IV. PROGRAMME, BUDGETARY, FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS (continued)
IV. QUESTIONS CONCERNANT LE PROGRAMME, LE BUDGET, LES FINANCES ET L'ADMINISTRATION (suite)
IV. ASUNTOS DEL PROGRAMA Y ASUNTOS PRESUPUESTARIOS, FINANCIEROS Y ADMINISTRATIVOS (continuación)

16. Evaluation of the Technical Cooperation Programme (continued)
16. Evaluation du Programme de cooperation technique (suite)
16. Evaluación del Programa de Cooperación Técnica (cont inuación)

LE DIRECTEUR GENERAL: Monsieur le Président, je souhaiterais vous rendre compte de l'heureux résultat des travaux du Groupe de contact qui s'est réuni, hier, dans mon bureau.

C'est avec le plus grand plaisir que je vous annonce que nos discussions ont conduit à un accord d'ensemble.

Avant de vous en exposer les détails, je tiens à rendre hommage à l'esprit constructif de concilia­tion et d'objectivité dont tous les participants ont fait preuve, dans l'intérêt général de notre Organisation.

Nos discussions ont porté sur deux points principaux:

D'une part, formulation des paragraphes du rapport qui introduiront la Résolution et, de l'autre, texte de la Résolution elle-même.

En ce qui concerne le premier point, je tiens à souligner que les membres du Groupe de contact se sont engagés à recommander à leurs mandants de ne pas rouvrir la discussion sur le texte des para­graphes introductifs, tant lors de la considération du projet de rapport par le Comité de rédaction, que lors de son adoption en séance pénière.

Je suis certain de pouvoir compter sur la coopération de tous pour que cet agrément soit respecté car, s'il en allait autrement, le résultat de nos efforts risquerait de s'en trouver compromis.

Ce dont nous avons convenu peut être résumé comme suit:

1. Nous sommes convenus que le projet de rapport commencera par une description des résultats de l'Evaluation.

Il fera référence au rapport du Comité du Programme, mais n'entrera pas dans les détails et ne formu­lera pas de commentaires sur les différentes positions des divers groupes - majorité ou minorité - au sein du Conseil.

2. Après discussion, nous nous sommes mis d'accord sur le texte de la partie du rapport qui présen­tera brièvement les conclusions du Conseil.

Cette présentation se fera en trois paragraphes.

i) Le premier traitera de l'opinion de la grande majorité.

ii) Le second traitera de l'opinion d'autres membres qui, tout en appuyant en général le PCT tel est aujourd'hui, ont eu cependant des réserves sur l'extension de ses critères et sur la nécessité d'une résolution.

iii) Le troisième paragraphe se référera brièvement aux opinions des rares membres, qui ont mani­festé quelque souci au sujet de certains aspects des critères actuels, ainsi qu'à l'opinion d'un membre qui voulait restreindre ces critères et s'est opposé à la résolution en en dissociant son Gouvernement.

3. Nous avons discuté le projet de résolution du Groupe des 77, et sommes tombés d'accord sur une modification, sur un seul amendement aux termes du dernier paragraphe du dispositif, qui devient:

"Invite le Directeur général á n'épargner aucun effort pour renforcer et améliorer encore le PCT, afin que les compétences spécialisées de l'Organisation soient de plus en plus disponibles pour résoudre les problèmes les plus pressants des Etats Membres".

Il s^!agit là d'un accord final et conclusif, couvrant l'ensemble du sujet. Il a été adopté sur une base qui dispense de toute autre argumentation ou discussion.

Comme vous le voyez, Monsieur le Président, nous nous trouvons en présence d'un ensemble équilibré qui, tout en respectant les opinions de chacun, reflète également l'appui chaleureux que la très large majorité de votre Conseil a apporté à notre Programme de coopération technique.

Je suis particulièrement satisfait qu'un consensus ait pu être réalisé sur ce sujet auquel j'attache, vous le savez, la plus grande importance.

Je suis également très touché de la confiance dont les différentes délégations m'ont honoré, en acceptant de venir se réunir dans mon bureau pour concilier leurs points de vue.

Etant personnellement convaincu de la valeur irremplaçable de conversations franches et directes, qui ne peuvent avoir lieu qu'en petits groupes et dans une atmosphère informelle, je puis vous assurer, Monsieur le Président, que je me tiendrai toujours à la disposition des membres du Conseil pour les aider à trouver une solution équitable et constructive chaque fois que de semblables difficultés surgiront.

Les délégations ici assemblées et, au-delà d'elles, notre Organisation tout entière, viennent de donner, une fois encore, un exemple éclatant de leur sagesse et de leur dévouement à la cause du déve­loppement du monde rural.

Par votre intermédiaire, je voudrais, Monsieur le Président, les en remercier très sincèrement.

Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos

CHAIRMAN: The problem has not been that of disagreement. The problem has been that of approach and methodology and I am glad that it has been possible in the way you have just narrated to us to find a suitable way to assist you to do the thing that will be of use to all of us.

S.A.A. KHALIL (Chairman of the Group of 77) (Interpretation from Arabic): I should like to thank the Director-General for the report he has given us. It is a very realistic and very clear one. I should also like thank him for the precious and effective help he has given us all on this point and I should also like to thank my colleagues, the members of the Group of 77, who united their efforts towards this solution. When the Director-General suggested to the Council that a meeting should be held in his office with my colleagues and the coordinators of the Group of 77, together with representatives from other Groups, the position was almost in an impasse but the Director-General has made our task easy because, as usual with him, he was very frank and has shown great activity in order to find a proper solution. Fortunately the atmosphere in the office of the Director-General was a very relaxed one, at any rate far more relaxed than it was in this room on the day before yesterday, as you may remember; you remember the tension which prevailed on that evening.

After an exchange of views we finally came to a solution based on the proposals submitted to us by the Director-General, as he has told us in his speech. I shall not revert to this, however, there are one or two points I would like to single out.

We agreed on the need not to reopen any discussion on this point or any question connected with this, neither here in this room nor in the Drafting Committee, and I am quite sure that my colleagues in the Group of 77 will abide by this decision. I think this is a very satisfactory solution for the vast majority of this Council. This solution also perfectly reflects the views of other Groups and constitutes the result, the perfect result in fact, of a debate which indeed started, I am quite sure, on a misunderstanding. We must say that when we met with our colleagues in the office of the Director-General, thanks to the help of the Director-General, we were able to eliminate all difficulties and if a conclusion may be drawn from all this I would say that this proves that in FAO when we find ourselves in a situation where there are great disagreements, thanks to the help of the Director-General, we can always overcome those difficulties and come to a consensus, the consensus which has been one of the main principles of this Organisation during the past three years. If there are similar differences in the future then we now know the solution we have to adopt in order to solve them.

In conclusion, may I thank you, Mr. Chairman, personally for all you have done during our meetings so as to facilitate this solution.

C. BATAULT (France): Je voudrais simplement dire un mot pour remercier le Directeur général des efforts qu'il a faits pour nous permettre d'arriver à une solution favorable et je voudrais citer deux proverbes français, l'un est "Tout est bien qui finit bien" et 1'autre qui pourra nous servir pour l'avenir est "Mieux vaut prévenir que guérir".

CHAIRMAN: Before we conclude this item, I want to inform you that certain delegations want to submit in writing their comments, which will not be in contradiction to what we have done already.

I would like to give the floor to the Secretary-General, Mr. Sylla.

LE SECRETAIRE GENERAL: Il ne s'agit pas de commentaires sur ?e qui vient d'être conclu et adopté. Il s'agit des déclarations que ces délégations avaient l'intention de faire au moment où le débat était en cours sur ce point. Ce sont ces déclarations qui vont figurer dans le procès-verbal.

J. A. BAKER (United States of America): Just as a matter of procedure, I would like to enquire as to whether this is a normal practice. I do not have any particular objection in this instance, but as a matter of practice the question arises that in a normal debate when delegations make statements, occasionally they raise points to which other delegations feel they may need to respond or wish to respond, and that possibility of course is not open to us when this procedure is followed. May I ask whether there is a precedent for this and whether this has been a normal practice of the Organization in the past.

CHAIRMAN: Yes, this is the normal practice here in Council. If anybody does not want to speak he will hand it in and then it goes to the Drafting Committee.

I will give the floor to the Secretary-General to explain.

LE SECRETAIRE GENERAL: Seules les délégations qui, pour des raisons de calendrier ne désirent pas prendre la parole pour ne pas prolonger les débats, remettent au Secrétariat leurs déclarations par écrit, lesquelles sont soumises au Président pour qu'il en informe le Conseil. Ensuite elles sont envoyées pour être insérées dans le compte rendu sténographique, mais pas dans le rapport. C'est une pratique courante qui existe à la FAO depuis très longtemps, m'a-t-on dit.

I. MOSKOVITS (Malta): I would like to ask your permission that in this case perhaps also a statement from all delegations could be inserted in the record. Of course, we do not expect that it would be taken into account. We fully abide by this statement which was just made by the Director-General and we are very pleased and congratulate him for the excellence of his statement.

CHAIRMAN: It looks as if we are opening a debate on a procedure that is normal in this Organization but I give the floor to the United Kingdom.

A. J. PECKHAM (United Kingdom): I should not of course wish for one moment to open a debate on something of great importance, which, as the Director-General has said, is settled. As one who took part in some of the deliberations yesterday, I did want to say on behalf of certain other parties that we greatly appreciate the steps which the Director-General took, and secondly, I wanted to say how much we appreciated the spirit of good will on both sides.

As the Chairman of the Group of 77 said, we started from a difficult position but we emerged and we could not have emerged with the conclusion which the Director-General has given us without a very large measure of good will on both sides.

Finally, I want to say a few words about TCP. As some of my friends know, I was labouring yesterday from a very painful sore throat, and that does not always help, but when I got home last night I used a medical preparation which is familiar to some of my colleagues from our side of the world; I think Messrs. Boots somewhere in Nottingham prepare it. To those with a chemical background I think it is called tri-chloro-phenol. If you look at the package when it is sold it is called TCP. I am very happy to inform you this morning, Mr. Chairman, that my sore throat has gone completely. Could I just add that I strongly recommend it. To any of my colleagues suffering from this sort of flu or germ, I strongly recommend the preparation called TCP.

