CHAIRMAN: Mr. Director-General, ladies and gentlemen: I wish to welcome you all to the Seventy-sixth Session of the Council. I am happy to see the Director-General with us at this time when hé is heavily involved with the preparation of the Conference. I realize that he may not be able to be with us all the time as usual but I can assure him of our fullest cooperation in this difficult task.
No new members of the Council have joined us at this session. However, sixteen members will vacate their seats in the Council at the end of this session. I hope that as many as possible of these members will be re-elected by the Conference so that we can continue to have the pleasure of enjoying their company. I am pleased to inform the Council that in addition to Samoa, Dominica has also applied for membership of the Organization and the application will be submitted to the Conference next week.
Traditionally, the session of Council which immediately precedes the Conference is short and mainly devoted to the preparation of the Conference. This session is not an exception. We shall meet for only three days. But, as you will have noticed, our agenda is quite heavy and includes a number of important items. In view of the little time at our disposal, it will obviously not be possible for members to speak on each item for as long as they may wish. I would therefore ask you to limit your interventions so that we can complete our business in the short time available.
The documents before you are CL 76/1, Provisional Agenda, which was distributed on the 5th of September together with the invitation, CL 76/1(a)-Rev.1, Provisional Annotated Agenda, distributed last month, and CL 76/INF/l-Rev.l, Provisional Timetable, which was distributed to you this morning. You will note that the Provisional Timetable shows two items under Item 8, Any Other Business: on page 1, Report on Unscheduled Sessions in the 1978-79 biennium and, on the last page, Changes in Representation of Member Countries on the Programme Committee. Both of these sub-items are for information only and are statutory in nature.
Now these documents are open for discussion. Are there any comments? If not, then I take it that members agree with the proposals, and the two documents are adopted.
As I pointed out earlier, our Agenda is quite heavy in relation to the time available and I would like to draw your attention to the document on our method of work which is to the organization of our debates and in particular to the need to avoid repetitive statements. I suggest that we meet daily from 9.00 a.m. to 12.30 and from 14.30 to 17.30 hours. If these hours are agreed upon, I would appeal to you to be punctual and to keep to these hours rigidly so as to avoid night sessions. As you may know, the Friday just before the Conference is usually reserved for meetings of the Nominations Committee of the Conference, and that day is therefore not available to us even if we want to meet.
H. BAEYENS (Belgique): Il y a eu des consultations sur les personnes à élire pour cette Vice-Présidence et, en parlant pour la région européenne, je voudrais proposer deux candidats: Je sais qu'il n'est pas usuel qu'une seule personne propose deux candidats, mais dans l'intérêt de la brièveté des débats c'est peut-être une chose acceptable. Je cite ces candidats par ordre alphabétique.
Le premier candidat Vice-Président sera M. l'Ambassadeur Papageorgiou, représentant permanent de la Grèce, que nous connaissons bien. Je crois que je ne dois pas faire son éloge, ni le présenter. Il est représentant permanent de son pays depuis bientôt cinq ans. Il a rempli de nombreuses fonctions
dans différents organes de la FAO, et nous savons qu'il est très compétent et très dévoué à sa tâche.
Le deuxième candidat Vice-Président est M. Jan Ziska de Tchécoslovaquie. Il est le chef du Département pour les organisations économiques internationales au Ministère fédéral des Affaires étrangères tchèques. Il a une grande expérience comme membre ou chef de délégation dans des enceintes telles que le PNUD, la Commission économique pour l'Europe, la CNUCED, etc. Il a été pendant de longues années membre de la représentation permanente de Tchécoslovaquie auprès des Nations Unies à Genève, et je pense que M. Jan Ziska, qui je crois est nouveau à la FAO, remplira sa fonction de Vice-Président et vous assistera, Monsieur le Président, avec toute la compétence voulue.
CHAIRMAN: It is very useful that you have taken the initiative proposed because that saves time. We now have before us two names, Mr. Papageorgiou, who is very well known to us, as has been mentioned, and Mr. Ziska. Any seconders?
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): La delegación de Colombia se complace en apoyar las dos propuestas que acaban de hacer el distinguido representante de Bélgica.
El Embajador Papageourgiou, de Grecia, es bien conocido por todos nosotros; sobresale por su simpatía personal, y su inteligencia y capacidad lo distinguen.
El Sr. Jan Ziska, de Checoslovaquia, tiene bastante experiencia en reuniones internacionales y es además miembro de la delegación de su país en el CAME, Comité de Ayuda Mutua Económica.
