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III. ACTIVITIES OF FAO AND WFP (continued)
III. ACTIVITES DE LA FAQ ET DU PAM (suite)
III. ACTIVIDADES DE LA FAQ Y DEL PMA (continuación)

11. World Food Programme (continued)
11. Programme alimentaire mondial (suite)
11. Programa Mundial de Alimentos (continuación)

11.2 Election of Five Members of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes
11.2 Election de cinq membres du Comité des politiques et programmes d'aide alimentaire
11.2 Elección de cinco miembros del Comité de Políticas y Programas de Ayuda Alimentaria

CHAIRMAN: We have come to the item of the agenda dealing with the election of five members of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes of the United Nations World Food Programme, As we have seen in the Order of the Day, nominations received by the Secretariat as of 18.00 hours Friday, 1 December 1978, are as follows: Angola, Brazil, Kenya, Netherlands, Thailand. This means that we have five candidates for five vacancies. According to Rule XII.9 (a) of the General Rules of the Organization , in cases where there are not more candidates than vacancies, the Chairman may submit to the Conference or the Council that the appointment be decided by clear general consent , I would therefore like to submit to the Council that the five countries I have just mentioned be appointed by acclamation. I submit this to you for your approval,

Election by acclamation
Election par acclamation
Elección por aclamación

A. MARTOSUWIRYO (Indonesia): Allow me to take this opportunity to inform the delegates –particularly those representing the Member Governments of the FAO Council - that the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Rome in its note of 8 November 1978 communicated to all Member Governments of the FAO Council that the Government of Indonesia wishes to stand for re-election for membership of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes as from 1 January 1979 to 31 December 1981 and solicits their support. However, noting that Thailand - one of our neighbours and a member of the association of South East Asia nations, well known as ASEAN - wishes to become a member of the CFA, my delegation has decided to withdraw its intention of presenting its candidature for re-election to the CFA giving the opportunity to Thailand.

My delegation would also like to take this opportunity to extend our highest appreciation to the Member Governments of the FAO Council for the prompt and positive response to my Government's solicitation. I believe the decision is quite understandable for the reason mentioned earlier.

W.A.F. GRABISCH (Germany, Federal Republic of): My delegation wishes to congratulate the Member States who have just been elected within FAO to be members of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes. We also wish to thank you, Madame Chairman, in particular, for having chaired that election.

P. LAOWHAPHAN (Thailand): It is indeed a great pleasure for Thailand to be nominated and elected as a member of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes of the United Nations World Food Programme. Our keen interest in the CFA has been inspired by the ever efficient operation and activities of the Committee for which the whole Committee - both remaining and outgoing members -are highly commendable. The CFA has done much for needy peoples of the world and has established a very high standard which Thailand, being a new member of the Committee, is determined to do her best to maintain in collaboration with the other members, in order that such standards be at least maintained and, whenever possible, further improved.

On behalf of my delegation I wish to express our sincere appreciation and gratitude especially to the delegate of Indonesia, our Asian brothers, for the kindness shown to us in making way for us. Our gratitude also goes to the Council members for their kind support and the confidence they have shown us.

B. de AZEVEDO BRITO (Brazil): I should like to express the deep appreciation and gratitude of my Government to the members of the Council for permitting us to serve another mandate in the Committe on Food Aid Policies and Programmes.

I think I need not underline the importance we attach to the World Food Programme and its humanitarian mission throughout the world.

G. DE BAKKER (Observer for the Netherlands): I too would like on behalf of my Government to thank all those members of the Council who have supported our reelection in this important Committee. I had the opportunity and privilege at the last meeting of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes to announce that our Government would appreciate being a candidate again, and asked for support. We are really grateful that this support has come forth so overwhelmingly and that this means that we can now continue to be a member of this very important Committee.

Like the other delegations who have been elected, we too feel that this is one of the most important efforts in the field of food and agriculture and we can therefore assure you that we will continue in the future with the same attention and devotion as we have shown in the past. For that reason we again thank all those who supported our eondidature.

A.I. MACHAYO (Observer for Kenya): On behalf of my delegation I wish to thank the Council for electing us to the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes. My Government attaches considerable importance to the work of this Committee and I only wish to assure the Council that we will shall do our best.

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)

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 (continued) (CL 74/3; CL 74/4; CL 74/5)
21.Autres questions concernant le programme, le budget, les finances et l'administration: activités des trente-quatrième et trente-cinquième sessions du Comité du programme et des quarante et unième et quarante-deuxième sessions du Comité financier (suite) (CL 74/3; CL 74/4; CL 74/5)
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 (continuación) (CL 74/3; CL 74/4; CL 74/5)

Including:
A savoir:
Con inclusion de:

Format of medium-term objectives
Présentation des objectifs à moyen terme
Formato del documento objetivos a plazo medio

Future cooperation with the industry
Cooperation future avec l'industrie
Cooperación futura con la industria

Review of FAO's Language Policy and Practice, with special reference to Category 3
Meetings

Examen de la politique et de la pratique de la FAO en matière linguistique, notamment en ce qui concerne les réunions de la catégorie 3 Examen de las políticas y métodos de la FAO en materia de idiomas, especialmente en lo que respecta a las reuniones clasificadas en la categoria 3

Strengthening National Agricultural Research
Renforcement de la recherche agricole nationale
Fortalecimiento de las investigaciones agrícolas nacionales

Review of FAO Statutory Regional Bodies
Examen des organes statutaires régionaux
Examen de los Organos Regionales Estatutarios de la FAO

CHAIRMAN: As was announced by the Chairman this morning, we now move on to stage "C" of item 21, where we have on Other Matters: the Format of Medium Objectives, Review of FAO' Language Policy and Practice, the Future Cooperation with Industry, the Strengthening of National Agricultural Research, the Review of FAO's Statutory Regional Bodies.

M. TRKULJA (Chairman, Programme Committee): There are five matters under Other Matters for me to introduce and I would take them in a slightly reverse order so I would first of all take up two matters which are included in the May report of the Thirty-Fourth Session of the Programme Committee. Then I will come to three remaining issues which are dealt with in our report from our last session.

The first issue is a Review of FAO's Language Policy and Practice, with special reference to Category 3 Meetings. You will certainly recall that the last Conference required very specifically that the Programme Committee undertook the task of initial and periodic review of the Organization's languague policy and practice in the light of applicable criteria and that such review should include specifically the classification of conferences and sessions from the point of view of the use of languagues, and, even more, the Programme Committee was very specifically asked by the Conference to take an initial review and then to refer back to this Council Session.

When the Committee considered this specific issue it first shared the view of the Director-General that there had been no major problem involving languague policy in relation to the meetings falling between categories 1 and 2, especially so since we are all aware of the steps already taken by the Director-General, as well as the political stand taken by this Council and the Conference. With this in mind, the Committee concentrated itself basically on category 3 meetings, and for the sake of clarity it agreed first of all with the Director-General that a new category, category 4, should be established and that this category should include seminars, training courses, workshops and other group training activities and be attended primarily by selected nominees participating at FAO's expense. These training activities are often funded from extra-budgetary resources.

Then the Committee noted with great pleasure the steps again taken by the Director-General to improve language balance with regard to meetings falling now within the newly established category, and you will find the whole list presented on B 6, 7 and 8, and I failed to mention one thing, that since the document was prepared only for the Programme Committee and the Committee thought it would be useful to contain some essential information and then the Committee attached an Annex with this information at the end of this report. From the table I have just referred to, you will certainly see the great improvement that has already been achieved and the greater prominence being given now to Arabic, French and Spanish languages and the Committee was especially pleased that the Director-General was able to improve language balance within the existing budgetary allocations.

In reviewing the issue the Committee requested the Director-General to envisage the greater use of non-FAO languages in group training activities and that within such a context a greater use should be made from national institutions, especially for training purposes.

The Committee was also requested by the Conference to study the issue of some meetings and publications that were terminated and in reviewing the whole list of issues, referring first of all to publications, the Committee studied one issue especially, relating to the publication of a per caput fibre consumption survey and report. The Committee realized that most of the expenseTwere related, but for not that much, for printing, but mostly for compiling relevant information, tabulation analysis and survey. It considered that particular publication as being valuable and urged the Director-General to make all possible arrangements for the continuation of the publication that I have just now referred to.

Now I would say only a few words about the future cooperation with Industry. The Committee was requested by the Conference to review the paper on future relations with Industry and the Committee was informed about the steps taken by the Director-General in compliance with the decision taken by the Conference to terminate the present relationship with the Industry Cooperative Programme, ICP and then came to grips only with the future cooperation with Industry. The Committee fully shared the views of the Director-General that the cooperation with the Industry should be energetically pursued mostly on a sectorial basis and was pleased to know that the steps that had already been taken to continue activities previously covered by ICP such as by dye development, agricultural organizations, pulp and paper and so on.

The Committee welcomed really the flexibility and forms of cooperation proposed by the Director-General and recommended that the industries should be encouraged to assist in development, not only in an advisory capacity but also through investment and technical assistance. The Committee also wanted to bring to the attention of the Council its views on the need for further strengthening cooperation among developing countries in the field of agricultural industries.