CHAIRMAN: Of course, we know that in your own country your own government may spend all of your time dishing out aid, so nobody can blame you for not supporting TCP or any other aid.

I. MOSKOVITS (Malta): The discussions on the pros and cons on the Technical Cooperation Programme tend to become more and more theoretical. I wish therefore to go back to realities and to refer to some concrete cases of Malta's experiences.

When Malta became independent, it needed urgent assistance in many fields. FAO helped it a lot and we are very grateful for the assistance we received. It was in many cases financed by the UNDP, to which organization we also owe gratitude. In general most experts were sent to Malta to study the actual problems and give advice. But, frankly speaking, we realized soon that this kind of assistance could not suffice. Malta was and is still lacking in research institutions, there are few laboratories and the scientific equipment available is insufficient. UNDP, according to its rules, could not supply this type of help.

Another example: In 1975, our livestock was menaced by a sudden outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease -since 30 years unknown to the island. We asked again help from FAO. We were told that funds were lacking to send to the island specialized veterinarians and the vaccines needed. Hence, we were urged to ask for funds from UNDP for this purpose. We had done so and our request was transmitted to Geneva and from there to New York. The only trouble was that the disease continued to spread in the meantime. Had we not received urgent bilateral assistance in time, the damage would have been huge. When UNDP' s reply to our request arrived from New York to FAO, fortunately the worst was over and we did not need any more the help granted. These two examples show the weaknesses of assistance to which UNDP's involvement is necessary. In great part, due to bureaucratic complications, the multilateral assistance from the UN is less efficient and less effective as it was believed it would become when the UNDP was created.

These experiences prompted us to raise the problem at the 17th and 18th Sessions of the FAO Conference as well as at several European Regional Conferences. We expressed our view that more emphasis should be given in FAO's Regular Programme to projects with an outspoken country focus. Again and again we received the same reply: There are no provisions in FAO to supply actual assistance without UNDP's help. Hence, we felt that the Regular Programme, as it was conceived at that time, is much too rigid and can hardly give to a country urgent assistance when it was needed. FAO was not able to intervene in unforeseen cases, not included in the programme set up for a two-year period. And this even in spite of the fact that the distance from Headquarters to Malta is indeed very short, travel expenses insignificant and that FAO's staff at Headquarters considerably but most of its time was absorbed with studies of another general nature. This of course was in sheer contradiction to the preamble of the FAO constitution and to the argument stressed again and again that FAO is an action-oriented body.

The situation became even more complicated when UNDP introduced the system of the "Indicative Planning Figures" (IPF). Useless to say that the IPF for Malta was extremely small compared to the many needs the country was and is still facing. We need assistance not only in agriculture and fisheries which means from FAO, but also in fields which are falling within the competence of WHO, UNIDO, Unesco and so forth and all these undertakings have to be covered by the IPF set by UNDP. We were forced to plan how to use our IPF and to establish priorities to our requests - an immense and impossible task for a small country which is lacking in all types of natural resources, trained manpower, specialists in many scientific and practical fields. Without the help of bilateral assistance of friendly countries, we would have been in a very grave situation because frankly the multilateral assistance did not perform to the expectations and was not as efficient as it was hoped for.

For all these reasons, we were very happy for the creation of the Technical Cooperation Programme. We feel that it will solve most of the problems just mentioned. We wish to praise the Director-General for the effort he made to establish this programme and to the Council and the Conference which approved its implementation. We are glad to say that this has been recognized in all regions and the respective Regional Conferences formulated resolutions to express their recognition. I regret very much that this was not formally done at the last Regional Conference for Europe although there are several developing countries in the European Region. Our delegation was unfortunately not able to attend the Regional Conference and raise there the question. Nonetheless, from the working paper submitted to this Conference, I see that TCP assistance was granted not only to Malta but also to several other European countries, like Cyprus, Greece, Iceland, Portugal, Spain and Turkey. It is true, that the European Commission on Agriculture at its June session expressed its gratitude to the Director-General for TCP assistance granted to fight the outbreak of the African Swine Fever in Malta which was not only a threat to Malta itself but to all countries of Europe, irrespective whether they are developed or developing countries. I regret very much that this formal resolution has not been brought to the knowledge of the Regional Conference for Europe.

17. International Food Corps
17. Corps international de volontaires de 1'alimentation
17. Cuerpo Internacional para la Alimentación

J.F. YRIART (Assistant Director-General, Development Department): I do not wish to use your time in duplicating the information and suggestions contained in document CL 74/6 on the International Food Corps.

CHAIRMAN: Point of Order. May I give the floor to Colombia.

G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Lamento interrumpir la sesión, pero la delegación de Colombia en esta Casa ha estado siempre en favor de que los idiomas de nuestro sistema de trabajo se mantengan en pie de igualdad. Por eso, agradecería al Subdirector General Jefe del Departamento de Desarrollo, que es un latinoamericano, que hablara en nuestro propio idioma.

CHAIRMAN: If I may say so, delegate of Colombia, I would like to speak my native tongue in this house, but I like to speak English, so perhaps Mr. Yriart likes to speak English. If he likes to speak Spanish or French or Chinese he is most welcome to do so.

Mr. Yriart, would you please go on as you like. It is not a point of order.

J.F. YRIART (Assistant Director General, Development Department): Mr. Chairman, may I say that I will speak in English because most of the discussions we have had in this case have been in the English language and we have used documentation that was only available in the English language. On other points I will speak Spanish with great pleasure.

The Programme Committee in paragraphs 1.147 to 1.155 of the report of its Thirty-fifth Session, document CL 74/5, welcomed the Director General's conclusions based on the evidence of the Independent Consultant and on the experience of the Organization in dealing with volunteers. The Committee itself clearly identified the main issues for consideration and emphasized, agreeing in this with the Director-General, that it is vitally important to involve youth in agriculture and rural development. It stressed the great potential in service from young people and particularly those in the developing countries themselves.

I should call to your attention the interesting remark of the Programme Committee that - and I quote - "The original proposal had thus undergone a certain evolution as a result of the findings of the Independent Consultant, the review of the experience of the Organization and the enquiries made by the Director-General himself." The findings of the Independent Consultant and the Organization's own experience have confirmed the validity of the use of international volunteers. On the other hand, certain weaknesses in the present procedures and manner of using them have also been identified. From this point of view, the exercise conducted should also be of great value in improving the procedures and above all, in defining areas of action in which the use of volunteers will be most effective.

But what has really come to mind is the great opportunity open to developing countries to assist rural development and food production in mobilizing their own youth. Examples of the experience is this field are quoted in the document under consideration. However, the Director-General would welcome additional information from independent governments on domestic volunteer schemes which they may have launched, their mode of operation, their size and the experience they have gained.

The Programme Committee has agreed with the Director-General that at this time the basic issue at stake is not to create yet another organization or bureaucratic structures within the FAO or the UN system but to find ways in which general involvement of young people can be promoted and stimulated. FAO is in a position to assist governments in such tasks within its present structure. If the volunteer movement is to be successful it is essential that those who are willing to devote a part of their lives to this service must receive recognition and support. The paper before you has made a number of practical suggestions in this respect, and we will be pleased to have the Council's reaction on this particular point. It should be clear, also, that any new project schemes involving volunteers should bring about a net increase in the flow of resources, and should not substitute existing aid commitments. While the Director-General is prepared to consider the inclusion of TCP funds particularly to help governments in the elaboration of suitable schemes involving volunteers which they wish to pursue, it would be essential to call on additional resources from non-government al organizations and official bilateral sources, and FAO could play a constructive coordinating role in this.

Finally, I would like to read out paragraph 23 of document CL 74/6 hoping the Council will give us guidance on the following four issues, and they are as follows:

"the interest of Member Governments in mobilizing additional manpower through the volunteer movement in the service of agriculture and rural development;

"alternative organizational and financial arrangements needed to provide adequate support for volunteers;

"the programmes and projects for which volunteers could be most effectively utilized;

"the administering of volunteer schemes, particularly regarding personal emoluments and career prospects for volunteers."

There is time ahead for building up experience during which FAO will continue to work for international volunteers and to continue to use them effectively in the light of the recent study. It will also assist governments in the light of international volunteer schemes, and in the light of the experience which will be accumulated it will define the role which the volunteers should play, as shown in the document under consideration.

CHAIRMAN: I now open discussion under this item and call on the delegate of Sri Lanka.

S.M.L. MARIKAR (Sri Lanka): Although we are first on the list of speakers, the Sri Lanka preference would be for the United States to speak first on this subject. If you remember, Sir, the originator of this proposal was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. It would be correct for the United States to speak first on this subject.

CHAIRMAN: Very well, I now call on the United States of America.

J.A. BAKER (United States of America): We are certainly happy to speak on this item but we would also have been happy not to speak first, not because we have any difficulties in presenting our views but because of the manner in which this item has developed, as Mr. Yriart has quite properly emphasized to us in the introduction of this item. He has pointed out the evolution of the idea which was first offered to this organization in a speech under the McDougall series, and that evolution has been a useful one pointing to the necessity for initiative in the developing countries themselves if the idea is to develop. For that reason I would gladly have yielded to my colleague for Sri Lanka if he wished to speak.

CHAIRMAN: You go on. He gave you the floor willingly.

J.A. BAKER (United States of America): Ambassador Andrew Young, in giving the McDougall Memorial Lecture which opened the 19th FAO Conference, suggested the idea of national, regional and perhaps even international Food Corps Volunteers dedicated to the task of increasing food production for home consumption. Greater food self-sufficiency, among the rural poor, who cannot now buy food and who often remain outside the monetary economy, is central to the purpose of such a Food Corps. Training, the introduction of low-cost techniques and technical cooperation among the developing countries are integral parts of this idea.

The Conference asked the Director-General for a report on the Food Corps, and he engaged an able consultant, Dr. Gabriel Saab. The Director-General's findings, submitted to the Council in CL 74/INF/5, suggest that the idea merited further attention by the FAO. We commend the Director- General for this most informative report which I had the opportunity to consider at the Programme Committee as well.