Estoy seguro de que ambos Vicepresidentes serán unos eficaces colaboradores.
C. BATAULT (France): Je voudrais simplement m'associer aux propositions qui ont été faites. Je suis sûr que les deux candidats qui ont été présentés dont l'un est un vieil ami à nous, dont l'autre a une très grande expérience des affaires internationales, rempliront aussi bien que possible leur rôle de Vice-Présidents.
I. MOSCOVITS (Malta): Mr. Papageorgiou is an old friend of ours, we know him very well, and we wish to support wholeheartedly his nomination. We do not know Mr. Ziska yet, but after the intervention of Belgium, we hope that he will be a very useful Vice-Chairman and will help the Chairman in his work.
S.MADEMBASY (Sénégal): Je serai très bref, pour suivre le conseil que vous nous avez donné. Je voudrais dire que la délégation sénégalaise appuie les candidatures proposées et s'associe entièrement aux commentaires qui ont été formulés par les orateurs qui m'ont précédé.
CHAIRMAN: Since I do not see any contrary opinion, Ambassador Papageorgiou and Mr. Ziska have been elected as Vice-chairmen. Now we need a nomination for one more.
P.A. MORALES CARBALLO (Cuba): Permítame tener el honor de presentar la candidatura del señor Carlos Keller Sarmiento, para ocupar la otra Vicepresidencia de nuestro Consejo. El Sr. Keller Sarmiento, Ministro Plenipotenciario de la República de Argentina y Representante Permanente de su país ante la FAO, es un diplomático de larga experiencia a pesar de su juventud. Ha ocupado distintos puestos importantes dentro de la Organización y sus actividades dentro de ella han sido convincentes para todos nosotros. El ha sabido demostrar su gran capacidad y talento en el tiempo que lleva aquí en esta casa. Estamos seguros de que la presencia del señor Keller Sarmiento como Vicepresidente de nuestro Consejo será de gran ayuda para nuestros trabajos y para usted, señor Presidente.
Así que, permítame tener el honor nuevamente de presentar la candidatura del señor Keller Sarmiento como Vicepresidente de este Consejo.
W.A.F. GRABISCH (Germany, Fed. Rep. of): My delegation wholeheartedly supports the nomination just put forward by Cuba of Mr. Keller Sarmiento for the Vice-Chairmanship of this Council Session.
A.F.M. DE FREITAS (Brazil): Brazil would like to associate itself with the references made by Cuba to the nomination of Mr. Keller Sarmiento to the Vice-Chairmanship, and I am pleased to second the invitation of his name to this charge.
CHAIRMAN: We now have proposals and secondings for the appointment of Mr. Keller Sarmiento of Argentina as the Third Vice-Chairman. If there are no contrary views, then Mr. Keller Sarmiento is elected as a Vice-Chairman.
We will now go on to the Drafting Committee Chairman and Members of the Drafting Committee. Any proposals ? Actually, contacts have already been made and agreement reached on the composition of the Drafting Committee within the various groups, and I would like to call on the Secretary General to give the names of the countries that have been agreed to in the consultation.
LE SECRETAIRE GENERAL: Après consultation entre eux, les différents groupes se sont mis d'accord pour proposer au Président la candidature du Chef de la délégation du Mexique, Son Excellence Monsieur Echeverría, à la présidence du Comité de rédaction. Les pays suivants sont également proposés comme membres du Comité de rédaction: le Canada ou les Etats-Unis, l'Australie, la Suède, la France, les Filippines, le Mexique, le Ghana, le Zaîre et le Liban. Les noms des personnes qui occupent ces fonctions seront communiqués ultérieurement.
CHAIRMAN: You have just now heard the proposals for the Chairman and members of the Drafting Committee. The actual names of the Drafting Committee will be supplied later on, but the countries have been agreed upon. If these proposals are agreed, and if there are no contrary views, these will be adopted.
O. BORIN (Président du Comité des questions constitutionnelles.et juridiques): Le Comité des questions Constitutionnelles et Juridiques, dans sa trente-huitième session a examiné deux problèmes:
- l'amendement à l'Article 32 du Règlement général de l'Organisation,
- l'amendement à l'accord portant création d'une Commission régionale de la production de la santé animale pour l'Asie, l'Extrême-Orient et le Pacifique Sud-Ouest.
