricultural situation has become more and more severe. In respect to grain production, although the world food output achieved increases in 1994 after reductions in 1993 and approached the level of the long-term trend, the world's per capita food production remains at 382 kg, which still has not reached the level of 1991 and 1992, and is still lower than the average level of the 1980s. What merits particular attention is that the global food production in 1995 is predicted to drop by 1 percent as compared with last year, thus well below the long-term trend level for the second consecutive year. With decreasing production but continuous high demand, the prices for cereals in the international market have gone up by large margins. This will further add to the financial burden of low-income, food-deficit countries and the amount they spend on food imports.
We have also noted with concern that, the carry-over stock of cereals at the end of the 1994-95 biennium went down by 4.5 percent to 304 million tons from 318 million the previous biennium, accounting for 17 percent of the trend consumption of 1995-96, dropping to the minimum lowest percentage established by FAO to ensure world food security. Moreover, it is estimated that, at the end of the 1995-96 period, the carry-over stocks of cereals will continue to decrease and the percentage against the 1996-97 trend consumption level will drop to 14 percent, thus significantly lower than the minimum level required for food security. At the same time, global food assistance has suffered a dramatic decrease to 9.8 million tons in 1994-95 from 13.3 million in 1993-94, reaching the lowest level over the past ten years.
We are deeply concerned about the current state of world food security. With the increasingly grave situation of world food security, a vast number of developing countries are thrown into a very unfavourable position. The rising prices for food, growing volumes of food imports and significantly reduced international food aid have constituted severe threats to developing countries. National governments and international organizations must attach high importance to the current grave situation and adopt timely and effective measures to promote agricultural development and food production.
We wish to appeal again to the international community and to developed countries in particular earnest to increase their economic and technical assistance to developing countries in order to help them improve their food security.
We have noted that the Special Programme for Food Security initiated by the Director-General aimed at improving food security in low-income food-deficit countries has begun to be implemented in 15 countries and has achieved some results. The Chinese Government thinks highly of this programme. As a participating country in this programme, the local governments at various levels in China attach great importance to its implementation. At present, projects have been carried out in accordance with the plan proposed by FAO and some activities have been completed ahead of schedule. It is my belief that with the joint efforts in China and FAO, this programme will no doubt achieve satisfactory results, thus playing a leading and demonstrative role in realizing food security in developing countries.
The Chinese Government has always attached great importance to technical cooperation among developing countries and considers this a key measure for the developing countries to fully utilize their human and resource advantages, increase agricultural productivity and improve food security. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, China started to actively involve itself in these TCDC activities and provided economic and technical assistance to Africa. In the future, China will continue to actively support and involve itself in TCDC. Since China is a large developing agricultural country and a low-income, food-deficit country, we are willing to learn from other countries' advanced technology and experiences suited to our national conditions. We also hope that more technical cooperation programmes can be executed in China. Meanwhile China has some practical technology applicable to other developing countries and we are ready to contribute to the TCDC programme. Presently we have provided dozens of experts and specialists to FAO and hope that more will join these programmes executed by FAO.
The Chinese Government is of the opinion that FAO must maintain its current scale and capacity of operations and guarantee the necessary funds in order to better fulfil its mandate and functions. This is not only in response to the resolution adopted at the 27th FAO Conference, but also takes into account the difficulties faced by the poorest member countries and public expenditure reduction in many countries. At the same time, China encourages FAO to streamline its structure, decentralize, reduce the number of meetings and unnecessary publications, recruit more local experts, improve management level and efficiency to make savings. FAO should also expand its collaboration with other UN agencies and non-governmental organizations so as to increase the sources of financial resources and alleviate the burden on its Member Nations.
The Chinese Government always considers the role played by FAO as instrumental and has maintained a good cooperative relationship with FAO. We commend and support the Director-General's restructuring initiatives to improve the Organization's efficiency. The Chinese Government will continue to support FAO activities as before and we are ready to join other Member Nations in contributing to the development of world agriculture and improvement of world food security.
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Henrik Dam KRISTENSEN (Denmark): I am honoured to have the opportunity to speak to you but, before doing so, I would like to congratulate you, Mr Chairman, on your election.
In 1945 the founders of this Organization made it their goal to ensure humanity's freedom from hunger. Today, fifty years later, we can look back on major improvements in agricultural output. World grain production has more than tripled and the global amount of food per head has increased, despite population growth. The FAO should be given credit for its contribution for this.
However, food is not reaching everyone. Despite the increase in production, 800 million people in this world still suffer from lack of food. Every year millions of people die from hunger, most of them children. Certainly the international community has a long way to go in the fight against hunger, so we must give food production and food security priority in development and we must find ways to stop the relative decline in development aid given to agriculture.
With this in mind, I find it appropriate to hold a World Food Summit. However, the Summit must come up with concrete decisions on action to be taken and we must agree on ways to follow up. The preparation will be demanding. I would like the Secretariat to make sure that it does not underestimate this process.
Denmark has a long-standing and firm commitment to support the poor and under-privileged people in the world. Last year Denmark spent more that 1 percent of its GNP on Official Development Aid. If more countries met this target, we could increase the volume of support for developing countries in a major way. In the new Danish Strategy for Development Policy, the main priorities are reduction of poverty, strengthening the role of women in development, protection of the environment and democracy and human rights. The equal division of Danish development aid between multilateral and bilateral aid will be kept, but multilateral aid will be concentrated on those organizations best qualified to give aid to the main priorities in our development policy. The result will be more variation in Danish contributions to individual organizations and programmes. It is too early to say how the new strategy will affect voluntary Danish contributions to the FAO, but let me make one point quite clear - the new strategy will not have any effect on our payment of assessed contributions, to any organization, on time and in full.
As I said earlier, the international community has a long way to go in the fight to ensure humanity's freedom from hunger. In addition, natural and man-made disasters continue to threaten world food security. Soils are being lost due to soil erosion and salinization. Deserts and towns are moving in on productive land and at the same time loss of biodiversity narrows the base for future food production. The challenge for the international community to ensure world food security is enormous. Certainly FAO should not try to deal with all aspects of this challenge. The FAO must, like any other organization, concentrate on the things that it does best. In my opinion, this means higher priority to strategy and policy setting at global level.
As examples, I would like to mention the follow up of UNCED and the Convention on Biodiversity. Let me also mention the new importance of the work of Codex Alimentarius and the work under the International Plant Protection Convention. These tasks present an opportunity for the FAO to show that it can function as a global forum for policy setting.
Let me conclude by giving a more detailed example of the kind of work I find FAO should give priority to. The FAO has done tremendous work to ensure an effective follow up of UNCED in the fisheries sector. In 1993 FAO managed to conclude the important Compliance Agreement. This is a major step towards ensuring control of fishery activities on the high seas by Flag States. Recently FAO, after long and difficult negotiations, succeeded in concluding the very important Code of Conduct for responsible fisheries. The Code is voluntary but I am sure it will be politically important and will help to ensure the sustainable use and conservation of marine living resources. The FAO has also made a big contribution to the UN Conference on the Conservation and Management of Straddling and Migrating Fish stocks. This work has confirmed that FAO is the leading specialized body within the UN to deal with fisheries. This kind of work sets a good example for future work by FAO in other areas of its mandate.
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Lieutenant-General MYINT AUNG (Myanmar): On behalf of the Delegation of the Union of Myanmar and on my own behalf, I wish to congratulate you warmly on your election as the Chairman to guide this august assembly.
FAO is now celebrating the fifty years of its founding. During the fifty years of its existence, FAO has, with the tireless efforts and support of all the Member Nations, made remarkable progress towards bringing food for all within reach. But it will take some time to accomplish the mission set forth in FAO's Constitution of 'ensuring humanity's freedom from hunger'.
One of the most basic of all human rights, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, is 'the right to food'. In fact, the world today has the technology to produce enough food to feed its population. But the problem is the lack of political commitment. A strong political will to produce and provide sufficient food and assure access by the poor to food should, therefore, be the key element in formulating investment policy for all the nations, rich or poor.
Myanmar's economy is still dependent on agriculture and rice is the main artery of the sector due to the country's prevailing geographical conditions. Accordingly rice is designated as the national crop and efforts are being made to increase its production year by year. Myanmar's total paddy production has increased from 14.8 million metric tons in 1992-93 to 16.7 million metric tons and to 18.3 million metric tons in 1993-94 and 1994-1995 respectively. The production of paddy in 1995-96 is targeted at 20 million metric tons. This production increase has enabled Myanmar to become a major rice exporter again, with the total export of rice reaching over one million metric tons in 1994-95, for the first time in 30 years. Rice is the main staple food for Myanmar people and the assurance of accessibility and sufficiency of rice to people from all walks of life in our country and the support given towards the world food security by exporting the surplus to other needy countries is our noble objective behind our exertion to increase rice production.
At present agriculture plays a dominant role in our economy and priority is given to this sector to turn it into a prime mover or a powerful engine of growth for the whole economy. This strategy is aimed at attaining an enhanced economic well-being distributed equitably among all national races and over all regions as well as at making this well-being sustainable and environmentally friendly. The ultimate objective is to substantially reduce and eventually remove the disparity of incomes among the different races and regions, contributing thus to the creation of a country where a strong and enduring unity among people prevails and where the most fundamental human rights, the right to the freedom from poverty, the right to peace and stability and also the right to pre-eminence of law and order are palpably inexistence.
Most developing countries, like Myanmar, are agriculture countries and accordingly the majority of the people in each country are farmers engaged as such in the exercise of guaranteeing food sufficiency and generating income not only for themselves but also for the whole country. The rest of the population is manifestly very much indebted to them and it is therefore only fitting that the governments concerned should cause increased investment to be channelled into the agricultural sector with a view to procuring food security, improved nutrition and poverty elimination, inducing a higher standard of living for all. For the endeavours for these areas of the developing countries to gain momentum, it also depends upon assistance from the developed countries extended with justified political orientation and based primarily on economic criteria.
Mr Chairman, it has been 50 years since FAO was founded and on this occasion of commemorating its 50th birthday all members have unanimously endorsed a declaration on food and agriculture that will go down in history as the Quebec declaration, signifying the centre stage the Organization will continue to occupy in promoting increasing progress in the field. In charting out an effective programme for the future, studies like "Agriculture Towards 2010" will clearly be of great help and can contribute tremendously towards sustainability of agricultural and rural development leading to assured adequacy in food and nutrition. I would like to urge that the study also emphasize the agriculture potential of the land resources of the developing countries through agro-ecological zones.
It will, of course, be some time before we can fully achieve FAO's basic objective of ensuring humanity's freedom from hunger. In 1996 at the World Food Summit we shall again be reviewing our accomplishments since the World Food Conference in 1974. In any case, we sincerely believe that our efforts in this 28th Conference will constitute a decidedly significant step towards the constitutional goals of the Organization.
In conclusion, our delegation would like in this regard to earnestly call for joining forces and consolidating our efforts in the coming years to realize these noble goals in the shortest possible time.