The Committee noted that the Director-General's report brought to light "great potential for service" in support of domestic volunteers in developing countries. The Committee felt also "that FAO should continue to cooperate in the manner proposed by the Director-General, with multilateral, bilateral and non-governmental sponsoring bodies...".

The United States government has followed the Food Corps idea with great interest. Agricultural volunteer schemes need different forms in different countries, and the initiative for creating a Food Corps, of course, remains with the Member Governments. Flexibility could be the hallmark of any approach. There is no single organizational, financial or technical model which can guarantee success. My government is well aware that for every existing successful scheme designed to increase village agricultural production, for example, those cited in the Director-General's report, there are many that have not succeeded. It is worth asking, therefore, why some existing agricultural volunteer projects have worked, and put the answers at the disposal of those countries which seek to set up their own Food Corps.

Since the 1977 Conference of this Organization, a number of Member Governments have taken steps to explore the idea further. This summer, for example - and we hope we will learn more in the course of this discussion - eight Sahelian ministers of agriculture of the CILSS, the Interstate Coordinating Council of States fighting against drought, decided to set up a sub-regional Food Corps, and presently they are writing up a plan to test the idea in several regions.

We hope that this effort is something that we will have an opportunity to learn more about. We have several of our colleagues who have been following it with great interest, but this Council does not have as much detail as would be relevant to our discussion.

In several other developing countries the idea has received serious consideration and experimental national Food Corps are on the way.

In the planning stage we have heard here that some excellent assistance is already being given to these pioneer Food Corps planners by leaders of successful small farmer development schemes; of the Mexican Puebla Plan, and of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement of Sri Lanka, for example. Such technical cooperation among developing countries is a positive and rewarding feature of the work.

Several lessons stand out from these successful plans - the need to emphasize suitable technical training for the small farmer volunteers, and appropriate low cost technology; and the need to set clear and obtainable goals for increased production. The test of a successful Food Corps, I believe, is more than the mobilization of men and women for village development. It is rather the actual production of more crops so that hunger recedes, nutrition improves, and the income of small farmers grows. Above all, the objective of the Food Corps is increased production.

My Government commends the Director-General's offer of FAO facilities and expertise, and ability to mobilize resources, to governments interested in establishing domestic agricultural volunteer movements or projects. We urge him to take into account the need to maintain maximum organizational autonomy and flexibility for any international liaison office which could link those wishing to develop a Food Corps, with those who have positive experiences in this type of agricultural volunteer work.

We believe an international liaison office which may be considered would be more effective through the creation, in due course, of a small Food Corps Advisory Croup, linking donors, experts, and successful existing movements, including governments and non-governmental organization. Such an advisory group could give direction and specialized supervision to countries seeking to establish their own national or regional Food Corps projects. Perhaps, at suitable intervals, the Director-General would inform us how the Food Corps idea is developing.

The Director-General and the Programme Committee suggested the Food Corps be considered at the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. My Government heartily endorses this idea and we hope that among the national delegations there will be notable leaders of successful agrarian volunteer movements who can share their unique experiences, so that the Conference can make complete recommendations.

Our hope is that the Food Corps can extend agricultural technical knowledge among small farmers, making women and men in the villages better aware of how best to help themselves. Only if we pay careful attention to human organization can the objectives of rural development be attained.

The Food Corps idea calls for organizational creativity, for flexibility and for modest budgeting. There is no single formula. Rather, there is a great need to search for flexible and imaginative ways to associate small farmers and potential young farmers in the production of food for those who now remain hungry.

S.M.L. MARIKAR (Sri Lanka): Sri Lanka, as rightly pointed out in document CL 74/6, has volunteer schemes which work with the Government but not necessarily under its auspices. In fact, our tradition of voluntary labour or Shramadana, as we call it, dates back to very early times. The Government has always encouraged such initiatives. Recently, our Foreign Minister addressed a meeting organized by the International Council of Vounteer Services in Geneva. There he stated "I am of the view that voluntary agencies should a have direct dialogue with the governments so that their activities fit in with the needs and plans of the government concerned".

Although there is no proper inventory of non-governmental organizations there are about 208 such organizations based mostly in urban sectors which are local in character and partly assisted by foreign donors.

In addition there are voluntary organizations which are directly sponsored by the Government. There are rural development societies and women's organizations. The Government has recognized the role of voluntary organizations in community development and created a new Ministry of Rural Development this year. Moneys have been voted by Parliament for improvement of road and irrigation facilities, construction of maternity homes, etc.

The Government has also set up the National Youth Service Council by Act of Parliament. It consists of a policy-making body which also undertakes training. Those who have been trained are expected to work in the large development projects like the Maharch River Scheme.

There is also a further category of village development societies which are NGO in character, such as Temple Committees, but which lack funds and continuity.

In conformity with paragraph 8 of CL 74/6 we have tried to give you some information on our domestic volunteer schemes. We will be happy to provide any further information that is requested.

As regards document CL 74/6, we agree with paragraph 5 that the basic issue at stake is not to create yet another organization of bureaucratic structure within the FAO or UN machinery, but to find ways in which genuine involvement of young people in agriculture and rural development can be promoted and stimulated.

We agree with the Programme Committee that domestic youth volunteer schemes should be promoted and agree with paragraph 14 of document CL 74/6 that few foreign recruited volunteers will be able to work effectively at the village level, where knowledge of local languages, and in some cases even dialects, is a prerequisite for effective work.

We suggest, however, that the Council may consider whether it may be advisable for the Director-General to have a very small advisory body drawn from a cross-section of our countries to counsel him about countries that may be helped to set up their own voluntary bodies. Also some of our countries may be willing to train volunteers of other countries and thus promote TCDC to some extent. Training in developing countries will not be half as expensive as in the developed countries.

C. BATAULT (France): Monsieur le President, nous considérons que le rapport du Directeur general sur la question du Corps international des volontaires de l'alimentation, rapport fait à la demande de la 19ème Conférence, est extrêmement pertinent, et la délégation française en particulier fait siennes les remarques contenues aux paragraphes 14 et 16, ainsi que les conclusions du Directeur général. Nous estimons en effet qu'il convient de s'en tenir à une meilleure utilisation des dispositifs existants.

B. de AZEVEDO BRITO (Brazil): Our delegation has already taken part in the debate on this item in the context of the Programme Committee; therefore I feel that we can be brief. We would like to thank Mr Yriart for his excellent presentation of the subject and to express our deep appreciation for presenting on this subject an excellent report which puts quite directly the perspective in which the volunteer services must be used nowadays.

In our opinion the emphasis on domestic volunteers in the correct one, and we are happy to see that the idea of Ambassador Andrew Young, presented at the last Conference in the context of the McDougall Lecture, has evolved so correctly and has produced added support for the use of youth in our countries in terms of domestic volunteer services. A number of developing countries have very interesting experiences on that, particularly in the use of university students, who are then sent to cooperate with their less fortunate brothers in the countryside in order to help to bring technology and information to speed the process of development. We feel, therefore, that this is a very correct approach which the Programme Committee and the Director-General's report have given to this initiative. On the other hand, we feel - and here we want to be quite explicit - that the Director-General is quite correct in his report when he indicates that there is no need for any bureaucratic, any new, institutional set-up. We feel that we have, within FAO - and the report of the Director-General clearly points that out - enough arrangements to help those countries which wish to be assisted in promoting volunteer services. Therefore we are not convinced that it is necessary at this stage to develop new institutions. On the other hand, we also agree with the Director-General's report, where he points out that assistance for developing countries to develop their own domestic services must be conceived in terms of additional assistance - added aid, not simply the moving around of resources from one place to another.

These are the observations that I wish to make. We, would also like to place on record the gratitude we have for Ambassador Young for presenting an idea which evolved in a very correct manner and could therefore become an additional contribution to the developing process of the developing countries.

A. G. RAMBOUX (Belgique): D'ores et déjà, je peux vous informer que mon pays est favorable à la création d'un Corps international de volontaires. Nous pensons qu'il s'agit là d'un excellent projet auquel nous souhaitons participer. Pour améliorer la compréhension entre les peuples, la rencontre de jeunes sur le terrain au travail est souhaitable. Un homme qui a connu les conditions de vie dans le tiers monde, qui a tenté de travailler avec les habitants pour le développement de leur pays, devient souvent un élément actif dans la compréhension et dans les bonnes relations entre les pays. La Belgique est favorable à la mise en place d'un tel type de volontaire.

Déjà plus de 600 volontaires belges travaillent dans différents endroits du monde dans le cadre de relations bilatérales. Par contre, seulement quelques dizaines de volontaires travaillent sous l'emblème des Nations Unies dans des organisations internationales.

Cette introduction me permet de répondre aux questions posées dans le document.

D'abord, la Belgique est favorable à la mobilisation d'effectifs supplémentaires de volontaires. Elle répondra donc aux demandes.

Parmi les dispositions administratives qui régissent actuellement le statut des volontaires des Nations Unies, ma délégation a noté le frein que constitue généralement la durée des formalités d'engagement.

Les dispositions financières sont généralement suffisantes, quoique des aménagements puissent être apportés. Pratiquement, tous les projets FAO conviennent pour l'utilisation des volontaires.

Ma délégation demandera cependant à l'Organisation, ou aux autres organisations qui prendront ces volontaires, de veiller particulièrement à l'encadrement. Le chef de projet doit jouer le role de tuteur et de formateur. Un bon accueil des volontaires par les jeunes travailleurs locaux est aussi souhaité. Les émoluments individuels peuvent être légèrement améliorés. Les perspectives de carrière ne doivent pas être négligées. J'insiste sur le fait que parmi les volontaires des Nations Unies belges qui travaillent sur le terrain plusieurs d'entre eux sont successivement devenus experts-associés et ultérieurement experts.

Dans le cadre de la Conférence sur la réforme agraire et le développement rural, il existe aussi des possibilités, à condition que dans ce domaine les taches soient bien définies et judicieusement réparties entre les volontaires locaux et les volontaires expatriés.