Pour ce qui concerne les amendements à l'Article 32 du Règlement général de l'Organisation, il faut rappeler que la Conférence, à sa dix-neuvième session, avait examiné les programmes et a invité le Directeur général à examiner les programmes actuels de la FAO pour évaluer leur incidence sur l'état de nutrition des populations pauvres des villes et des campagnes et a proposé des méthodes, sans exclure d'éventuels arrangements au plan de l'Organisation pour faire en sorte que la FAO dans la planification et l'exécution des programmes et projets agricoles donne une place appropriée aux considérations nutritionnelles pertinentes.
Cette question a été examinée succinctement par le Conseil dans sa soixante-quinzième session, et le Conseil a reconnu que l'alimentation et la nutrition devaient figurer régulièrement à l'ordre du jour
du COAC et a conclu que le mandat de ce dernier, défini à l'Article 32 du Règlement général de l'Organisation, devait être modifié de manière à mentionner explicitement la nutrition parmi les domaines de la compétence de ce Comité. Il a décidé de soumettre au Comité des questions constitutionnelles et juridiques les amendements pertinents à l'Article 32. Vous trouverez le projet de résolution, qui doit être approuvé par le Conseil et la Conférence, que nous avons étudié et approuvé. Ce projet de résolution tient compte des observations formulées soit par la Conférence soit par le Conseil. Il appartient maintenant au Conseil de décider s'il approuve le projet de résolution.
CHAIRMAN: We now have proposals for the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Matters dealing with amendments which have been discussed before and which are now in their final form, to go forward to Conference. This subject is open for discussion.
If there are no comments, then the proposals made for amendment by the Committee on Consitutional and Legal Matters are adopted, and will go forward to Conference.
O. BORIN (Président du Comité des questions constitutionnelles et juridiques): Le deuxième point examiné par le Comité des questions constitutionnelles et juridiques est l'amendement à l'accord portant création d'une Commission régionale de la production et de la santé animale pour l'Asie, l'Extrême-Orient et le Pacifique sud-ouest.
Le Comité a noté que la Commission régionale de la production et de la santé animale pour l'Asie, l'Extrême-Orient et le Pacifique sud-ouest a adopté, à sa quatrième session de Manille de septembre 1979, quelques amendements à l'accord par lequel elle a été créée. Ces amendements avaient été proposés par le Directeur général, conformément à l'Article 17.2 de l'accord, et comme l'Article 17 prévoit que tout amendement doit être approuvé par le Conseil de la Conférence, le Directeur général les a soumis au Comité des questions constitutionnelles et juridiques avant de saisir le Conseil.
Il s'agit d'amendements détaillés mais peu importants, se référant surtout à des questions de forme. Ils sont contenus et explicités aux paragraphes 8, 9 du document 76/5. Pour accélérer les travaux du Conseil je n'estime pas utile et nécessaire de les répéter en détail puisqu'ils sont clairs; nous avons tout de même établi un projet de résolution qui prend note de ces amendements, projets que nous soumettons à l'approbation du Conseil.
CHAIRMAN: We have before us proposals for amendment which have been requested by one of our regions and which the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Matters has gone through carefully and has made recommendations for the resolution on page 4.
P. MASUD (Pakistan): I was wondering if the name of this Animal Production and Health Commission for Asia, the Far-East and South-West Pacific should not coincide with the new name of the Commission. I would like to know from the Legal Adviser whether this should be so or not.
LEGAL COUNSEL: The changing of name of the Regional Office and the Regional Conference has been discussed by the Council, but is due to come up as a sub-item, before the Conference. Therefore, until the Conference has taken a decision it would be somewhat premature to change the names of the regional bodies established under Article VI or Article XIV of the Constitution. Certainly, the matter will be kept under review, but I assume that the initiative for changing the name, which would constitute an amendment of the agreement itself, will probably be taken in due course by the countries that are members of the Commission.
CHAIRMAN: Has the delegate of Pakistan taken note? Thank you. Are there any other comments? If there are none, then the recommendation of the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Matters for the amendment of the sections on Regional Animal Production and Health Commission for Asia, the Far East and the South West Pacific are adopted by Council.
O. BORIN (President du Comité des Questions Constitutionnelles et Juridiques): Ceci termine le rapport du Comité des Questions Constitutionnelles et Juridiques sur des questions qui auraient dû obtenir l'approbation du Conseil.