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Gregory Frank TAYLOR (Australia): Mr Chairman, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, the Australian delegation extends its deepest sympathy to the Iraqi delegation on this sad day. Mr Chairman, I add my congratulations on your election to the chair of this 28th Session of the FAO Conference. We wish you every success in guiding our deliberations to a successful conclusion over the next two weeks.
Since FAO's establishment in 1945 Australia has continued to maintain a strong commitment to the Organization. We have actively participated in the work of its Governing Bodies and many committees. In much of this work we have the honour of representing the nine Member Nations of the Southwest Pacific Region. On behalf of the Australian Minister for Primary Industries and Energy, Senator Collins, whom I represent here today, I would like to reaffirm that Australia wants FAO to continue as the leading international organization addressing food and agricultural issues. On the occasion of our 50th anniversary it is worth thinking about what is needed to keep FAO in this pre-eminent position into the future. I suggest three particular things are needed: a clear vision, a coherent plan, and funding and accountability. Our Director-General, Dr Diouf, has articulated for us a vision, the vision of food security for all. This has captured the imagination of all and the support of the membership, as it must.
In moving from the vision to a coherent plan, some hard analysis is needed. FAO cannot, of course, deliver food security on its own. Some things it can advocate, other things it can determine more directly. For example, FAO can advocate to members and to other organizations the stable economic conditions and the liberal international trading regime needed over time to encourage individual endeavour and commercial investment in agriculture. However, FAO can itself make a major direct scientific and policy contribution to sustainable utilization of the world's natural resources.
Mr Chairman, in moving towards the World Food Summit in November 1996, Australia looks forward to the opportunity to participate in developing an effective plan to realize the vision of food security for all and subsequently in discussing how the FAO can make an effective contribution towards implementing this plan within its area of special competence. At this stage, of course, we have the proposed Medium-term Plan. In the main Australia is comfortable with most of this plan's orientation and emphasis. I would comment briefly on those aspects which we consider to be the most important.
The Medium-term Plan states that food security demands good quality and safe food and that these are important elements in the promotion of food trade at national, regional and international levels. The FAO has recognized the importance of improving food security and quality by giving it priority in its work programme for both short and medium terms. Australia greatly values the important work carried out by the Codex Alimentarius Commission and fully supports this approach. Indeed, further strengthening of Codex and allied standard setting work related to international food trade is required to ensure implementation of the WTO Uruguay Round agreements on food standards and sanitary and phytosanitary matters. Australia concurs with the views expressed in the plan that trade, internal or international, provides the opportunity for countries to exploit their comparative advantage. The plan notes that higher incomes from trade contribute significantly to improve food security and living standards and a better economic environment. Trade liberalization, as exemplified by the Uruguay Agreement will be one of the main concerns of agricultural trade policy in the years ahead. Australia remains convinced of the positive impact on world food security of unfettered access to international markets for the benefit of all countries. For the immediate future, we are pleased to be able to report that Australia is better placed to contribute to world food supplies. After last year's devasting drought, Australian wheat plantings are estimated to be the highest for a decade and export availability is expected to double. We understand the concern at the decline in food aid in cereals which has taken place since 1992-93 and the implications this can have for low-income food-deficit countries. We are pleased to be able to report that Australia has maintained its level of assistance through its pledge to the Food Aid Convention of 300 000 tonnes a year.
Research has a fundamental role in the development of global agriculture and the elimination of hunger. The results of research benefit every agricultural producing member of FAO, whether they be from developed or developing countries. FAO's contribution is small but well targeted and remains a priority. The high priority and increased resources now being allocated by FAO to the environment in sustainable development is strongly supported by Australia. There is a clear recognition now that we must all work individually and collectively to protect the environment and conserve our resources if our planet is to survive and be food secure in the future. In recent years governments all around the world have focused their attention on the concept of sustainable development and the need to better integrate our environmental, social and economic objectives. FAO has a clear and growing role in this complex task.
Fishing and forestry industries are extremely important to the economies of countries in the Southwest Pacific Region and must be developed in an economically sustainable and environmentally sound way. Resources should be made available for these purposes. The Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries to be considered at this Conference is one of the major fisheries initiatives undertaken by FAO in recent years and is likely to have a significant effect on global fisheries management.
The FAO report this year on the state of world fisheries and agriculture highlights that the world fleet incurs enormous losses, presumably supported by government subsidies. Australia considers that greater priority should be given in FAO's work to eliminating over-fishing and reducing the size of the world fleet. This should be a priority for all members.
Australia's policy on women in development aims to ensure that women are involved in decision making and participate in the implementation of all Australian funded aid activities. Therefore, we are pleased to see that FAO will be reporting to this Conference on this revised FAO plan of action for women in development. We endorse that plan. There are other areas of FAO work which Australia regards as important, including the excellent work being carried out by FAO on the implementation of the International Plant Protection Convention, the Organization's involvement in the Commission on Plant Genetic Resources and its work on integrated pest management, in which Australia is pleased to have been closely involved.
Mr Chairman, how much of this can be accomplished and how quickly will depend on the availability of funding and the efficiency with which these funds can be used. In this respect, I want to recognize the efforts that the Director-General has made since coming to office to cut costs and to improve efficiency by restructuring the Organization and streamlining its administration. We applaud him for this and, in urging that further efforts be made in this direction, we acknowledge that time is needed and that everything cannot be done at once. We know that at the moment the Organization faces significant funding uncertainty. We should also, however, keep an eye to the medium term. In the past several years Australia and many other member countries have faced unprecedented fiscal stringency in central government. All expenditure proposals have required close justification and, in due course, transparent evaluation against clearly-stated objectives. In returning to our country's fiscal authorities to seek funding for our Organization here, we need to be able to demonstrate that FAO has been no less stringent and rigorous and is using its resources efficiently and effectively. If, and only if FAO administration can help us in this way, then FAO will indeed remain the leading international organization addressing food and agricultural issues and succeed in realizing its vision: food security for all.
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Joze OSTERC (Slovenia): Mr Chairman, distinguished Ministers and Delegates, ladies and gentlemen, the state of agriculture and food in Slovenia.
In the period following the Second World War coercion predominated in the agricultural policies of Slovenia, as in the rest of Yugoslavia, and the trend was established to industrialize farming and to change farmers into workers. After 1970 this attitude to farmers took a turn for the better. The Yugoslav state began to actually support small-scale farm production, as well. But the Law on the Agrarian Maximum still applied, preventing farms from increasing in size until the elections in 1990. The state promoted such a form of farm association that prevented farmers from actively participating in the processing industry and in the marketing of farm and foodstuff products.
At the time of the free elections in 1990 and the creation of the Slovenian state in 1991 Slovenian agriculture was very dispersed and poorly organized. Because farmers did not cooperate in the organization and management of the processing industry, nor in marketing, they have no sense of responsibility and feel that the state is obligated to take care of them.
More of the farmland (near 90 percent) in Slovenia is cultivated by farmers. The farms are small, averaging 4.1 ha. of farmland. Since farms were prevented from increasing size, the result was a greater transformation to part-time and supplementary farms. This is why only 21 percent of holding are full-time farms, and why they cultivate less than 30 percent of agricultural land.
In 1993 the Slovenian parliament adopted an important document entitled the "Strategy of Development of Slovenian Agriculture". With this document Slovenia decided to develop family farms and that family farms were to be at the heart of agricultural production in Slovenia. The agricultural policy strategy's permanent objective would be to increase holdings and farms. It is the bigger full-time farm that can noticeably raise production, achieve lower production costs and make Slovenian agriculture more competitive. Increasing holdings and farms will be a slow process. People are emotionally linked to their land, because in the past it provided an opportunity for many to survive, especially after the Second World War and it also allowed part-time farmers a better life and a higher standard of living. Due to the inappropriate agricultural policies and the poorly organized Yugoslav state, Slovenia has a completely disorganized land register. It urgently needs to be drawn up, to promote commassation and, through this, allow farmers cheaper production. Here the assistance of FAO experts would be welcome. Proper organization of this sector would also accelerate trading in land, which would then contribute to the concentration of farmland. We will also ask the FAO for support in the preparation of an integrated agricultural sector review to be undertaken during 1996.
The cheapest and fastest way to raise productivity and reduce production costs is by applying know-how in a better way and by introducing new technology. For this reason we are putting more effort into improving the operation of the agricultural extension service, giving advice to all who process food, and full-time, part-time and supplementary farms. The government pays about 300 extension workers to give advice to Slovenian farmers directly, through newspapers, radio, TV and by telephone. The results of this service are assessed as favourable, for production is increasing and the quality of farm product is improving.
We are also trying to improve vocational training and studies at the Higher Agricultural College in Maribor and at the Biotechnical Faculty in Llubljana. We have met with many problems in the modernization of programmes and their implementation, some of which are of a psychological nature. Despite help through the PHARE programme, the assistance of FAO experts would be welcome here.
In the former Yugoslavia we had a relatively closed and protected market of agricultural and food products. The organization and operation of food processing, and marketing agricultural and food product was managed by the State. Hence there was no proper competition. This is the reason why, with the opening up of Slovenia, we have certain difficulties in the food processing industry, especially in the area of marketing. Nor do we know how to sell products from Slovenia that have had their quality recognized in various different evaluations (e.g. wine, hops, fruit). Despite the new law on cooperatives, which permits a more intensive link and cooperation of farmers with the processing industry and marketing, farmers are only slowly integrating into these processes. The improvement of marketing is an important project which represents a problematic task for us, and the assistance of FAO experts would be welcome.
Slovenia has poor conditions for farming. Two-thirds of its farmlands are in regions with difficult conditions for farming. This is why the level of self-sufficiency in food is only near 85 percent. If we deduct imported fodder for livestock from this, then the level of self-sufficiency is only 72 percent. We will try to raise the level of self-sufficiency in the coming years, but we will probably remain net importers forever. The fact that our farm production is very unbalanced also needs attention. We are seriously deficient in cereals, oil and industrial plants, while in milk, potatoes, hops, fruit and some other commodities we have and always will have enough for export. For this reason we will always be intensively involved in trade in agricultural and food products. The quality of our products is therefore very important. We are attempting to rapidly meet the required quality standards of the advanced nations in cultivation and processing. We have succeeded in doing this in many areas.
Despite the difficulties that our agriculture is going through in this transition period, we have succeeded in some specific approaches which contributed to the fact that farm production in Slovenia has regressed less than in some other eastern European countries since 1990, and is now increasing even more. This is also visible from the EU analysis published in Brussels in the summer of this year. Possibly our solutions in the fields of organization and operation of the farm extension service, in the areas of organizing farmers, the operation of plant and animal breeding and control services and other things might also be interesting to the other nations with a similar development of agriculture after the Second World War. Of course we, too, would be willing to pass on these experiences to others through FAO.
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CHAIRMAN: I call the Vice-Chairman, Mr Juan Nuiry Sanchez, to take over the Chair for a while.
