Dato' Zaharuddin JAAFAR (Malaysia): My delegation wishes to join other members in reaffirming our commitment and support to FAO to convene the World Food Summit in November 1996. The decision is timely and is long overdue.
My country's interventions at FAO fora before this on this subject are firstly to emphasize the need for food security to remain in the fold of the agriculture sector, though the sector itself should accommodate the wider economic and social issues in its policy and programme formulations.
The second issue which Malaysia raised at the 108th Council was the need to look at agriculture, particularly for food production, in a balanced manner. While it is wise to look at it from the standpoint of economics, ' politics and environmental considerations, it may also be wiser to constantly regard it as a maintainer of human life, which has its final objective in feeding the human beings of a nation and consequently the world. Thus a philosophical thrust should be included in the policy document on Universal Food Security that is to be presented to the Heads of Government. It should also be supported by a statement on rights and will of nations to produce food to feed their own people as well.
A third point which Malaysia raised was that although the Road to Rome World Food Summit is the same as the Road from Rome, it believes that the Road from Rome is much harder. The Road from Rome eventually ends in the producers, whether big or small, having to mobilize their resources to produce food with a fair return on their investments. In developing countries food production is primarily in the hands of smallholders. To increase efficiency, in many cases, would also mean restructuring the small-farm holdings so that economies of scale could be achieved. This may lead to displacement of small-farm holders. Thus it becomes necessary for government to weigh carefully the socio-economic cost of restructuring against the benefits of having food production totally dominated by commercial enterprises.
Malaysia acknowledged the need for higher investment in agriculture for food production. At the same time it shared the opinion of the Secretariat that relationship between investment in agricultural infrastructure and food output is not clear, although, however, agricultural infrastructure is necessary for its lesser developed areas. Malaysia shall give greater focus on research and development in new technologies, farm restructuring towards commercialization, and human resource development, as vehicles for higher food production.
Mr Chairman, the myriad of issues and problems associated with food security compounded with adjustments to conform with GATT Multilateral Trade Agreements, in particular the Agreement on Agriculture, need special focus in order that the objective of achieving adequate food supplies can be reached. In this context, my delegation suggests that each member country pursue a definite food security policy, whether domestic self-sufficiency, trade orientated self-sufficiency, or home production with transitional food aid. Member countries, especially in the LIFDCs which need to pursue domestic self-sufficiency in order to feed their population, should be supported by the international community, so that in the long run they can eventually help themselves to produce food. In this respect, the FAO programme, Food Production in support of Food Security for LIFDCs Countries, could serve as an example of world programmes that should receive the higher political support at the World Food Summit.
Food security involves two major elements, that of availability and access. While greater attention has been given on the question of supply availabilities, it is necessary also to look at the question of how to provide and maintain the access or income for people to get food. In this respect my delegation suggests that sufficient attention should also be given to the income generation and poverty alleviation policies necessary to be instituted in order to stimulate production of food in the rural areas. While the benefits in creation of employment in the urban sector are well understood, rural employment generation is not sufficiently explored. Rural and cottage industries provide to some extent some employment, and consequently income for people to purchase food, but the markets for those products are limited.
Mr Chairman, before I leave the floor, on behalf of the Malaysian delegation, I would like to wish the Director-General and FAO every success in their preparations for the World Food Summit of 1996. This is an important summit, and every Member Nation should be able to express its ideas so that the problems of food security could be minimized if not eradicated. Having given our point, we hope some of the issues could be included in the draft resolution.
Jean Robert GOULONGANA (Gabon): Monsieur le Président, le Chef de la délégation gabonaise a, dans sa déclaration en plénière, déjà appuyé chaleureusement l'initiative du Directeur général de convoquer un Sommet mondial de l'alimentation. Il l'a fait au nom du Gabon, mais également au nom de l'ensemble du Groupe africain. Je me bornerai donc à indiquer, au cours de nos débats ici, que notre appui à cette rencontre est motivée par deux éléments fondamentaux.
Le premier est la conscience que les Chefs d'Etat africains ont conscience du problème aigu de la faim dans le monde et en particulier dans notre continent. C'est la raison pour laquelle, dès l'origine, le sommet des Chefs d'Etat de l'Organisation de l'unité africaine (OUA) a appuyé par une résolution la convocation de ce sommet. Je pense donc que nos pays, le Gabon en tout cas pour ce qui me concerne, sont fortement engagés dans l'organisation de ce sommet et la volonté politique ainsi exprimée ne s'est pas démentie jusqu'à présent. Nous n'avons pas eu d'éléments nouveaux qui remettent en cause l'opportunité de cette rencontre et c'est la raison pour laquelle nous réaffirmons notre appui à la convocation de ce sommet.
Le deuxième élément est que nous sommes ici, à Rome, associés depuis l'origine à cette idée dans la mesure où le Directeur général nous réunit régulièrement pour nous présenter l'état d'avancement des préparatifs. Nous sommes donc tout à fait au courant et jusqu'à présent, je n'ai pas, pour ce qui me concerne, noté d'opposition formelle aussi bien sur l'intitulé de ce sommet que sur ses dates ou son contenu, donc je suis un peu surpris par les positions qui sont actuellement exprimées dans la mesure où nous avons été associés. J'ajoute que le Conseil, pour sa part, a déjà approuvé chaleureusement l'idée de ce sommet et je crois que les étapes normales de préparation d'un tel forum ont été respectées. Jusqu'à présent et encore à Québec il y a quelques jours, nous n'avons entendu aucune voix opposée à la convocation de ce sommet. Au contraire, je crois que Québec à été caractérisé par l'unanimité sur l'opportunité de la convocation du sommet. Voilà ce que je tenais à dire, Monsieur le Président.
Dans ces conditions, ma délégation appuie le projet de résolution tel qu'il est. Naturellement, s'il y a quelques problèmes de rédaction concernant des aspects secondaires, nous sommes tout à fait disposés, dans le cadre du Comité de rédaction, à examiner ces amendements de forme, mais pour ce qui concerne le fond, l'intitulé de la réunion, les dates de sa tenue, les différentes composantes de ce sommet, à savoir le niveau des participants, tels qu'arrêtés, tout ceci rencontre notre agrément.
J'ajoute que nous saluons également la proposition du Directeur général et du Secrétariat de prévoir la possibilité d'un fonds fiduciaire alimenté par des contributions volontaires pour assurer le succès et le suivi de ce sommet.
Badr BEN AMMAR (Tunisie): Puisque c'est la première fois que la délégation tunisienne prend la parole, permettez-moi, Monsieur le Président, de vous adresser les félicitations de la Tunisie pour votre élection à cette importante Commission de la Conférence, en sa vingt-huitième Session.
Le Sommet mondial de l'alimentation, proposé par le Directeur général en vue de sensibiliser la communauté internationale au plus haut niveau politique sur les questions intéressant la sécurité alimentaire mondiale et sur les moyens d'y parvenir, a fait l'objet de consultations avec les groupes régionaux et d'examen au sein du Comité de la sécurité alimentaire dont les conclusions ont été approuvées par la cent huitième Session du Conseil, laquelle a appuyé l'initiative du Directeur général et recommandé à la Conférence d'approuver la convocation du Sommet pour le mois de novembre 1996.
Le processus de préparation du Sommet par le Secrétariat ad hoc créé à cet effet semble suivre son cours normal et les invitations officielles des chefs d'Etat ont été lancées.
Le projet de résolution proposé par le Secrétariat dans le document C 95/17 constituera l'acte officiel par lequel la Conférence manifestera son approbation de l'initiative du Directeur général, tel que recommandé par le Conseil en juin dernier.
La Délégation tunisienne réitère son approbation à la proposition du Directeur général et exprime son appui au projet de résolution.
Plus particulièrement, la Tunisie appuie la tenue d'un Sommet mondial de l'alimentation tel qu'il est intitulé et je rejoins l'orateur du Gabon qui m'a précédé pour maintenir l'intitulé tel qu'il a été arrêté, tout en mentionnant qu'il l'est depuis déjà un an.
Ma Délégation appuie aussi l'appel à la participation des chefs d'Etat et de gouvernement à ce Sommet.
Nous approuvons par ailleurs la proposition relative à l'ouverture d'un fonds fiduciaire spécial pour la mobilisation des contributions, à l'instar des autres sommets et conférences, ces contributions étant, bien sûr, volontaires.
Enfin, Monsieur le Président, la Délégation tunisienne saisit cette occasion pour renouveler au Gouvernement italien ses remerciements et sa gratitude pour l'accueil du Sommet et l'appui apporté à son organisation pour en garantir le succès.
Lyle VANCLIEF (Canada): On behalf of Canada, I am pleased to be able to share with delegations gathered here today a few of our thoughts on the World Food Summit.
Over the past 50 years, we have made some progress in the realm of food security. Whereas nearly 35 percent of the world's population was starving or undernourished in 1945, we have reduced that percentage figure to 20. But the absolute number of people in the world who are undernourished continues to rise steadily. This fact, combined with the constant increase in the world's population, raises very serious concerns about the future of our food security.
However, quite apart from the statistics, in which we can so easily be trapped, we must think of the hungry, one hungry person at a time, and try to imagine explaining to him or her why it must be so.
In this context, Canada welcomes the prospect of a Summit to address the issues of food security. More than 20 years have passed since the World Food Conference of 1974, and it is high time for the international community to take another look at the issues involved and to determine how best to address them.
While nutrition was the subject of a major conference in 1992, the World Food Summit will be particularly significant in helping to focus the international community on all four aspects of food security, namely: production, stability, nutrition and access. Since its founding, FAO has addressed primarily the production issue, while also doing some useful work on nutrition. It has built up valuable expertise in these two areas, especially in terms of policy development.
However, partly because it would exceed FAO's area of special expertise, the same cannot be said with respect to stability and access. This gap could be bridged by close, ongoing cooperation between FAO and other organizations active in these areas. The access component of food security - the need to overcome poverty so as to enable individuals and households to purchase food - is recognized as one of the main areas for improvement. This clearly involves a very broad set of economic and social issues. Indeed, it is development, written large. The Summit would benefit from the involvement of other organizations, both intergovernmental and non-governmental, with in-depth and practical knowledge of poverty eradication.
We believe that only a complete examination of the complex and multi-dimensional nature of these four facets of food security will allow the world community to make progress towards achieving food security. It is for this reason that we support some suggestions to clarify and strengthen document C 95/17, in particular to insert in the title the word 'Security' so that it would be the 'World Food Security Summit'. Also we support an amendment to operative paragraph 6 of the proposed resolution, which would ensure that such organizations play a full partnership role in the various preparatory meetings leading to the Summit.
For years it has been governments that have held discussions on food security. I agree that governments have accomplished a great deal, whether within international organizations or through their own countries' policies and programmes. However, I sincerely believe that a debate on a subject as important as food security should be open to a wider audience, one that is more representative of all the economic, social and intellectual forces of the international community. By wider audience, I mean an audience made up of governments, universities, non-governmental organizations, and representatives of the fisheries, agriculture, agri-food and forestry industries. This would allow all organizations concerned with food security to contribute to the discussions and the development of clear, effective and concrete solutions.