O. BORIN (Président du Comité des Questions Constitutionnelles et Juridiques): Les autres questions constitutionnelles et juridiques, c'est-à-dire notamment l'invitation des Etats non-membres à des réunions de la FAO, document CL 76 LIM 2 (qui n'a d'ailleurs pas encore été distribué) et invitation d'organisations internationales non gouvernementales n'ayant pas de statut officiel auprès de la FAO, sont pour information du Conseil et non pour décision.
CHAIRMAN: I have just heard that on the item that follows, Item 17, which deals with the invitations to non-Member Nations and International Non-Governmental Organizations, these are for the information of Council. I did mention at the beginning that we have two applications, which will be forwarded to Conference. If there are no comments, these items are noted and will be forwarded to Conference.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): La delegación de Colombia piensa que sobre este tema, que es para información, el Consejo podría decir que tomó nota de las informaciones que se le han comunicado en el documento CL 76/11, y que se complace, que según aparece en el párrafo 4, el saldo neto de las reuniones canceladas en el bienio que va a terminar sean de 37, puesto, que se suprimieron 58 y se organizaron 21 nuevas reuniones. Podríamos agregar que el Consejo reitera su apoyo a este aspecto de la cancelación de reuniones que no contribuyan a la mejor ejecución del Programa, y que corresponde a uno de los puntos básicos de la política del Director General cuando asumió la dirección de esta Casa.
La delegación de Colombia desearía solicitar información sobre tres reuniones que fueron canceladas. Nos mueve a ello un poco la curiosidad, ya que estas tres reuniones se refieren al área de América Latina y en cada una de ellas se argumenta una razón aparentemente simplista, como es la de cancelada a petición del Gobierno hospedante. Las reuniones suprimidas se encuentran en la parte II. La primera de ellas es la AGL 962: "Cursillo sobre la Administración del Programa de Fertilizantes en América Latina" dice: "Cancelada a petición del Gobierno hospedante".
Otra reunión es la AGP 952: "Curso de capacitación en lucha integrada contra las plagas en América del Sur". La razón de la cancelación es siempre la misma.
Finalmente, en la CX 725-2: "Comité Coordinador para América Latina" (segunda reunión), se dan las mismas razones para su suspensión.
Esta coincidencia nos mueve a preguntar si en estos tres casos se trata siempre del mismo Gobierno hospedante, porque si es así estaríamos en presencia de un Gobierno hospedante que se opone a que se celebren las reuniones previamente acordadas. Además, consideramos, que tal vez la razón de que una reunión se suprima por las medidas que tome el Gobierno hospedante, no debería ser suficiente, puesto que esa decisión unilateral del Gobierno hospedante afecta los intereses y las aspiraciones de otros Gobiernos interesados en esas reuniones.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Delegate of Colombia. Are there any more comments before I ask the Secretariat to reply to the points raised by the delegate of Colombia? If there are no more comments, then I will call on Mr. West to reply to the questions raised by the delegate of Colombia.
E.M. WEST (Director (ADG), Office of Programme, Budget and Evaluation): I am afraid that. I do not have the information available on which countries are those concerned in these comments. Normally a statement like this is not necessarily an indication of any particular difficulty other than logistic problems. I do agree with the delegate of Colombia that when FAO/organizes a meeting it is an FAO meeting, and other governments are interested; but normally when meetings are not held at the request of those governments, it is because it has proved logistically difficult for them to arrange the session and it is not possible in the time available to arrange it elsewhere. Now my colleagues have been checking up on which countries were involved in these meetings, and it results that the three meetings concerned two governments, one government was concerned with two meetings and another government with the third meeting. One of the meetings was a CODEX meeting for which the Government would have been expected to provide facilities at its own cost. In the case of the second meeting there was a problem of elections occurring and at the government's request the meeting was postponed. In the third case it was, as I said, logistic difficulties at the time proposed. I have deliberately not identified the governments; that is not usual in this document. I would want to have the permission of the two governments concerned before giving their names, because one would not wish to cause them any difficulty or embarrassment. So I hope that the delegate of Colombia will leave it at that. I will ask the two governments concerned, if he wishes, if they are agreed to his being informed which they are. He would not have very far to go in order to meet them.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Mr. West. If the delegate of Colombia is satisfied, we will go on.
The meeting was suspended from 11.05 to 11.25 hours
La séance est suspendue de 11 h 05 à 11 h 25
Se suspende la sesión de las 11.05 a 11.25 horas
J.D.M. HENDERSON (FAO Staff): The members of the Council will remember that this same subject "Recent Developments in the United Nations System of Interest to FAO" was on your agenda at the 75th Session held in June of this year. The report of the discussions which took place in the Council at that time are in the report of the Council CL 75-Rep. The document which was submitted to the Council on that occasion is the same document that the Chairman has just referred to, C 79/31, which is now going to the Conference.