Sra. Doña G. RIVERA MARIN DE ITURBE (Mexico): En primer término, deseo felicitar al Director General por la forma en que ha ofrecido el apoyo de la FAO al Programa de Trabajo Voluntario Juvenil en la Agricultura. El informe y la exposición que tan acertadamente ha dirigido a nosotros el doctor Yriart, nos ha ofrecido la posibilidad de adherirnos a estas propuestas de que se estudie la posibi­lidad de crear los cuerpos de voluntariado juvenil en el mundo entero. Consideramos que la coordina­ción de la FAO que ha ofrecido realizar, será indudablemente de gran utilidad para todos los países que formamos esta Organización, pero especialmente para los países que, como México, nos encontramos en vías de desarrollo.

En México existen varios proyectos de acción operada en forma de voluntariado y dirigidos básicamente al mejoramiento de las condiciones de vida de la familia mexicana en las áreas rurales y de los pro­pios agricultores. Los programas básicos dirigidos a las mujeres se encuentran englobados dentro de un plan de acción que se llama el Movimiento de Desarrollo Integral de la Familia Mexicana, Movimiento que dirige la señora esposa del Presidente de la República.

Una parte importante de estos trabajos se realizan en las áreas rurales y tienen como objetivo básico el desarrollo de las comunidades indígeneas y de las comunidades marginales en donde el proceso de culturación no ha sido tan favorable como en otras regiones del país.

Estos programas enfocan con un sentido de mejoramiento integral de la familia y con especial interés, la planificación familiar en el control de la natalidad, acción en la que el Gobierno mexicano ha puesto ya una de sus miras y objetivos básicos de desarrollo. Como es sabido, México tiene una de las tasas de crecimiento de la población más altas del mundo,y la idea del Gobierno, de esta administración, es de hacerla bajar, puesto que como lo manifesté en mi exposición de ayer, mientras nosotros no ha­gamos descender la tasa de natalidad estamos convencidos de que el aumento de la producción agrícola será insuficiente.

Uno de los programas que está teniendo más éxito es el que se realiza con el desarollo rural integra­do a base de trabajo comunitario y de voluntariado rural en la zona de Bahía de Banderas, donde un cuerpo de jóvenes mujeres, de origen campesino se está capacitando para llevar a cabo la campaña de mejoramiento rural de la campesina por medio de tres acciones.

Primero, un programa de desarrollo social comunitario con la idea de mejorar la educación de la mujer en forma integral. En estas áreas, se detectó que las mujeres campesinas tenían hasta un 80 por cien­to de índice de analfabetismo, las adultas, y se está encomendando en cuanto a desarrollo rural dos tipos de programas, la capacitación y alfabetización para las mujeres campesinas adultas, y la educa­ción para todos los niños que forman las comunidades que participan en este programa.

El segundo programa que se está realizando en forma de voluntariado es un programa de planificación familiar, con miras a disminuir la tasa de natalidad en el área. Son las campesinas las que asisten a un centro de capacitación en el poblado de San Francisco, y estas mujeres jóvenes serán quienes to­men a su cuidado los trabajos de la planificación familiar de control de natalidad en todo el resto del país, partiendo de estas áreas donde están siendo capacitadas con las últimas técnicas de adelanto mundial en este tema.

El tercer programa que se está llevando a cabo también con la participación de jóvenes campesinas ca­pacitadas en materia de desarrollo rural, es sobre las bases de un desarrolllo económico integrado en este plan. En este aspecto del programa se espera integrar a la producción agrícola a las mujeres que habitan en los mismos poblados. Se está pensando para esto en la creación de huertos familiares y uti­lizar sistemas de cultivos intensivos más sofisticados que van a ser enseñados por técnicos jóvenes de las Universidades Agrícolas, y que a su vez, van a capacitar a personal joven de la propia localidad, a mujeres básicamente, para que se dediquen al cultivo intensivo de flores, hortalizas, vegetales y so­bre todo la producción de la tierra mexicana, típica, como son el frijol y el maíz, que por diferen­tes razones han venido descendiendo y actualmente nos hemos visto en la necesidad de llegar a importar.

Estos tres programas están conducidos bàsicamente por jóvenes mujeres voluntarias, algunas profesio­nistas que se han dedicado con todo entusiasmo al trabajo rural y se dedican básicamente al mejora­miento de la población femenina.

Pero otra experiencia que México puede ofrecer como ejemplo del trabajo voluntario es el Plan Puebla, conocido mundialmente en el campo de la agricultura debido al éxito logrado de la producción de maíz y frijol. El programa se inició hace 10 años como una derivación del trabajo social voluntario de la Universidad Agrícola de Chapingo, y el Colegio de Graduados de la Universidad pensó que era convenien­te que los técnicos allí capacitados salieran al campo a trabajar, hombro con hombro con el campesino y con el agricultor.

Cada joven que sale de la licenciatura de la Universidad Agrícola de Chapingo ofrece un servicio so­cial durante dos años y va a los campos mexicanos a trabajar con los agricultores y a enseñarles el mejoramiento de la técnica en el cultivo, sobre todo del maíz. El resultado de este plan ha sido ad­mirable; se ha conseguido que la producción de una tonelada por hectárea que es el término medio de la producción agrícola de maíz en México, se aumente a tres y medio y hasta cuatro y medio toneladas por hectárea, dando un rendimiento cuatro veces superior a lo que es el común del trabajo agrícola en México.

Los técnicos del colegio y graduados de la Universidad Agrícola de Chapingo sienten y están sumamente complacidos de realizar este trabajo y de ver cómo gracias a su esfuerzo el agricultor mexicano de es­ta región del país ha podido superar sus condiciones de vida un tanto precarias. Ademas el programa se ha empezado ya a aplicar en otras regiones del propio territorio nacional y se tienen ya cinco es­tados con proyectos piloto en donde ya se ha iniciado una labor semejante y se espera que, al final de este decenio, la totalidad de los estados de la República cuenten con planes de desarrollo de voluntariado juvenil emergido de las universidades agrícolas que vayan a beneficiar directamente al campesino mexicano.

Nosotros consideramos que el trabajo voluntario debe de ser un modelo que se desarrolle de acuerdo a las condiciones de cada país. Es por esto que deseamos, a través de este foro internacional, hacer extensivo el interés que tiene México de que sus programas se conozcan y de que técnicos de otros países que tengan interés en ver cómo la juventud mexicana coadyuva en el desarrollo agrícola integral y social de la nación, puedan asistir a las escuelas mexicanas donde se les invita, sobre todo a las Universidades Agrícolas o al Plan Chapingo, al Plan Puebla oara que vean cuál es el esfuerzo que se está realizando.

La idea es que no se adopte el modelo mexicano. Nosotros somos contrarios a imponer modelos que sa­bemos pueden cambiar y pueden no ser adecuados para otras culturas, para otras formas de vida. Sin embargo, la experiencia del trabajo de los jóvenes universitarios al lado de los agricultores ha sido positiva, y con toda cordialidad invitamos a los países asociados a la FAO a que asistan a México, donde nosotros con mucho gusto les demostraremos los planes y los programas que se están llevando a cabo en estas materias.

Q.H. HAQUE (Bangladesh): At this very early stage of the subject which is still at the stage of innovation, the documentation of the Secretariat from that point of view is excellent. The presentation by Mr. Yriart - in English! - has been very clear. We heard with interest the statement of Ambassador Young and we feel that the idea is intellectually sound and innovative. We thank the Government of the United States and the Representative of the United States Government in this Council for the interest his Government is showing for development of this concept and the readiness to help Member Governments. In our context, in the context of Bangladesh, such a corps would be fitting. As you know, we have very large numbers of rural unemployed. In fact, about a year ago we started a programme on an experimental basis which we call Village Food Production Committees. We have sixty thousand villages in the country but the Programme was started in a restrictive way, where the rural youth was involved, under the leadership of the Member of the Union Council who is a directly elected person on the basis of franchise or the lowest unit of local self-government. Above that unit there is a sub-division coordi­nation committee. A sub-division is part of a district which has an average population of 1 ¹/2 million and above that there is a district coordination committee and then a national coordination committee under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives. We separated the Ministry of Rural Development from the Ministry of Agriculture quite some time ago to give new impetus particu­larly to rural development.

I agree with the observation of the delegate of the United States that there cannot be any prescribed model for a food corps, the model has to be indigenous and the primary role should be of local domestic use, and this is the basis on which the Programme is being developed in Bangladesh. The Government, in view of the large number of rural unemployed, is now thinking of creating a Ministry of Youth. This is under active consideration in the Government of Bangladesh. For the consideration of the delegate of Mexico, we already have a Ministry of Women's Affairs headed by a Minister who is a woman.

In paragraph 23 of the paper, Mr. Yriart mentions "Alternative organizational and financial arrange­ments". I understand that Mr. Yriart means alternative to the present arrangements. Like the delegate of Brazil, we feel that there should not be any proliferation of organizations and institutions in this regard. The FAO with its present capabilities should be able to serve the Programme.

There has been a suggestion made by the delegate of Sri Lanka to have an advisory committee to the Director-General on this item. We feel that the concept is at the stage of innovation even now. The Director-General has been kind enough to mention in paragraph 8 of document CL 74/6 that he will welcome the comments of governments on their experiences and other information. We feel that an advisory committee may be necessary at a later stage, but at this stage perhaps the main aim of the Director-General would be to assist Member Countries who are interested in developing, a programme on the lines which would, through their own indigenous requirements, be participated in by domestic youths. We welcome the spirit and willingness of the Director-General to help the Member Countries from the TCP and other sources to develop their own indigenous volunteer corps.

D.F. SMITH (United Kingdom): The comments of my delegation can be put briefly. We endorse the value of volunteers and we support their increased use in agriculture and food product ion. There are many existing schemes, both multilateral and bilateral, in developed countries and in developing countries. We agree that these should be encouraged and better use made of them, and we support the view that this is preferable to the creation of new organizations.

The United Kingdom agencies responsible for recruiting volunteers give priority to rural development and agricultural projects. We endorse the view, however, that care must be taken to ensure that the project is suitable for volunteers, that the volunteer assigned to the project has the appropriate background and knowledge, and that he is given the necessary back-up facilities such as transport and equipment. We shall be happy to give to the FAO Secretariat any information it requires about United Kingdom volunteers schemes.