Juan Nuiry Sanchez, Vice-Chairman of the Conference, took the chair
Juan Nuiry Sanchez, Vice-Président de la Conférence, assume la présidence
Ocupa la presidencia Juan Nuiry Sánchez, Vice-Presidente de la Conferencia
Karel PINXTEN (Belgique): Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Directeur général, mes chers Collègues, Mesdames et Messieurs. Il y a quelques jours, nous renouvelions à Québec, avec une intime conviction politique, la Déclaration dite de Québec, vieille déjà de cinquante années, mais dont l'actualité ne peut être démentie.
Aujourd'hui, je m'adresse à cette 28ème Conférence biennale de la FAO, prélude au Sommet mondial de l'alimentation qui se tiendra fin de l'année prochaine.
Dans cette perspective, il me paraît intéressant de brosser rapidement un tableau de la situation agricole mondiale.
Monsieur Jacques Diouf, Directeur général, la resitue dans son contexte en nous rappelant les chiffres de la faim dans le monde. Que pouvons-nous faire alors pour changer cette situation quand on sait que la population mondiale passera de 5,7 milliards de personnes à 8,7 milliards d'ici 2030? ce qui nécessitera au-delà du déficit alimentaire existant une augmentation de la production de 50 pour cent en 35 ans.
Que faire alors quand, dans le même temps, la disponibilité en terres arables par habitant diminue à due concurrence?
Le défi est donc énorme. Mais nous devons avoir l'ambition de le relever! Comme je l'ai souligné dans mon intervention à Québec, nous devons examiner cette problématique complexe dans son ensemble. Faute de quoi la croissance démographique, en particulier dans les mégapoles, nous entraînera dans une spirale infernale.
Si je prends à titre d'exemple le secteur clé des céréales, je constate que pour 1995 la production de blé est estimée à 529 millions de tonnes, la consommation à 539. Les stocks sont de 93 millions de tonnes. Jamais les niveaux de stocks n'ont été aussi faibles. Si l'on en croit de plus les prévisionnistes (de l'OCDE, de la FAO), la situation en 2000 ne montrera pas de modifications significatives à cet égard. Dans une économie en voie de mondialisation, comment allons-nous alors résoudre dans l'immédiat la question de la faim qui nous préoccupe tous?
D'aucuns voient la résolution de la plupart des problèmes dans une libéralisation totale du secteur agricole. Mais peut-on appliquer à ce secteur socio-économique une politique aussi drastique, sans que la sécurité alimentaire n'en soit affectée? La libéralisation doit s'opérer de manière raisonnée et raisonnable, donc par étapes et certainement pas en une fois. A l'encontre des marchés financiers, le marché agricole se caractérise par une basse élasticité de l'offre, parce qu'une augmentation substantielle de la production nécessite par définition plusieurs années. En plus, la production alimentaire est hautement dépendante des aléas climatiques et naturels incontrôlables.
C'est pour cela que les résultats de l'Uruguay Round ne peuvent réellement s'apprécier que dans leur contexte dynamique. Les négociateurs l'avaient voulu en y associant l'aspect multidimensionnel de l'agriculture par le biais du Comité du commerce et de l'environnement. Ceci est d'ailleurs tout à fait dans la ligne de la notion de développement durable qui doit s'appliquer à l'ensemble de l'économie mais plus spécialement à l'agriculture, aux forêts et aux pêcheries.
Dans l'ajustement agricole international, les pays développés ont certes un rôle à jouer. Je ne pense pas toutefois qu'un démantèlement de la politique agricole européenne serait profitable aux pays en développement. C'est plutôt vers une politique de partenariat qu'il faut aller.
Au sein de l'Union, outre l'indispensable filet de protection, je pense qu'une certaine flexibilité au niveau de la production pourrait être introduite, notamment via le système de gel des terres. Ceci permettra une adaptation rapide à la situation de la demande mondiale. Il est d'ailleurs prévu de tenir compte de l'évolution des marchés et notamment de leur croissance dans l'accord de l'Uruguay Round.
On a également souvent dit que les politiques suivies par les pays développés, notamment par l'Union européenne, étaient la cause de distorsions au niveau des marchés mondiaux. Pourtant, le problème me paraît beaucoup plus complexe. A titre illustratif, je prendrai comme exemple le marché du thé dans lequel les pays développés, dont l'Union européenne, ne jouent pas un rôle au niveau de la production. Néanmoins, sur une période assez longue, on y observe des fluctuations de prix similaires à ce qui se passe au niveau des marchés, des produits sous climat tempéré, comme les céréales, la viande, etc.
C'est pourquoi je préconise la prudence à ceux qui veulent appliquer des solutions radicales en vue de résoudre définitivement les problèmes qui persistent dans l'agriculture.
Je persiste plutôt à penser que nous devons rechercher des formules alliant les leçons du passé et les résultats des progrès techniques et scientifiques. Comme je l'ai déjà exprimé à Québec, je crois qu'il faut opter d'une façon résolue pour une stratégie de développement basée sur le secteur rural, sur un rôle approprié pour les femmes et sur les atouts des pauvres, à savoir leur travail et leurs ressources. C'est ce message que nous voulons promouvoir à travers les actions du groupe de travail sur les femmes et la famille agricole dans le développement rural qui bénéficie d'un appui personnel de la Reine Fabiola.
Sur le plan des échanges et lors des futures négociations concernant l'agriculture, qui se tiendront dans le cadre de l'Organisation mondiale du commerce, la FAO aura un rôle à jouer. L'Organisation sera en effet le conseiller des pays en développement.
Quant aux travaux du Comité sanitaire et phytosanitaire de l'OMC, qui sont d'une grande importance, la FAO doit également y apporter sa pierre. En cas de différends entre parties notamment, le Groupe spécial créé afin d'instruire le litige pourra, s'il le juge approprié, consulter les organisations internationales compétentes.
Ce serait le cas par exemple du Codex Alimentarius ou d'autres comités qui sont sous la compétence de l'Organisation. Eu égard à ces derniers, il me paraît nécessaire et opportun de redéfinir les règles qui président à leur composition et à la prise de décision, étant donné que les matières à traiter sont importantes et d'une sensibilité extrême, notamment sur le plan de la protection des consommateurs. C'est pourquoi une procédure consensuelle serait, à mon sens, la mieux appropriée.
L'Organisation se présente à nous comme un outil au service de tous ses membres mais aussi d'une cause commune à l'humanité entière: la lutte contre la faim et la malnutrition. Parlant d'outil, donc d'efficacité, de performance, le Gouvernement belge a toujours été partisan d'un développement harmonieux et équilibré des deux grands rouages de l'Organisation: le secteur normatif d'une part, l'opérationnel de l'autre.
Nous voulons que l'Organisation puisse atteindre ses objectifs. C'est pourquoi malgré l'austérité budgétaire imposée notamment par les normes d'adhésion à l'Union économique et monétaire, la Belgique fera un effort pour renverser la tendance négative en termes de contribution à l'aide au développement.
Comme pour les autres Organisations du système des Nations Unies, la Belgique défend, pour la FAO, une politique de stabilité des ressources.
Nous félicitons à cet égard le Directeur général pour l'effort accompli en nous présentant un budget qui respecte le principe de croissance zéro en termes réels et pour avoir engagé un processus dont devraient résulter des économies supplémentaires. La Belgique favorise un niveau budgétaire qui respecte le principe de croissance zéro en termes réels, avec absorption maximale de coûts. la Belgique adoptera une attitude souple et responsable pour fixer le niveau du budget. Cependant, il y a une masse critique en dessous de laquelle il ne faut pas tomber sans compromettre l'output de l'Organisation. Il faudra certainement de l'imagination et de nouvelles idées pour résoudre la quadrature du cercle.
La Belgique note une contradiction dans les positions d'un Etat membre important qui exige de la FAO une diminution significative du niveau de son budget, tandis qu'hier, à New York, ce même Etat membre se limitait à demander une réduction symbolique du budget des Nations Unies.
Il nous semble dangereux d'insister sur des amputations budgétaires qui ne guérissent pas le malade: la maladie étant les arriérés croissants. A cet égard, je félicite les pays en développement d'avoir fait un effort pour s'acquitter de leurs obligations vis-à-vis de la FAO, avant cette Conférence.
Nous ne pouvons, par contre, pas accepter, ni tolérer que le système des Nations Unies se voite déstabilisé par le refus de certains Etats Membres d'honorer leurs obligations, refus qui témoigne d'un repli sur soi-même, qui mène à l'isolationnisme ou au bilatéralisme polarisant, et finalement à l'exclusion de soi-même de la communauté internationale.
Il serait d'ailleurs contradictoire que dans un monde qui s'intègre de plus en plus, le système multilatéral comme incorporation de la solidarité globale, ne soit plus à la hauteur de sa tâche. En effet, aujourd'hui le système multilatéral subit des tentatives de démantèlement par une réduction des moyens; il semble atrophié par manque de vision, et paralysé par manque de clarté d'objectifs. Le système des Nations Unies doit être rajeuni, redynamisé et sa sclérose et son excès de bureaucratisation combattus.
La FAO, de son côté, a fait cet effort de rajeunissement et de restructuration: nous en attendons beaucoup en termes d'augmentation d'efficacité et de dynamisme. Pour cela, il sera toutefois nécessaire de responsabiliser davantage chaque fonctionnaire de l'Organisation par une plus grande délégation de pouvoir et de raccourcir la chaîne hiérarchique.
La décentralisation en cours est cohérente avec sa mission de fournisseur d'assistance technique à ses Etats Membres. Toutefois, elle doit être accompagnée d'une diminution en parallèle des tâches exécutées par le Siège de Rome.
Il est même important que la FAO garde le contact avec ses membres: à cet égard, je me félicite de pouvoir mettre à la disposition de la FAO des locaux à Bruxelles lui permettant d'ouvrir ainsi un bureau de liaison au coeur de l'Union européenne.
En conclusion, nous nous trouvons actuellement en possession de toute une série d'éléments très utiles, je pense aux résolutions contenues dans la Déclaration de Québec 1995, celles prises lors de la Conférence internationale sur la nutrition et de la Conférence de Rio. Mettre ensemble les pièces d'un puzzle compliqué, telle sera notre tâche commune dans les années à venir. Ce travail n'est pas simple, j'en conviens. Mais je suis persuadé qu'avec plus d'imagination, une bonne intelligence des choses et un savoir-faire qui ne nous fait pas défaut, nous pourrons réduire la pauvreté et l'insécurité alimentaire au niveau du monde.
Enfin, il est indispensable que les objectifs précis de la FAO soient bien perçus par l'opinion publique et plus spécialement par notre jeunesse, très sensible à la situation prévalant dans les pays en développement. C'est pourquoi, il entre dans mes intentions d'associer les jeunes de mon pays à la préparation du Sommet mondial de l'alimentation de novembre 1996. Et je voudrais proposer que notre Organisation elle aussi y prête une oreille attentive. Ainsi, une présence significative de jeunes du monde entier au Sommet mondial de 1996 me paraît essentielle pour renforcer la solidarité entre ceux qui porteront les responsabilités que notre génération assume aujourd'hui. Je crois que ce serait un gage d'encouragement pour tous et le signe d'un nouveau dynamisme de la FAO.