Finally, I would like to support several of the amendments to the draft resolution which have been submitted today. In particular, it seems to me that the title 'Summit' indicates clearly enough the desired level of representation, as does, even more precisely, the first operative paragraph. The second operative paragraph, which sets up an invidious distinction among the very valid messages of sovereign states according to the title of the messenger, and the seventh operative paragraph which would have governments calling upon themselves, as though they do not otherwise speak to themselves, should be dropped.
I also agree that it would be most efficient to have the second meeting of the Committee on Food Security, provided a wide range of intergovernmental and non-governmental partners are invited to it, report directly to the pre-Summit meeting of senior officials.
Gebrehiwot REDAI (Ethiopia): Like the previous speakers, may I congratulate you on your election to the chairmanship of this important Commission. I would also like to congratulate the Secretariat and the World Food Summit, as they have always provided us with documents which are brief and informative.
The rationale for convening a World Food Summit in November 1996 is provided in a comprehensive manner in the documents of the Secretariat issued in August 1995.
Therefore, we have no intention of going over that again. Nevertheless, we are convinced that the convening of the Summit is timely and cannot be put aside in this world of paradox where poverty and affluence coexist. Contrary to this, the available information on the global food demand-supply situation indicates that our planet earth is capable of providing adequate and nutritionally balanced food under fair and equitable use of existing resources and technological means. But what is lacking is the will that gives rise to the means for access. Of course, access in the midst of poverty is increasingly difficult. The rural poor of the world lacks the necessary resources to produce their own food because of political, economic and social factors. As a result, millions of people in developing countries, and especially in sub-Saharan Africa, still live under persistent hunger and malnutrition. Many children have stunted growth due to lack of basic micronutrient deficiencies.
What makes the situation more grave is that the vulnerable groups are women and children. Profound rural poverty then resulted in urban migration and social dislocation. Due to these outstanding problems, food security is a prime global concern. The magnitude, dimension, complexity and above all the urgency to address food security makes the convening of the World Food Summit in November 1996 very timely. Should this problem be left unabated, the world will continue to have more instability, less production and degradation of the environment.
It is very true that the preparation for the Summit, and the realization of food security, requires the active participation of all segments of society. In this connection, FAO had approached international organizations, financial institutions, the academic and scientific centres and national governments in both developing and developed nations. We have learned that the responses were encouraging. We hope all the partners renew their commitments for action-oriented plan with the necessary financial means lest the preparatory works end up on the shelf.
Unlike the modest success of the 1974 World Food Conference, the forthcoming World Food Summit should come with concrete commitments and measurable outputs.
In summary, Ethiopia supports the draft resolution and will work to contribute to the eradication of hunger and malnutrition. Furthermore, we would like to draw the attention of all actors that the task of handling food security is challenging, gradual and, above all, needs a multi-dimensional approach encompassing political, economic and social aspects to come up with sustainable remedies.
Allow me to touch upon document C 95/18, which is the Agricultural Adjustment, which we found to have some relevance as concerns food security and, naturally, the World Food Summit. In this document, page 17, Table 6 indicates the level of estimated and projected chronic undernutrition in developing countries up to the year 2010. The figure for sub-Sahara Africa is not only the highest but constitutes 43 percent; that is of the 730 million to be undernourished, 302 million will be in this region by the year 2010. It is then worrying to note that our children will go hungry and will not be supplied with nutritious food, even ten years after the closing of this century. We ask who other than the international community has the responsibility to curb this embarrassing scenario. We are convinced of the need for collective action to defeat hunger, otherwise mankind cannot rest assured when members of its community are not able to meet basic needs at this period in time.
In conclusion, our delegation is of the view that the national secretariats, established in many nations for preparation of the Summit, be further strengthened as a focal link between FAO and Member Nations. In this connection, FAO, with its comparative advantage in the field of food and agriculture, takes the lead role to ensure the sustainability of the programme and periodically makes the necessary review of national efforts to forward it to its Governing Bodies for further coordinated action.
Alberto BELZARES (Venezuela): Venezuela, señor Presidente, en ocasión de la visita que realizó a nuestro país el señor Jacques Diouf, Director General de la FAO, brindó su apoyo a la realización, en 1996, de la Cumbre Mundial de la Alimentación, por cuanto estamos convencidos que una Conferencia de esta naturaleza, en los actuales momentos, significa concientizar a toda la comunidad internacional y sobre todo a los países de mayores recursos, a colaborar con la Organización, en la búsqueda de soluciones prácticas al problema de seguridad alimentaria, que si bien, actualmente constituye un grave problema para gran parte de la humanidad, puede revestir, si no se aunan esfuerzos, situaciones realmente catastróficas.
Venezuela, como miembro de la región de América Latina y el Caribe, ha visto con suma preocupación como la pobreza en nuestra región, se ha incrementado hasta alcanzar niveles realmente inhumanos. Es por ello que una Conferencia Mundial sobre Alimentación, pareciera una esperanza válida para todos los países, que pese a los esfuerzos gubernamentales realizados, no han encontrado hasta la fecha una salida para combatir este flagelo.
No quisiera dejar pasar la ocasión, para señalar que nuestro Ministro de Agricultura en la reciente reunión de Quebec para conmemorar los 50 años de la FAO, declaró que Venezuela comparte la convicción de que en la actualidad el problema del hambre y la desnutrición se centran más en la mala distribución de la oferta a nivel internacional y nacional, que en la escasez de alimentos a nivel mundial. Asimismo, sugirió que con ocasión de la Cumbre Mundial de 1996, sería útil disponer de escenarios en una perspectiva de 30 años, que relacionen las futuras demandas con la posibilidad de incorporación de nuevas tierras y con las innovaciones y mejoras tecnológicas posibles y los incrementos de rendimientos esperados, todo ello en el contexto de una agricultura sostenible en armonía con su ambiente. Estas proyecciones no deberán limitarse a valores globales, sino que se desagregarían por regiones y países, así como por grupos de alimentos.
En Quebec se mencionó también la importancia de una adecuada relación entre agricultura y agroindustria, particularmente la industria de alimentos, la cual deberá jugar un importante papel en la oferta agrícola. Existen experiencias cada vez más frecuentes, de convenios agroindustriales que garantizan a los agricultores la colocación y mejores precios para sus productos, así como el financiamiento y la asistencia técnica para su producción, la cual hace factible lograr relaciones de mutuo beneficio.
Nuestro país, vista la importancia que le da al tema y atendiendo la solicitud del Director General de la FAO, designó un Secretario Nacional que servirá de enlace con la Organización para los preparativos de la Cumbre.
Designación que recayó en el Director General Sectorial de Economía y Cooperación Internacionales del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores.
Por supuesto que, para lograr el éxito, se requiere un plan de acción que se concretice en el tiempo, con objetivos precisos y alcanzables, de manera que la Cumbre no concluya en una mera declaración política de buena voluntad. De allí que compartimos la idea que el Proyecto de Declaración sea breve y conciso.
Como se ha señalado en la Cumbre de 1974, el informe "Alimentación, Agricultura y Seguridad Alimentaria, la Dimensión Mundial-Evolución Histórica, Situación Actual, Perspectivas de Futuro", sostiene que, cito: "mientras la esencia del problema de alimentación mundial sea la elevada inseguridad alimentaria y la subnutrición, precisamente en los países con escasos suministros de alimentos per cápita y una acusada dependencia de la agricultura, no podrá haber respuestas políticas adecuadas si no se incluye una fuerte dosis de medidas para acelerar la producción de alimentos en esos países, por lo menos en esta fase de su desarrollo", fin de la cita.
En relación a la seguridad alimentaria, el Gobierno Nacional busca aumentar y mejorar los niveles de productividad agrícola para poder avanzar hacia un desarrollo sostenible. Las políticas adoptadas están orientadas a favorecer las condiciones actuales de vida de la población y mejorar las expectativas, así como crear el ambiente propicio para que la agricultura aumente su producción y productividad, para lo cual el Gobierno elaboró un Plan de Acción Nacional, que contempla las siguientes medidas:
- Concretar una política donde participen las comunidades agrícolas, que estimule las asociaciones de productores, para que adopten criterios empresariales en sus actividades productivas.
- Identificar las áreas económicamente más deprimidas y asumir la responsabilidad de elaborar, conducir y ejecutar proyectos, dirigidos a atender las necesidades más perentorias.
- Captar recursos financieros nacionales y de los Organismos Internacionales, para ejecutar los planes de desarrollo rural.
- Estimular la creación de microempresas agrícolas, de agroturismo y de otras actividades, localizadas a nivel regional, a fin de fomentar el empleo.
- Coordinar, con los Ministerios e Instituciones pertinentes, acciones de educación, salud, recreación, etc, en las áreas rurales.
Y por último, emprender programas de investigación y desarrollo, para solucionar los problemas del medio rural.
La Delegación de Venezuela, reafirma que el enfoque principal de la Cumbre debería ser la seguridad alimentaria, toda vez que ésta constituya el objetivo, por el cual se creó esta Organización. Nos complace que nuestra sugerencia, referente a que el Organo más adecuado para preparar la Cumbre debe ser el Comité sobre Seguridad Alimentaria, haya sido adoptada.
Por lo tanto, para que el Plan de Acción tenga efectividad, debe recoger las características de cada región, en este sentido que la región de América Latina y el Caribe debe ser tomada en cuenta en la elaboración de dicho Plan.
Mi Delegación, señor Presidente, apoya en principio el Proyecto de Resolución tal como consta en el Documento C 95/17 Pág. 3 de esta Conferencia.
Mrs Wafaa Mohamed YOUSSUF (Egypt) (Original language Arabic): The United Nations from its very beginning considered that it is the right of every individual to have enough food and the United Nations has been trying to obtain this objective. The World Food Conference was convened in 1974 to discuss the question of food production and consumption and this Conference considered that everybody had the right to be free from hunger and malnutrition. Now that we are in 1995 this goal has not been attained yet.
Even now we have 800 million people in the developing countries who suffer from chronic malnutrition and 199 million of them are children under the age of five.
In the circumstances prevailing in the world today and which was discussed at the International Conference my country considers that it is timely to mobilize the technical and political efforts in order to tackle the basic causes of the lack of world food security. Therefore, my country supports the Director-General in his efforts to convene the World Food Summit in the period 13-17 November 1996 in order to have a forum at the international level and at the highest level in order to face the problems of hunger and the lack of world food security as well as to support rural development.
Mr Chairman, Egypt has supported the convening of the World Food Summit in the international and regional conferences where we were represented and these are: the 30th and 31st Conferences of the Heads of States and Governments of the OAN in 1994 and 1995, the meeting of N.A.M. Ministers of Agriculture convened in 1994, the Conference of the Heads of Governments of the OIC Islamic countries convened in 1994 and the 103rd meeting of the League of Arab States Council convened in 1995.
Mr Chairman, I am pleased to say that the President of the Republic supported the convening of the World Food Summit from 13-17 November 1996 and gave his approval to participate in the Council sponsoring this Conference. We hope the summit will achieve the expected results.
We also support the draft Resolution under discussion concerning the World Food Summit and its title which was supported and approved by our Heads of State in the period as suggested, and to invite countries to participate in the Conference at the level of Heads of State and Governments.
Noer SUTRISNO (Indonesia): Mr Chairman, I would like to join other delegations in congratulating you on your election to chair this Commission. I would like also to congratulate the Secretariat for providing us with such informative and useful information.