M.S. ZEHNI (Libya) (interpretation from Arabic): I have listened to the explanation given by Mr. Yriart and I have listened to the introduction of the paper with a great deal of attention and I must say that I listened to him in Arabic. I must say that he was very clear. He always is when he presents papers.

Now we have been asked what was the meaning of our new name. I told them, very simply, that it means the country of the masses, the country which helps the masses to improve their lot and improve their future. The agricultural masses, of course, are the first. The young people, male or female, are the first to be considered. We are fully convinced that these young people have a role of primary importance to play, not only through cooperation but through direct and efficient participation and at all levels, whether it be in the preparation, planning or implementation of projects. That is why we agree that any attempt at making young people an integrated part of development, especially food and agricultural development, any efforts for development have to be handled through these young people and if the Organization can play a role in this respect, we would like to give our full support to the Organization in this attempt. However, the official view of my country is that we cannot accept the setting up of new bodies, not only because this would increase the number of existing organizations and the volume of bureaucracy, but also because we know what the basic ideas are, we know that these ideas are not always very clear. We agree that every developing country should count on its own use and should give their own young people the possibility of participating actively in its development programming, especially agricultural development. We also feel that between developing countries, on a regional by regional, bilateral level, there should be an exchange of such youth services. There should be meetings such as the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. In such a conference there can be an exchange of opinions, especially as we hope that in this conference young people from the rural areas are going to participate, especially groups of young women, girls from the rural areas.

The Ambassador of Mexico stressed the role of women in general, especially the women in the rural areas and we are absolutely ready to participate in the efforts which are made in order to reach this objective, either through exchange of experiences with other countries or in order to provide you with the results of our own experience, to those who would like to benefit from it. We are also ready to cooperate by any other means. We can always agree on this with our friends from the developing countries.

J. IÑURRIETA RIGORES (Cuba): La delegación cubana desea, Sr. Presidente, felicitar a la Secretaría y muy especialmente al Sr. Director General por los esfuerzos realizados con vistas a presentarnos en el día de hoy un documento que recoge en síntesis algunas de las experiencias en materia del Cuerpo de Voluntarios ya existente.

Mi país concede gran importancia a toda iniciativa que pueda contribuir al desarrollo agrícola y rural de los países en desarrollo como un medio más para hacer frente a los acuciantes problemas que implica el subdesarrollo. Sin embargo, somos conscientes de que tales iniciativas si no están antecedidas por la realidad profunda de los cambios de las estructuras económicas y sociales, no dejarán de ser paliativos a la situación actual. Así lo ha demostrado la historia de los países en desarrollo. La revolución cubana desde sus albores ha venido recibiendo una extraordinaria y hermosa contribución de solidaridad a través de jóvenes voluntarios que han participado colectivamente en actividades del desarrollo de una forma coincidente con los propósitos fundamentales de los llamados Cuerpos de Voluntarios que ahora se pretende revitalizar en la FAO. Nuestro país erradicó de su suelo el analfabetismo a través de voluntarios nacionales en los primeros años de la revolución y hoy continúa desplegando con jóvenes voluntarios una gran labor, jóvenes que una vez concluidos sus estudios universitarios se aprestan a trabajar en las zonas rurales de Cuba y ofrecen sus servicios en materia educacional, agrícola e industrial y, muy especialmente, en el campo de la salud pública.

Es por ello que Cuba valora altamente todo gesto desinteresado que pueda significar un apoyo real a la colaboración para el desarrollo.

Mi delegación, basada en la experiencia antes expuesta, considera que en materia de voluntarios aquellos que proceden del mismo país beneficiario son los que, generalmente, pueden aportar la contribución más valiosa.

Coincidimos con muchos de nuestros colegas en que no debe crearse una organización burocrática para atender estos asuntos, sino que la FAO debe dar su asesoramiento a los gobiernos interesados en desarrollar el movimiento de voluntarios nacionales.

Por último, queremos hacer énfasis en que toda actuación en el sentido antes expuesto que se efectúe en representación de la FAO, debe estar sometida a su control, con el fin de que se cumpla su verdadero objetivo.

S.A. PERVEZ (Pakistan): We would like to compliment the Director-General for his report which combines both deep insight and a practical approach to the problem. We would like to commend the Assistant Director-General of the Development Department for the manner in which he has introduced the subject to us today.

I would like to begin my comments by going over various aspects which have already been covered by the Director-General's report and have also been discussed in the Programme Committee. I would like to inform the Council that we support the approach endorsed by the Programme Committee that FAO could in future play a role in promoting and supporting national volunteer movements.

We agree with the Director-General's assessment that only a flexible approach to the further promotion of a volunteer movement will do true justice to the needs as they present themselves under today's circumstances. We are of the view that the basic issue is not the creation of another organization of bureaucratic structure within FAO or the United Nations system, but to find the ways in which young people could be involved in agricultural and rural development.

While stressing this aspect I would add that this requires the creation of a domestic volunteer corps. Efforts towards mobilization of a domestic volunteer corps must primarily be a national responsibility, based on a country's own policies, compulsions and socio-economic framework. There is certainly a need for intensified national efforts to involve young people in, and to establish a domestic volunteer corps for, agricultural and rural development in developing countries. The benefits accruing from this would include social and national integration, provision of catalysts for development and prevention of the exodus of young people from rural to urban areas. Against this background FAO could assist the developing countries, upon request, through a practical approach, including flexible funding arrange­ments and utilization of existing structures and mechanisms. Possible areas of a system from FAO could include project preparation, training, exchange of experience and resource mobilization, subject to the condition that flow of resources for such schemes should be additional and not substituted for existing aid commitments.

We feel that it is not feasible at present, and neither is it advisable, for FAO to pursue the idea of a national volunteer scheme in view of the problems and limitations involved.

We find the concept of a volunteer corps to be laudable and would like to extend our support to the Director-General's concept. It is both tangible and realistic and could be implemented in the conditions that presently prevail.

Lastly, we feel that the forthcoming World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development would be an excellent opportunity in further discussions on this subject.

W.A.F. GRABISCH (Germany, Federal Republic of): With regard to the item under consideration I should like to limit my comments to the following points: first, my delegation too is of the opinion that in the promotion of agriculture in rural development, a lot could be done by a greater involvement of volunteers. Any organization of such a corps of volunteers at a national level is entirely up to the countries concerned. Our own experience shows that the greatest impact can be obtained if the volunteers are integrated in well organized and implemented projects and programmes. We share the opinion expressed in the document before us that recruitment of national volunteers within the developing countries seems to be the most effective way.

Secondly, my delegation agrees with the findings of the Programme .Committee that FAO could in future play a significant role in promoting and supporting national volunteer movements. As such support can be planned and coordinated beforehand we are of the opinion that this is not an area for allocation of funds available under TCP. Additional external financial resources, with respect to any new programmes or projects in support of volunteer schemes, should be sought as proposed by the Programme Committee.

Third, we agree with the intention of the Director-General not to create any new structures for the purpose of supporting volunteer movements and their coordination. In this connexion we should like to ask the Secretariat (a) what are the ideas about the implementation of such a supporting and coordinating role of FAO at this stage, and (b) to which unit in FAO might this task be assigned.

R. PERALTA (Panamá): Antes que nada, mi delegación quiere nuevamente felicitar al Secretario General por la forma tan práctica y concisa en que presenta los documentos y, al mismo tiempo, el modo con que el Sr. Yriart ha presentado el documento 74/6.

En el párrafo 8 del documento, el Director General ve con satisfacción cualquier información que las delegaciones puedan dar. En este caso, mi delegación puede decir que en Panamá hemos tenido poca experiencia con lo que son los cuerpos voluntarios, los cuales estamos comenzando a formar en un cierto sentido más práctico con los estudiantes universitarios de las distintas carreras que puedan servir al desarrollo del país.

En la actualidad, además de ellos, usamos losque se puedan integrar a estos grupos voluntarios, especialmente estudiantes de los colegios agropecuarios o de las escuelas técnicas vocacionales que se quieran dedicar por un cierto tiempo a desarrollar especialmente el sector rural, aun cuando la mayoría de los cuerpos voluntarios por muchos motivos se encuentran generalmente en las- áreas urbanas.

Mi delegación apoya en forma completa la opinión del Director General en cuanto a la no recomendación de creación de nuevas estructuras, porque en realidad lo único que hacemos es crear un aparato buro­crático más grande, sin que llegue a llenar su cometido.

Con respecto a los voluntarios de los países desarrollados, creemos que las organizaciones que se dedican al reclutamiento de los voluntarios en estos países debían tratar en tal caso de que sus voluntarios fueran personas altamente calificadas para poder así dar una asistencia técnica más barata y más económica a los países en desarrollo, en forma de que estos cuerpos voluntarios sean verdaderamente altamente capacitados y llenen su cometido y no, como en algunos casos, sean volunta­rios verdaderamente mediocres.

Concordamos plenamente con el delegado de Pakistán en que es un tema que debe tratarse a fondo en lo que es la Conferencia de la Reforma Agraria y del Desarrollo Rural porque es ahí donde se interesa más bien el desarrollo y el uso de los cuerpos voluntarios.

Miss S.M. DANSO (Ghana): My Government is very pleased with the prompt attention the Director-General has given to this request of setting up of the International Food Corps. We are also of the opinion that there are still many more areas to be explored before the right type of individuals can be iden­tified and recruited to make the Corps achieve the objective of helping rural community dwellers to improve their standard of living.

We therefore strongly support the idea of setting up a small advisory group to use the experience of others in this field and provide appropriate guidelines for the solution of the question posed in paragraph 3 of the document before us. We wish to add our voice to the view expressed in this forum that the objectives of setting up a Corps will be best achieved when indigenous young people are used.

M. HAMDOON (Iraq) (Interpretation from Arabic): We agree with the representatives of. the developing countries that the task of this International Corps should be carried out through national organizations which would have different names from the International Corps. We in Iraq use the term ''national work organizations''. These organizations have really great achievements to their credit in the opening up of roads in the rural areas, in the building of dams and also with regard to harvesting. There are also organizations of students who organize programmes for the fight against illiteracy in the rural areas and in order to participate in the building of accommodation, farmhouses and so on.