Now I am coming to the last report, the report of the Thirty-Fifth Session of the Committee, and I refer to the Formative Medium Term Objectives. Here again the Committee was required by the Conference to look at this issue again since all Members of the Council will recall that the Formative Medium-term Objectives issued has been for quite some time now a very controversial issue, both in the Council and Conference, and the Conference I should also recall specified a few most important issues that should be considered by the Committee, and referred, of course, to this Session.

First on format: the very precise account prepared by the Director-General, the Committee noted that the Conference itself, though with a very thin majority, had already decided to continue a separate document on medium-term objectives, as was very specifically recorded in the Report of the Conference.

Then the Committee considered proposals of the Director-General about the content of the document. It agreed with the Director-General that some of the topics that had been traditionally within the context of medium-term objectives should not be continued any longer, such as world situation and especially the role of FAO since the Committee felt that these two subjects should be dealt with successfully elsewhere, especially in the Programme of Work and Budget. Nevertheless, the Committee felt that the original presentation should be retained, and this is a specific recommendation to the Conference.

The Committee also studied the question of quantification of resources, even in a very indicative form, as a kind of reflection of relevant priorities. The Committee was of the opinion that quantification of resources on medium-term should not be pursued. lam not going to go into too much detail, especially about some possible improvement in the presentation, especially with regard to some improvement in data presentation or even some system of indicators that might be included in the medium-term objective document, but you will find all these things in our report, and of course, I am ready to answer any question that members of the Council might wish to put.

The next issue is a review of FAO statutory regional bodies. The Committee was informed that the Director-General had undertaken a review during 1978 of some 46 regional and sub-regional bodies, and the main findings of the Director-General were that he found insufficient ground to suggest or recommend abolition of any of the bodies reviewed, so the position of the Director-General, shared by the Committee, was that he would not take any initiative in abolishing any of the regional or sub-regional bodies unless governments indicate their wish for the abolition of some bodies.

But looking at the future, the Committee again shared the view of the Director-General that criteria for establishing new regional statutory bodies should be improved, and here on Page 23 of the English text of the Report of the Thirty-Fifth Session of the Programme Committee you will find a formal proposal which is now before the Council and requires the formal approval of the Council. It relates, of course, to all bodies under Articles 6, 14 and 15 of the Constitution. I will not read out the whole text, but what is relevant here for formal decision of the Council is (b) in Paragraph 1.158, which sets out three basic criteria to be pursued and to be considered when any new regional statutory body is proposed: first, that the objectives of that body are to be very carefully reviewed; second, that all impacts that creation of a new body might have on FAO programmes should also be looked at carefully, and third, that all financial implications should be studied with due care.

If the Council agrees with the suggestion contained in our report, especially as far as (b) of the relevant paragraph is concerned, this text should then be handed over first of all to CCLM to propose to the next Council and the Conference in formal language but in the understanding of the Programme Committee it should not be included under paragraph (b) 20 on Page 184 of the basic text.

I now come to the next sub-item, which is one called International Service for Strengthening International Agricultural Research. I would like to say only a few words about the history of the issue. That issue had been for quite some time in preparation in various circles and then it formally surfaced for the first time in a kind of formal meeting of some development assistance donor countries in Münich in April 1977. I need to say also that the Programme Committee in November last, when reviewing the research programme of FAO, was very fully informed about the developments and was given even more full documentation to prepare for the Münich meeting. After carefully studying all relevant material, the Programme Committee,you would certainly recall,expressed its very, very deep concern indeed with the initiative, and you would also recall that the Conference itself took quite a strong stand on it, expressing its own concern with regard to this initiative.

I must say also that the Committee at its Spring Session again reviewed the whole problem. You will find in our report information of the Director-General in compliance, of course, with the stand of the Conference and the views expressed by the Programme Committee as formally proposed to the Consultative Group Task Force which had been already created a proposal that a proper or relevant programme be established within FAO instead of creating a new organization and that donors were requested to cover 75 percent of the Programme budget. The Task Force of the Consultative Group welcomed the Director-General's proposal but decided not to suggest to the Consultative Group to recommend FAO service instead of creating, as I said, a new entity. I am not going into all details to give you the views of the Task Force, but I should, I think, call the attention of the Council especially to two points: first, that the Task Force expressed concern that if the task is entrusted to FAO, then the programme might be under undue influence of the FAO governing bodies and FAO managerial structure, and the second point in their opinion was that the salary level in the UN system is not appropriate to give full possibility of hiring high specialists, as they said, specialists at the level of the International Research Institute. But at the same time the Task Force, as you can see from paragraph 1.165, listed a whole series of various cautions that should be pursued, and I think what they said really was self-evident, but certainly not very persuasive, that the FAO was not able to perform that task much better with greater efficiency.

The Programme Committee having studied all this information was especially concerned that no one government was officially approached on this matter. The Programme Committee was also of the opinion that the creation of a new service would most likely lead to a kind of isolation of research from development in general. The Committee discussed very rightly indeed, the juridical stages of the new bodies which recognized, of course, that the new bodies would not be in any strict form or sense a part of the UN system, but being established by the Consultative Group, which was in turn sponsored by FAO, UNDP and the World Bank, could directly at least be considered strictly as a part of the UN system.

I should add I think only a few words, that the Consultative Group met recently, in November, in Washington, I guess, and though the views of members present were differing I would say, nevertheless the Consultative Group with a clear majority decided to establish the International Service for Strengthening National Research.

CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. We have listened with great interest to a report on many subjects.

W.A.F. GRABISCH (Germany, Fed. Rep. of): At this juncture of our deliberations I just wish to speak on one subject, namely, the International Service for Strengthening National Agricultural Research. My delegation has read with attention the comments of the Programme Committee on the proposal for establishing an International Service for National Agricultural Research, ISNAR, in the developing countries. The written report of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, CGIAR, which dealt with the establishment of ISNAR in Washington at the beginning of this month was not yet available when I left for this Council Session. Let me therefore repeat the three decisive criteria of my Government towards the establishment of ISNAR and its gradual realization; first, with the establishment of ISNAR no new, costly, independent international agency should be created for the Agricultural Research Sector; the Service should rather be established within the system of the CGIAR and it should not employ more than 20 professionals; second, important items of the terms of reference for ISNAR as far as they are described in the Report of the Task Force must be modified. From our point of view ISNAR as an organ of the CGIAR should mainly fulfil a sort of mediator function between the International Research Centres and the National Research Institutions. In this respect, special attention has to be paid to the fact that there should be no overlapping with the activities of FAO; third, it should carry out its activities in full agreement with FAO.

After what I have heard so far about the outcome of the CGIAR meeting I believe that the misunderstandings which existed in the past between FAO and CGIAR as well as its Task Force may be cleared up. My delegation hopes that future work in this vital field of agricultural research and its application will be carried out on a basis of a consensus between FAO and CGIAR.

M. DESSOUKI (Egypt): (Interpretation from Arabic): Madam Chairman, I wish first to congratulate you for chairing this meeting and commend the Chairman of the Programme Committee for his valuable review of the documents on the Committee's report.

I would like to discuss one point only out of the various items included in the documents, and that is the FAO policy regarding the use of languages and the classification of meetings. The Egyptian delegation expresses its satisfaction to the Director-General's policy regarding the use of official languages in the various meetings categories.

As an Arabic speaking country, Egypt supports the Director-General's policy towards strengthening the Arabic language whether in the Headquarters or the Regional Office in Cairo, to raise its efficiency and attain the required equilibrium with the other official languages. In this respect we would also like to thank the Arab countries who contribute to the expenses of the use of the Arabic language in the work of the Organization.

While speaking on this point, the Egyptian delegation recommends to the Secretariat to exert more effort to the unification of the use of the Arabic terms in the various FAO documents in order to facilitate their study and discussion.

In dealing with the classification of meetings we support the Committee's attitude to agree to the Director-General's proposal to establish a new 4th category of meetings devoted to training activities, and we have no doubt that national institutions could play an outstanding role in this respect.

P. HALIMI (France): Je voudrais avant toutes choses remercier le Président du Comité du Programme de l'exposé qu'il nous a fait, et surtout d'avoir attiré notre attention sur un certain nombre de points des deux rapports qui sont soumis à notre examen.

Je n'ai aucune difficulté avec les points qu'il a soumis à notre attention. Pour ce qui concerne les pratiques de l'Organisation en matière linguistique, je remercie à nouveau M. Saouma des efforts qu'il a déployés pour arriver à un meilleur équilibre linguistique, et je ne reviendrai pas sur ce qui a été dit par ma délégation ce matin.

Nous sommes d'accord avec les conclusions du Programme en ce qui concerne la coopération avec l'industrie et ce qui a été dit des objectifs à moyen terme. Pour ce qui concerne les organes statu­taires régionaux de la FAO, nous approuvons la proposition qui est formulée à la page 26 au paragraphe 1-1158 b). Vous me permettrez d'intervenir sur un certain nombre de points qui figurent dans ces deux rapports.