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EL VICEPRESIDENTE: Ha querido la coincidencia que el primer orador a quien voy a ofrecer el uso de la palabra sea nuestro fraternal México, deber que hago a plena satisfacción.
Mario MOYA PALENCIA (México): Señores de la Presidencia, quiero en primer lugar felicitar al Señor Ministro de Agricultura de Chipre, señor Costas Petrides, por su elección como Presidente de esta Conferencia y extender estos votos a los distinguidos representantes de Túnez, Cuba y Eslovaquia, por haber sido electos como Vicepresidentes de la misma. Les ha sido encomendada sin duda una importante responsabilidad en la conducción de nuestras sesiones. De la misma manera, me congratulo por el hecho de que contamos ahora con la participación de nuevos miembros en el seno de nuestra Organización y, en nombre de mi país, me uno a los demás para dar la bienvenida a las repúblicas de Azerbaiyán, Georgia, Moldova, Tayikistán y Turkmenistán. Asimismo, mi delegación se suma al pesar de todos por el sensible fallecimiento del Jefe de la delegación de Iraq, el señor Rasheed, Ministro de Agricultura de ese país.
Al coincidir con el quincuagésimo aniversario de la FAO, esta Conferencia reviste un particular significado y nos obliga a reflexionar sobre el estado actual de la situación alimentaria y de la nutrición en el mundo. Vemos con gran satisfacción que, desde su fundación, la FAO ha constituido una gran promotora de la producción y distribución de alimentos, al mismo tiempo que ha impulsado una cooperación esencial entre los países miembros en el desarrollo de los ámbitos agropecuario, forestal y pesquero.
Nos enfrentamos, sin embargo, a una realidad contundente en cuanto a la creciente magnitud de los problemas del hambre y la pobreza en un gran número de países. Estamos obligados a ponderar todo el peso de algunas cifras y constatar que en 1995 la población mundial asciende a más de 5 300 millones de habitantes, al tiempo que la FAO cuenta con recursos proporcionalmente inferiores a los que disponía hace veinte años. Se enfrenta por otra parte a muy inquietantes perspectivas por lo que hace a su estabilidad financiera y, por ende, a sus posibilidades de mantener la cooperación y la asistencia a los Estados Miembros, en particular a aquellos países de Africa, Asia y América Latina y el Caribe que requieren en forma imperativa de ella. A este respecto, apoyamos plenamente el discurso que pronunció esta mañana el Director General, señor Jacques Diouf, y el llamado hecho por el Presidente Independiente del Consejo, señor José Ramón López Portillo.
Por eso, las primeras palabras de nuestra delegación se encaminan a exhortar a todos los Estados Miembros para que cumplan a la brevedad posible con el pago íntegro de sus contribuciones, lo que constituye una obligación internacional ineludible que no puede cancelarse. Si muchas naciones en desarrollo que enfrentan graves problemas económicos y financieros se han puesto al corriente de sus pagos, con más razón deben hacerlo algunos países desarrollados morosos, cuyos altos niveles de vida y amplios presupuestos fiscales facilitan el cumplimiento de esa obligación.
De acuerdo con el mandato de su Constitución, el Gobierno de México elaboró, en consulta con los diversos sectores sociales y fuerzas políticas, el Plan Nacional de Desarrollo 1995-2000, que tiene como objetivos afianzar la soberanía de la nación, fortalecer el estado de derecho e impulsar el desarrollo democrático, el desarrollo social y el crecimiento económico. El Plan afirma que el problema social de atención más urgente es la pobreza extrema, que está íntimamente vinculado a la seguridad alimentaria del país. Cerca de 14 millones de mexicanos no pueden satisfacer sus necesidades más elementales. El sector rural concentra tres cuartas partes de la población con pobreza más aguda. Los pobladores rurales del semidesierto y de las zonas de baja productividad padecen los efectos de la exclusión social. Gran parte de quienes emigran del campo constituyen o engrosan colonias urbanas populares que aumentan las presiones sobre los servicios públicos y la vivienda.
El Plan considera a la población como el sujeto primordial y el agente fundamental del desarrollo, que en lo social ha sido heterogéneo en las diversas regiones del país. Para equilibrarlo y promover el bienestar de los grupos rurales, el Plan persigue la consolidación de una reforma agraria que les ofrezca certeza jurídica sobre sus tierras y les brinde, al mismo tiempo, la oportunidad de incrementar su productividad a través de políticas regionales de apoyo al sector agrícola. En el ámbito rural vive el 27 por ciento de la población nacional del país, y desde 1965 el crecimiento del valor de la producción agropecuaria ha sido en promedio inferior al crecimiento de la población total. Al respecto debo señalar que, mientras la población ha crecido últimamente a una tasa del 2 por ciento anual, la producción agropecuaria lo ha hecho a un ritmo de apenas el 1,5 por ciento.
Para incrementar la productividad y superar la pobreza extrema que afecta al sector rural, el Plan prevé tres estrategias: primera, con la participación de campesinos y productores, redefinir las instituciones, políticas y programas de apoyo al campo, concluir el reparto agrario y dar paso a nuevas políticas dirigidas a impulsar dicha productividad; segunda, promover las condiciones necesarias para atraer un flujo significativo y permanente de inversión al medio rural, y tercera, apoyar la organización rural como eje de la transformación productiva del sector agropecuario y punto de partida para hacer de la igualdad de oportunidades una realidad en las áreas rurales, prestando especial interés a los pueblos indígenas y a las mujeres campesinas.
Entre los objetivos del crecimiento económico de México está el de asegurar el uso amplio y eficiente de los recursos naturales y humanos del país, generar más empleos productivos, actualizar la tecnología y fomentar la competitividad.
La estrategia nacional, junto con las acciones para frenar las tendencias del deterioro ecológico y transitar hacia un desarrollo sustentable, incluye el saneamiento de las principales cuencas hidrológicas y la restauración de las áreas críticas para la protección de la biodiversidad. Este criterio ecológico implica cambios fundamentales en los sistemas productivos de tipo agropecuario y en el fomento de la producción sustentable de los sectores forestal y pesquero. Para México los temas de medio ambiente y el desarrollo sostenible de todos los sectores productivos son un hecho de conciencia general e inspiran las acciones que realizamos.
El Plan reconoce y lamenta, por otra parte, que la actividad agropecuaria a nivel mundial sea la que aún tiene una mayor intervención estatal, caracterizada por altos niveles de subsidio, imposición de barreras comerciales y otorgamiento de apoyos dirigidos a remediar condiciones de baja productividad. El objetivo central de nuestra política agropecuaria consiste en incrementar el ingreso neto de los productores como medio de promover la seguridad alimentaria del país y reducir la pobreza extrema, sobre todo en el medio rural, haciendo uso racional de todos los elementos y recursos naturales, humanos y económicos, y aprovechando los instrumentos de intercambio que México ha convenido últimamente, como el TLC de Norteamérica, suscrito con Estados Unidos y Canada, así como acuerdos semejantes celebrados con Chile, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica y otros países latinoamericanos, y buscando un mayor acercamiento con la Unión Europea y con la Cuenca del Pacífico.
Para México resulta esencial promover decididamente y elevar la condición de la mujer. Su aportación es estratégica en ámbitos tan diversos como la alimentación, la protección del medio ambiente y las nuevas pautas de desarrollo familiar y social. Estimamos que a este respecto nuestra organización debe tomar muy en cuenta las recomendaciones emanadas de las cumbres y conferencias de las Naciones Unidas sobre la población, el desarrollo social y la mujer.
A mi país satisface de manera especial que el Consejo de nuestra Organización haya ratificado a principios de esta semana el Código de Conducta de Pesca Responsable, y recomendado a esta Conferencia, mediante un proyecto de resolución, que sea aprobado por los Estados Miembros y aplicado en sus términos. Este instrumento fue concebido con la participación decidida de mi país a partir de la Conferencia sobre Pesca Responsable celebrada en Cancún en 1992, y en su elaboración y negociación posterior participaron todos los Estados que se interesan en tan importante actividad. No cabe duda que la ordenación y el desarrollo de la pesca costera y de alta mar contribuirá a lograr una mejor seguridad alimentaria para el mundo. Confiamos que el nuevo Código sea particularmente útil para los países en desarrollo. El documento, por otra parte, refleja el interés que el gobierno de México otorga a su importante sector pesquero.
Por último, reconocemos que las acciones nacionales son insustituibles en la solución de los problemas que afectan la agricultura y la alimentación, pero dada la inequitativa distribución mundial del ingreso la cooperación internacional se impone como un complemento necesario. La reducción de los recursos en esta materia, que se viene advirtiendo desde hace unos años, es francamente ominosa y va en sentido contrario a los esfuerzos que una humanidad en crecimiento tiene que desplegar para obtener cada vez más alimentos y un adecuado nivel nutricional para todos.
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J.J. VAN AARTSEN (Netherlands): In Quebec last Monday the 50th Anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organization was commemorated. The FAO was established with the objective of eliminating hunger and improving nutrition.
One of the founding fathers of FAO and former Dutch Minister of Agriculture, the remarkable Sicco Mansholt, passed away a few months ago. In Quebec 50 years ago he delivered a striking speech in which he said the work which FAO takes on its shoulders can be decisive for the future of the world. Fifty years later I want to underline both Mr Mansholt's statement and its purport.
The FAO has transferred a great deal of knowledge and infrastructure to the developing countries and the industrialized nations have learnt a lot from the approach to agricultural problems in the developing countries.
Over the years FAO has stepped up cooperation with other organizations. From the very start the Netherlands, a nation of farmers with a deep-rooted tradition of development cooperation, has felt committed to the FAO and we have been active donors and partners. Since then, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge. Many things have changed since Quebec. Developments have accelerated, particularly in the past six years. The world has become more complex.
These days international relations are less transparent and less predictable and there are new super-fast methods to communicate and to disseminate information. All this makes new and high demands on international organizations such as the FAO. Moreover, international dynamics are reinforced because these modern technologies also have an influence on the world economy. These developments are a challenge to FAO; they require a strong and stable organization. I am therefore in favour of the recently started restructuring of FAO. I would like to stress the importance of it. The restructuring should include the Governing Bodies of FAO. The Council, for example should represent member countries democratically. I think that in the coming period we have to consider whether the organization of Governing Bodies is still up to date.
Looking at the field the FAO is active in at present, we see that the whole world has undergone tremendous changes in the past fifty years. In many countries the agricultural sector is the heart of economic activity and the driving force for development. Therefore, the Dutch policy focuses on intensive international cooperation in agricultural research and agricultural education because we consider agriculture vital to the world's economy and to stability. For the same reason food security must remain high on the FAO agenda because, without food security, economic development and political stability are nothing but illusions.
Food security requires all countries to work closely together and it calls for an integrated approach. Hunger is not solved by time and shifting food surpluses from one country to another. Food security and agriculture rely on sustainable development and a wise use and management of natural resources. Agenda 21, and Chapter 14 on sustainable agriculture in particular, provides us with the context and clear guidelines. Therefore, Agenda 21 should be given more priority within the FAO's activities at a level of both policy-making and implementation.