The heads of state or governments of the non-aligned countries in their Summit held in Djakarta in 1992 have expressed their deep concern about the food security situation and problems faced by developing countries. While recognizing that the food security situation in many parts of the world is still far from encouraging, the Conference of the Ministers of Food and Agriculture of the Non-aligned Countries held in Bali in 1994 has adopted the Bali Declaration of Food Security of the Non-aligned Movement and Other Developing Countries. The Ministers called for the movement of efficiency and effectiveness in international cooperation for promoting food security particularly in developing countries, and further stressed the need to reinstate food and agriculture as a priority issue on the international agenda and therefore support the convening of a World Food Summit in 1996.
The Bali Declaration also stressed the importance of formulating food security and nutritional policies and programmes within the framework of socio-economic development taking into account the interlinkage of population with poverty and food production, processing, distribution and consumption patterns. It is also equally important to consider environmental quality, natural resources and proper access to land.
The Indonesian delegation fully support the convening of the World Food Summit and express the earnest hope that the Summit will be able to adopt the policy at international and national levels, and adopt a workable plan of action to redress the pressing problem of food insecurity in many developing countries.
My delegation welcomes the proposed decision that the Committee on World Food Security serve as the focal point for the preparation of the World Food Summit. We do hope that the Committee will be able to produce draft documents for policy and a plan of action.
In closing, I would like to express my delegation's support for the adoption of the Draft Resolution.
Ms M. McCOWAN (United Kingdom): I would like to start out by associating the United Kingdom with the comments made earlier today by the European Union representative, and like others mention the fact that the United Kingdom has already started setting up the arrangements for consultation within the United Kingdom across Whitehall with other government departments, as well as setting up the arrangements for consultation with universities, public sectors, the private sector and NGOs.
Mr Chairman, I am taking your advice when you told us this morning that it would be helpful if we tried to focus our comments on the Draft Resolution. I look forward to hearing further advice from you on how we are actually going to go about making specific drafting points. I fully accept that perhaps this is not the right forum for that so I will just identify those parts of the Declaration or Resolution that we would like to say something about.
In opening those remarks I would like to suggest that in conformity with other parts of the United Nations there is a tendency to try and avoid long preambular paragraphs. There are some points in the preamble with which we might not necessarily agree. These are not great points of issue, but is it actually true that political leadership can guarantee freedom from hunger? It would be nice to think that it could but I doubt it. Is it true that this is the first ever meeting that has focused at head of state level on food security? I wonder if we might not consider whether we need those kinds of preambular sentences.
Looking at the two further parts of the preamble that I think we ought to ask more about, one is about making the necessary provisions within the Programme of Work and Budget. When this was discussed in Council the delegate of Australia raised a number of questions which I was not quite clear had been fully answered by the Secretariat and I was hoping that we might get that sort of response today.
The paragraph that refers to expressing our appreciation to the Director-General in his efforts for comprehensive consultation, we would like to hear more about. A number of delegates ever since the World Summit was proposed, have stressed very much the need for full consultation with all major players to take place, and it would be interesting and useful to find out where we stand on that. The Council before last did stress the need for consultation in relation to preparation as well as technical documentation.
Turning to the more substantive parts of the Draft Resolution, we agree with other comments that we should not be in a position to stipulate to heads of state that they should be involved and that if they are not, then their nominees will not be able to participate in that part of the Summit. We would like to see paragraph 2 removed and we agree with those who suggest that this is subsumed under paragraph 1.
I am not going to go into detail now because of time, but we would have liked to have seen some rethinking of the objectives as set out in paragraph 4, because we are very keen that the objectives of the Summit should be more specific and particularly on poverty focused interventions. I have some proposals in that regard which perhaps we can look at when we look at drafting.
Under paragraph 5 of the Draft Resolution, I join with others who question whether we want to limit it in quite this way. I think it should be the most fully participatory event possible. I would have liked to have seen international financial institutions separately mentioned since we do believe they would have a very important role.
I have already dealt with our concerns about paragraph 7 representation at head of state level. I would also like to mention that paragraph 8 may give some delegations problems. It is very important that all official delegations fully consult from the earliest levels with non-governmental organizations and the private sector, but whether we should be urging governments to include these in official delegations I think is something we might need to reconsider. In my country this is a very big NGO sector and how we would manage that I am not entirely clear.
Turning to paragraph 14, it is not clear to me how the timing here would work. I think the principle is fine but I am not clear when the CFS would meet after the Summit, and whether there would be sufficient progress in the Summit by that time for them to make meaningful input to the Council that year.
With those comments, and looking forward to advice from you of how we go further, I thank you very much, Mr Chairman.
LE PRESIDENT: Merci Madame la déléguée du Royaume-Uni pour la précision de vos observations qui sont concentrées sur le projet de résolution. Je crois que ceci sera très utile pour pouvoir décider de la manière dont on examinera ce projet de résolution et de ce que l'on fera des amendements éventuellement proposés. A la fin du débat, nous essaierons de trouver tous ensemble des solutions pour tous. Je passe la parole au délégué de l'Afrique du Sud.
Ms Bongiwe NJOBE-MBULI (South Africa): As part of its own challenge to attain food security at the national as well as at the household level the South African agricultural sector has recognized the importance of making more visible the economic as well as the social role of agriculture in our national, regional and international policy agenda.
Therefore, it follows that we join those who support the Resolution to convene the World Food Summit at the proposed level of heads of state in November 1996.
There is a reality about the conflicting interests within national economies which often leads to a nondeliberate yet negative effect on the availability and accessability to food. The World Food Summit could therefore contribute significantly in this regard in that the interventions would have taken into account issues which go beyond the agricultural sector.
South Africa in its diversity presents a microcosm of the world's dynamic of food surpluses in food deficit areas, and we have in the past two years focused our efforts on the development of policies, strategies and actions to address the pertinent challenge of food security. Our national policy is to reconstruct and develop; and food security, poverty alleviation, increased incomes and employment generation are some of the goals of that national programme.
Our strategy in agriculture has been to broaden the definition of farmer to include women, small and part-time producers and at the same time re-examine the role of government in the provision of agricultural support services, as well as incentives currently in place in the sector. We find that this necessitates institutional and budgetary reorientation, extensive retraining and improving the image of the agricultural sector, particularly among urban populations. We have therefore put in place programmes to support institutional development, to facilitate access to financial services research reorientation, technology transfer and sustainable natural resource use.
At this point I would like to make a few comments, therefore, with regard to the proposed Summit. It is important to commend the stringent approach adopted by the Director-General on the use of resources to support the preparation process and the actual proposed event. In the light of this we believe the budgetary allocation is appropriate and well considered. Furthermore, the proposed activities present an opportunity for a comprehensive approach to discussing and reaching agreement on the hurdles and issues which require critical attention of the FAO and its Members.
The time required in the month of November to complete the discussions we believe is appropriate. We should be sensitive to the desire to reduce time spent in such meetings yet balance this with the danger of having a purely symbolic event graced by our heads of state. Therefore, full participation on such a matter by the diverse stakeholders is commendable.
A second point of note is the proposed focus on the objectives of the World Food Summit and the associated preparatory process. There is a wealth of experience in the Organization through its staff and its Member Nations on the issues pertaining to food and agricultural policy. The proposed process can capture this experience, we believe. However, it is the hope of the South African delegation that the process leading to and the actual Summit will not only discuss but also, on the basis of available knowledge, single out the concrete actions and the non-tangible elements requiring redress for the purpose of attainment of world food security.
Therefore, the outcome of the Summit should, in addition to raising awareness on food security issues and concerns, bring about an identification of those issues which may require collaborative efforts among Member Nations and separate these from those items that may require a consensus from Member Nations.
South Africa wishes to express its own commitment as a member that has recently rejoined the FAO to making a comparable contribution of experience and prospective on the matters on the table for debate.
Finally, we would wish to support the identification of the need for active participation of youth in the process leading to the World Food Summit. Indeed, it is a concern for food security now and in the future against the wave of increasing populations that needs the attention of current as well as future world leaders.
We would suggest therefore that in the observer groups we allow, if not even encourage, participation from the youth sectors of our society.
Chrysanthos LOIZIDES (Cyprus): Mr Chairman, The FAO Council, in its 108th Session last June, has already expressed its support to the Director-General's initiative to propose the World Food Summit. It also hoped that the Summit would lead to concrete, immediate and effective action at the international and national levels, as stated in paragraph 4 of document C 95/17.
The procedure to be followed until the World Food Summit in November 1996, gives the opportunity to all Member States for an in-depth consideration of the issue and for providing guidance for the preparation of such a Declaration and Plan of Action that could lead to concrete measures and activities for alleviating human suffering due to hunger and for achieving food security.
The problem of food security, securing food for all, is surely a complex one, which, unfortunately, year after year, is becoming more acute and more tragic. Presently, some 800 million people continue to suffer from chronic undernutrition and notwithstanding the expected technological advances in agriculture, about 730 million will remain undernourished in the year 2010.
On many occasions and in various international fora, it has been stated that the available resources of this planet can produce enough food to satisfy the nutritional requirements of a much greater number of world population.
Additionally, the "Freedom from Hunger" campaign during the sixties, the World Food Conference in 1974 and the establishment of the World Food Council that followed, as well as the establishment of the Committee on Food Security in 1975 by the Eighteenth Session of FAO Conference, have led to the broad internationalization of the food issues.
However, due to various constraints, in particular, political and socio-economic constraints, the nutritional situation for almost 20 percent of the developing countries' population is deteriorating as mentioned earlier.
Obviously, the eradication of hunger and undernutrition requires not only increase of food production, but also better distribution of the produce.The incomes of the poor need to be raised so that their basic food requirements can be translated into effective demand. Therefore, the fundamental right of "access to food" continues to be the key element of the food security problem. In view of the fact that poverty is considered as one of the root causes of food insecurity, it is imperative, in our view, to define, in this perspective, the possible actions and concrete measures for ensuring access to food and sustainable progress towards the target: Food for all.
Likewise, the widely desired conditions of peace and political stability should be considered as prerequisites for sustainable progress towards food for all, having in mind the dramatic conditions of food insecurity under the state of wars and political instability, as currently happens in many parts of the world.
We do share the view that the problem of food security is a complex issue of national and international dimensions and, similarly as in the case of the protection of the global environment, it cannot be effectively faced without the cooperation and the political will of all Member States.
Finally, referring to the relevant resolution in document C 95/17, we wish to underline the vital role of FAO not only in the preparations of the World Food Summit but also in the follow-up activities that will derive from this Summit, namely on aspects of policy advice, information and the further expansion of international dialogue and cooperation.