With regard to extension work, we do not use national volunteers because most of our technicians work in government service and carry out their work according to programmes which have been established and which cover the whole national territory. We feel that it is useful for us to coordinate the activities of the volunteer corps on a regional basis, and I feel that the Regional Conferences could make a posi­tive contribution under the aegis of FAO because we could indicate the number of volunteers, their competence, their mode of working in the country where they are to be used. The participation of a large or small number of volunteers in order to transfer knowledge and technology I think is something of a humanitarian nature which would be important and which would rely essentially on the motivation and energy of the young people, but I feel that this energy is dwindling when the volunteers have to face the difficult realities, especially with regard to accommodation and transport.

Therefore, I would suggest that first of all, each country should make use of its own working methods and should use the help of the Organization as far as the experience of other countries is concerned; secondly, there should be cooperation between volunteer corps on a regional basis under the control of the Organization, and thirdly, small machinery should be set up in FAO, perhaps in the Agricultural Department, which could receive national volunteers and could establish a policy for their work and for their distribution. This would make it necessary to make funds available to cover the expenditure which arises from the setting up of such volunteer corps and in the carrying out of regional and national programmes.

RAMADHAR (India): My delegation is very pleased to see that the suggestion made by Ambassador Young has been followed up and has resulted in a very critical and excellent analysis of the whole issue. I would be very brief since as a member of the Programme Committee I already had an occasion to discuss this with the Committee.

In India we have had a number of programmes involving youth for agriculture and rural development. We are happy with the results of those programmes, and the present government is committed to accelerate the programme further. We agree that the question for national governments is to organize the national volunteer movement to involve rural youth in agriculture and rural development. The role of the UN system and FAO in particular is to be promotional and supportive.

We also agree with the conclusions of the Programme Committee that there is no need for any new organization or new mechanism to be set up for the purpose in the FAO. What is required is a better utilization of an existing mechanism. The FAO can assist in two ways: one, through more effective coor­dination of resources within the UN system with those provided by volunteer organizations; the other, as mentioned in the Report of the Programme Committee, is to assist the member countries in establish­ment of the new schemes through TCP. We expect that in the forthcoming Session of the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, the Conference will address itself to this basic issue and will make some important recommendations for utilization of rural youth in rural development.

J.B. NEZEHOSE (Rwanda): Je voudrais vous exposer en très peu de mots le point de vue du Rwanda sur cette question de volontaires.

Le Rwanda a bénéficié pendant plusieurs années des services de volontaires qu'on appelle quelquefois "les volontaires duprogrès' '. Nous les avons employés dans l'enseignement, dans la construction des routes, des maisons, dans la médecine, et enfin dans l'agriculture. Seulement, M. le Président, permet­tez-moi de dévoiler un peu notre déception sur certains aspects de la question: on a constaté, notam­ment dans le domaine agricole, que certains volontaires présentaient des lacunes, des lacunes au niveau de leur intelligence, des lacunes peut-être dans le domaine de l'expérience; de sorte que ce qu'ils nous apportaient sur le terrain en matière d'agriculture était moins valable que le travail, de certains nationaux, même de nationaux de formation moyenne. Il arrive même que nous assistions à des conflits entre ces volontaires et les nationaux formés soit à l'étranger soit à l'intérieur du pays.

Notre conclusion sur ce point est que ce qui nous manque ce ne sont pas. des volontaires pour suppléer les nationaux, mais plutôt des experts ou des personnes hautement qualifiées qui puissent intervenir dans le domaine de la formation, de la recherche, des techniques poussées dans le cadre des projets, etc.

Notre point de vue est que notre pays est déjà organisé au niveau de ses constructions. La commune est la cellule de base élémentaire dans l'organisation administrative et politique; nous avons au-dessus de la commune la préfecture, et enfin, si vous voulez, toute la république. Il n'y a pas d'autre échelon parce que le pays n'est pas grand. Nous avons, à chaque niveau, organisé une équipe pluridisciplinaire chargée de concevoir la politique de développement pour cet échelon. Si nous recevons des volontaires de l'extérieur, nous souhaiterions qu'ils soient affectés à l'enseignement ou à la formation, en parti­cipant au développement dans le cadre des projets de développement et en soutenant les activités envisa­gées au niveau de chaque circonscription administrative.

En marge de cette proposition, je demanderai à la FAO de mettre davantage l'accent sur la fourniture de moyens logistiques à nos techniciens nationaux, parce que, d'après- nos constatations, ces volontaires ne sont pas nécessairement beaucoup plus qualifiés que les nationaux. En matière d'agriculture, nous avons au niveau de chaque commune une moyenne de trois agronomes, ce qui est largement suffisant puis­que chaque agronome n'encadre pas plus de 2 000 habitants, alors le jour où il disposerait d'un bureau de travail, d'une mobylette pour se déplacer et d'autres moyens nécessaires pour exécuter ces program­mes, le rôle des volontaires serait plutôt de suppléer à certaines lacunes mais pas de remplacer les nationaux, animés de bonne volonté, désireux de travailler, qui manquent de moyens.

N. Ma MAPELA (Zaïre): Nous appuyons également cette idée de créer un corps de volontaires de l'alimenta­tion.

Nous estimons que la FAO, par son programme de coopération technique, est bien l'organisme indiqué pour coordonner au niveau international tous les efforts tendant à soutenir les activités de cet ordre.

Nous estimons aussi que les équipes de volontaires devraient comprendre non seulement des jeunes possé­dant une expérience assez poussée dans le domaine agricole, mais aussi des jeunes ayant des connaissances poussées en médecine, en sociologie rurale, etc. Bref, il faudrait, à notre avis, dès jeunes qui soient en mesure d'aider et de comprendre les gens des milieux très arriérés dans les pays.en développement.

Nous appuyons ce qui est dit au paragraphe 18, à savoir que l'on pourra à l'avenir recruter des volon­taires d'un pays en développement pour un pays voisin.

En ce qui concerne les chiffres indiqués au paragraphe 19, pour la rémunération des volontaires, nous estimons que 50 dollars par mois ne peuvent pas permettre à un individu de satisfaire ses besoins es­sentiels. Nous n'avons pas d'opinion sur le chiffre à fixer mais nous pensons qu'il faudrait voir dans quelle mesure on pourrait relever ce chiffre.

E. SUZUKI (Japan): My delegation is quite satisfied with the conclusions of the Director-General contained in paragraphs 20 and 21. My delegation believes it would be the most reasonable solution for promotion of volunteer movement to subscribe to the better utilization of an existing mechanism with a view to mobilizing dedicated young people in the service of their countries and the world community at large.

My delegation would like to explain my country's activities briefly. My country established a volunteer organization which is called Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers in 1965. Since then, up till this year, JOCV has sent 2 533 young people to 23 developing countries with necessary materials and equipment for their activities, and agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors formed 40 percent of them.

These volunteers must pass an examination to check whether they have the ability and expertise which are necessary. After passing the examination, they have training for four months in languages and to brush up their technology.

Finally, my delegation would like to support paragraph 23 of CL 74/6.

K. DEVAHASTIN (Thailand): We would like to associate ourselves with other delegates in thanking the Secretariat for the valuable document presented to us.

We recognize the value of volunteers' activities in other development programmes. However, as we all are aware, there is no one single system of volunteers befitting all nations due to the varying characteristics and typicalities prevailing in each country. Thailand has been experimenting in these volunteers' activities over quite some time, but we cannot say we are quite satisfied with the outcome. There is still a lot to learn, and so experimentation has to be continued.

In view of the fact there have been volunteers' activities being carried out in many countries, both developed and developing, we believe the exchange of experiences gained in those countries will be of great help in terms of broadening perspectives and bases for the appropriate design of volunteer programmes in each country. We suggest FAO should take immediate action to materialize this exchange by means of providing fellowships for observation studies in various countries, as well as organizing seminars or workshops on this significant subject.

P. VÂND0R (Hungary): The paper before us summarizes very well experiences gained with national and international volunteers for agricultural and rural development. We fully agree with the statement that establishing domestic volunteer programmes must be considered by the interested governments, being aware of the real needs in this field and of the best responses to these.

The paper states that only a few foreign-recruited volunteers are able to work effectively at the grass-root: level. Their knowledge of local conditions and local languages is a prerequisite for effective work.

We are in agreement with the recommendation of the Director-General that there is no need to set up a new formal structure, either inside or outside the United Nations system. If we are not over-optimistic, we have to state that the contribution of international volunteers to the agricultural and rural development is less valuable than that of other experts with other great professional experience and skill, assigned in the regular structure of the United Nations system or other bilateral donor agencies. Therefore we suggest to be realistic, considering the organizational and financial arrangements at FAO, as we are considering the programmes and projects for which volunteers could be utilized.

G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Estoy de acuerdo con usted en que debemos evitar que se repitan las decla­raciones que ya hayan hecho otras delegaciones.

Por eso limitaremos nuestra intervención a apoyar un punto adecuado que ha sido expresado por nuestro colega y vecino de Cuba. En Colombia y en el pasado hemos tenido experiencias desafortunadas con los Cuerpos de Paz, situaciones que han degenerado en hechos políticos y sociales ciertamente no muy cons­tructivos. Por eso queremos apoyar lo que ha dicho el representante de Cuba en el sentido de que toda acción de la FAO en esta materia debe adelantarse con cautela, con prudencia y moderación, porque no deseamos que la FAO pueda involucrar su nombre en actividades que no correspondan a la independencia y al carácter respetable que debe siempre preservar y fortalecer nuestra Organización.

A. TOURE (Observateur pour la Mauritanie): La Mauritanie voudrait intervenir sur le paragraphe 8, page 3, du document français. Elle voudrait faire part à la Conférence de son expérience sur l'utili­sation des volontaires internationaux et faire quelques recommandations.

La Mauritanie a utilisé des volontaires internationaux du SIV et du Corps de la Paix. Elle voudrait remercier ici les pays qui sont à la base de ces organisations qui ont bien voulu les mettre à notre disposition.

Cependant, cette expérience des volontaires internationaux appelle de notre part certaines observations.