The Netherlands wants FAO to play a leading role, particularly in the implementation of the sector chapters of Agenda 21 which deal with sustainable agriculture, integrated land management, sustainable forestry management and biodiversity. This means a close link between agricultural development and international nature policies. Sustainable development requires intensive international cooperation in the field of nature and biodiversity.
I was very pleased, may I say, at the content of the McDougall lecture yesterday. FAO should also play a prominent part in the planning and management of land resources which can be considered the stepping stone towards the sustainable use of natural resources. The Netherlands will back this. We are cooperating with FAO now, for example, in the follow-up to the international workshop on integrated land management which was held in the Netherlands last February. This follow-up will focus in the implementation of integrated land management and the instruments required for this purpose. The context of sustainable agricultural liberalization of world trade is another important theme. Policy should promote innovations and structural improvement and encourage products with a higher added value which contribute to higher incomes, particularly in developing countries. To support these objectives a greater liberalization of international agricultural trade is called for. Agricultural and trade policies should aim to improve market access and promote fair trading conditions on international markets. That is why the implementation of the final act of the Uruguay Round is so important. It sets the stage for actions which should lead to a further liberalization of world trade. In this, FAO has an important advisory role. An important foundation for this necessary liberalization is played by internationally accepted standards on the quality of agricultural products and foodstuffs and standards for food safety and fair trade to prevent non-tariff barriers being erected. Both nationally and internationally such tenders are of paramount importance.
FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission, will be a major frame of reference and advisory body to the World Trade Organization if there are problems in international trade in foodstuffs and agricultural products.
For many years the Netherlands has been hosting the important Codex Alimentarius Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants and that on Pesticide Residues. However, I think other countries should also have the opportunity to host Codex committees. With the Philippines Government I have therefore arranged that the 1996 session of this Codex committee will be held in Manila.
In the Netherlands a 50th birthday is an important event. FAO cannot be excepted from this golden Dutch rule. Therefore, the Netherlands has offered to renovate completely and enlarge the Queen Juliana Room. We thought this a suitable present for a 50 year old. Moreover, it will be a lasting reminder of a Queen who has always sought to improve the circumstances of the deprived in this world.
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Abdul Mannan BHUIYAN (Bangladesh): It is a great pleasure and honour for me to address the Twenty-eighth Session of the FAO Conference. On behalf of the Bangladesh delegation and on my own behalf, I extend to you, Mr Chairman, our warmest felicitations on your election as Chairman of this important session of the Conference.
I would like to express our shock at the sad demise of the Minister of Agriculture of Iraq, Mr Khalil Abdul Moneem Rasheed, and join others in expressing our heartfelt condolences to his grieving family.
I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Georgia, Moldova and Turkemenistan as new Members of FAO and hope that they would bring their valuable experience and expertise to enrich the work of our Organization.
I would particularly like to thank the Director-General, Dr Jacques Diouf, for his comprehensive and very substantive statement highlighting the priorities that the Organization must address in order to be truly responsive to the needs of the Member Nations.
We have been informed about the new orientations that have been brought in the programmes, structures and policies of the Organization since Dr Diouf s taking up the office as of Director-General in January 1993. I would like to express my appreciation to the Director-General for the pragmatic initiatives that he has undertaken over the last two years in bringing qualitative changes to the work of FAO. The Director-General's efforts have marked a significant step forward in making the Organization more efficient and cost-effective.
We are pleased to note that some good progress has been achieved in the decentralization of FAO activities, the cost-effective delivery of services and the strengthening of the national capacities of Member Nations. A sharpened focus on food security in the low-income food-deficit countries, including launching a Special Programme on Food Production in Support of Food Security in LIFDCs, is particularly important in the context of the present unfavourable global state of food and agriculture.
The current global food and agricultural scenario is disquieting. While there has been an overall increase in cereal production in the low-income food-deficit countries, it has failed to keep pace with population growth. Low income importing countries are now particularly vulnerable to the increased cereal price in the international market. A large number of food emergencies due to civil strife, large-scale influx of refugees, drought and floods have aggravated the acute food insecurity condition in several countries. In Bangladesh, drought and floods during the last two consecutive years caused much damage to standing crops. As a result our hard-earned self-sufficiency in cereals has been reduced to a deficit of about 5 million tons of cereals.
Mr Chairman, it is heartening that some densely populated countries have success stories in food production, but in spite of the regional variations, including a more positive picture in several densely populated countries, the global per capita production scenario is not encouraging.
We cannot but regret the continuing decline in multilateral commitments of assistance to the agriculture sector as well as the decreasing level of cereal food aid. We note with concern that the latest estimate of cereal food aid for 1994-95 stands at 9.8 million tons with only 7 million tons for the LIFDCs compared to 11.1 million tons provided in 1992-93 to low-income food-deficit countries. We would like to stress that food aid has a vital role to play in stabilizing food supplies in many low-income food-deficit countries having low and critical levels of food security and urge donor countries to increase their budgetary allocations in food aid. The declining share of food aid for development activities due to an increased response to emergencies is also regrettable.
Pervasive food insecurity which is still afflicting millions in the developing world calls for devising appropriate strategies to address this acute problem. For the majority of the developing countries, chronic food insecurity cannot be alleviated effectively without strengthening the capacity to raise agricultural productivity. A major effort must be made for developing technologies for increasing food output. FAO can plan an important role by advising Member Governments in assessing what technologies are available but insufficiently exploited and in identifying technologies suitable for dissemination. Food insecurity is a complex problem for which sustainable solutions need to be found to ensure that the world has enough to feed 9 billion in the year 2030. Increasing production in the developing countries must, therefore, be a vital strategy for us.
FAO's Special Programme in support of food security in LIFDCs would significantly contribute to the realization of the objectives of this strategy.
In the context of Bangladesh, the task of national-building is rather tough. Our population is over 110 million now and is growing at a rate of 2.2 percent per year. This amounts to nearly 2.5 million additional mouths to be fed every year. This is a tremendous challenge for us. Furthermore, since our economy is only just developing, the vast majority of our population rely on agriculture for its employment. The result is that agriculture in Bangladesh has a dual burden, to feed the nation and to generate employment opportunities for its people. The economy of Bangladesh is thus based on agriculture which accounts for nearly 37 percent of the GDP. Of the entire labour force, 62 percent is engaged in this sector. The average farm size is close to one hectare. The crop sub-sector represents about 79 percent of the agricultural GDP. In Bangladesh rice is the most important crop. With the expansion of the minor irrigation for HYV Boro rice cultivation, the production has lately been remarkable.
I would like to indicate that we in Bangladesh have a great opportunity for using our land with a much greater intensity than we did in the past. This means obtaining higher yields from the crops we grow, and also by growing additional crops each year. Unfortunately, intensification of production can often result in increased pollution and problems of waste disposal. However, with diversification of production it is possible to increase crop production intensity. It is also possible to achieve the twin objectives of increasing production and reducing environmental degradation.
We welcome the initiative of the Director-General to convene a World Food Summit in November 1996 in Rome. The Summit to be held at the highest political level would provide a very important forum to review the state of global food security and adopt realistic plans of action towards achievement of food security for all. The Government of Bangladesh has already set up a national preparatory committee for the Summit and is working in close collaboration with FAO to make the Summit a success.
In concluding, I would like to express my firm belief that in the course of our deliberations during the next few days we shall be able to agree on measures that would further strengthen the Organization's capacity to carry out its mandate more efficiently and effectively.
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Ms Margareta WINBERG (Sweden): In my statement I will focus on a few issues that in the view of Sweden are of the utmost importance: the further empowerment of women in food security, conservation and access to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, responsible fisheries and sustainable forest management.
Forceful measures to promote gender-based equality, equity and the empowerment of women are of strategic importance to efforts aimed at combatting hunger and famine, not only because of the shocking fact that 70 percent of the 780 billion people in the Third World suffering from chronic under-nutrition are women and children, especially girls, but also because of the fact that women play a major role concerning food supply in many countries. Women are often major contributors to food and agricultural production. They have extensive knowledge of food systems and of sustainable agriculture.
In order to fully mobilize the creativity of women and their great potential to contribute to food security, present inadequacies should be eliminated and women be given much broader access to land titles, membership in farmers' organizations, credits, extension services and inputs that can help enhance food production.
In this context I would call the attention of the Conference to action initiated in some countries to create a system for providing loans to poor female farmers without land tenure. The Grameen Bank in Bangladesh is a case in point. The loans are small, but the effects are often big, because the money is used by the women in a creative and wise way for strategic action to promote food security.
I urge FAO to further strengthen its advisory role to governments in this important field and, together with funds and programmes, in particular the Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), to promote this innovative approach to lending.
I congratulate the FAO Secretariat for its excellent work in the revision of the Plan of Action for Women in Development. The new plan for the period 1996-2001 contains many creative proposals for action. It, however, is a plan developed by the Organization, primarily for the Organization. We must now prepare for the next steps in this important area.
In my view, a plan of action can only achieve sustained impact with governments if it is being prepared by governments through negotiations, sentence by sentence, word by word, of realistic recommendations for targeted and costed action. It must be a plan of the government for the government. Their true comments are vital. Active participation in the preparations on the part of the non-governmental organizations is also of great importance.
Against this background, I urge the FAO to set in train a process to negotiate a real inter-governmental targeted and costed global programme of action for Women in Development in the same way as Agenda 21 of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development was designed and prepared.
Financial resources, technologies and technological cooperation should be available for developing countries in support of agricultural development based on long-term, realistic objectives. Sweden is, and will continue to be an active partner in international development cooperation, bilateral as well as multilateral, in support of world security.
I would like to commend FAO for its preparations for the international conference next year in Leipzig on action to halt the alarming erosion of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. These resources will help us develop sustainable agriculture. They contain the genes that are resistant to diseases, pests and drought. They help us increase yields. The plant breeding of the high-yielding seeds is the major factor behind the phenomenal growth of agriculture in the last 50 years.
Access to the right genetic resources of the developing countries has up to now been free. These resources are of fundamental importance for future plant breeding of the seeds of the second, sustainable, green revolution. The Rio Convention on Biological Diversity has ushered in a new era of fair and equitable sharing of the benefit from the use of the genetic resources of the Third World. I urge the FAO and governments to make all efforts to conclude the ongoing negotiations on harmonizing the FAO International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources with the Biodiversity Convention in time for the World Food Summit. The new Undertaking should, in the view of Sweden, be a binding legal instrument. It should include a multilateral agreement on the terms of access to the plant genetic resources.
World food production does not only depend on biophysical realities and available technologies. In every country the individual farmer must have economic incentives to produce for the market. When prices are too low for him or her to cover the costs, he or she will not produce.
International markets have a direct effect concerning decisions by the individual farmer on whether to produce or not. For the least developed countries it is often not possible to buy food at the price on the world market. In a longer term perspective, however, this may undermine their own national agriculture. Farmers will lack incentives to invest and produce.