Moussa Bocar LY (Sénégal): Merci, Monsieur le Président. Permettez-moi de vous féliciter. Nous sommes sûrs que vos qualités, que nous connaissons, vous permettront de nous conduire à des résultats satisfaisants pour cette importante Commission. Le Ministre de l'agriculture du Sénégal, lors de la 18ème session du Conseil, a déjà apporté le soutien des plus hautes autorités de mon pays à la tenue du Sommet mondial de l'alimentation en novembre 1996, soutien qui s'ajoute d'ailleurs aux regroupements régionaux et transrégionaux de solidarité auxquels il est partie. Il y a comme une logique entre notre programme spécial de production agricole à l'appui de la sécurité alimentaire qui vise à l'accroissement de la production agricole dans les pays à faible revenu et à déficit vivrier dont la plupart, malheureusement, se trouvent dans notre continent et la tenue de ce sommet mondial de l'alimentation. Soyons brefs, avez-vous dit, et n'étant pas membre du Comité de rédaction, notre délégation, prenant avantage de la prise de parole, tient à indiquer certaines considérations sur le projet de résolution. Il nous semble que le titre de ce sommet, comme l'a dit du reste quelqu'un, a été convenu depuis plus d'un an déjà et que le Directeur général, en tenant ses consultations périodiques, a bien dit aux différents groupes régionaux qu'il s'agit d'un sommet mondial de l'alimentation axé sur les problèmes de sécurité alimentaire. Je ne sais pas ce que l'on veut de plus à allonger encore le titre. Mais en tout cas le titre pourrait demeurer tel qu'il est et, si certains insistent, ils pourraient encore l'allonger en mettant, ce qu'avait dit le Directeur général, l'accent sur les problèmes de sécurité alimentaire. Mais, à notre avis, cela serait superflu.
Deuxième observation, au niveau du préambule, la déléguée du Royaume-Uni a parlé des recommandations du Conseil à sa cent neuvième Session. Il me semble qu'il y a une méprise, il s'agit des recommandations du Conseil à sa cent huitième Session et non à la cent-neuvième qui vient juste de se terminer. Madame Killingsworth, Secrétaire général du Sommet mondial, a déjà dit le montant prévu au niveau du Programme de travail et budget 1996-97; je crois donc que ce préambule se suffit à lui-même.
S'agissant du paragraphe 4 du dispositif, je suis d'accord avec la Représentante du Royaume-Uni. Je crois que nous avions déjà dit au niveau du Comité de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale que l'éradication de la pauvreté et de la misère doit être un objectif du Sommet mondial de l'alimentation, sinon on ne concevrait pas comment on pourrait arriver à lutter contre la faim et la malnutrition.
Egalement, il a été convenu - peut-être le paragraphe 4 pourrait-il en tenir compte - qu'il faudrait qu'il s'agisse d'un objectif devant aboutir à des engagements quantifiables et réalisables, sinon comment assurerait-on le suivi de ce Sommet mondial ? Je crois que le paragraphe 4 devrait pouvoir tenir compte de cette préoccupation, déjà admise d'ailleurs, au niveau du Comité de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale, dans les conclusions de son Président, lors de la dernière Session.
Au paragraphe 6, il me semble que nous nous répétons inutilement, car enfin, ce n'est pas la première fois que nous préparons un sommet; les Nations Unies sont riches de sommets - le Sommet de l'enfance, le Sommet de Copenhague, pour ne citer que ceux-là - et le Secrétariat devrait pouvoir nous aider en puisant dans l'expérience que constitue la préparation de ces sommets. Je crois qu'il ne serait pas difficile pour lui de se référer à la préparation de ces divers sommets qui se sont tenus il n'y a pas longtemps pour nous donner des libellés nous permettant d'aller de l'avant.
J'en viens au deuxième point. Le Directeur général a associé les institutions internationales, notamment celles qui sont à Rome, et cela se reflète dans la préparation des documents techniques. Je crois qu'au niveau du paragraphe 6 du dispositif, le e) et le f) permettent, dans leur formulation globale, d'englober toutes les institutions que l'on veut inviter car il y est dit: "des représentants de l'Organisation des Nations Unies, de ses institutions spécialisées" et, plus loin, "des observateurs d'Organisations non gouvernementales intéressées".
Je ne vois pas ce que l'on veut de plus, parce que l'on ne peut pas aller dans le détail pour une résolution de ce genre. Ceux qui parlent devraient aussi se référer à la pratique de la convocation des divers sommets. Ils ont leur délégation à New York et dans tous les sièges où l'ONU a une représentation et on devrait pouvoir s'y référer, pour ne pas alourdir inutilement et pour ne pas retarder nos débats.
J'en viens, Monsieur le Président, au paragraphe 7 du dispositif. Quelqu'un nous disait que la présente Conférence est une réunion ministérielle et que si l'on disait "engage les Gouvernements", en fait, les ministres engageraient leurs pays à se faire représenter au niveau des chefs d'Etat, mais je voudrais faire remarquer qu'au niveau de l'Assemblée générale des Nations Unies à New York, les chefs de délégation sont les ministres, et pas n'importe quels ministres, les ministres des Affaires étrangères, et je crois que c'est sous l'égide des Nations Unies que ce sont tenus aussi bien le Sommet sur l'enfance que le Sommet du développement social à Copenhague. Cela nous confirme donc dans l'idée qu'il faudrait revenir à l'expérience accumulée dans la préparation de ces divers sommets.
Le libellé pourrait peut-être être revu, mais je crois que le fait qu'on prie les Gouvernements de se faire représenter au niveau des Chefs d'Etat et de Gouvernement n'apporte aucun dommage, d'autant plus que l'Assemblée générale l'a déjà fait à plusieurs reprises. Aussi, je crois que le Secrétariat pourrait, ici également, nous aider à trouver un libellé qui permette d'apaiser ceux qui pensent qu'ils seront engagés par je ne sais quelle obligation juridique.
S'agissant du paragraphe 8 du dispositif, au niveau des Nations Unies également, il y a eu plusieurs réunions où l'on a invité les Gouvernements à inclure dans les délégations des représentants d'organisations non gouvernementales nationales intéressées, tout étant - je le reconnais avec la Représentante du Royaume-Uni -une question de consultations internes, mais la Conférence, à mon avis, ne peut pas entrer dans le détail de la Consultation interne des Etats Membres. Il s'agira pour chaque Etat Membre de voir, en fonction de ses mécanismes de consultation et de régulation internes, comment le paragraphe 8 pourrait s'appliquer dans son contexte national.
Tel que libellé, le paragraphe 8 ne devrait pas poser de problèmes outre mesure.
Pour ce qui est du paragraphe 10 du dispositif, les conférences régionales, je crois que devant par nature se pencher sur les problèmes régionaux propres aux Etats Membres, ces conférences régionales ne peuvent apporter qu'une contribution régionale au document d'orientation international qui leur sera présenté.
Je crois qu'il est inutile ici également d'essayer d'entrer dans des détails qui risquent de compliquer. Une conférence régionale est une conférence régionale. Cette conférence régionale doit examiner un document de portée internationale et y induire la participation, la contribution régionale. Mais je crois que c'est compris de tous et je ne vois pas pourquoi on alourdirait cela en disant aux conférences régionales ce qu'elles auront à faire.
Monsieur le Président, s'agissant du paragraphe 14 du dispositif, il me semble que, ces derniers jours, la FAO est en train de connaître une sorte de bouleversement peut-être parce que certains délégués ne sont pas au courant. Il y a des organes directeurs au niveau de la FAO dont le plus important est la Conférence que nous vivons, sans oublier le Conseil de la FAO et je crois que le Comité de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale -dont on a dit qu'il était l'organe intergouvernemental de préparation de ce sommet - a fait rapport au Conseil et continuera de lui faire rapport à toutes ses sessions successives. Il faut bien comprendre qu'il y a une articulation entre les organes directeurs et les organes subsidiaires de cette organisation qu'est la FAO. Le Conseiller juridique est ici présent. Je crois qu'il pourrait, si besoin était, le confirmer. Donc le paragraphe 14 doit se lire dans ce contexte de l'articulation entre les différents organes directeurs et organes subsidiaires, ces derniers faisant rapport au premier. Je crois que c'est ainsi que devrait être lu ce paragraphe 14, et, en tout cas, c'est ainsi que notre délégation l'a compris.
Pour finir, Monsieur le Président, je crois que tout le monde a reconnu que la réunion ministérielle de Québec était la première réunion ministérielle préparatoire du Sommet mondial de l'alimentation; donc la question toute logique qui me vient à l'esprit en direction du Secrétariat est de pouvoir avoir une indication sur la manière dont il compte utiliser les conclusions et les travaux de la réunion ministérielle préparatoire du Sommet mondial dans le cadre du processus préparatoire de ce sommet. J'aimerais donc, si vous le permettez, avoir une indication.
Telles sont, Monsieur le Président, les quelques observations, sans pour autant entrer dans le détail, que ma délégation tenait à faire en disant que nous devrons nous en tenir à l'essentiel car tout a été dit depuis la Session du Comité de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale.
Zahir Shah MOHMAND (Pakistan): I would like, Mr Chairman, first of all to congratulate you on your election as a chairman to this prestigious and responsible body.
The World Food Summit which is scheduled to be held in November next year will provide the highest forum to address the most important theme of World Food Security. The World Food Conference held in 1994 no doubt ended with high sounding and lofty ideals, but as most ideals they could not come out of the world of ideas, no efforts were made in right earnest to address its stipulations sincerely, and the result is that we still have hunger and poverty spread all over the world, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The Director-General's efforts to convince the world leadership and obtain their agreement to the proposed summit are laudable. The new grounds struck in connection with preparations for the Summit are just an example. Emphasizing that the Summit will have the technical underpinning of highest quality, and at the same time not raising any additional bureaucracy or structure indicates the sincerity and matter of fact approach of the Director-General.
We must realize that now it is high time that old, hackneyed and fashionable jargon are dispensed with in favour of something concrete and matter of fact. We fully believe and trust the Director-General's intention to hold the Summit to review the commitment at the national as well as the international levels to eradicate hunger, poverty and malnutrition. However, similar keenness would be essential on the part of national leadership, especially in the donor countries, otherwise this Summit will be an exercise in futility.
My delegation hopes that this Commission will also play its due role, examine the preparatory process carefully and come out with practical suggestions and recommendations.
The draft resolution to be passed and agreed to by all the delegations will be a landmark in preparation for the Summit. Nevertheless, a little more specific and objective oriented resolution would be very desirable. However, my delegation does not have problems with the title of the Summit. We may also wish to seize this opportunity to inform the Commission that my country is taking great interest in the Summit and is ready to play its due role in its preparation and in making a big success. We have nominated a national secretary to coordinate and liaise with the Summit Secretariat. We intend to review the food security situation afresh at the national level.
Our Prime Minister has agreed to lead the Pakistan delegation to the Summit. She is also seriously considering accepting the membership of a position on the Board of Patron, as desired by the Director-General.
In the end I assure the Commission that our Government is fully cognizant of the need to ensure food security. The food situation in the country is fairly satisfactory. The Summit will no doubt go a long way in renewing our resolve and sharpening our focus on this most important issue of human concern, i.e. food security.
Joseph Kong'onheli MHELLA (Tanzania): Mr Chairman, my delegation would like first of all to congratulate you for your election to the chair of this Commission and the Secretariat for preparing excellent documents for this agenda item.
The purpose of the World Food Summit is to enable the Organization's Member Nations to address at the highest practical level the issue of world food security. The Summit will offer an appropriate forum to Heads of State and governments who are also the highest decision-makers in their countries to exchange views and lay the foundation for the preparation of policies and strategies that will lead to enhancement of efforts for eradication of food insecurity in the world.