C'est ainsi que leur action sur le terrain a été limitée par un certain nombre de facteurs dont les plus importants sont les différences de milieux de travail et de milieux de provenance. A ce propos, le paragraphe 11, page 3 du document français est assez édifiant.

Un autre facteur est le nombre restreint.

Autre facteur encore, les difficultés de communication avec les populations qui sont dues en partie à la différence de milieux.

Autre facteur très important: le statut de ces experts dans nos pays. On s'est aperçu que ces volon­taires avaient carrément un statut d'experts et qu'à ce titre ils en avaient les mêmes avantages et les mêmes conceptions de travail. La Mauritanie aimerait que les volontaires soient employés pour des projets précis sinon ce comportement d'experts sera renforcé.

L'idée de l'Ambassadeur Young est très belle puisqu'il demande que l'on mette des volontaires à la disposition des pays les moins avancés. En ce qui concerne la formation, nous pensons que c'est effectivement là que l'action des volontaires internationaux pourrait être efficace.

En effet, compte tenu des facteurs que je viens d'énumérer, il est bon que l'action de ces volontaires soit concentrée sur la formation de volontaires nationaux et cela particulièrement dans le domaine agricole.

Une seconde recommandation serait de favoriser le recrutement des volontaires des pays en voie de développement pour travailler dans des régions similaires à leurs pays d'origine. Cela aurait l'avantage de diminuer le coût, parce que les volontaires internationaux que nous avons chez nous se comportant comme des experts coûtent très cher, et cela permettrait de gagner sur le temps d'adapta­tion de ces volontaires, compte tenu du peu de différence qu'il y aurait entre les zones d'origine et les zones d'intervention.

Une autre recommandation est l'augmentation du nombre de ces volontaires internationaux dans le sec­teur agricole. En effet, au paragraphe 11, page 3, nous voyons que sur 12 200 volontaires il n'y en a que 2 585 pour le secteur rural. Cela me semble très insuffisant.

En ce qui concerne le role de la FAO pour ce corps de volontaires internationaux, nous pensons que cette organisation doit jouer un role de coordination et d'orientation pour limiter un certain nombre d'inconvénients que je n'ai pas besoin de citer ici.

G. de BARKER (Observer for the Netherlands): I will try to be brief, being an observer and one of the last speakers. I would like to associate our delegation with the interest shown in this paper, especially on this new approach to the matter of volunteer schemes, stressing the importance of domestic national volunteers. Our country has for many years supported the idea of calling on the young people to give up their more easy life in the developed countries and to go out to developing countries in more difficult circumstances. We have sent out hundreds of volunteers and we have trained them for the job as best we could before sending them out. I think in most cases it was successful. We realize that in sending young people, with all the enthusiasm which young people usually have, acting sometimes more from their heart than from their head, there have been some problems, but I think overall it has been quite successful. However, we certainly support the new policies set out in the paper, and supported by quite a large number of delegations here, that it would by far be best if more national volunteers could be put to the job to help agriculture and to help farmers develop their skills.

We can say that we have been participating in the meeting which was held in Mexico a few months ago. One of our experts was there and contributed with some enthusiasm to the discussions.

We have also shown some interest in the domestic volunteer scheme in Sri Lanka and we are certainly willing to discuss this issue of volunteers with representatives of developing countries if they feel that our experience and our view can be of any use to the further development of this important new issue, especially since this is in line with our thinking that in the long run most countries that can do so must in the first place try to solve their own problems with their own people. From that point of view we are glad that this issue has been raised here and that it has been supported generally from all sides and that apparently this is not an issue which causes confrontation.

G. VASTA (Observateur pour l'Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques) : Cet argument est trop important pour que je ne fasse pas une petite intervention et je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président, d'avoir bien voulu me donner la parole.

On a souvent dit, ces dernières années surtout, que l'agriculture a besoin d'hommes. C'est pour cela que l'initiative de l'Ambassadeur Young a été accueillie au sein de la Conférence de la FAO avec beaucoup d'intérêt et beaucoup d'espoir.

Je me permettrai, Monsieur le Président, de vous parler des expériences de l'OCDE à ce sujet, parce qu^!elle a toujours été convaincue que l'agriculture a besoin d'hommes ayant une certaine vocation. Effectivement, ces volontaires doivent être des missionnaires pour répondre à ce que les autres attendent d'eux.

Je voudrais vous parler d'une expérience qui a été faite en Italie ces dernières années où des cours ont été organisés pour des vulgarisateurs de base en agriculture dans les pays du bassin Méditerra­néen. Ces cours ont été organisés sous l'égide de l'OCDE et ont toujours donné des résultats excellents. Naturellement, pour organiser des cours de ce niveau, il faut d'abord que les participants aient une certaine préparation de base. C'est pour cela que nous avons demandé que les participants puissent avoir un doctorat en agriculture, ou qu'ils puissent faire partie du Ministère de l'agriculture ou de l'organisation faisant partie de l'agriculture en général.

En ce qui concerne les frais respectifs, c'est le pays hôte qui chaque fois est chargé de ces frais, y compris les frais de voyage des participants à ces cours. Là, je pense que peut-être, comme l'ont dit justement quelques délégués, au niveau régional, on peut faire quelque chose. En effet, l'Italie qui a organisé des cours pour les vulgarisateurs de base seulement pour les pays du bassin Méditerra­néen, l'a fait en ayant en vue la préoccupation de circonscrire des problèmes intéressant surtout les pays de cette zone. Je pense que l'idée est merveilleuse, qu'il faut faire tout le possible pour encourager la création de ces groupes. En effet, finalement, nous verrons peut-être que l'homme pourra venir à l'aide de l'homme en lui tendant la main, mais en veillant à ce que, surtout ici à ce Siège, ces hommes qui vont prêcher la vérité en matière d'agriculture y soient bien préparés. Je souhaite à la FAO de pouvoir réussir pleinement dans cette initiative qui est humanitaire et qui ne manquera pas de donner des résultats.

CHAIRMAN: Because of our time constraint I would like to ask the Observer from Senegal to submit his comments in writing. We have had 25 speakers and I do not think any really new ideas can be added to the debate at this stage.

J.A. BAKER (United States of America): I would like to suggest that maybe we consider that proposal of yours. I agree that time is passing, but it is my understanding that the delegate of Senegal has rather specially relevant information on this subject. If I am wrong, I withdraw that suggestion.

CHAIRMAN: May I ask the delegate of Senegal if he has anything new. In any case, I will give you the floor. Please be brief.

S. MADEMBA SY (Observateur pour le Sénégal): Le sort a l'air d'être contre nous mais nous allons quand même être très brefs et, avec votre permission, je voudrais demander à mon conseiller de vous présenter notre point de vue et vous donner les informations que nous avons sur cette question, car c'est une question à laquelle nous attachons beaucoup d'importance.

S. AIDARA (Observateur pour le Sénégal): Le débat tire presque à sa fin et je ne prendrai pas beau­coup de temps pour expliquer à notre Conseil, me référant au paragraphe 7 de notre document, que je veux réitérer ici l'intention et le souhait de notre gouvernement de mettre sur pied un corps de volontaires, tant au niveau national qu'au niveau régional et je voudrais informer le Conseil que cette question suit son cours et qu'il est prévu qu'une équipe se rendra dans les huit pays du Sahel de décembre 1978 à janvier 1979. Ces déplacements permettront le rassemblement de toutes les informa­tions nécessaires à la sélection finale du lieu favorable à la mise en place de projets pilotes au Sahel ainsi que l'élaboration d'une demande de subvention pour le financement des projets pour un corps de volontaires agricoles au Sahel.

J.F. YRIART (Subdirector General del Departamento de Desarrollo): Permítame en primer lugar, Sr. Presidente, agradecer todas las informaciones que se nos han dado. Verdaderamente el Consejo ha respondido al deseo, a la solicitud del Director General de informar sobre las experiencias de los diversos gobiernos en una forma excelente. Simplemente el estudio de los diversos comentarios que se nos han hecho tanto al uso de voluntarios nacionales, como al uso de voluntarios internacionales, significará para nosotros un estudio que haremos con el mayor cuidado y que, efectivamente, afectará desde ya, no solo el pensamiento en cuanto al trabajo material de voluntarios nacionales, sino, ciertamente también, esperamos que nos ayude a mejorar la utilización de voluntarios internacionales.

En este sentido, creo que también muchas de las informaciones dadas por los señores representantes serán de utilidad en la preparación de la documentación del programa de acción para la próxima Confe­rencia Mundial de Reforma Agraria y Desarrollo Rural. Estamos seguros de que al considerarse los diversos temas, al considerarse las propuestas del programa de acción, será allí donde será discutida la pertinencia del establecimiento de Cuerpos Nacionales de Voluntarios, así como la cooperación de los cuerpos internacionales. Algunos señores representantes han dado a conocer sus experiencias sobre cuerpos nacionales y otros exclusivamente sus experiencias sobre cuerpos internacionales; pero en ambos casos les quiero decir a todos muchas gracias. (Continúa en inglés)

On the question of what FAO is going to do - a question, as a matter of fact, from the delegate of the Federal Republic of Germany - I think it was the only question formulated and I thank him because it gives me the opportunity to refer to the interest expressed by many of the delegates as to how FAO is going to manage this idea. I want to refer again to what is said by the Director-General in the document: we think that within the ordinary competence, the ability of the Organization now, within its organizational structure, we can work, at the request of governments, on the promotion of the national volunteer corps. Of course, with regard to the international volunteer corps which, when they were totally within the aegis of FAO, had a very great success and we employed a large number of international volunteers; but now, since we are only clients of a United Nations system organization that supplies volunteers, the number has shrunk considerably. For those volunteers there is a unit already and this unit is located in the Government Cooperative Programme Service of the Field Programme Development Division. We think that the Field Programme Development Division is perfectly capable within its work to undertake its standard work on volunteers at the request of governments. The delegate of Pakistan, I believe, spoke about the types of assistance that FAO could give in project preparation, exchange of information, etc. None of this work is alien to our daily experience, neither the work on project formulation which is necessary nor the work on exchange of information which really underlies the whole of our daily work. Also, on the question of funding, as you know, we have important mechanisms within the Organization that allow us to consult, donors and to obtain resources for these programmes. We think that we shall be able to use the same mechanism in this case.