J'aborderai tout d'abord des points qui figurent dans le premier rapport, qui est le rapport du mois de mai:

- au paragraphe 28 on nous parle de la lutte contre le criquet pèlerin. Je voudrais signaler que l'unité de détection de la FAO, en collaboration avec Telespazio de Rome, la Météorologie spatiale à Lannion (France), l'Université de Munich et l'Institut allemand de recherche spatiale, a entrepris avec le Gouvernement algérien une étude dans le but d'améliorer les enquêtes, voire les prospections d'acridiens au sol au moyen de techniques de télédétection par satellite. On est ainsi arrivé à déter­miner à coup sûr les endroits où il y a de très grandes probabilités qu'il existe des sauterelles. Je pense qu'il est intéressant de noter la parfaite collaboration de trois pays européens à ce genre d'études très précieuses pour les pays pouvant être victimes d'invasions acridiennes;

- au paragraphe 46, ma délégation exprime le souhait de recueillir du Secrétariat le maximum d'infor­mations sur la procédure et le calendrier qui sera appliqué pour l'examen de la Convention interna­tionale sur la protection des plantes ainsi que sur les propositions nouvelles et la méthode de travail adoptée en l'objet par la FAO;

- au paragraphe 53 où l'on parle de la régionalisation des vaccins, je dois dire que la position de ma délégation est conforme à celle qui est reflétée dans le document;

au paragraphe 62 du même document, on traite de l'activité et des réseaux coopératifs européens entre instituts nationaux de recherche de la Commission européenne d'agriculture, auxquels coopèrent de nombreux instituts de pays en voie de développement. Mon pays, pour sa part, coopère aux huit réseaux existants et participera au prochain réseau qui sera créé sur l'élevage ovin.

La formule qui a été mise au point par le bureau européen de l'Organisation et qui fonctionne à la satisfaction des institutions coopérantes permet à celles-ci d'évaluer tous les deux ans les résultats obtenus par une consultation des responsables des centres de coordination. La première consultation a eu lieu à Cordoue en septembre 1977.

Il est à mon avis souhaitable que le Secrétariat donne à cette activité européenne, si utile à de nombreux pays en développement puisqu'elle porte notamment sur l'olivier, le tournesol, le maïs, le blé durum, l'attention qu'elle mérite.

Nous nous réjouissons d'apprendre que la formule des réseaux coopératifs sera étendue à l'Afrique et à l'Amérique latine.

- J'en viens au paragraphe 66 du même document. Ma délégation constate que la décentralisation des activités de CARIS,qui était prévue depuis la fin du projet pilote en 1973, s'avérait indispensable en raison du volume des informations à traiter, de leur intérêt local et de la nécessité de les diffuser le plus rapidement possible pour leur conserver leur actualité.

L'année 1979 sera, tout entière, occupée par la mise en place des centres nationaux et régionaux sur lesquels nous souhaiterions avoir des informations.

Si l'on souhaite que ce système d'information sur les recherches soit vraiment efficace, il s'avère indispensable que le maximum de pays y participent, tant développés qu'en voie de développement.

En effet, la recherche agronomique, très importante dans les pays développés, reste encore diffici­lement accessible pour un grand nombre d'institutions de recherche situées dans les autres pays et cela,bien que de nombreux sujets de recherche (céréales, légumineuses à graines, nutrition animale, etc.) puissent, malgré les différences de sol, de climat et d'environnement, présenter un très grand intérêt.

Pour ce motif, ma délégation suggère que la FAO invite les" pays développés à apporter leur contribu­tion à CARIS, comme ils le font déjà pour AGRIS, soit en adoptant la méthodologie CARIS s'ils n'ont pas déjà de système d'information sur leurs recherches, soit en mettant à la disposition de CARIS des informations conformes à la méthodologie de ce système, qui pourraient être intégrées directement dans la base des données et donc diffusées dans tous les pays ayant adopté ce système international.

J'en viens maintenant, Madame le Président, au deuxième rapport de la 35ème session du Comité du Programme.

En ce qui concerne le paragraphe 1.61, ma délégation appuie la position prise par le Comité du Programme, et estime qu'il est possible et souhaitable de faire davantage en matière d'utilisation des institu­tions régionales et nationales ainsi que des experts nationaux. Elle appuie la suggestion du Comité d'organiser une campagne active et soutenue pour garantir que les possibilités d'utiliser ces institu­tions nationales soient pleinement mises à profit.

Au paragraphe 1.84, nous notons avec satisfaction l'élimination du décalage que nous avons parfois constaté entre la publication des versions anglaises et celle des versions françaises et espagnoles des documents de l'Organisation. Nous espérons que l'exemple du Bulletin mensuel de la FAO "Economie et statistiques'' sera suivi par toutes les publications de l'Organisation.

J'en viens maintenant au rapport sur le système international et la recherche agricole nationale. Nous partageons les préoccupations exprimées au paragraphe 1166 et nous pensons, comme le Comité du Programme, que le nouveau service dont la création est proposée risque d'isoler la recherche du développement, en s'attachant uniquement à la recherche agricole sans prêter suffisamment attention aux grands problèmes de l'agriculture et du développement rural.

La délégation française appuie sans réserve toute initiative que le Directeur général pourrait prendre pour éviter tout double emploi avec des activités de l'Organisation. La création de cet ISNAR n'a d'ailleurs pas été approuvée par la majorité des pays développés, et le représentant de mon pays, à la réunion du GCRAI, avait exprimé sa vive préoccupation. Un groupe doit étudier la création de cet ISNAR. La France pense qu'un tel organisme ne doit pas être créé si un consensus sur l'utilité de cette création n'est pas obtenu entre pays développés et pays en voie de développement. Or, à la connaissance de ma délégation, aucun représentant des pays en voie de développement récipiendaire d'aide n'assistait à la réunion du GCRAI. Ils n'ont donc pas été consultés; il faut donc d'abord connaître leur position avant d'arriver à une décision.

H. BAEYENS (Belgique): Je vais d'abord remercier le Président du Comité du Programme pour l'exposé très complet qu'il vient de nous faire, et je vais me borner à faire quelques commentaires sur seulement trois sujets évoqués dans cet exposé:

- le premier est celui de la présentation des objectifs à moyen terme traité dans le document

"Rapport de la trente-cinquième session du Comité du Programme'', les Numéros 1.140 à 1.146 b) : cette section me laisse un peu sur ma faim. Je sais que c'est un sujet dont il a été question dans le passé mais le document sur lequel s'est basé le Comité du Programme n'est pas à la disposition du Conseil, bien qu'on y fasse référence, et je ne vois pas comment le Conseil peut suivre la Recommandation qui fait l'objet du paragraphe 1.146, c'est-à-dire la Recommandation faite au Conseil d'adopter les propositions du Directeur général, mais je présume que ces propositions du Directeur général sont dans ce document que le Comité du Programme a eu sous les yeux mais qui ne nous est pas soumis.

- un deuxième point auquel je voudrais m'arrêter est celui de l'examen des organes statutaires régionaux de la FAO. Je puis me rallier à la proposition qui est faite au paragraphe 1.158 b), c'est-à-dire l'amendement qui est proposé aux textes fondamentaux tendant à insérer dans ces textes une disposition suivant laquelle le Directeur général sera prié de préparer et de soumettre aux organes directeurs de l'Organisation un document qui expose les objectifs de tout organe dont la création est proposée, ainsi que la manière dont cet organe pourra s'acquitter de ses fonctions, des effets que sa création pourrait avoir sur les programmes futurs ainsi que les incidences financières de la création de cet organe pour l'exercice en cours et pour les exercices suivants.

- enfin le dernier point dont je voudrais dire un mot est celui de la création du SISRAN c'est-à-dire du Service international de soutien à la recherche agricole nationale.

La Belgique a fait, à ce propos, lors de la réunion qui s'est tenue à Washington et où la création de ce service semble avoir été décidée, les plus sérieuses réserves et je voudrais me joindre à l'appel qui vient d'être lancé par la délégation française en vue de la recherche d'une plus étroite coordination entre ce service au cas où effectivement il est créé et les services compétents de la FAO.

CHAIRMAN: Thank you. I am sure your comments and the issue which you have raised will be answered when the Chairman of the Programme Committee has the chance to take the floor again.

LI CHEN-HUAN (China) (Interpretation from Chinese): The Chinese delegation would like to say a few words concerning the language policy of FAO. To make rational arrangements in the use of the Organization's languages is significantly to enable more people from Member Nations to participate in the Organization's activities, to further and increase mutual understanding and the exchange of experience to help the Organization to exercise its functions more effectively. Therefore, in view of the changing situation and the Organization's expanding activities it is necessary to make adjustments in the use of languages so that a better balance can be achieved step by step. Needless to say, in the process of such adjustment the principle of statutory parity of FAO's languages should be implemented in conformity with document CL 74/3, while the actual application of language arrangements should be made in accordance with the specific requirements of each case, so as to enable people from all Member Nations to participate with the utmost efficiency in the meetings and activities of FAO. With such a view in mind the Chinese delegation concurs that appropriate adjustments be made through consultations on the subject of language distribution for Category III meetings and group training activities of the Organization.