World trade in food is a pre-condition for food supplies to all people on earth. The big actors in America and in Europe should act in a way that will not create obstacles for the development of agriculture in the Third World. This is an important perspective in the ongoing considerations within the European Union on how to develop the common agricultural policy.
The objectives of that policy were laid down in another time and for another European agriculture.
FAO is playing a key role in the development of action to halt the over-exploitation of marine living resources. For many years FAO has informed and warned the world community of the increasing threats to major fish stocks. This time we should adopt Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. It is the result of constructive negotiations which took place in close interaction with the preparation in New York of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea relating to the conservation and management of straddling fish stocks and highly migratory fish stocks.
The regional organizations will have to be strengthened in order to be able to carry out the new tasks assigned to them by the new international instruments. FAO should prepare to assist the regional organizations, in particular in developing country regions upon request to organize the necessary actions to carry out the new tasks. FAO should also carry out a comprehensive study on possible options for mobilizing the necessary resources for financing of the fixed and operating costs. All possible sources, including the ability of members to pay and benefits from the fisheries covered by the organizations, should be studied.
These tasks should be undertaken by FAO with a sense of urgency. Proposals for action and options for mobilizing the resources necessary for implementing the action should be prepared for consideration by the next session of the Committee on Fisheries.
Let me conclude, Mr Chairman, by stressing once more that the tasks before the FAO are formidable, challenging and growing. Nobody questions the enormous importance of world food security and of sustainability in world agriculture, fisheries and forestry.
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Montree PONGPANIT (Thailand): Mr Chairman, Mr Director-General, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure for me on behalf of the Royal Thai Government and the people of Thailand to address this Conference today. Please allow me, Mr Chairman, to join previous speakers in congratulating you and the vice Chairmen upon their elections. I wish you every success in chairing this meeting. I also wish to extend the best wishes of the people of Thailand to the new FAO Member Nations.
The first part of my statement concerns food and nutrition. It is a well known fact that hunger and famine, whether caused by man made disaster, poverty or natural disaster, have caused widespread suffering to mankind. We fully support the FAO and its continuous efforts to assist Member Nations to achieve food security. Although Thailand is a major producer and exporter of food and food products, we still have nutritional problems. Experience in Thailand has shown that community-based nutritional intervention programmes, including nutrition education, have shown the possibility of achieving sustainability. Thailand is prepared to exchange its experience with other nations, non-governmental organizations, international agencies in supporting global goals for the alleviation of hunger and malnutrition.
Mr Chairman, as is equally well known, Thailand is currently the world's largest rice exporting country. Rice is the staple food for Asian countries, and approximately half the world's population lives in Asia. In this connection, I consider the rice issue as very important for the world community. I strongly encourage the FAO to monitor and inform Member Countries about world conditions for rice. The conclusion of the Uruguay Round in 1994 must be seen as only the beginning of a new chapter for world agricultural trade. We urge Member Nations to formulate their agricultural policies in a manner which is consistent with their commitments and obligations.
The second part of my statement concerns fisheries. Environmental issues are of the greatest concern for Thai fishers as well as my government. On this occasion I do not wish to go into the details of the measures that have been taken by my government. I simply wish to assure the world community that Thailand will do its best in accordance with international agreements. With regard to world trade on fish and fish products, Thailand believes that certain countries may consider imposing non tariff barriers to trade, in particular, those related to the environment. Frequently fish and fish products must be promoted and labeled as being environmentally friendly. Therefore, I believe it is necessary for the FAO to organize an international gathering to deal with environmental protection measures. I truly hope that the outcome will be fair to all parties concerned, including the non-governmental organizations.
Mr Chairman, please allow me to inform the distinguished delegates that Thailand will in 1996 be hosting the annual meeting of the World Aquaculture Society at the same time as Asia's annual exposition for seafood or "East Meets West" in Bangkok from January 29th to February 2nd 1996. Thailand will be most honoured if the distinguished delegates of the authorities concerned could participate at this conference.
Finally, with regard to forestry, world forests have been destroyed at an alarming rate including forests in the Asian Region. However, forestry resources and their conservation are a global issue and we feel that all Member Nations should take an active role in an effort to prevent further destruction and for a sustainable use of forestry resources. At this stage I would like to highlight the National Forestry Action Programme. We believe that the support of the donor countries and the FAO is urgently needed by developing countries. We firmly believe that the strengthening of international cooperation and improving efficiency and coordination of bilateral and multilateral assistance, including the mobilization of financial resources and the facilitation of transfer of environmentally sound technology are the means to ensure implementation of Agenda 21 of UNCED.
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Josef LUX (Czech Republic): Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, first allow me to express my condolences to the delegation of Iraq.
Mr Chairman, a few days ago we celebrated the 50th anniversary of FAO. We evaluated its activities, methods, and effectiveness in its efforts towards solving one of the most pressing global problems, how to put an end to world hunger and famine. Now that celebrations and ceremonies have come to a close, we face a serious task: to prepare our Organization for the next millennium. It is a very important challenge for all Member Countries of the FAO since this Organization must adapt to rapidly changing conditions in the world. Our Republic is ready to actively participate in this work and supports all efforts towards the restructurization and decentralization of the FAO. Such changes should lead to a more effective and less bureaucratic functioning of the Organization. The FAO should function in a more efficient manner where better communication between Member States informs the Organization's agenda, therefore saving money, time and labour. The Czech Republic offers its support to a quite specific range of activities in the FAO. Our government has decided to organize important political and professional meetings of ministers of agriculture from the countries of central and eastern Europe. These meetings will take place in November of this year in Prague. The main issues on the agenda will be the transformation of agriculture to a market economy in those countries. The present restructuring of FAO's activities offers special possibilities for change to its current complicated structure and for eliminating bureaucracy. Each member country would therefore have an opportunity to use its highly skilled specialists.
Mr Chairman, I am aware of the sensitivity surrounding changes in the Organization. However, coming from a country which has accomplished a radical transformation in a historically short time, I am sure that the FAO is able to do the same. These are all the reasons for the candidature of the Czech Republic for the Committee on Legal and Constitutional Matters for the period 1996-97. Mr Chairman, concerning the World Food Summit, our Republic considers world food security as one of the cardinal tasks for the FAO and gives full support to its preparation. I would like to express quite openly that the Summit's returns will be directly proportionate to the concrete and specific nature of its programme. The Czech Republic offers the mediation of its unique experience acquired during its transformation process of agricultural liberalization. We are convinced that our assistance in agricultural policy formulation and technological know-how would be most efficient help we can offer.
Let me briefly mention some important trends in Czech agriculture. The agricultural sector is part of a national economy characterized by 10 percent inflation, 3 percent unemployment and a stabilized currency. Around 97 percent of the country's land is already in the hands of the private sector. Our restitution process has given back property stolen by the former regime to its original owners. Privatization of an estimated US $100 million worth of property has been completed. Also a transformation of former agricultural cooperatives has been accomplished in the last three years.
Since every hectare of land belongs to a specific owner, labour productivity is growing. Approximately half of the agricultural workers have left the sector within the past five years and government subsidies have dropped to one-sixth their level in 1989. Food supply on the other hand, has increased markedly.
Czech farmers derive their competitiveness from large average production sizes (the average area of a farm in the Czech Republic is 140 ha.) The Government indirectly supports farming production through cheaper credits and credit guarantees and provides direct subsidies to farmers in mountain areas as a reimbursement for their by-productive function in agriculture. The Czech Republic is interested in liberalization of the agrarian market in areas of tariffs, phytosanitary as well as veterinary. We are making an effort so that competition is between agricultural producers and not between budgets, bureaucracy and stamps.
Mr Chairman, to conclude I am convinced that the problem of world food security has its solution in the principle "Give a fishing hook to the starving and not a fish". Let us support the creative activities of farmers around the world. The Czech Republic is ready to assist.
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Ahmed Ali GENIEF (Sudan) (Original language Arabic): Mr Deputy Director-General, Excellencies, Ministers of Agriculture, delegates, ladies and gentlemen, first of all I would like to present my condolences and sympathy to the government and people of Iraq because we lost our brother Rasheed the Minister of Agriculture of Iraq. I would like also to present my condolences to his family. I hope that his soul will rest in peace.
I would like to deliver my statement on behalf of the Government and people of Sudan and I would like to congratulate you Mr Chairman on the trust bestowed upon you by this Conference by electing you Chairman. I am sure that thanks to your wise leadership, this Conference will be a resounding success I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to FAO which has just celebrated its 50th Anniversary, FAO is gearing up to face the challenges ahead. Knowing the many and deep transformations taking place in the world today, I cannot but commend the Management of FAO and its Director-General, Dr Jacques Diouf, for the outstanding ability of interacting with these changes and coping with and absorbing these challenges, thanks to its clear vision, sound planning and the emphasis it puts on the priorities with a view to optimizing the utilization of the available resources.
Mr Chairman, the Director-General has presented a programme of work for this Organization in this important period comprising restructuring measures, decentralization, doubling the technical cooperation among the developing countries, in addition to the importance given to pest control, animal and health diseases, the special programmes for food production and food security in the low income countries as well as the involvement of women in agricultural development.
In addition to the programmes currently implemented, we believe that this new direction is a true reflection of FAO's specific role at this juncture. Therefore we are calling on all members to enable FAO to play this role fully and to implement the programme by providing it with the necessary financial resources and political support.
We are in full agreement with the proposed budget submitted to this general Conference and prepared on the basis of real zero growth rate. The proposed budget is tailored to implement the strategic programmes proposed by the Director-General to support the developing countries in particular. These programmes will make possible the proposed changes in FAO's activities. We call on all the Member States to understand the circumstances that led to these changes and to continue their support for the proposed budget.
Mr Chairman, Sudan has seen during the last years serious changes in favour of development and the optimal utilization of the enormous agricultural resources of the country. Our economy has been restructured and we moved from a centrally planned to a freemarket economy thereby creating the appropriate environment for production and investment.
We also managed a qualitative transformation for farmers and breeders by directly and actively involving them in decision-making and production and they are no longer implementing policies in which they had no say. The result of this is that we are having a big increase in agricultural production which represents now 43 percent of our Gross Domestic Product. Accordingly, our growth rate jumped to 8 percent during the last 4 years. Our livestock also jumped from 60 million in 1989 to almost 130 million heads of cattle. This increase in agricultural production is reflected in a real increase of income for farmers and breeders. Today we are witnessing a positive phenomenon namely a real shift of resources from the urban centres to the rural areas and the accompanying improvement in living conditions.
In spite, however, of the many benefits stated above, of the privatization and price liberation policies adopted in the framework of the overall economic rehabilitation, some negative aspects are becoming apparent such as steep price increases of food stuffs thereby putting them out of reach of the poorer segments of our society. The government is intensifying its efforts in order to alleviate the suffering of the poor and to mitigate the negative effects by establishing a solidarity fund for the poor funded from the budget in addition to the ZAKAT fund which provides support to the poor and the needy as well as financing the productive activities of the poor families.