One delegate suggested that possibly there should be within the FAO mechanism a special unit to take care of developing the work on the international food corps and I think that two delegates expressed the idea that there would possibly be need for some kind of an advisory committee. I would say that as it was reflected by many delegates in showing a certain approval of our cautiousness, we approach the moves with - if you will allow me - budgetary caution, because either the establishment of a special organizational unit or the appointment of an advisory panel means needed budgetary resources. We have the small Volunteers Unit, the International Volunteer Unit. We have the capabilities of the people in the Development Division. We have furthermore the will and the interest of the Director-General which will result in a very keen following on our part of the work to be done. So we think that at this stage, organizationally, we are in a very good situation.

From the point of view of advisory services, gathering of experience, diffusion of experience, I think that also under the normal mechanism of consultations, of putting the subject up in certain meetings and workshops that are going to take place anyhow, and with the normal enormous exchange of views that is going on between us and Member Governments, that we promote between Member Governments themselves in the various channels where we have to do that, it will allow us also to focus on gathering experience and on the exchange of experience on this new subject, or relatively new subject, to the international focus which is the use of the national volunteers.

Let me finish by being very pragmatic and by telling you that frankly, the Director-General and we are very interested in helping countries in mobilizing their youth, and in our minds there is one thing that has to come first: some countries have to tell us how we can be useful to them in setting up or in improving their own present working scheme, and this may mean some kind of technical assistance. It may also mean trying to get some resources, and we will immediately react. I think that this, on the basis of some action by the Organization at the request of governments will then get a certain momentum and we will be able to come to donors for further additional resources.

We will circulate to all our people in the Field, especially to our Representatives, these ideas that have been expressed here. We will bring to the attention of the governments what we can do and then, I hope that next time that we review in the Programme Committee the question of volunteers, we will be able to bring to the attention that FAO has now been brought into this picture and that it has responded positively and with good quality work.

CHAIRMAN: I do not think from the discussion that anybody is really pressing the FAO to take a final position in this matter. Many views have been expressed. The idea has been accepted as an excellent one. In fact, from what we heard from some delegates, the idea is not a new one. There are already national programmes going on in various developing countries. Some developed countries also have ideas and the Programme is sending out their nationals to developing and other countries to take part in such voluntary exercises.

Two or three things, however, come out quite clearly from the debate. One is that there should be no new bodies established for that purpose. The good majority of members spoke of strengthening or making more efficient use of the existing machinery and institutions.

The other point that came out clearly is the national character of such a voluntary service. To be effective, it is clear from what Members have said that it should be based domestically. so that the young people of the nation concerned can take a direct part in its operations. The point was also made that if any country wants help, then that country should actually make a request so that intervention from outside is based on a request by the country which needs such help.

Finally, the consensus is also that at the coming Agrarian Reform Conference, the idea should be better developed; more discussions should take place so that in a wider field and a wider context there will be a consensus on what the world really wants in this matter. These and all the other details of discussions will go into our Report and will be brought back to us. If there are no comments or disagreements, I will close this debate. The debate is concluded.

21. Other Programme, Budgetary, Financial and Administrative Matters: Work of the 34th and 35th Sessions of the Programme Committee, and 41st and 42nd Sessions of the Finance Committee
21. Autres questions concernant le programme, le budget, les finances et 1'administrâtion: activités des trente-quatrième et trente-cinquième sessions du Comité du programme et des quarante et unième et quarante-deuxième sessions du Comité financier
21. Otros asuntos del programa y asuntos presupuestarios, financieros y adminis­trativos: Labor del 34° y 35° períodos de sesiones del Comité del Programa y del 41° y 42° períodos de sesiones del Comité de Finanzas

21.1 Inter-Agency Relations and Consultations on Matters of Common Interest, including:
21.1 Relations et consultations interinstitutions sur les questions d'intérêt commun, à savoir:
21.1 Relac iones y consultas con otros organismos sobre asuntos de interés común Con inclusión de:

21.1(a) Decisions of the General Assembly on the Restructuring of the Economic and Social Sectors of the UN System
21.1(a) Deci sions de l'Assemblée générale sur la restructuration des secteurs économique et social du système des Nations Unies
21.1(a) Decisiones de la Asamblea General sobre la reestructuración del sector economico y social del sistema de las Naciones Unidas

CHAIRMAN: This is a mixed bag, as you can see, and I am sure that Members have been very much confused by this, but we have tried to sort the Agenda out in a manner which will make it easier for Members to discuss it. The reason why it is in this form is that the Programme and Finance Committees met twice this year and considered a whole range of subjects which must be brought to the attention of the Council is one way or another. Therefore the only way to do this is to put everything together, as has been done.

If you look at Page 3 of the Order of the Day, you will see that Item 21 has been broken down into its component parts. If you agree, we will handle it as follows: first of all, to break it into three groups of subjects. The first group is 21.1(a), 21.1(b), and 21.1(a). After we have finished with these, we shall go on to 21.1(d) which has the whole range of Joint Inspection Unit reports under it. Those will be taken in sequence, and then the last item will be matters which are not covered under these, and the Chairman of the Programme and Finance Committees will introduce those items last.

We will thus get rid of the things that we have in front of us and then we will go on finally to dispose of other matters. If this procedure is acceptable to Members, or if there are no comments, we can start work on these items. Are there any comments? I see there are none.

The first thing we are going to do is take Item 21.1(a). This first item will be introduced by Mr. Walton.

D.J. WALTON (Director, Office for Inter-Agency Affairs): The basic document on this subject is the Resolution of the General Assembly, Resolution 32/197, which is reproduced in its entirety as Appendix A to document CL 74/21. The substantive decisions on restructuring are contained in the lengthy annex to that resolution.

In Appendix 2, document CL 74/21, are the comments of the ACC on all points of inter-agency concern.

The comment? of the Director-General are contained in the main part of CL 74/21 and deal with both the Resolution and the ACC report.

I would draw particular attention also to the observation of the Programme Committee contained in document CL 74/5, 1.5 to 1.20.

It is not the custom to summarize the information in the documents before the Council, but since the subject matter and language of the Resolution of the General Assembly and the comments on it are somewhat abstract, perhaps I may make one or two brief comments to help the Council.

The decisions of the General Assembly on many points represent an extension of existing tendencies. This is so , for instance, in the provision that the General Assembly, assisted by ECOSOC, should establish "strategies, policies and priorities" for the system as a whole. The General Assembly has done this in the past, for instance, in adopting the international development strategy and in adopting the declaration and programme of action on the New International Economic Order. The resolution clearly indicates, however, that the General Assembly intends to state systemwide strategies, policies and priorities more intensively in the future. I would, therefore, draw attention to the Director-General's observations noted by the Programme Committee that the restructuring resolution introduces no fundamental change in the relationship between the General Assembly and ECOSOC on the one hand and the Specialized Agencies on the other. So far as we are concerned this will depend on the provisions of the United Nations Charter, the Constitution of FAO and the relationship agreement between the United Nations and FAO which established this Organization as a specialized agency.

I would again point to the section of the restructuring report dealing with the role of the economic commissions as an example of a text which represents an extension of an earlier tendency»

So far as the operational activities are concerned, here again much of the text is derived from and very close to the provisions of the 1970 consensus adopted by the General Assembly. There is provision, for instance, for the UNDP country programming process to be used as a frame of reference by the other agencies of the system for their own operational activities, and there is provision also for the appointment of a single official at country level to exercise team leadership and to be responsible for evolving a multi-disciplinary dimension in sectoral development programmes. These two provisions are obscure in language and intersecretariat consultations are under way to see how they could be implemented in a practical manner. Again I would point to the emphasis on joint programming as something in the restructuring report that is not new.

Alongside these existing features there are one or two completely new features in the restructuring report. There is a major restructuring of the United Nations Secretariat. The details of this are given in the document. The most salient feature of this restructuring is the appointment of a Director-General for development and international economic cooperation, whose terms of reference are contained in the restructuring resolution.

There is also a decision on a very considerable restructuring of the machinery for inter-Secretariat coordination.

The three bodies in which the executive heads of the Specialized Agencies and the operational programmes customarily participate and that are linked to UNDP, to UNEP and the UNIDO, are abolished, and their functions are taken over by the ACC itself. At the same time the ACC is called upon to streamline its subsidiary machinery.

Here I must give a little up-to-date information for the Council. The documents speak of the work under way to develop proposals for the ACC on the streamlining of the subsidiary machinery. Since the Programme Committee met this process has been completed and the decisions of ACC are contained in a further report to the Economic and Social Council which is about to be issued. If we receive copies of this report in the languages of the Council before the session ends, we shall certainly circulate it for the information of delegations. I shall not go into the details of this streamlining but the main provision is for the abolition of the standing sub-committees of ACC dealing with various subject matter areas. Instead there will be an overall Consultative Committee on Substantive Cuestions, CCSQ, which will deal with both programme and operational matters, and will set up specialized working parties to deal with specific problems as they arise.

Members of the Council may wish to know what, in terms of outcome or potential outcome, does this restructuring mean for FAO, or what can it mean. The Director-General hopes that it will lead to three things; first, higher priority for food and agriculture within the framework of a comprehensive approach to the problems of development; secondly, more assistance and here I would like to quote a phrase from the restructuring report itself. It calls for "A real increase in the flow of resources for such activities on a predictable, continuous and assured basis". In third place, and as a consequence of the first two, a strengthened role for FAO in cooperation, of course, with other Agencies. Whether these three points can be achieved would depend on the discussions, negotiations and conclusions that will take place in many fora over the next weeks, months and years, but particularly, of course, in the Cenerai Assembly and the Economic and Social Council and it is to be hoped that the spirit of these three points will be adopted by governments when they come to carry out these discussions, consultations and decisions.

CHAIRMAN: This is a developing subject, it is always developing, discussions are taking place all over the place, but it looks now as if we are having some concrete proposals and action coming from the United Nations.

The meeting rose at 12.25 hours.
La seance est levée à 12 h 25.
Se levanta la sesión a las 12.25 horas.