As has been pointed out in the documents, there are still some 800 million people in the world who continue to suffer from chronic undernutrition, and 199 million children under the age of five who suffer from chronic protein and energy deficiencies. Tanzania believes that the World Food Summit will boost awareness among the international community of the problems of hunger and food insecurity, as well as discuss and broadly agree on policies, strategies and a Plan of Action to be adopted for implementation towards achieving universal food security. The world needs to increase food production faster than the increase in population, and this we can easily do if all Heads of State and governments are fully involved in the struggle from the very start.
Tanzania is one of the low-income food-deficit countries, has people suffering from food insecurity and is looking for ways and means to improve their conditions. The Government is supportive of the World Food Summit and has already informed the Director-General that it supports the resolution on the World Food Summit and is looking forward to participating in the Summit.
We however would now like to support the suggestion by one delegation that the name of the Summit be changed to World Food Security Summit. This will reflect well the thrust of the Summit and will enhance the efforts to boost awareness of the unanimously agreed steps by the world leaders.
We also support the suggestions to keep the cost of the Summit to the minimum during this period of financial constraints facing the Organization and welcome the Director-General's suggestions to use regional conferences and committees to prepare for the Summit and chart national and regional strategies.
Finally, we call upon the Director-General to extend his invitations to include all intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations and other interested bodies to participate in the World Food Summit in addition to member countries. This will give the opportunity to a much wider range of the international community to come and make their contribution.
Shil KWAN LEE (Republic of Korea): First of all, I want to congratulate you on your election to chair Commission I.
The Korean delegation, along with other delegations and FAO, shares the concern about the present problems and the future problems concerning world food. In spite of global, regional and national efforts since the World Food Conference in 1974, there remain a substantial number of people facing malnutrition in the developing countries. We all know that food insecurity and malnutrition are not problems that can be solved by one country. In order to solve the problems, the initiative of the international society and the cooperation of its governments is essential. In this context the Korean delegation welcomes the Director-General's proposal to convene the World Food Summit in 1996.
In supporting FAO's various activities to achieve world food security, Korea will cooperate with the Secretariat and participate in the preparatory discussions, especially since Korea imports a large proportion of food from international markets.
My delegation believes that long-term stability of the world's markets, by stabilizing supply and demand for food, is necessary. My delegation expects that the Summit meeting will help to solve these issues and will help us to take prompt action to improve the situation with regard to world food security. In order to have a successful meeting, my delegation believes that the cooperation of all relevant international organizations is very important.
Finally, in relation to the details of the level of participation and the cost of the Summit, we share the views of many other member countries; that is that they should be determined on the basis of a broad consensus.
Kenji SHIMIZU (Japan): I will be as brief as possible, as you suggested. I would like to make a few comments.
Firstly, Japan also wishes to stress here again that Japan supports the convening of the World Food Summit and wishes to contribute actively and constructively to the important event, in addressing the World Food Summit.
Secondly, my delegation also underlines the importance of a balanced outcome to provide an effective instrument for all Member Nations, irrespective of whether they are developing or developed countries, however rich or poor, because the world food security issue will be a global one in the coming century, given the current worsening trend of the food situation under the pressure of population growth, deteriorating environments, rapid economic development and so on.
Finally, my delegation notes with appreciation that; "The Summit is not a pledging conference, nor is it aiming to create new financial mechanisms, institutions or bureaucracy", as contained in the Appendix to the document before us.
My delegation has some difficulty with the proposed draft resolution contained in the document, and my delegation has some suggestions in relation to the resolution. For example, in the preamble to paragraph 1, it may be better to refer to the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organization just completed in Quebec.
Also, we have a suggestion in relation to the preamble for paragraph 4: perhaps it would be better to refer also to some important recent conferences.
In relation to operative paragraphs 2 and 7, we have some difficulty, in particular with regard to the level of flexibility and participation in the Summit meeting, and we particularly dislike the exclusiveness among the representatives of each Member Nation.
We also have some suggestions in relation to paragraph 4: it may be better to make some reference to the causes of malnutrition.
In addition, my delegation associates itself with the suggestion made by Australia to provide us with some information on the Trust Fund, which is now proposed in the draft resolution. In particular, there is no list of the events or activities expected under this Trust Fund. We would very much appreciate it if the Secretariat would spell out what the presumed activities will be for this Trust Fund.
Emile DETRAUX (Belgique): Tout d'abord, nous souhaiterions vous féliciter pour votre élection. L'exposé de la Belgique se divisera en deux parties: la première, si vous le permettez, serait plutôt une question posée à la délégation des Etats-Unis. Nous aimerions en effet savoir ce que les Etats-Unis entendent réellement par le terme "sécurité alimentaire" lorsqu'ils proposent de modifier le titre du Sommet; la seconde partie de notre exposé sera donnée à présent par notre expert.
Nous souhaitons appuyer la déclaration du Représentant de l'Espagne, parlant au nom de l'Union européenne, lorsqu'il apporte son soutien au Sommet mondial, et je souligne, de l'alimentation. C'est un sujet que nous prenons très au sérieux, Monsieur le Président.
En ce qui concerne sa préparation, nous nous trouvons actuellement, comme l'a dit notre Ministre en séance plénière, en possession de toute une série d'éléments très utiles: la déclaration de Québec renouvelée, les résolutions prises lors de la Conférence internationale sur la nutrition et la Conférence de Rio qu'il ne faut pas oublier également. Il s'agit donc de mettre ensemble les pièces d'un puzzle compliqué, et ce, afin que le résultat soit tangible. Il ne peut donc souffrir l'omission d'une seule pièce. Or, Monsieur le Président, il nous apparaît que, dans les discussions qui ont eu lieu jusqu'à présent, on considère d'une manière un peu trop exclusive le quantitatif. Notre délégation estime dès lors qu'il ne faut pas négliger l'aspect qualitatif des choses. Nous sommes confortés dans notre opinion par les déclarations mêmes de Monsieur le Directeur général Diouf qui, non seulement met l'accent à juste titre sur les millions de personnes qui souffrent de la faim, mais souligne également l'aspect qualité nutritionnelle et les conséquences nocives d'une alimentation carencée en vitamines et en minéraux. C'est dans ce droit fil que nous pensons qu'il faut dûment tenir compte du rôle parfois négligé d'un secteur de la production, à savoir l'horticulture, Monsieur le Président, et ce, dans la problématique générale de la faim.
Monsieur le Président, je devrais dire des rôles de l'horticulture car, selon nous, ce secteur offre toute une série d'avantages non négligeables: productivité accrue avec maximalisation de l'utilisation de l'eau, possibilité d'une augmentation de l'emploi, étant donné le fait qu'il y a besoin dans ce secteur d'un travail manuel très important et, par ce biais, accroissement des revenus pour toute une frange de la population dans des zones où ils font cruellement défaut, valorisation également du rôle des femmes, effets sur la durabilité de l'économie, étant donné la mise en oeuvre sans grands problèmes de luttes intégrées dans ce secteur, et ce, au niveau sanitaire et phytosanitaire.
Enfin, l'horticulture peut également être le moteur de la diversification alimentaire et jouer un rôle non négligeable à l'avenir dans le contexte développé par l'accord conclu au sein de l'Organisation mondiale du commerce et ses conséquences prévisibles dans les pays en développement.
Un des objectifs souhaitables à retenir dans le cadre du Sommet mondial de l'alimentation devrait être donc de développer et d'organiser l'horticulture dans les zones urbaines et péri-urbaines dans les pays en développement.
Pour rencontrer cet objectif, nous pensons qu'il serait utile d'apporter deux amendements mineurs au projet de résolution et notamment dans le préambule troisième alinéa, "in fine", on pourrait ajouter: "cette problématique doit être envisagée tant d'un point de vue quantitatif que qualitatif".
D'une façon similaire, dans le corps même de la résolution, nous souhaitons amender le c) du paragraphe 4 qui se lirait de la sorte: "adopter des politiques et stratégies ainsi qu'un plan d'action visant à améliorer constamment la sécurité alimentaire tant du point de vue quantitatif que qualitatif" (et on suivrait).
LE PRESIDENT: Je vous remercie, honorable délégué de la Belgique. Je passe la parole au délégué de l'Australie. On me signale que le délégué de l'Australie n'est pas dans la salle. Nous passons à l'orateur suivant qui est le délégué de l'Allemagne.
Ms Goenke ROSCHER (Germany): Since the initiative of the Director-General, the debate on the World Food Summit started, over a year ago, an intense and substantive discussion on the Summit's objectives as well as its preparation which is continuing to which the recent Quebec Symposium and Ministerial Meeting have added substance. We, as numerous Member States, endorse the initiative. We hope it will bring renewed political awareness to the problems of food security and poverty and put food security objectives high on the policy agendas again as well as renewing commitment to fight poverty, hunger and malnutrition. That is why we must make sure the Summit will warrant the considerable effort and cost which is required to prepare and hold the Summit.
This forum should help to improve operational results of policies and programmes which address the increasing insecurity problems. The impulse given should be strong enough to reverse the general trend of insecure food countries. A necessary pre-condition for achieving this aim will be that the Summit addresses all aspects contributing to food security with particular emphasis not only on food production but, equally importantly, on access to food for the poorest and most vulnerable groups.
Another important pre-condition for a successful World Food Summit is to ensure that not only earlier action plans are reiterated but should be innovative and produce fresh ideas on how to solve the problem of food insecurity.
Looking at the problem of food insecurity in such an innovative manner implies hope on the part of the needy that there is global commitment translated into action which can yield the required sustainable results. In addition this requires the preparatory process to include all major partners in food security and should be coordinated among all relevant international organizations including the international financial institutions and especially those based in Rome.
As regards the draft resolution as outlined in C 95/17, we feel that the considerations in paragraph 2 should be altered, and I would be happy to hand to you and the Drafting Committee our suggestions.
With regard to paragraph 6, the German delegation wishes to support the proposals made by the US delegation. With respect to operative paragraphs 1 and 2 which refer to the duration and dates on which Heads of State and Government and Ministers will be invited to make their statements, my delegation proposes, as others before us, not to divide the Summit into two parts. Instead, all participants, whether they are Heads of State or Government or Ministers who speak on behalf of Heads of State or Government, should make their statements in the same part of the Summit.
We also propose, as suggested by the US delegation, the duration of the Summit should be limited to November 15-17 1996.
For operative paragraph 8, we propose that it either be deleted or altered in order to address directly nongovernmental organizations to encourage them to participate actively in the preparations of the World Food Summit.
Vernon DOUGLAS (Trinidad and Tobago): My delegation wishes to express the support of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago for the convening of a World Food Summit at the level of Heads of State or Government. This support has already been expressed to the Director-General of FAO by the highest level of government in my country.
In addition, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has joined with other CARICOM Member States in affirming support for a World Food Summit at the meetings of the Standing Committee of the Ministers of Agriculture and the Annual Conference of Heads of Government held in June and July of this year.
Finally, Mr Chairman, my delegation supports generally the draft resolution as it appears in Document C 95/17.
Ms Faith INNERARTTY (Jamaica): I would like to state, like the delegate from Trinidad and Tobago, that the Government of Jamaica is in full support of the hosting of a World Food Summit and so, as previously indicated, at the meeting of the Standing Committee of Ministers of Agriculture of CARICOM a resolution was passed endorsing the Summit.