Ladies and gentlemen, this shifting policy based on self-reliance and the optimal utilization of our agricultural resources is concurrent with the historic change in governing Sudan. We have adopted the federal system and Sudan is divided now into 26 wilayas or provinces with a view to restoring political and economic power to the people. Each wilaya or province is free to manage its own affairs at all levels within the framework of the powers given to it. The executive bodies of these wilayas have been established already and recently elected bodies have also been established. We will complete the constitutional structure by establishing the National Assembly in 1996.
Mr Chairman, Sudan with its huge economic and agricultural potential, supports without any reservation the initiative taken by the Director-General for holding the World Food Summit. I think this will be an opportunity for world leaders to think and to find practical solutions for food security problems and to combat hunger and poverty..
Mr Chairman, in conclusion I would like to congratulate the countries which have joined the Organization recently thereby widening the base of support and this of course will enrich the activities of this Organization and help it achieve its noble objectives.
Thank you Mr Chairman, and I hope that our meeting will be a success and that FAO will continue its noble efforts in the service of mankind.
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Valeriu V. BULGARI (Moldova): Mr Chairman, delegates, I thank you for your acceptance of the Republic of Moldova which now becomes a Member State of FAO.
With your permission, I will present some information about our agro-industrial sector. The agro-industrial sector is the nucleus of the economy of Moldova and produces 40 percent of the country's Gross National Product. Fifty-two percent of our fixed assets are concentrated in this sector and around 35 percent of the working population work in this sector.
Moldova is a country that has very fertile soils and is densely populated with 1,540,000 hectares of arable land. More than 400,000 hectares are planted with perennials. Twelve scientific research institutions within the agricultural sector of Moldova have made a great contribution to the creation of new species and hybrids of cereals and new kinds and hybrids of animals and poultry. Wine is the pride of Moldovans and has been considered a national symbol for centuries.
This sector is one of the basic branches of Moldovan industry. At present this branch produces 25 out of 100 percent of the DNP and is a source of income for the State. At present there are 140 enterprises. Today the wine-making industry produces a wide range of different types of wine, sparkling wines, brandies, original wines, natural wines, different types of alcoholic wines. Wineries in the Republic of Moldova produce 8-19 million decalitres of wine. Four hundred and fifty to five hundred and fifty thousand decalitres of brandy; 8-10 million bottles of sparkling wine; 2 to 2.5 million decalitres of strong drinks and 5-6 million decalitres of processed wine. Vegetable and fruit growing is one of tradition branches for the agro-industrial sector of the country. At present orchards of the Republic of Moldova occupy territory of 190.6 thousand hectares. Annually the average amount of fruit produced constitutes 500-530 thousand tonnes. Up to 42-45 thousand hectares of arable lands in the Republic are destined annually for planting and sowing of vegetables. The volume of vegetables produced is equal to 450-600 thousand tonnes. Out of the total amount of fruit and vegetables produced annually 390-450 thousand tonnes are processed at the cannery. Twenty five canneries operate within the limits of the canning industry and the capacity for the production of cans amounts to 2 billion conventional jars. The food industry in the Republic of Moldova is subdivided into the following branches: sugar production, tobacco and tobacco products, oil extraction, beer and soft drinks production, confectionary products, production of bread, treacle and starch manufacturing, production of food concentrates and production of yeast for bread baking.
Sugar production is one of the basic branches of the food industry. Sugar plantations cover the territory of 85-100 thousand hectares and harvest amounts of 1.7 to 2.3 million tonnes. Ten sugar processing factories process in the best years 300-350 thousand tonnes of sugar, average 200 thousand tonnes are destined for export.
Tobacco growing is another centuries old occupation of Moldovan farmers. Tobacco leaf processing has become the base for the whole industry that at present numbers eight factories of tobacco fermentation and Chisinau tobacco factory with the capacity of 8-10 billion cigarettes per year. The cultivation and export of tobacco of the best quality and utilization of the newest equipment for tobacco-leaf processing and cigarette production alone will make it possible to improve our present day difficult situation and promote for an investment.
Annual production capacity of our oil extracting enterprises constitute 450 thousand tonnes of sunflower oil. The livestock sector within the agro-industrial sector is the main supply of agricultural products for the population. It also provides intermediate products for food and light industries.
At present in the Republic there are 750 milk farms with 133 thousand cows, 18 fattening complexes where 20 thousand heifers and 33 thousand bulls are bred. Twenty nine complexes for pig breeding with the capacity to grow 338 thousand pigs yearly and 27 poultry farms. The process of integration between complexes for pork production and poultry farms on the one hand and enterprises producing mixed feed on the other, is taking place. Over the next few years both livestock and poultry production is expected in the private sector. As for breeding and selection, we have races, types and species and genetic potential which will allow us to achieve high productivity. The Agrarian Reform is a component of special influences within the structure of total economic new structuring. Land Reform development in farmers' rich land can depend on and is conditioned by legal aspects and mechanisms for reform implementation. The aligned code constitutes the nucleus of reform legislation. At the same time another set of 47 supplementary normative acts that are now approved by parliament and the Government of Moldova has been drafted to facilitate implementation of norms contained in the Land Code. Concerning the equivalent of land funds subject to privatization and those belonging to the State, the condition has been established to create enterprises for different business firms on the basis of private property and identification of the citizens having rights for equipment quota. According to the law on the normative price for land of December 2nd 1994 and the regulations adopted by the Government of the Republic of Moldova in 1995 the procedure for sale and purchase of agricultural land has been identified.
Excellencies, agriculture in our country has an excellent potential for economic growth and in this period of transition it is necessary to make tentative efforts to reach these goals. We believe that with the support of FAO Member States we will accelerate the development of our agro-industrial sector. We hope to solve our general problems in the agricultural and food sectors.
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Mme Makalé Camara BANGOURA (Guinée): Permettez-moi à mon tour d'adresser mes condoléances les plus attristées au Gouvernement de l'Iraq, et à la famille éplorée de feu M. Rachid, le Ministre de l'agriculture de l'Iraq.
C'est la première fois que j'ai l'occasion de participer à vos travaux et je voudrais vous exprimer toute la satisfaction que j'en éprouve compte tenu de la qualité des échanges mais aussi de l'importance de l'ordre du jour de cette session. Le Gouvernement de la République de Guinée a tenu en effet à ce que l'un de ses membres le représente pour vous témoigner tout l'intérêt qu'il porte à l'Institution, à ses activités et à son évolution. Je voudrais à cet égard vous transmettre les salutations que son Excellence le Président de la République, le Général Lansana Conte, et son Gouvernement m'ont chargée de vous adresser à l'occasion de la présente session.
Je voudrais féliciter le Président de la Conférence pour son élection à ce poste et l'efficacité avec laquelle il dirige les débats. Je tiens également à féliciter et à remercier le Directeur général, le Dr Jacques Diouf et à travers lui l'Organisation qu'il dirige avec compétence et dévouement. Je voudrais par ailleurs féliciter les Républiques du Tajikistan, de l'Azerbaïdjan, de la Géorgie, de la Moldavie, du Turkménistan, nouveaux membres de la FAO et l'Organisation de libération de la Palestine pour son admission en qualité d'observateur à la Conférence. La Guinée a toujours soutenu la juste lutte de cette organisation et nous nous réjouissons qu'elle puisse avoir progressivement sa place dans le concert des nations.
La Guinée qui continue de donner la priorité au développement de son agriculture bénéficie de l'entière coopération de la FAO. Nous suivons avec beaucoup d'intérêt les initiatives qui ont été prises par le Directeur général pour donner une nouvelle impulsion à la problématique de la sécurité alimentaire. Ceci répond parfaitement à la mission de notre Organisation qui doit être en première ligne pour relever le défi de nourrir une population chaque année plus nombreuse sur une planète dont nous savons tous que les ressources ne sont pas illimitées. Notre ambition en Guinée est d'assurer une alimentation en quantité et en qualité suffisante à une population de près de 7 millions d'habitants qui croît au rythme de 2,8 pour cent par an.
Cet objectif est globalement atteint en ce qui concerne la couverture des besoins en calories et le marché mondial nous permet de subvenir à nos besoins dans des conditions relativement satisfaisantes. Mais il ne saurait être éternellement notre voie de recours car cette dépendance vis-à-vis des importations est en soi une source d'insécurité alimentaire qui pousse aux migrations des populations et à l'instabilité, le dysfonctionnement sur le marché mondial se répercutant immédiatement sur le panier de la ménagère.
Il faut donc que notre production vivrière augmente et, si possible, plus vite que nos besoins, si nous voulons assurer à nos concitoyens une sécurité alimentaire durable. Ce défi est à notre portée car la Guinée a été, à une certaine époque, le grenier de notre sous-région et nous ne désespérons pas de le redevenir. Nous savons que nous avons un potentiel important et c'est avec méthode et détermination que nous nous proposons de le mettre en valeur d'une manière durable.
Pour assurer cette sécurité alimentaire, nous sommes condamnés à renouer avec la croissance et, plus particulièrement, à intensifier la production - une intensification qui implique la sédentarisation de l'agriculture et donc l'abandon progressif du système défriche-brûlis qui est encore le système dominant et, dans une certaine mesure, un optimum économique.
Les cultures vivrières doivent devenir des cultures de rente profitables. Lorsque cette condition est remplie, la production se développe et l'initiative privée prend le relais. Pour satisfaire cette condition, cependant, et créer une dynamique de développement du secteur privé, il faut d'abord une plus grande technicité de nos producteurs, le désenclavement des zones de production, le développement des échanges intérieurs, la mise à disposition d'intrants à des prix compétitifs et l'évolution des comportements. Comme vous le voyez, il faudra encore, pendant longtemps, des dépenses publiques pour créer des conditions favorables à la production vivrière là où nous souhaitons que les populations puissent continuer à vivre de leurs activités agricoles.
Aussi nous semble-t-il prématuré, du moins en Afrique, de laisser croire que le secteur privé composé essentiellement de milliers de producteurs puisse jouer un rôle majeur dans le financement de la recherche, de la vulgarisation ou des infrastructures rurales. Bien sûr, nous encourageons la montée en puissance de leurs organisations professionnelles et nous incitons à la création d'un secteur privé moderne pour exploiter les opportunités de développement, notamment dans le domaine des cultures d'exportation. Néanmoins, les risques sont importants et la création d'un environnement favorable à l'investissement privé est une oeuvre de longue haleine qui implique la création d'une culture d'entreprise et des changements de comportement. C'est le travail d'au moins une génération.
C'est autour de ces préoccupations qui sont au coeur de la relance de l'agriculture guinéenne depuis une dizaine d'années et qui sont partagées, me semble t-il, par de nombreux pays africains que je souhaiterais une contribution plus significative de la FAO et une prise de conscience internationale plus nette, notamment à l'occasion du prochain Sommet mondial de l'alimentation.