H. MAURIA (Finland): We would like to comment briefly on one of the items now under discussion. As was quite rightly expressed by the delegate of Brazil just recently, the format of the medium-term objectives has always previously been rather a difficult matter. Therefore we welcome the proposals adopted by the Programme Committee in document CL 74/5. In particular, we support the proposal that the document on medium-term objectives should be separated from the Programme of Work and Budget. In this way these two documents could be more clearly studied by the Member Countries.

We also support the proposal that steps towards quantification of the sources in the medium-term objectives should not be borne in mind but that information on relative priorities would be useful.

S.A. PERVEZ (Pakistan): We thank the Chairman of the Programme Committee for a lucid exposition of the various issues. We have a few brief comments. On the format of medium-term objectives we welcome and support the proposals of the Director-General of a new format for the documents on medium-term objectives, which appears to be a considerable improvement over the earlier format. We would however like to stress the need to make the document on medium-term objectives as succinct and brief as possible. At the same time, it should complement other related conference documents, such as the Programme of Work and Budget.

We agree to the proposal that the section on overall review of the world food situation and the role of FAO be discontinued, but would strongly oppose the proposal for discontinuation of regional presentations in the document, since these help to distil regional requirements and contribute towards identifying priorities to be followed by FAO in the medium-term. We would like also to caution against the proposed ranking of relative priorities which we feel would lead to endless debate in the Conference.

Finally on this subject, we would support the proposal that the new format should follow the same framework for major programmes as in the chapters of the Programme of Work and Budget. This is essentially in order to facilitate a meaningful comparison of medium-term objectives with the short-term Programme of Work and Budget,

On the subject of review of FAO's language policy and practice, the purpose of the review by the Programme Committee was to correct the imbalance in the use of FAO languages and to make appropriate recommendations for consideration by this Council Session.

We support the proposal to have a new category - that is, Category IV - to cover group training activities. We would here like to sound a note of caution by saying that linguistic balance should not be sought for its own sake, the objective should be to determine the real growth of training needs of developing countries in specific regions at the initial planning stage when the Programme of Work for the biennium was being prepared by the Organization and that these specific regional needs should determine the final language distribution for such activities. We would also suggest that language balance to the extent it was desirable should be sought over a series of biennia rather than on each individual biennium.

On future cooperation with industry, we would like to congratulate the Director-General on the steps that he has taken in compliance with the Conference Resolution.

As regards the future, I have one brief suggestion: we feel that while cooperation by FAO should continue such cooperation should consist not only of assistance in an advisory capacity through working groups and panels but also by direct technical assistance in industry, particularly for training activities in line with FAO's policies and programmes.

On the subject of statutory regional bodies, we welcome the proposal of the Programme Committee to request regional conferences to review the functioning of the regional bodies in their respective regions. We would however like some elaboration on part (b) of this proposal outlined on page 23 of document CL 74/5. The resolution, while providing for the need to scrutinize all proposals for creation of new bodies, does not go further. It is possible that a new body may be created to meet a specific problem or need but there is no provision to keep this body under review so as to assess its utility from time to time. Agricultural research is of paramount importance to the developing countries. Unfortunately, after reading the report of the Programme Committee on this subject, page 24 of document CL 74/5, we have come away with the impression that all is not well in the state of research, with apologies to Shakespeare. We share some of the concerns expressed by the Programme Committee and we hope that proliferation of research bodies will not generate needless rivalries which may harm the overall research effort to the detriment of the developing countries.

J.A. BAKER (United States of America): I would like to congratulate our Chairman of the Programme Committee for his very useful introduction of the various issues that we considered in the Programme Committee and that are now being examined under this item.

I should like to refer first to an aspect of the Programme Committee Report in paragraph 1.137 where we note the importance of improved information being made available to the Programme Committee and hence, of course, to this Council, regarding extra-budgetary resources and the project and/or subject matter to which they are related. Also, we would like to note the idea of clearer identification of objectives, priorities and shifts of resources in the Programme of Work and Budget of the Organization. Both these suggestions were supported in the course of our discussions in the Programme Committee and I think we felt that while the Secretariat had made some notably positive advances in their presentation of documentation to the Organization, and particularly in the Programme on Work and Budget, there was room for still further improvement; and that it was our job to encourage it not only on our behalf but on behalf of the membership of this Council and of the Organization.

The question of precise formulation of objectives and priorities also relates to the medium-term objectives document. In the Programme Committee we felt - as I think the Chairman has indicated - that the Secretariat had made a very concise and useful review of that problem in the document it gave us which, if it is not available to the Council, certainly should be, because I think it is a helpful document. The United States believes that the medium-term objectives document, if properly structured - and this report to us by the Organization suggests a good structuring - will enhance the ability of the FAO to meet its responsibilities. It will also help Member States, as part of their FAO Government's function, to make clear assessments of the objectives of the FAO Programme of Work. We believe that the medium-term objective document should follow the general outline of the Programme of Work and Budget. In so doing, it would provide a linkage between the desired objectives and the actual ongoing programmes described in the Programme document.

We support the recommendations of the Programme Committee and would like particularly to endorse the idea of trying to identify the intermediate indicators of programme performance in relation to appropriate sectors to the medium-term objectives. In short, we should like to be able to have some benchmark by which we can judge the progress that the programmes being projected into the future are expected to make.

One reason for our concern with the proposals, such as those I have just discussed, is that we are continually searching in our own Government - not always with 100 percent success, I might add - for ways to subject the programmes of large agencies to examination and judgement. We believe this is necessary for reasons both of efficiency and for relating limited resources to programme priorities. As Members of this Council are aware, the United States has found it necessary for its own economic health and also for the economic wellbeing of many other countries in this very inter-dependent world, to undertake a stringent and painful austerity programme, including such measures as higher interest rates, intervention in international money markets to maintain the value of the dollar, and hard-headed cutting of United States Government expenditure. The President, speaking of the budget he will soon submit to the United States Congress for fiscal year 1980, said it would be very, very tight and that it would, without starving useful programmes, provide little money for new initiatives.

This is why we are obliged, in the international as well as in our national context, to give careful examination to objectives and priorities, to new initiatives and to the choice of which programmes we should give priority to.

Our delegation was therefore most appreciative of the Director-General's remarks in his opening address to the Council which indicated his awareness of the concerns with respect to the growing budget of international organizations which are held by countries facing domestic economic situations of some difficulty and austerity.

Since others have done so, I should like to briefly address the Joint Inspection Unit Report on FAO's language policy, especially as regards Category 3 Meetings. We should like to record our support for the report's recommendations and we commend the Director-General for his positive response to these recommendations. As in many other areas of FAO activities, we urge the utmost efficiency so as to avoid any real increase in expenditures for language services.

Finally, regarding the establishment of ISNAR, described very well to us by the Chairman of the Programme Committe, my Government has had, and has expressed, some serious reservations about launching it. Finally, given the support it has, from major funding institutions, from donor countries whose views we respect, and from developing countries who desire it, we are now considering support to it. We would strongly endorse the recommendation made here today by our French colleague, and supported by our Belgian colleague, that FAO and ISNAR work closely together in this area which is of high importance and of obvious common interest to both of them.

B. DE AZEVEDO BRITO (Brazil): We wish to offer a brief comment on one specific point: the report of the task force on international assistance for strengthening national agricultural research. My delegation has already advanced its views at the level of the Programme Committee and I must say that we continue to have some misgivings about a development that might result, in our view, in a possible duplication of activities. We attach very high priority to agricultural research. In fact, both in our Federal budget and the State budgets of the different units of the Federation, we see rather large sums already devoted to agricultural research; there is thus no doubt about this priority.

However, we feel that - and here we concur with views presented by FAO on the subject - that basically FAO is equipped and prepared to provide the services required. That was my first point.

My second point is that we feel that normally agricultural research should be much more developed and planned in the light of and in conjunction with actual sectorial activities developed by the Organiza­tion. We therefore feel that normally we would have preferred to avoid a new proliferation of institu­tions. Since, however, it seems that this organization is taking shape and is soon coming into existence, or we can see at this stage is the obvious: let us hope for the best, in the sense of expecting that full coordination and utilization of FAO capabilities will be made so that we do not have a waste of scarce resources.

I. OZORAI (Hungary): I should like to confine myself to only one point: the format of medium-term objectives. The report of the Programme Committee has given us a proper background by reiterating the resolution of the 19th Session of the Conference. My delegation last autumn voiced its conviction that the medium-term objective should be a separate part in the documents to be submitted to the Conference. We are of the opinion that the medium-term objectives may serve as a major link to help FAO in pursuing its activities in a carefully planned way. There are a good number of issues which cannot be envisaged in one budgetary period, such as hunger and malnutrition, integrated rural development, etc.