In addition though, Mr Chairman, there are some specific points concerning the Summit which I want to bring to the attention of this Commission. The first is links with the ICN convened in 1992. It is clear that some central issues dealt with in the ICN will also be critical to the Summit, for example, household food security and access for vulnerable groups such as women and children to adequate food supplies.
It is important, therefore, to note whether there are any lessons of experience to draw from the ICN that can be brought forward to the World Food Summit. The ICN resulted in a Plan of Action which was to be translated into National Plans of Action. In paragraph 4 of the draft resolution for the World Food Summit there is also a reference to a Plan of Action for implementation by governments. Although the period for implementation for the ICN has been relatively short, is there any measurable progress to date? What are the major difficulties in implementation? These issues need to be examined, Mr Chairman, as we move forward to the planning for the World Food Summit.
It is the intention that this will not be just a summit, not just a conference, but that concrete actions should result. Consequently, we need to relate the Summit to previous activities which are similar and to see how they link together.
Another issue which the Jamaican Delegation wishes to address is that of the objectives of the Summit as set out in paragraph 4 of the draft resolution. It is our view that there need to be more specific points stated here. This was mentioned also by some other delegations.
In section 3, for example, there should be some direct mention of issues relating to poverty and other development problems such as population which are integral parts of any policies or strategies for food security.
In addition, in respect of the general approach to attaining food security there are some focal points which are not clearly identified there. What is the role of food aid for developing countries? Will this be a focus of the World Food Summit? The possibility for expansion of food production in food-deficit countries within the context of sustainable development, the impact on the environment - how will these issues be treated?
I think with regard to paragraph 4, in dealing with the objectives of some of these points, these linkages between broader issues of poverty, development and the environment should be clearly stated.
Edward S. KABUYE (Malawi): In the first place, Mr Chairman, on behalf of the Malawi delegation and on my own behalf, I extend to you congratulations on your election to Chairman of this important Commission.
The Government of Malawi supports wholeheartedly the initiatives taken by the Director-General, Mr Jacques Diouf, in proposing to hold a World Food Summit in 1996.
As we are all aware, Mr Chairman, although great strides have been made since the inception of the FAO 50 years ago, it is noted with regret that there are up to this day 800 million people still suffering from malnutrition. The Summit is therefore going to be held at an important time.
I would also add that the Malawi delegation is in agreement with the Director-General that preferably participants to the Summit should be Heads of State and Government. Several conferences on the topic have been held in the past involving lower level participants and therefore perhaps with the attendance of the Heads of State and Government this would be a way of reviewing the sensitization strategy of the world community on the plight of the millions of people who are still suffering from hunger and malnutrition.
Mr Chairman, back home in Malawi we have already started preparations for the Summit. The participation of the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Development at the 50th Anniversary celebrations in Quebec, Canada a few days ago is a manifestation of Malawi's interest in this issue.
For now and the future, Malawi has plans in place to form a task force that will coordinate preparations for the November 1996 World Food Summit.
Lastly but not least, Mr Chairman, the Malawi delegation wishes the Director-General of FAO and all those concerned every success in their preparations for the November 1996 World Food Summit.
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie le délégué de la Malaisie. Je voudrais rappeler que nous avons encore 17 orateurs et moins de 60 minutes d'interprétation. Je peux vous annoncer une bonne nouvelle, c'est qu'il n'y aura pas de session de nuit aujourd'hui, mais en retour, il va falloir finir et écouter tous les 17 orateurs. Donc à ceux qui restent, je vous prie d'être brefs pour nous permettre d'écouter tous ceux qui sont sur la liste. Ceux qui le souhaitent pourraient donner au Secrétariat leur intervention qui sera publiée intégralement dans le verbatim et sera prise en considération par le Comité de rédaction pour la préparation du rapport.
Anton KOHLER (Switzerland): During the visit of the Director-General to Switzerland in July 1995, the President of the Swiss Confederation as well as the Minister responsible for agriculture supported the initiative taken by FAO to organize a World Food Summit in November 1996 in Rome. Document C 95/17 represents a good preparatory step in the process towards the Summit.
Switzerland would not like to repeat all of the valid agreements which prove the need for a Summit. The Spanish delegation, representing the European Community and many other delegates, have already done so. Let me make a short comment with regard to the draft resolution.
We welcome the proposal of point 6 to invite the most important parties. We suggest, however, that the international research network, CGIAR, should also participate in the preparation and in the Summit.
With regard to the changes suggested by the delegate of the United States, we agree with suggestion 3 to organize a three-day Summit in the form of a single meeting, with suggestion 5 for a clear and transparent budget, with the suggestion to change points with regard to the regional conferences, and with the suggestion to add point 15.
We do not agree in regard to further streamlining the further preparatory process, especially concerning the shortening of the January meeting of the CFS from five to four days. Neither do we think that the name World Food Summit should be changed for simple public relations reasons. World Food Security might sound fine in English. What about translations into other languages? Just listen to the German translation which sounds like: Welt Ernährung-Sicherheit gipfel. It would be very difficult to explain in advance what Sicherheit/Security really means. This is one of the tasks of the Summit.
My third and last point is with regard to the technical papers which we would like to receive much earlier than scheduled.
Again, Switzerland welcomes the Summit and wishes to everyone involved in its preparatory phase not only a lot of work - we know that - but the courage and motivation for all active participation.
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie la Suisse et je passe la parole aux Pays-Bas mais, pour son absence de tout à l'heure dans la salle, je lui retire une minute de temps de parole. Pays-Bas, vous avez la parole.
J.B. METERS (Netherlands): When the Director-General launched the idea of a World Food Summit there was an immediate support from several sides. At the same time concerns were expressed as well: concerns about the so-called inflation of summits, concerns about the costs involved and the time available for the preparation of a successful summit. All these concerns, however, do not outweigh the importance of having food security again on the international agenda at the highest level.
We appreciate the cost awareness of the Director-General. He decided that preparations should take place in existing fora. We, therefore, support in particular the proposal that the Committee on World Food Security be made the focal point for the final draft of the policy document and plan of action, as well as the intention that at the regional conferences regional specifics are to be dealt with for enclosure in the Summit documents.
However, the crucial question remains: When do we consider the Summit a success?
The Summit should not only be a forum for global commitment to redress food insecurity or a forum for raising global awareness. The Summit should go beyond that. The Summit should produce an operational plan of action, a plan of action that gives clear responsibilities to all participants and defines their role in the process towards food security. This plan of action should be based upon an integrated approach, focusing on the following policy fields: sustainable agriculture to increase food production; sustainable use and management of natural resources; improving market access and promoting fair trading conditions on international markets.
With such a approach the Netherlands would like to emphasize its view that food security is a priority item and should be considered in a broader framework, namely, sustainable agriculture. We could imagine that such a plan of action would follow a design similar to Agenda 21.
The programme should also focus on the role of FAO in the process and the rules and responsibilities of the international financing institutions, the donor community and especially non-governmental organizations.
The plan of action should furthermore give answers to the following questions: What objectives should we reach in what span of time? Should we not define task managership for the various international organizations that have a dominant role to play in various fields or sub-fields.
This brings me to some specific suggestions with regard to the proposed resolution:
The Netherlands finds it essential that in the preamble of the resolution reference is made to Agenda 21. Therefore, we propose the following new sentence after the first sentence: "Recognizing that activities to ensure food security should be embodied within the framework of Agenda 21".
Furthermore, the Netherlands proposes a new item 4a, that reads as follows: "Decides that the Summit will adopt a plan of action in which item 4 mentioned objectives are translated into concrete activities on the international and national level".
As a consequence of this, we support the suggestion of the United States for an item 15 concerning the follow-up of the Summit.
If these issues will be addressed properly, the Summit will be even more successful. Within this light the Netherlands will support the proposal to hold a World Food Summit and, of course, the Netherlands is willing to cooperate with the FAO.
Kevin O'BRIEN (Australia): We would like to do two things, to comment briefly on the text of the draft resolution and, secondly, to raise what we believe are some of the substantive questions that need to be considered for the Summit.
As we have indicated on previous occasions in the lead-up to this Conference, Australia has been pleased to give its in-principle support to the Director-General's proposal to convene a World Food Summit in November 1996.
While we note the intention for the Summit to convene at Heads of Government level, we are conscious of the very heavy demands on leaders' schedules around that time. We would join with others in suggesting there should be some flexibility for Members to determine the highest possible level of representation to ensure that the Summit is a success. We also believe the draft Summit resolution should not be so prescriptive as to limit our capacity to address the issues of poverty and malnutrition in a comprehensive and constructive way. We would prefer to see a more general statement for consideration that takes account of the concerns we raised in Council.
We wish to turn to the substantive issue of the focus and direction of the proposed World Food Summit. We believe the Director-General has shown considerable foresight in recognizing the primacy of the challenge to address food security issues. At the recent Ministerial Meeting on Food Security held in Quebec, we were pleased to review those measures which the founders of this organization identified as necessary to deliver a world free from want and to address the fundamental causes of hunger and malnutrition. These include: action to promote full employment of human and material resources; a progressive increase in the purchasing power of consumers to sustain economic growth and development; sound expansion of industrial activity, as a prerequisite for any comprehensive programme for the advancement of agriculture; the reduction of barriers to trade of every kind, and effective collaboration among all nations.
These needs are no less relevant today than they were 50 years ago.
Regrettably, past actions by governments have not always assisted our ability to address food security issues. Too often, major developed countries have focused on narrower, more limited prescriptions at the expense of developing countries and the international community, largely under the guise of full self-sufficiency. There is a danger, we believe, that the World Food Summit could be seen as an opportunity to justify inappropriate behaviour and to continue these inequities.
There have been many critical stages in this Organization's history, none perhaps as critical as when the FAO was established 50 years ago. Even during such difficult times, our founders were blessed with a sense of vision, a keen insight into the challenges that lay ahead for humanity and, importantly, a common and concerted wish to tackle these issues for the good of all mankind.
We must share the vision of our founders, both to recognize the challenges facing individuals, nations and the world at large in addressing the problems of hunger and malnutrition, and to focus our minds on constructive solutions and the future directions this organisation should take. We trust Member Nations today share an equal sense of commitment and collaboration to undertake this process, focusing on food for all, not just in their own countries.
While our founders recognized it is first and foremost the responsibility of each and every nation to ensure that its own people have the basic necessities for an active and healthy life, they had remarkable insight when they insisted that each country can only achieve its potential to the full if nations are prepared to work together for the common good.
The key to the success of the proposed Summit, we believe, lies in our ability to identify a common goal and a common purpose to guide international and national decision-making on food security issues. That goal, and the principal focus of this Organisation's activities in future, we believe, should be the pursuit of universal food security.
Universal food security is about giving all peoples of the world physical and economic access to a nutritionally adequate and reliable supply of food. It is not enough for individual nations to be food secure domestically while others face severe food shortages and deprivation, nor is it enough for a nation as a whole to be regarded as food secure whilst smaller groups or regions within it are chronically food insecure.
Food security must be universal and apply down to the individual family or household level. Adequate availability of, and assured access to, food was recognized as the inalienable right of each and every individual by the World Food Conference in 1974.
The concept of universal food security provides a comprehensive framework for national governments, the FAO and other international agencies to address the political, economic, environmental and social dimensions of this challenge. It is also fully consistent with the trend towards increasing globalization of world markets.