Nous souhaitons, par conséquent, que le Sommet mondial de l'alimentation mette davantage l'accent sur la nécessité de maintenir un volume important d'aide internationale pour accompagner les mutations qui sont encore nécessaires avant que ne soient créées les conditions d'un développement endogène fondé sur la seule initiative privée. Pour l'Afrique, l'alternative n'est pas "secteur public-secteur privé" mais comment mieux orienter les investissements publics au service d'une politique de sécurité alimentaire qui permette à terme le développement du secteur privé.
Nous sommes favorables à des interventions mieux ciblées de l'Etat et à un engagement de la communauté internationale sur des programmes de développement à long terme. Je crois que c'est à ce niveau que le sommet pourrait dégager, entre autres, les priorités suivantes:
Premièrement, l'appui à l'élaboration de politiques économiques permanentes. La libéralisation des économies est désormais considérée comme incontournable. Il convient cependant de s'interroger sur la compatibilité entre des objectifs contradictoires comme, d'une part, la division internationale du travail basée sur les avantages comparatifs et qui risque de marginaliser l'Afrique qui n'a pas encore terminé sa phase d'apprentissage et, d'autre part, la nécessité reconnue par tous de sauvegarder la base productive agricole des pays en voie de développement pour y fixer les populations. A cet égard, nous avons apprécié l'initiative du Directeur général de la FAO de lancer un programme spécial sur la sécurité alimentaire. La Guinée est partie prenante de la phase pilote qui nous permettra d'améliorer notre référentiel technique.
Deuxièmement, le soutien à la recherche agronomique. La contribution des centres internationaux de recherche agronomique financés par la communauté internationale à la mise au point d'innovations agronomiques est indéniable. Cet effort doit être soutenu par des études sur les conditions qui permettent de faire passer ces innovations dans les pratiques paysannes.
Troisièmement, la modernisation des infrastructures. Dans ce cadre, la Guinée s'est engagée dans un vaste programme de réhabilitation de sa voirie rurale. Ces programmes sont coûteux mais indispensables pour améliorer l'avantage comparatif des productions nationales.
Quatrièmement, le renforcement de la protection intégrée des cultures (IPM) et la réduction des pertes après récoltes pour améliorer la quantité et la qualité de la production végétale et pour protéger l'environnement.
Je voudrais, par ailleurs, rappeler que, quelques semaines après son entrée en fonction, le Directeur général a procédé à l'examen de programmes, des structures et des politiques de la FAO et a proposé au Conseil de l'Organisation, qui l'a adopté, un programme de réformes devant permettre de mieux répondre aux besoins, de travailler plus efficacement, et de trouver un nouvel élan, pour servir ses Etats Membres dans un contexte de partenariat élargi.
La Guinée a approuvé ces orientations et nous souhaitons que la dynamique qui a été créée puisse se concrétiser par un soutien de la communauté internationale dans un élan de solidarité vis-à-vis des pays les plus démunis qui vivent au quotidien l'insécurité alimentaire.
C'est pourquoi, au nom de la République de Guinée, je voudrais inviter tous les pays du monde soucieux de lutter contre la malnutrition, la faim et la pauvreté à appuyer sans réserve le budget proposé par le Directeur général de notre Organisation, la FAO.
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TAO-SENG-HUOR (Cambodge): Monsieur le Président, Excellences, Honorables délégués, Mesdames, Messieurs, qu'il me soit tout d'abord permis, au nom du Gouvernement royal du Cambodge, d'adresser mes chaleureuses félicitations à Monsieur le Président à l'occasion de son élection à la présidence de cette 28ème session de la Conférence de la FAO ainsi qu'à tous les membres du Bureau.
Je saisis cette occasion pour exprimer ma profonde gratitude, au nom du Gouvernement royal du Cambodge, au Gouvernement et au peuple italiens pour la chaleureuse hospitalité qu'ils m'ont réservée.
Je voudrais également souhaiter la bienvenue aux cinq nouveaux Membres qui ont été admis hier à la FAO.
La célébration du cinquantième anniversaire de la FAO vient de se terminer avec succès au Canada, dans la province de Québec. Le Royaume du Cambodge a suivi avec beaucoup d'attention toutes les déclarations faites par les Etats Membres de la FAO et en particulier celle de Son Excellence M. Jacques Diouf, Directeur général de la FAO. Il a présenté un bilan des activités passées et des plans d'action future. Les travaux de toutes ces années écoulées ont consisté à transférer le savoir-faire et les compétences aux différents pays et en particulier aux pays en développement.
La situation de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale est inquiétante. Il est à rappeler qu'il n'est pas possible de vivre dans un monde où, dans les pays en développement, 800 millions de personnes sont sous-alimentées parmi lesquelles 200 millions d'enfants de moins de 5 ans atteints de carences protéino-énergétiques. Cependant, le problème consiste à trouver le moyen de faire progresser rapidement et d'une façon soutenue le développement agricole durable pour le bien des générations présentes et futures et d'assurer la sécurité alimentaire mondiale.
A ce sujet, je tiens à exprimer la volonté du Gouvernement royal du Cambodge de coopérer sur une base constructive afin de poursuivre les actions de coopération et de développement agricole durable conformément à la résolution de la 27ème session de la Conférence de la FAO et à la préparation du Sommet mondial de l'alimentation de 1996 qui aura pour thème "Investir pour nourrir le monde".
Le Royaume du Cambodge vient de rejoindre la communauté des Etats Membres de la FAO après une vingtaine d'années d'absence de la scène internationale due à des circonstances pénibles. Le Gouvernement royal mis en place il y a seulement deux ans, après les élections générales de 1993, s'est fixé pour objectif de reconstruire le pays dans un cadre démocratique et d'économie de marché à un rythme accéléré afin d'améliorer les conditions de vie d'une population en forte expansion - plus de 2,8 pour cent par an - et dont le produit intérieur brut par personne n'atteignait que 227 dollars E.-U. en 1993.
Alors que le problème de la sécurité alimentaire au Cambodge s'avère primordial, face aux besoins alimentaires dépendant, d'une part, de l'évolution démographique et, d'autre part, de faibles revenus, une place importante est consacrée à l'agriculture comme base de développement économique et social. La réalisation de ce développement a pour priorité la valorisation des richesses fondamentales du pays que représente l'agriculture grâce à une grande diversité écologique.
L'agriculture verte représente un progrès majeur dans le domaine de la technologie agricole et constituera vraisemblablement l'un des facteurs essentiels de l'évolution économique au Cambodge. Les techniques reposent sur l'accroissement des rendements grâce à l'amélioration des semences, à l'apport d'engrais et à la lutte intégrée contre les ravageurs.Dans le domaine de l'agriculture aussi bien que dans celui de la recherche agricole, la formation des cadres a une place privilégiée dans programme d'action nationale. Dans un autre domaine, celui de la politique de l'eau, des efforts ont été faits on vue de restaurer des réseaux d'irrigation.
En ce qui concerne les ressources forestières, le Gouvernement royal du Cambodge attache une importance considérable au problème de l'environnement qui est causé par la déforestation. Les conséquences en sont graves pour l'agriculture: inondations, sécheresse, érosion, désertification , sédimentation, etc.
Dans le domaine de la pêche, un appui a été apporté au Cambodge pour renforcer la politique et le développement de l'aquaculture. Dans cette perspective, au nom du Gouvernement royal du Cambodge, je voudrais rendre un sincère hommage à Son Excellence M. Jacques Diouf, Directeur général de la FAO, qui a apporté une assistance technique et financière à la population cambodgienne. Cette année encore, la FAO soutient particulièrement sa représentation au Cambodge pour faciliter le travail et préparer efficacement l'ensemble des projets dans le cadre de la réhabilitation et du développement agricole durable.
Le Gouvernement royal du Cambodge exprime également sa profonde reconnaissance à tous les pays et à toutes les organisations internationales donateurs - bilatéraux, multilatéraux, FAO, PNUD, Programme alimentaire mondial, Banque mondiale, Banque de développement pour l'Asie, Caisse française de développement, ONG, etc - pour le soutien si précieux qui lui a été accordé, soutien sans lequel tout projet ou tout programme de développement économique et social du pays n'aurait pas pu être réalisé.
Pour terminer, je tiens à préciser que le Gouvernement royal du Cambodge ne ménagera aucun effort pour apporter sa contribution à la réussite des travaux de la 28ème session et qu'il soutient fermement la Déclaration de Québec sur l'alimentation et l'agriculture adoptée à l'occasion du Cinquantième anniversaire de la FAO.
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CHAIRMAN: If you have no objections, I propose to give the floor to the Secretary-General of the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development who has asked to speak for a maximum of five minutes. I am advised he has to leave tonight.
Karrar A. ABB ADI (Arab Organization for Agricultural Development): At the outset I would like to express my condolences to the Government and people of Iraq on the loss of the Minister of Agriculture for Iraq. May his soul rest in peace.
Allow me at the beginning to extend my thanks and express my appreciation to FAO and its Director-General Dr Jacques Diouf for the kind invitation extended to the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development to participate in the deliberations of this important Conference. Allow me also to hail FAO on its 50th Anniversary and on its efforts in the field of TCDC in order to achieve agricultural and rural development on the basis of sustainable self-reliance with a view to increasing incomes in rural areas and improving the quality and quantity of food for the poorest.
The Arab nations realized a long time ago that Arab economic integration is the appropriate tool to achieve national goals and progress because this is the best way to attain comprehensive and integrated development.
Our organization since the very beginning has tried to establish and develop links amongst Arab countries and harmonize cooperation in various fields on a scientific basis. Since Arab food security was amongst the most important goals for which the organization was established, it was accorded due attention. We have noticed, in the light of very important studies, the food gap in value has increased from US$802 million in 1970 to US$11 million in 1993. Cereals account for 46 percent; milk and dairy products for 19 percent; vegetable oils for 13 percent; meat for 12 percent; sugar for 11 percent and wheat for 20 percent. Because of this situation the Organization drew up an integrated strategy to achieve food security in the Arab world. Policies, programmes and plans were included to this end. Some of these plans were implemented but yet, because of certain developments on the international scene, this has not always been successful.
Mr President, over the last three years we have seen many developments, both international and regional, which have had an effect on the situation in the Arab countries.
This was worsened by the increased debt burden in some Arab countries as well as structural adjustment policies and the economic reform programmes. Another development was the peace march in the Arab world.
We think that we will be able to increase the potential of the Arab world and achieve sustainable agricultural development if we establish the necessary cooperation links with international organizations such as FAO, and I hope that we will be successful in our efforts.
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CHAIRMAN: With the statement of the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, we come to the end of this afternoon's meeting. Before I adjourn, I will give the floor to the Secretary-General for two announcements.
SECRETARY-GENERAL: The Africa Group has asked me to announce that it will have a meeting on Monday 23rd October at 0800 hours, in the Lebanon Room.
My other announcement is that delegates are reminded that on Monday morning all Conference meetings will adjourn at 10.45 hours, to facilitate delegates attending the Papal Audience. Accordingly the meetings of Plenary, Commission I and Commission II will start at 09.00 hours. We would therefore urge you to make a special effort to be on time.
The meeting rose at 18.30 hours.
La séance est levée à 18 h 30.
Se levanta la sesión a las 18.30 horas.