My delegation therefore very much welcomes the views of the Programme Committee when stating that a separate document on medium-term objectives would, inter alia, facilitate the linkage between deci­sions on medium-term objectives and priorities to be dealt with in the biennial Programme of Work and Budget. We might even concur with the idea that the medium-term objectives be considered together with the State of Food and Agriculture and with the Programme of Work and Budget in the future, being the most important documents the FAO Conference is requested to deal with.

I conclude by saying that I very much agree with the proposal submitted by the delegate of Pakistan and seconded by the United States delegate, to the effect that this document should follow that of the Programme of Work and Budget, but stating at the same time that the medium-term objectives should be in a position to tackle some problems which are only lightly touched upon in the Programme of Work and Budget, since resources available to FAO do not always allow each Conference sufficient time to deal properly with the subject which may be elaborated upon in the medium-term objectives.

A.J. PECKHAM (United Kingdom): We like to listen to the views of other delegates and to take these into account; but I think on research I should like to make two very brief comments. The position of the United Kingdom Government is known. My Government had previously taken the view that we could not commit ourselves on the ISNAR proposals before hearing the views of others, and notably FAO's. We are, however, now satisfied that the proposals have a measure of support of the majority of those concerned and we accordingly support the view that ISNAR would be a helpful addition to the CGIAR network.

Secondly, in view of the comments of some other speakers, I should like to say that we continue to regard it as important that there should be close cooperation between FAO and ISNAR, and understand that CGIAR will be examining ways in which this may be achieved. Thus we are encouraged by the mention made earlier that misunderstandings in the past have been resolved.

While we understand the reservations which FAO has hitherto had about the creation of a new organiza­tion we trust that they will be able to find ways of cooperating to the mutual benefit of both organizations.

K.R. HIGHAM (Canada): Just a few points on ,the medium-7terra objectives subject. ;The FAO Secretariat has made an effort to accomodate the views of countries such as Canada which feel that the medium-term objective document should be more than a general outline of world agricultural needs. Canada has consistently taken the position that a medium-term paper should be, an outline of the objectives and priorities of FAO for the medium-term and that .the format of the document should include resburcé projec­tions. We appreciate that it is difficult to, qualify resource allocations for the medium-term, but we still believe that this should be provided where possible. We also recognize that this is a confiriuing , experimental process with narratives clearly desçrihiqg those activities to be financed from regular budgetary funds as distinct from extra-budgetary items. In discussing the medium-term objectïves we need to consider the general question of what resources may be available over the next four years.

The Director-General in his opening address stated that he could not indicate the budget level for 1980-1981 and we accent his decision and we will have the opportunity of discussing this Programme and Budget next year. The Director-General also made reference to the concerns expressed over the current economic situation and the fact that some donor countries have indicated difficulties in maintaning current or slightly increased budget levels. Our delegation considers that while we are not now discussing the 1980-81 budget level it would be helpful to the Director-General to get some indication of the economic problems facing many countries.

The Canadian concern is a two-fold one, the first is to ensure no decline in the activities of FAO and the second is to how we can overcome current Canadian economic problems without adversely affecting either Canadians or the programmes for development and this is not easy of course. Our Government has adopted stringent economic measures at home to reduce. Government, expenditure.

Similarly whether we want to or not, international agencies must also seek economies. We are therefore grateful to the Director-General who stated in his opening address that in planning his Programme of Work and Budget he would keep this problem in mind.

S. MADEMBA SY (Observateur pour le Sénégal): Permettez-moi d'abord de vous féliciter pour votre élec-Lion à la présidence de la présente session du Conseil et, en tant que représentant d'un pays ami, permettez-moi aussi de vous exprimer toute ma fierté.

Je voudrais revenir très brièvement sur l'intervention du délégué de la France concernant la recherche agricole. Comme il est indiqué dans le document, vous savez qu'il y a deux, nouveaux représentants de la région d'Afrique qui viehnent d'être élus á la dernière conférence d'Ashura à sayoir, le Kenya et le Sénégal, et, a cet égard, je puis vous assurer que' ces représentants seront désormais présents á toutes les réunions du groupe consultatif sur la recherche agricole internationale.

Pour le moment, je ne veux pas préciser quel est notre point de vue à l'égard de la réunion d'une nou­velle structure internationale en matière de recherche agricole, mais ce que je puis d'ores et déjà vous dire, c'est que nous sommes intéressés par la rechercne, non pas la recherche pour la recherche, non pas la recherche pure, mais la recherche appliquée et ce, au niveau national même et, dans cette optique,' toutes les structures, qu'elles soient nouvelles ou déjà existantes, qui pourraient nous aider à renforcer la recherche nationale au niveau même de nos pays, seront les bienveues. Ceci a toujours été une position constante de mon gouvernement et je crois que M. Bommer, le Directeur, général chargé du Département de l'agriculture, est au courant de cette position et reste en relations étroites avec notre délégation chargée de la recherche scientifique et technique. Voilà ce que j'avais à dire et à porter à la connaissance des membres du Conseil.

M. TRKULJA (Chairman, Programme Committee): First of all I think that I can now speak on behalf of the thé Programme Committee and express our Words of thanks to the Members of the Council for having by and large supported the views of the Committee on various issues. Then 1 owe a vote of thanks to the delegate of France who reminded me that I failed to mention Programme Reviewing as a continual exercise of the Committee. It was certainly not my ambition to go through all the programme reviews that we have reviewed in two sessions, but, of course, the Programme' Committee would certainly welcome any comments and I am particularly grateful to him for his comment on some programme reviewing.

I will very briefly reflect the point made by the representative for Belgium. I think he is quite right in saying that it was perhaps a failure of the Programme Committee, because the Committee had not really given a full scope of information in the document prepared for the metfium-term item. It was a document 'prepared for the Programme and finance Committees, and I would like only to acid that the Director-General in his document in fact dealt with Regular Programme Format and Medium-Term.

Since after all, we are all certainly agreed that there is a very close inter-linkage between the two. What I can do, of course, is to promise that in the future we will try to present in annexes all essential information in all the places, if the document is not prepared to the Council.

With regard to the medium-term objectives format, this is an issue, if it is desirable to have quantification of resources in medium-term, or not. What I can say is that the Conference itself was very divided on that issue, as it clearly stems from paragraph 2.13 of the Report of the Conference, but the Programme Committee, after a very long debate, reached an agreement that in the light of all past experiences it would not be really desirable to attempt to quantify resources over medium-term»

The last point is that the delegate of Pakistan asked for some more elaboration about the proposed text of the resolution and I would ask Dr. Phillips, who was charged with that task on behalf of the Director-General, to deal with that. He certainly knows all details about the criteria proposed in B. I would ask Dr. Phillips to say a few words on the formal text that was proposed.

DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL : The delegate of Pakistan made a very valid point, I think, when he, along with a number of other delegations, supported the proposal for a resolution for the Conference that might sharpen up the guidelines under which new bodies were established when he pointed out that there was nothing said there about the problem of getting rid of bodies once they had proved that they were no longer useful for one reason or another. This is a very valid point. It is relatively easy in international affairs to set up a structure, it is very difficult to dispose of it. I would suggest that we might include in the report a note for the guidance of the CCLM, because you will recall that the Programme Committee's proposal was that the CCLM should take the text and sharpen it up for use as a formal resolution, that the CCLM might also then consider the related question of making provision in the rules for the abolition of bodies when they no longer serve their purpose. This can be a very complicated legal matter, because various bodies, various officials, have the authority to set up bodies and it has to be sorted out quite clearly from a legal standpoint.

LE SECRETAIRE GENERAL: J'aurai très peu de choses à dire en ce qui concerne la politique appliquée par le Directeur général sur les langues. Je vais simplement remercier, comme je l'ai fait ce matin, toutes les délégations qui ont pris la parole à ce sujet et qui ont apprécié les efforts faits par le Directeur général pour améliorer progressivement la répartition linguistique entre les réunions au titre du Programme ordinaire, aussi bien dans la catégorie 3 que dans celles qui entreraient dans la nouvelle catégorie 4, Nous tiendrons également compte de toutes les observations qui ont été formulées ici à ce sujet.

Pour apporter une réponse à la question posée par le représentant de la France, à savoir davantage d'information sur la décentralisation en ce qui concerne le programme CARIS, je voudrais lui dire qu'en plus de nombreux pays qui ont exprimé le désir de participer à ce programme nous avons trois régions ou groupes de pays qui ont déjà fait part de leur intérêt à mettre en place des réseaux régionaux de CARIS: - il s'agit, en Amérique latine, de l'institut interaméricain de sciences agricoles; en Asie, de la Banque d'informations agricoles pour l'Asie; il y a également un certain nombre de pays arabes qui ont formulé le même désir.

Les pays ou régions intéressés ont organisé des centres de CARIS nationaux ou régionaux et pourront choisir entre deux méthodologies qui sont d'ailleurs compatibles et qui sont mises au point par les centres de coordination CARIS, ici au Siège.