For FAO's part, the goal of universal food security will assist in implementing the directions our leaders set at the proposed Summit in November 1996, and in providing an appropriate focus to implement its core mission in future years. FAO's mission to improve the efficiency of production and distribution processes for food and agricultural products, to better the conditions of rural populations and to contribute to an expanding world economy should become completely synonymous with the goal of universal food security.
To achieve this goal, the focus for the Summit must extend beyond the adequate security of food production processes. We recognize that efforts to increase production remain a critical need in many developing countries, but this alone will not be enough to achieve their objective. Experience has shown that the problem lies not so much with the capacity to produce food but with the ability to come to terms with the distribution, marketing and income constraints that restrict its availability to all people.
More comprehensive action is needed to generate national income growth and to safeguard the purchasing power of consumers. Both elements are essential to guarantee sufficient consumer demand and to provide adequate markets and remunerative outlets for the food and agriculture products we seek to produce.
To be successful, therefore, the World Food Summit should aim at helping nations to better comprehend the critical linkages that exist between food security and the destructive impacts of civil war and social and political upheaval, between food security and the macro-economic and micro-economic policy settings necessary to allow a market economy to prosper and between food security and the legal, regulatory and financial frameworks essential to guarantee the massive capital investments required for infrastructure development and for nation building. Individual nations and the international community at large, with the full support of the FAO, also need to be conscious of the critical linkages that exist between food security concerns, national policy settings and a more open and predictable world trading system, and between food security and the policy choices they seek to make to develop and support their agricultural sectors.
We believe that in some presentations there is confusion between the broader, more concerted actions that Member Governments and international organizations need to take to have to address these issues and the responsibilities that FAO itself can pursue in its areas of special competence. Equally, we believe that the technical papers prepared for the Summit process, while valuable in themselves, do not necessarily embrace the range of considerations we have identified. A vast number of these refer to "Food Production and ..." but they do not cover the other sides of the equation. We recognize that the efforts to increase food production will remain a critical need in many developing countries but this alone, we suggest, will not be sufficient for them to achieve their objective. We can have little confidence for the future if actions to address food security concerns continue to be constrained by national boundaries, by variable allocations of national resource endowments, by unsustainable food production systems or by the use of arbitrary national policies that restrict the free flow of goods, capital and labour between nations.
The compelling vision for an international food and agriculture organization, presented as far back ago as 1935, was based on the premise that we needed more effectively "to marry health and agriculture". This reflected the desire to achieve an adequate diet for all. In words reminiscent of this original inspiration for FAO, we would therefore call for a more effective "marriage between development and agriculture" to address this most fundamental of concerns. The World Food Summit should examine how we can more effectively explore the links between economic development and sustainable agricultural activity, consistent with the trend to a more open international trading environment. Such a marriage needs to involve contributions from all major and relevant international organizations and agencies. We suggest a priority in the coming months should be to seek the support of these agencies to the proposed World Food Summit.
FAO itself has a key role to play, both in guiding our preparations for the Summit and subsequently, in implementing actions within its special area of competence. For our part, we would have some uncertainty about its capacity to contribute effectively to this process should the current funding debate lead either to a continuation of present inefficiencies or result in changes to programme priorities for 1996-97 that are inconsistent with comprehensive implementation of the goal of universal food security.
We well understand the enormity of the task we are suggesting. Only by advocating a concept of universal food security and by promoting a more effective marriage between agriculture and economic development, consistent with a more open international trading environment, do we believe a World Food Summit could hope to address the chronic problems of poverty, hunger and malnutrition. Only by gaining the commitment of international agencies to the Summit process, do we believe the fundamental constraints to improving food security, evident over the past 50 years, can be satisfactorily addressed. Only on this basis can FAO hope to retain its position as the pre-eminent international organization for food and agricultural issues.
Sra. Veronique DELI (México): Gracias Señor Presidente. La Delegación mexicana ha expresado ya anteriormente su apoyo a la iniciativa de celebrar la Cumbre. En esta ocasión reiteramos el apoyo.
Compartimos muchas de las opiniones aquí expresadas en relación al estado alarmante del hambre y la malnutrición que prevalece en muchas regiones del mundo, México no es ajeno a esta situación.
Tenemos ante nosotros el desafío de combatir el hambre y la malnutrición, ante este desafío la realización de la Cumbre constituye un paso adelante para evaluar la situación a nivel global y renovar nuestros compromisos en la materia.
En este sentido refrendamos que la seguridad alimentaria siga constituyendo una de las prioridades de la Organización, así como que el Comité en la materia se constituya en el Comité preparatorio de la Cumbre.
Como la mayoría de las delegaciones que nos han precedido, apoyamos en principio el proyecto de resolución propuesto por la Secretaría. No obstante, nos gustaría que el texto tomara en consideración en su parte preambular, la importancia de la dimensión regional de la seguridad alimentaria.
Ms Hedwig WÖGERBAUER (Austria): Subsequent to the statement of the European Union, which Austria fully supports, let me state the following on document C 95/17: the Austrian Federal Minister for Agriculture and Forestry has already welcomed the initiative for the World Food Summit, which is scheduled for November 1996, in his keynote address on 21 October 1995 in front of the Plenary Session of the 28th Conference.
With interest Austria has taken note of the fact that FAO is going to hold this Summit to discuss the problems of the world food security at a time which makes it easy to foresee that the nutrition situation will reach a level which can no longer guarantee food security or food reserves. This causes a problematic situation which is often characterized by a reduction of the produce and consumer-oriented subsidies, especially for low-income food- deficit countries, so that governments will have to show a lot of solidarity towards them in order to overcome hurdles anticipated.
Furthermore, Austria welcomes the intensive participation in the preparation for the World Food Summit which made a statement on the occasion of the meeting of the Committee on World Food Security possible already in 1995 and which continued a constructive debate at the 108th Meeting of the FAO Council. It is the wish of the Austrian delegation that next year the Summit will make a decisive solution to the problems of hunger and malnutrition for many countries of the world.
Last but not least, I would like to thank Mrs Killingsworth for all the efforts she has made to prepare this Summit.
Kiala Kia MATEVA (Angola): Puisque c'est la première fois que je prends la parole, laissez-moi vous féliciter, Monsieur le Président, ainsi que les deux autres membres du Bureau, pour votre brillante élection. Ma Délégation est convaincue que sous votre direction, notre Commission, avec la collaboration de tous, comme vous l'avez souhaité, atteindra des résultats positifs.
Nos félicitations s'adressent également au Secrétariat qui nous a élaboré un document bref et concis.
Ma délégation appuie d'une part, la résolution contenue dans le document C 95/17, d'autre part, la déclaration de la Délégation gabonaise qui a parlé au nom du Groupe africain, sans oublier certaines observations pertinentes faites par le Sénégal.
Monsieur le Président, l'Angola a connu la guerre pendant trente ans. La base économique de nos populations rurales, qui représentent plus de 70 pour cent, a été détruite. Cela a provoqué l'exode rural pendant ces trente années, la mort, l'apparition de plusieurs maladies, la pauvreté, la malnutrition et la sous-alimentation. Mon pays fait partie des 44 pays africains à déficit alimentaire. Conscient de ses responsabilités, le Gouvernement de la République d'Angola ne ménage aucun effort pour que la paix élise domicile au sein des populations angolaises. C'est pourquoi il a organisé, avec l'appui du PNUD, la table ronde de Bruxelles, en septembre 1995. Pour démontrer l'importance de cet événement, l'Unita y a pris part.
Nous profitons de cette occasion pour remercier le Royaume de Belgique qui a accepté sa réalisation en terre belge et les autres pays donateurs qui ont fait part de leur participation au programme de développement communautaire.
Monsieur le Président, il y a quelques jours, nous avons eu le privilège de participer à la réunion ministérielle de Québec, du 14 au 16 octobre 1995, sur l'alimentation.
Un consensus s'est dégagé puisque les Ministres et Chefs des délégations des pays membres de la FAO présents à Québec ont adopté la déclaration de Québec et, par ricochet, ont accepté la réalisation du Sommet mondial de l'alimentation.
Toutes les délégations qui nous ont précédés, sont unanimes à reconnaître l'importance de ce sommet. De ce fait, elles ont appuyé l'initiative prise par le Directeur général, le Dr Jacques Diouf, pour organiser ce grand événement à la fin du siècle: réunir nos Chefs d'Etat et de Gouvernement.
L'Angola apporte aussi sa modeste contribution en soutenant la résolution telle que contenue dans le document C 95/17.
Un aspect a retenu l'attention de ma délégation. S'il est vrai que le budget à voter est à croissance zéro et que le Secrétariat doit faire de son mieux pour que l'Organisation absorbe le moins de ressources possible, il est vrai aussi, c'est impérieux, qu'il faut fournir au Directeur général des fonds supplémentaires ou, si vous voulez, des fonds fiduciaires. C'est pourquoi, nous profitons de cette occasion pour remercier la France dont le Président de la République a décidé de faire partie du Comité de parrainage du Sommet.
Ma délégation lance un vibrant appel aux autres pays, riches et en développement, pour qu'ils contribuent au fonds fiduciaire et/ou suivent l'exemple de la France.
Neil FRASER (New Zealand): The aim of the World Food Summit to be held just over one year from now is directed at the eradication of hunger and malnutrition. There can be no argument at all with such a basic and pressing need. There is no doubt, either, that there does not exist one single or simple answer to achieving that aim. That is reflected in the range of background documents that the Secretariat proposes to prepare for the Summit. Accordingly, we look forward to receiving additional documents to those we have already received, to aid us in our own preparations for the Summit.
Food security is not only about production of agricultural products; it must also consider the means of access to food, at the national and at the household level.
Increased production, in a world of increasing population, is one basic element in the total picture. Among other intertwining factors is the important question of the free movement of food and access to food, taking into account the consideration of economic development in its broader sense.
My country is, for its size, a significant producer and trader of food products, but does not, and never will, produce the full range of food requirements of the populace. In the light of this, we fully understand the value of a free and open world trading environment that reflects the expression of the comparitive advantage of nations which in turn contributes to maximising the multilateral benefits that accrue from allocating resources in an optimal and sustainable manner.
Let me now turn as others have done to the draft resolution that we have before us. This draft resolution raises for us some concerns and unanswered questions.
Operative paragraph 2 could have some unfortunate outcomes. In allocating two days to Heads of State or Government, and two different days to Ministers and all others, including observers, this reduces the Summit to an A team/B team approach. It is easily foreseeable that for a range of legitimate and practical reasons, many countries will not be in a position to be represented at Head of State or Government level. That seems to us to relegate their considered views and contribution to some lesser order.
In operative paragraph 5 this Conference is asked to approve the arrangements made by the Director-General for the preparation of the Conference. Does this refer only to the arrangements so far undertaken, or does it include all arrangements up to and including the Summit? With all respect to the serious and sincere manner with which the Director-General has approached this task we find such a blanket approval rather too far reaching. Is it possible, Mr Chairman, for us to have further information about the detail and scope of the arrangements referred to?