  1. La méthodologie complète utilisée par le projet CARIS actuel;
  2. Une méthodologie simplifiée, très voisine de celle utilisée pour le système AGRIS; ce qui faciliterait une participation rapide pour un très grand nombre de pays dont les documentalistes ont déjà été formés pour le système CARIS.

C'étaient les précisions que je voulais donner au distingué délégué de la France.

E.M. WEST (Director, Office of Programme, Budget and Evaluation): Simply on the format and the medium-term objectives document, it would seem that the Council has endorsed the recommendations of the Programme Committee, and I confirm the Director-General will follow those recommendations especially concerning the retention of a section dealing with regional medium-term objectives.

In this connexion I would like to clarify a point made by the United States and partly by Canada. The remarks made by the United States referred to paragraphs 1.137 to 1.139. Those paragraphs are about information to be provided to the Programme Committee when carrying out its review of programmes, which is not directly concerned with either the Programme of Work and Budget as such or with the medium-term objectives. Both, though, are key documents providing information for the discussion. There is no difference on the substance, we will certainly try and do what is set out there, but we cannot try and do the same thing on the medium-term objectives paper as was indicated in 1.139 without getting into deep waters again about quantification of resources, particularly about attempting to quantify the extra-budgetary resources which might be available four to six years from now. This is just a clarification, it is not a difference of opinion. I will not follow some delegates into the dangerous paths of relative priorities. We are not discussing those subjects at the moment.

I do want to make a comment, however, to illustrate how difficult it would be in relation to medium-term objectives because of another item which has been discussed, and that is ISNAR. The substance will be dealt with by Mr. Bommer in a moment. From the point of view of medium-term objectives and relative priorities in particular, on which Pakistan had some very wise observations to make, I would like to comment that it seems strange indeed to me that a proposal which was viewed with such misgiving by a number of delegations, including those which now apparently support it, should suddenly have become a major priority for FAO - or has it? What is the relative priority of something which previously was a matter of grave doubt and suddenly becomes something in which FAO must cooperate. FAO cannot cooperate without providing resources. These resources must apparently be provided not by the decision of the Director-General but at the dictate of an outside body. Is this top priority in the next medium-term objectives paper or is it a low priority? I am not suggesting we try and answer this today; I am just using it as an example of the problems you get into, as indicated by Pakistan, when you try to set out relative priorities in a too ambitious manner.

D.F.R. BOMMER (Assistant Director-General, Agriculture Department): I think I can be very brief because there were no real questions raised about the procedures which brought ISNAR into being, but I think some points probably need clarification.

First of all, I think the concern expressed by France is completely correct because in the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research only two developing countries participated in the discussion and supported this new service. Contrary to the expectation of the Director-General, very few of the developing countries participated here in the discussion in spite of the deep concern the Conference has expressed as it was informed that such activity was under development. The Director-General certainly is prepared to cooperate with any organization which is benefiting the developing countries, and our whole hope is that through this organization which will be further developed really additional resources and additional services can be provided to the developing countries, and this certainly the Director-General is prepared to cooperate on.

I do not wish to repeat what Mr. West said. Certainly something is left for us or some controversy in thinking about financial support which apparently is easy on the one side and difficult on the other.

I further want to refer to my German colleague - the conditions in which he has hoped that this new service will be created are not as clear as he has stated because the terms of reference have still to be be defined and there was even among those supporting the new organization conflicting views if the service should restrict itself only to activities from the International Research Centres being transferred and transmitted to national programmes in developing countries or if the task should be much wider and maybe even cover fields which are outside agriculture in the strongest sense in the whole field of FAO's sphere. This still has to be defined. The same is that with science, 20 people have been mentioned only as a beginning, you can be sure that the number will be increased, and other points still need clarification.

I think these are the points that I can provide and I can conclude only that certainly the Director-General respects deeply decisions by its member nations and certainly is prepared to see collaboration to the benefit of the developing countries.

CHAIRMAN: In less than two hours, by using the mixed salad approach we have been able to dispose of five very important issues. We would like to declare this part now closed, and if you will permit us, since it has worked so well, we would like to try again the mixed salad approach and try to dispose of the other issues.

Headquarters Accommodation
Locaux au Siège
Locales de la Sede

Actuarial Review of Separation Payments Scheme
Examen actuariel du regime d'indemnités de départ
Examen Actuarial del Plan de Indemnizaciones por Separación del Servicio

FAO Advisory Committee on Investment
Comité consultatif FAO de l'investissement
Comité Asesor de la FAO sobre Inversiones

Format of medium term objectives (continued)
Présentation des objectifs à moyen terme (suite)
Formato del documento objetivos a plazo medio (continuación)

CHAIRMAN: We now ask the Chairman of the Finance Committee to introduce those subjects.

M. BEL HADJ AMOR (Président du Comité financier): Je vais essayer d'être très bref, surtout que je pars du principe que le Conseil est toujours sensible aux questions financières et qu'il ne manque jamais de faire du rapport du Comité des finances son livre de chevet. Je ne veux pas par là, bien sur, rendre jaloux mon ami et collègue. Je voudrais soumettre au Conseil quatre questions, deux pour décision et deux pour information. 1. Il s'agit d'abord du rapport de situation sur les locaux; 2. de l'étude actuarielle du régime d'indemnités de départ; 3. ensuite, le Comité consul­tatif de la FAO pour le placement et la présentation des objectifs à moyen terme; 4. pour ce qui est du règlement intérieur du Comité, je crois que cette questionnera mieux examinée lorsque le Conseil abordera les questions constitutionnelles et juridiques.

Le rapport de situation sur les locaux - cette question est reflétée dans nos deux rapports, à savoir le CL 74/4 par. 74, 81 et le document CL 74/5 par. 69 et 2.81.. En examinant cette question dont l'importance pour l'Organisation n'a pas échappé au Comité financier, le Comité a considéré trois aspects principaux:

- d'abord l'achèvement du bâtiment D, - ensuite le projet d'édification d'un nouvel ensemble de bureaux, - enfin la situation des bâtiments F et G.

Pour le premier point, le Conseil trouvera l'évolution de la situation au document CL 74/4 paragraphes 75 et 78, ainsi qu'un document CL 74/5 paragraphes 2.72 à 2.73. Le Conseil voudra bien prendre note des vives inquiétudes du Comité devant la perspective des retards dans les travaux de réaménagement du bâtiment D, ainsi que l'incertitude persistante sur la date à laquelle il pourra être remis à l'Organisation.

Le Comité est d'avis que le Gouvernement italien devra adopter des procédures extraordinaires permettant d'accélérer les travaux. Le Comité convient également que le Gouvernement italien devra supporter tout supplément de loyer résultant de retard dans l'achèvement des travaux en septembre 79.

Concernant le deuxième point, à savoir le projet d'édification d'un nouvel ensemble de bureaux, ce point est reflété aux paragraphes 79 et 81 du document 74/4 paragraphes 2.70 et 2.71 du document 74/5.

Le Comité est d'accord avec le Directeur général sur la nécessité de résoudre de manière durable le problème des locaux de l'Organisation et a accueilli avec satisfaction l'idée de ce projet. Le Comité a relevé les conditions extrêmement avantageuses offertes par d'autres gouvernements aux institutions des Nations Unies, et invite le Directeur général à tenir compte de ce fait dans la poursuite de ses négociations avec le Gouvernement italien.

Pour ce qui est de la situation des bâtiments F et G, elle est reflétée dans les paragraphes 2.77 à 2.81 du document 74/5. Il s'agit d'une amélioration éventuelle du loyer. Le Comité financier a été mis au courant avec force détails des faits caractérisant cette situation et s'est montré fort inquiet à l'idée que l'Organisation devra supporter les augmentations substantielles de loyer, alors que les ressources financières de l'Organisation doivent être consacrées à ces programmes.

Aussi, estime-t-il que les services centraux de l'Organisation doivent être logés gratuitement et que le Gouvernement italien doit être invité à prendre entièrement à sa charge le loyer des bâtiments F et G.

Pour conclure ce point, je dois mentionner que le Comité financier ne sous-estime guère les efforts louables déployés par la représentation diplomatique italienne permanente auprès de l'Organisation pour aider le Directeur général à résoudre le problème épineux des locaux de l'Organisation et convaincre les autorités concernées à lui trouver une solution durable.

Je passe à présent au deuxième point qui concerne l'étude actuarielle du régime d'indemnités de départ. Ce point figure au document CL 74/5 paragraphes 2.46 à 2.51.

Madame la Présidente, le Conseil n'est pas sans savoir que ce régime consiste à accorder aux fonctionnaires des services généraux une indemnité de départ équivalant à un mois de traitement par année de service, ce mois étant calculé sur la base de traitement du dernier mois de service. Le Comité rappelle, au paragraphe 2.46, l'historique, bref certes, de l'institution de ce régime. Un Fonds a été constitué pour mettre l'Organisation à même de faire face aux obligations de ce régime, mais sur une base provisoire.

A la lumière de l'expérience acquise durant les quatre années écoulées, il a été décidé le réexamen de cette situation et la possibilité d'envisager une autre manière d'alimenter ce Fonds.