Operative paragraph 7 calls upon governments to be represented at the level of Heads of State or Government. I have already said that, for practical reasons, universal compliance with this call will not be possible. My country, for example, has a general election at or around the time of the Summit. If we sign on to this resolution we are implicitly committing ourselves to representation at a level which we may or may not be able to fulfil. We prefer not to be put in that position, and it will not be until next year when the date of the elections is announced that we will be able to seriously address this important question.
Finally, we share with others a desire to have further details about the Trust Fund announced in operative paragraph 13. What is the proposed level of this account? What aspect of the preparations is it designed to facilitate? On what basis will funds be disbursed? How will the Fund operate, and who will have responsibility for managing and assigning funds?
In short, we have concerns about the level of representation - heads of government and Ministers - approval for the arrangements, and the establishment of a trust fund.
We look forward, Mr Chairman, to further explanations of aspects of the draft resolution which, as has been stated by others, was received only very recently.
Ms Lena KLEVENAS (Sweden): The Ministers' meeting in Quebec has emphasized the acute need for accelerated global actions in order to achieve the highest possible degree of food security for all.
The Swedish Government welcomes this approach and repeats its full support for a World Food Summit for the next year.
A summit must be carefully prepared through intergovernmental negotiations. We welcome, therefore, that the FAO Committee on World Food Security will serve as the preparatory committee for the World Food Summit.
Regarding the financing of the Summit, my delegation considers it important that the costs for the Summit be kept as low as possible. We would highly welcome detailed information about a suggested budget, especially the Trust Fund.
The governments must be entitled to choose their own level of representation, as it has already been pointed out by several delegations.
The members of FAO, as it was latest witnessed by our Ministers at our Organization's 50th Anniversary in Quebec, have agreed to fight for food security for all people.
It is a tall and important task. FAO has the sector responsibility within the United Nations system to assist governments in this work, which has to be carried out in close collaboration with other United Nations bodies, as well as other relevant international organizations, in order to be fully successful. It is also important that NGOs take part in this combat.
My country strongly believes that a global striving towards food security also includes:
- recognizing that women must be granted an active part in the combat. Women have an important role in this respect, within the family, nationwide and globally;
- securing improvements in the efficiency of the production and distribution of products from some of the major sectors of the world economy, from agriculture, fisheries and forestry;
- ensuring that the resource base of these sectors' productive ecosystems, upon which human life on earth depends, will continue to serve future generations;
- ensuring that the work towards these interconnected goals must be carried out both nationally and through international cooperation. Solidarity must be the lodestar; and
- recognizing an urgent need for the developing of low-cost technologies, which are compatible with sustainable development and which have to be used globally.
Finally, turning once more to the preparation of the World Food Summit, I will again stress the importance of well-prepared intergovernmental negotiations in order to enhance concrete decisions on targeted actions to achieve world food security. In the preparations of the World Food Summit, my Government welcomes the involvement of all relevant international organizations, including NGOs. The Summit must be seen in the context of other conferences and summits, such as the Women's Conference in Beijing, the Social Summit in Copenhagen and the Conference of Population and Development in Cairo.
My delegation believes that this is the only way to make it possible for Heads of State and Governments to take part in a "Summit with a Difference", as the Summit was described in the information note distributed to the 108th Council last June.
This statement has been prepared in consultation with the Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway.
Horacio MALTEZ (Panamá): Permítame, señor Presidente, expresarle en nombre de la Delegación de Panamá y en el mio propio, nuestra complacencia por verle presidir esta importante Comisión. Usted estimado amigo, Dr. Yanga, conoce la gran opinión que tenemos de su persona, y nosotros sabemos que su presencia en el estrado es garantía de equidad y de éxito en nuestros trabajos. Aprovechamos la ocasión para hacer extensiva nuestras felicitaciones a la Secretaría por el largo trabajo que viene realizando para la celebración de la Cumbre. Siguiendo su solicitud, señor Presidente, vamos a ser muy breves y trataremos de ser lo más conciso posible.
Al referirnos al tema en examen, deseamos reiterar nuestro apoyo a la celebración a la Cumbre Mundial sobre la Alimentación. Para nuestra Delegación es importante e inclusive indispensable que en la Cumbre se logre la participación de todos los sectores involucrados, no sólo aquéllos inherentes a la alimentación, sino también a aquéllos que tienen ingerencia en el desarrollo. Asimismo estimamos que la participación en la Cumbre debe realizarse al mayor nivel posible, pues es indispensable que en la misma participen sobre todos los niveles de la más alta decisión.
Por otra parte, la Delegación de Panamá aprecia todos los esfuerzos destinados a reducir al mínimo posible los costos de la Cumbre, pero siempre y cuando se garantizen los recursos suficientes para un buen resultado de la misma así como la implementación de estos. Apoyamos pues todo el mecanismo que sirva para este propósito.
Para terminar, señor Presidente, deseamos manifestar que apoyamos en términos generales el Proyecto de Resolución sobre la Cumbre Mundial de la Alimentación, anexo al documento en análisis.
Franco GINOCCHIO (Italy): First of all, the Italian delegation would like to underline the great importance that the Government of Italy attaches to the full success of the World Food Summit, which will take place in Rome in November 1996.
We express our appreciation for the drafts of the Declaration and the Plan of Action which will be submitted to the Summit, and for the technical documents already prepared, or underway, which will certainly contribute to holding a summit with well defined objectives.
However, we share the view expressed in the statement made on behalf of the European Union and its member states, that the final text of the declaration and of the plan of action could be further improved by taking into account the suggestion made in the recent Ministerial Meeting in Quebec and the results of the regional conferences to be held next year.
Moreover, we have appreciated the analysis contained in the document "Investments in Agriculture, Evolution and Prospects", which gives indicative figures of the additional private and public investments which are necessary, each year, for the next two decades, in order to allow food production in developing countries to cope with the population growth and market demand.
In the last decades, the world agricultural production had a sustained strong growth. However, the increase in the availability of food at a global level did not appear to be sufficient to solve the food security problem in a number of countries.
In particular, the sub-Saharan countries continue to have difficulties both in giving food access to the rural and urban poor and in having a sufficient domestic food aggregate supply.
The internationalization process of the world economy is involving the agriculture very strongly. The Uruguay Round agreements are a significant step of that process.
The agreement could likely have effects on the position of the food-deficit developing countries: some countries could have some advantages in having easier access to the market; others will have to cope with increasing problems.
In this context, FAO has a fundamental role in giving assistance to the food-deficit and low-income countries.
The efforts aiming at increasing the food supply in the short- to medium-term could imply a risk of increasing the pressure on fragile resources. We have to avoid irreversible environmental damages, securing both survival and development for future generations. We have to choose sustainable strategies for agricultural development and food security.
So, the renewed engagement of FAO for improving food security in the world is particularly meaningful. The Special Programme in support of food security can represent a very important contribution coping with one of the core components of the food security problem.
The Special Programme supplies both a methodology and proposals of intervention that can stimulate a more articulate interaction among FAO, beneficiary and donor countries. This interaction will make possible some improvements of the specific actions and a validation of the overall approach.
Some improvements can be related to a more explicit attention to the macroeconomic and sectoral conditions needed for attaining the general objectives of the Programme. In other words, the Special Programme will have to increase food production but also will have to improve access to food.
The cooperation between FAO and Italy has a very solid and long tradition: Italy is one of the most important donors, having contributed and collaborated with FAO in implementing more than one hundred and fifty development projects, from 1979 up to date. The projects were carried out in Africa, Latin America and Asia, employing a total of US$400 million.
Many of the above-mentioned projects aim at alleviating the food security problem by implementing both integrated and rural development projects and early warning systems.
For the Italian delegation, the Special Programme represents a very stimulating engagement in following and deepening, since the earlier formulation in 1994, its methodology and contents applied in 15 of the low-income food-deficit countries out of a group of 80.
The Italian delegation, agreeing with the objective of the Special Programme, started an open dialogue with FAO in order to give more emphasis and detail to some specific themes and components. Such a process of joint study and revision demonstrates the importance of the Special Programme, in particular when it stresses:
- the priority that must be given to the coordination and validation of the local experiences; and
- the role of the participatory approach.
The Italian delegation thinks that the philosophy and methodology of the Special Programme, without using a relevant amount of financial resources, can be adopted as a frame of reference for improving the food security problem.
These choices are, on the other hand, in line with Italian cooperation policy, which gives priority to interventions in support of the more vulnerable groups, because their marginal position in economic terms is a source of social and political instability.
What is a clear option and policy line for the Italian cooperation is the continuing support, preferably through the UN specialized agencies, to the poorest sectors of populations, particularly in the countries of the Mediterranean area, in eastern and southern Africa. Along these lines, cooperation with FAO has been fruitful so far, and this relationship has been strengthened during the recent Quebec Ministerial Meeting in preparation of the World Food Summit.
Italy will provide substantive support to the preparatory phase, also as Chairman of the European Union during the first half of 1996, and will try to perform in the best way the role of host country of such an important gathering.
As regards the organizational aspects, the Italian Government wishes to confirm its political, diplomatic and financial support to the organization of the World Food Summit, as was announced during the Hundred and Eighth Session of the Council in June 1995.
In this connection, we are pleased to inform you that the Italian Government is committed to undertake works of restructuring, in order to provide FAO with additional premises, which are indispensable for the holding of the Summit.
Furthermore, we have started the procedures for the approval of a bill concerning the financial support to the Summit, which includes the financing of travel and accommodation expenses of delegations coming from least-developed countries.
LE PRESIDENT: Je vous remercie, honorable délégué de l'Italie, pour votre longue mais très intéressante intervention.
Mesdames, Messieurs, nous allons arrêter pour ce soir nos travaux. Il nous reste, sur la liste des orateurs, le Chili, la Chine, la Roumanie, l'Inde, Cuba, la République populaire et démocratique de Corée, la Thaïlande, le Maroc et un observateur. Je crois que nous allons arrêter là la liste des orateurs. Nous reprendrons demain matin. Nous espérons consacrer une trentaine de minutes pour écouter les orateurs qui restent, écouter les réponses du Secrétariat et prendre une décision sur la procédure que nous suivrons pour l'examen de la résolution.
Je voudrais vous rappeler que demain matin, après avoir terminé ce point 7, nous passerons au point 9 qui est l'élargissement du mandat de la Commission des ressources phytogénétiques.
Je crois également que le Secrétariat a une annonce à vous faire concernant le groupe de travail sur les zones phytosanitaires.
W.A. LAMADE (Secretary, Commission I): I would like to announce that the Chairman of the Contact Group on the proposed standard for pest-free areas would like to hold a meeting tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock in the Mexico Room.
I will just read out again the list of the countries which are the members of the Contact Group: Japan, the European Community, Malaysia, Uruguay, Morocco, the United States of America, China, New Zealand, Cuba and Uganda, which holds the chairmanship. As not all of these countries are represented here, perhaps those delegates who are the friends of delegates from those countries would pass on the message, because all this was arranged at a rather late moment this afternoon.
LE PRESIDENT: J'espère que vous avez pris note de toutes ces informations. Nous allons arrêter ici cette deuxième séance de la Commission I et nous reprenons demain matin à 9 h 30. J'espère que nous serons tous à l'heure pour pouvoir rattraper le temps que nous grignoterons en continuant le point 7.
The meeting rose at 17.45 hours.
La séance est levée à 17 h 45.
Se levanta la sesión a las 17.45 horas.