Prenant en considération les incidences budgétaires des diverses solutions suggérées par l'actuaire et qui figurent au paragraphe 2.47, le Comité financier reconnaît, au paragraphe 2.49, qu'il est souhaitable d'améliorer la couverture financière des obligations que les indemnités de départ constituent pour la FAO et recommande ce qui suit :

- l'adoption d'un taux de capitalisation de 9 pour cent - au lieu de 8 pour cent - à compter du 1er janvier 1979 pour les fonds extrabudgétaires, - l'adoption d'un taux de capitalisation de 30 pour cent à compter du 1er janvier 1980 correspondant à 3 pour cent des traitements nets - au lieu de 1,6 pour cent que nous avons actuellement.

Vous trouverez les conséquences financières au paragraphe 2.50.

Enfin, le Comité estime qu'il faut continuer à examiner la situation tous les quatre ans afin de garantir le bon fonctionnement du Fonds. Le Comité souhaite que le Conseil appuie s.a recommandation.

Le troisième point concerne le Comité consultatif de la FAO pour les placements. Ce point est soumis au Conseil pour information.

Le Comité a pris note de l'institution par le Directeur général d'un Comité consultatif des placements en vue de garantir l'utilisation optimale des avoirs liquides de l'Organisation jusqu'à ce qu'ils soient dépensés.

Le point de vue du Comité figure aux paragraphes 2.62 et 2.63 du document CL 74/5.

Enfin, uniquement pour information, concernant la présentation des objectifs à moyen terme, je voudrais attirer l'attention sur le fait que le Comité n'a pas eu à considérer en profondeur cette question, étant donné qu'elle relève beaucoup plus du Comité du programme que du Comité financier. Cependant, en se penchant sur cette question, le Comité a estimé que le document est pertinent, concis et constructif. Toutefois, il a demandé qu'on lui indique, dans la mesure du possible, combien de temps et d'argent sont consacrés à la planification à moyen terme, à la FAO et dans les autres institutions. Ces deux points figurent aux paragraphes 2.91 et 2.92 du document CL 74/5.

Je me tiens à la disposition du Conseil pour tout éclaircissement éventuel.

G. de MICHELIS (Italy): I am glad the discussions which are now taking place during the Council are giving me the opportunity, on behalf of the host country, of examining some aspects of the Headquarters Agreement and therefore the question of the buildings of FAO in Rome. At the same time such an argument gives me an opportunity to express our satisfaction for the manner which has characterized the way of handling the problem both by the Finance Committee and by the responsible staff of the Organization - mainly Mr. Georgiadis. However, if I may say so, there should be no more problems, but there are some possible solutions which ought to be discussed, as they are at present. Thus, on both sides we are underlining our common aim: the necessary economies that we, as the Italian Administration, are forced to carry out; and on the other hand, the principle that the Organization's financial resources should not be diverted in principle from its programmes.

There is no doubt that the Italian Government, according to the Headquarters' Agreement of 1951, had to give to FAO the well known building D in order to maintain the international engagement undertaken at that time and, what is important, in order to give the practical possibility to FAO of being better organized with the other existing buildings known as Building A, B and C.

A single complex, for which the Organization is paying a symbolic amount, will solve, a great part if not all of the actual problems that the Director-General and his staff are certainly facing, and we are maintaining our commitment.

As the last report of the Finance Committee has pointed out, there was a problem as far as the execu­tion of the works was concerned. The network developed by the Organization included the services for which the Organization is responsible, and indicated, as a matter of fact, that the works had to be accelerated, as well as possible modifications of the original plans which were elaborated in 1976. Approval of these modifications through the channel of the Permanent Italian Mission has been given recently, I am glad to announce, and works are therefore progressing on the assumption that the building has and will be delivered to FAO in time, before the end of next year.

The Permanent Italian Mission is also working on the problem of the new lines for telecommunication which have been requested.

As the Finance Committee has rightly pointed out, for the Organization and for the Government, the buildings are presenting a matter of cost, and consequently a matter of economic equilibrium in terms of budget. We would like you to know just as a short note, distinguished delegates, that the restructuring of Building D is costing us at present more than 5 billion lire, which means roughly US$ 6--1/2 million, which is 3 per cent of the entire budget of the Organization, if I am not wrong; and that some other facilities, such as an amount of money which is roughly US$ 350,000 every year, is paid as a friendly basis of collaboration to the Organization.

In the light of such mutual cooperation, I am sure, Madam Chairman and distinguished delegates, you will understand that the Government will not consider itself responsible for a delay as far as the present works are concerned which would be practically impossible to control - for instance if strikes take place or if some more modifications are requested.

In the report of the Finance Committee the long procedure for each modification is mentioned. Let me explain briefly now what the reasons are: mainly a double procedure, accordine to our new so-called Bucalossi Law in connexion with the Ministry of Public Works and finally also the Region separately. This is also to give an explanation if works in the recent past are thought to have been carried out rather slowly.

As new expenses or increases of budget have to be approved by the Parliament, we are afraid we cannot accept, unfortunately - and I underline the word "unfortunately" - any additional costs in the mean­time for the rents of building F and building G. Our engagement as far as the Agreement is concerned does not go so far, and even if we wish to take into due account all the requests of the Organization, we are not in a position, at least at present, to face more expenses. The Government has, as you all know, to follow a very strict line of conduct as far as austerity and the limits of the public Italian budget are concerned. Anyhow, the question has now been submitted to the Prime Minister, and while the decision is pending,a reply has still to be given to the Italian Permanent Mission.

I can assure you, on the contrary, that the Permanent Italian Mission will do its best in order to facilitate a possible compromise for the rents of the other buildings if necessary, and if so desired, on which the landlords are claiming an increase of rents. This will be done, as the Director-General Mr. Saouma has rightly pointed out during his official visit to the President of the Republic and to the Prime Minister, - "in the frame of those particular links and friendly relations existing between FAO and Italy since 1951".

Finally, and I will briefly conclude, I would like to mention Mr. Saouma's proposal for the creation of a United Nations Centre in Rome which will group all the present FAO buildings in a single modern complex with the other existing Agencies or United Nations Organizations in Rome. As you perhaps know, the Director-General has also expressed his original ideas and views on the matter during his last meetings at the Palazzo Chigi and at the Quirinale.

An official decision has not yet been given, but the Prime Minister has already expressed his perso­nal interest in the initiative.

In this respect, as I have said before, on the question of refraining from more expenses, it is only apparently contradictory; as a matter of fact, and without entering at this stage into details, a programme of this kind would necessarily mean that a financial effort would have to be supported by several budgets during at least a triennium.

So as far as the Centre is concerned the Prime Minister has also expressed himself in favour of the creation of an internal group of work, and therefore the Government is actually exploring the necessa­ry effort for our Administration before taking any engagement or making any proposal. As I am perso­nally very fond of the project I am expressing the hope that a favourable reply will be given as soon as possible. Thus, there is no doubt that the Centre would certainly meet the definite solution of the various problems I have drawn to your kind attention.

W.A.F. GRABISCH (Germany, Federal Republic of): My delegation wishes to refer to upgrading and double-grading of posts contained in paragraphs 68-71 of document CL 74/4. The Finance Committee at its Forty-First Session dealt with the Director-General's decision to apply the principle of double-grading of posts to certain posts at the G.l and G.2 grade levels. It is pointed out that at the same time the same principle will be applied to a limited extent also to other grade levels of the professional and general service category. We have certain doubts about such double-grading because it allows an indirect improvement of the grade system and opens up promotion opportunities without a change in qualitative terms of the work performed. I do not know of a similar practice in other organizations of the UN system. An upgrading of individual posts is in our opinion only justified if it is due to the performance of a duty which has to be rated more highly. The secretariat could perhaps give us some further information. In the view of my Government the practice used so far should be retained, that for each post only the grade level is shown in the budget which corresponds to the objective post-evaluation.

P. MASUD (Pakistan): My question is of a somewhat similar nature to that raised by. the delegate of Germany. It is regarding paragraphs 28 and 29 of document CL 74/4. It deals with the Programme Budget and Management Information System. A plain reading of these two paragraphs indicates that the Finance Committee was not very satisfied with the progress made. Therefore we would like to have some more information as to what is actually happening. For instance, paragraph 28 states: "It observed that while it was estimated that there had been cost savings, this was not the main objecti­ve". So obviously the main objective of this exercise has not been achieved. Therefore we would like to have some more information. Similarly, on paragraphs 58-61. These are the Progress Reports on Matters Raised by the External Auditor and I have gone through this. Apparently some other money has been spent on the Personnel and Payroll System and the results have so far not been satisfactory. I would be grateful if the Chairman of the Finance Committee could give us some more information on this subject also.

M. KRIESBERG (United States of America): My delegation would like to make a brief comment regarding the Report of the Finance Committee, also to take note of the good report of progress made thus far in connexion with buildings made by the delegate of Italy. My delegation would like to underscore the importance which we attach to a speedy completion of Building D and strongly to encourage these efforts of the Italian Government along the lines that it has commented on, working towards the com­pletion by the end of 1979. This should make a real contribution towards increasing operating infor­mation as well as perhaps more pleasant surroundings for a number of FAO employees, and I suppose also it should permit some reduction in expenditure for rental of headquarters space in the 1980/81 biennium. We also hope that the Italian Government will use its very best skills to contain and limit the growth in rental cost and space for FAO headquarters, especially of course the relatively

costly space that will apparently be necessary to continue rentals now under way through completion of the work on Building D, 1979.

M. BEL HADJ AMOR (Président du Comité financier): Le représentant de la République fédérale d'Allemagne a exprimé certains doutes sur l'efficacité du double reclassement. Je pense que le Secrétariat - puisqu'il a demandé des éclaircissements au Secrétariat - se fera un plaisir de préci­ser cette pratique.

Pour ce qui est de la question soulevée par le représentant du Pakistan, je voudrais attirer son attention sur le document CL 74/5, paragraphes 2.52 à 2.56, où l'on parle de l'évolution de cette situation et où il est dit que le Comité sera saisi d'un rapport définitif en mars 1979 (para­graphe 2.54). C'est une question qui est encore en développement et je crois qu'il faudra attendre notre prochaine session pour que l'on puisse se prononcer définitivement. J'espère que cette réponse satisfait le délégué du Pakistan.

E.M. WEST (Director, Office of Programme, Budget and Evaluation): Reference was made to paragraph 28 of the Finance Committee Report, document CL 74/4 of May 1978. I am not sure what the problem is. This was a progress report on the introduction of a computerized Management Information System. The object of the system is to provide managers, all of them up to the Director-General, with information about the implementation of the programme, and that is what it is doing. It was never intended that it would be a system which would substitute for staff, that is not the point of the exercise. The point of the exercise is to provide readily available management information on a systematic basis. This is what it is doing, especially since we have now completed the introduction of the system and it is working and providing print-outs to all managers.

As regards the other questions, as a matter of convenience and to save time I will deal with them on behalf of my colleagues. The question of Personnel and Payroll System and Field Project Management Information System was raised in connexion with paragraphs 58-61 of the same report. Since this report was made the Director-General decided to employ the same consultants to make recommendations about user requirements and to try to reconcile these with the existing systems that we had and with needs in the area of field staff and field project management, not merely in relation to the normal personnel payroll requirements. This work is under way and I cannot give any further information at the moment on the probable results. It is an important area and it is complicated because of simultaneous attempts by the UNDP using consultants to introduce new information systems. So it is not a matter which can be rushed. It is a matter which needs very careful study and reconciliation of various requirements, including budgetary requirements, and it cannot be expected that a solution will be found tomorrow but we will not delay it longer than necessary.

On double-grading, I think there must be some misunderstanding of the situation. The principle of double-grading has, as stated in the report, existed for many years. For example, for many years at the request even of the Council we have had a system of P.1/P.2. It is not intended that a system of double-grading should be adopted at all levels, either for the general service or for the professional staff. This is a very limited application of some flexibility at the lowest level. The problem we are dealing with here is that hitherto it was sadly the case that someone could be brought in as a machine operator or a labourer and remain a G.1 for 30 years whereas in the course of his work he would be not only developing experience but also acquiring additional skills as new technology came along and yet it was not possible to recognize this. Under the new system it will be possible to recognize it by moving him up to the G.2 grade but this will not necessarily result in an increase in the number of G.2s. In fact, it is envisaged that a balance will be kept between the people we move up and the new entrants, so that at any one time it is unlikely that there will be more G.2s under the present system that there were before, in fact there might even be less from time to time. So I do not think there is any need for the concern expressed on this matter.

If I say nothing on the question of buildings it is because no particular questions have been asked and the statement made by the delegate of Italy which was very constructive and warm in tone has, I think, brought us up to date.

P. MASUD (Pakistan): I am responding to a question by Mr. West. He has inquired: what is the problem with regard to paragraph 28 and 29? The problem is that the main objective of this exercise, according to this report, has not been achieved so far. It states quite clearly: "It is observed that while it was estimated there had been costs savings, this was not the main objective." It then goes on to narrate the main objective without stating whether it had been achieved or not. That is the question I should like to be answered at this stage.

E.M. WEST (Director, Office of Programme, Budget and Evaluation): I thought I had made it clear in my reply; if not, I apologize and I will repeat that the main objective is quoted in the last two sentences of paragraph 28, and that is being achieved.

P. MASUD (Pakistan): I just wanted to know whether it is being achieved in the view of the Organization or in the view of the Finance Committee also; and I think that should be answered by the Chairman of the Finance Committee.

M. BEL UADJ AMOR (President du Comité financier): Pour une fois que l'on essaie d'être économe, on risque peut-être de créer un certain brouillard, ce qui n!est pas du tout notre intention. Si le délégué du Pakistan le désire, je peux lui donner le détail de tout ce dont le Comité a discuté. C'est une question qui a été largement discutée au sein du Comité. Nous avons posé des questions, nous avons aussi obtenu des réponses, mais cela prend énormément de temps de retracer ici, au niveau du Conseil, tout le processus. Je crois que s'il y a un Comité financier c'est pour déblayer le terrain et soumettre les résultats au Conseil. Si le Comité a jugé bon de présenter ce paragraphe dans son rapport, cela signifie que ledit Comité a été satisfait des réponses qui lui ont été données. Je tiens à préciser au délégué du Pakistan que les questions qu'il a posées l'ont été également par les membres du Comité et je crois que c'est pour cela que nous avons accepté d'un commun accord, au Comité, d'introduire la phrase "le principal avantage du Comité est la possibilité d'obtenir rapidement des informations introuvables". On nous avait donné des exemples à ce sujet; je peux assurer le délégué du Pakistan que ce que le Comité a mentionné dans son rapport sont des choses dont il est parfaitement convaincu. Je pense que ma réponse satisfait le délégué du Pakistan.

P. MASUD (Pakistan): I have great confidence in the Chairman of the Finance Committee, not only in his ability but also in his experience and knowledge of FAO affairs. I therefore think I will discuss it with him at a later stage.

M. BEL HADJ AMOR (Président du Comité financier): Je voudrais démontrer au délégué du Pakistan que je ne viens pas devant le Conseil en étant désarmé. J'ai avec moi toutes les notes que j'ai prises moi-même, je les ai ici et je peux les lui fournir quand il le voudra.

A.J. PECKHAM (United Kingdom): My comment is in relation to one or two remarks which were made during the course of the discussion. During the discussion of this item, while a number of delegates have made a number of general comments, I have not done so. However, before we pass this particular subject I do wish to speak on this item if it is in order to do so at this time. It contains much material which has implications for the Organization's Programme and Budget. Of course, what matters at the end of the day is what it all costs. I would therefore like to touch very briefly on the preparations which are being made and to which the Director-General has referred for the 1980/81 Programme of Work and Budget. Like other members who have spoken, we have noted the Director-General's reference in his opening statement to the concern of a number of governments with regard to budgetary increases, given the difficult economic circumstances of many countries.

We therefore welcome the information which the Director-General gave to the Programme and Finance Committees, that he had issued firm guidelines for the 1980/81 Programme of Work and Budget aimed at eliminating areas of wastage and establishing areas of priority in FAO's Programme. We have no wish at this particular time to press the Director-General on his budget proposals. We appreciate that the process of collating and analysing the Organizations's requirements is a complex and lengthy one. We shall, of course, form a judgement upon the budget as a whole when we see the proposals.

E.M. WEST (Director, Office of Programme, Budget and Evaluation): It is, indeed, true that some other delegates speaking on this item made references to the Programme of Work and Budget. I think the Director-General appreciates the attitude of the whole Council in not pressing him to make a statement on the level of budget on this occasion. It is true that he did make statements to which some delegates have alluded concerning the economic situation in various countries. However, that was not the sum total of his remarks. He also made other remarks reflecting the pressures upon him for increases in the Programme of Work and Budget which in some cases developed countries themselves have been pressing for, including for example one I mentioned in the debate earlier this afternoon. However, this is not in order to introduce a debate on the subject but simply to note again the Director-General's position to which reference has just been made.

CHAIRMAN: This item is now closed.

18. Report on Unscheduled Sessions of FAQ Bodies in 1973
18. Rapport sur les reunions non prévues d'organes de la FAO en 1978
18. Informe sobre las reuniones no previstas de los órganos de la FAO en 1978

E.M. WEST (Director, Office of Programme, Budget and Evaluation): I just wanted to notify some corrigenda which should have been made but there was not time to issue them in view of the pressure for other documentation. On page 5 of the English version, the reference to Session ESD 801, should be "to review the draft report before completion and submission to the FAO Conference". Under Council Sessions on page 6 of the English document, AGP 714-4, the reason for cancellation is "postponed to" not "postponed in", AGE 701 and AGE 953, the reasons for cancellation were "budgetary restrictions within the IAEA" not "with the IAEA".

The meeting rose at 17.30 hours
La seance est levee à 17 h 30
Se levanta la sesión a las 17.30 horas

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