It had been intended that a brief presentation should be made of major developments since last June. In fact the only major development is the United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development which was held in Vienna in August of this year. Arrangements for follow-up of the Conference are still being discussed, indeed, they were still being discussed last week in New York at the Administrative Committee on Coordination. This Committee only finished last Thursday. In the circumstances it will only be possible to make an oral presentation but it would not be suitable to debate this subject on the basis of such an oral presentation. A document is therefore being prepared for the Conference and it is suggested that members may wish to postpone full discussion of this item until the item comes up in the Conference.
CHAIRMAN: The item is now open.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Como lo anoto el funcionario de la Secretaría que presentó el tema, y el documento así lo indica, ya nos ocupamos del mismo en la sesión pasada del Consejo. Yo creo que ya que este asunto aparece en nuestra Agenda, aunque a él nos vayamos a referir a fondo en la Conferencia, convendría decir que el Consejo estimula la participación activa y eficaz del Director General de la FAO en los preparativos para la estrategia para la tercera década del desarrollo; que el Consejo celebra complacido que el Comité Plenario de las Naciones Unidas esté concediendo importancia fundamental a los problemas de la agricultura; y que también la propia Asamblea General en su resolución, cuya parte se cita en el párrafo 5, apartado 3, hay conceptos importantes sobre el significado de la agricultura y sus problemas en el Decenio que afrontaremos dentro de poco.
Hay en este documento dos o tres afirmaciones que atraen nuestra atención. La primera de ellas es el párrafo 4, al final de la segunda frase, que dice que aunque no se consiguieron los resultados previstos en la estrategia para el segundo decenio, algunos asuntos son aún pertinentes. Nosotros creíamos que dada la realidad de los hechos, los asuntos que van a quedar pendientes en el Segundo Decenio no son pertinentes, sino que no se cumplieron, que siguen sin solución.
En el párrafo 7 también vale la pena anotar que se ha pedido a los órganos rectores de los organismos de las Naciones Unidas que hagan una especie de evaluación de lo que ha sucedido en cada uno de estos organismos en relación con el cumplimiento de los objetivos del Orden Económico Internacional.
Se habla de los progresos realizados en el establecimiento de ese Nuevo Orden, y que indiquen los obstáculos que impiden dicho establecimiento. Nosotros, con base en la reciente experiencia, sobre todo en la reunión del Comité de Problemas de Productos Básicos, podíamos afirmar hoy, como delegación de Colombia, que, no obstante la acción dinámica y pertinente que en esta casa se realiza en favor de los objetivos del Nuevo Orden Económico Internacional, los resultados han sido muy escasos; y como causa para señalar esos resultados escasos nosotros diríamos que es la carencia de voluntad política de los representantes de los países desarrollados. Esta afirmación que hacemos es sólo interina, porque espe-ramos que desde esta reunión del Consejo hasta la Conferencia cambie esa actitud conservadora y negativa de los representantes de los países desarrollados, que viene preocupando al Gobierno de Colombia.
Finalmente, creo que el Consejo debe apoyar al Director General en su participación directa en todas las labores que conduzcan a la concepción de la estrategia para el tercer decenio y, asimismo, en la presentación de documentos que, como dice el párrafo 12, viene haciendo el Director General.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you, delegate of Colombia. I would like to call the attention of members to the fact that we have already exhaustively discussed this item in our last session. In fact if you turn over the page you will see the Council document going on to Conference. The only reason I gave the floor to Mr. Henderson was to mention any new developments, and he has mentioned the United Nations Conference on Science and Technology. Therefore I appeal to the delegate of Colombia and to other delegates not to take us back. All the points made by the delegate of Colombia can be made in Commission I, or wherever this item is going to be discussed. Are there any more comments? Then this item is noted and we go on to the next item.
D. F.R. BOMMER (Assistant Director-General Agriculture Department) You have before you the Progress Report on the Prevention of Food Losses Document CL 76/12. The progress reported in the document covers the period from the Programme's inception in January 1978 to July 1979.
An up-dating of some of the information contained in the Progress Report may be of interest to the members of the Council.
As of today's date the total number of requests received stands at 91, and project requests approved are 47. The financing required to cover the 45 projects still under formulation is expected to be in the region of US$10 million which far exceeds resources at present available. If we want to make an appreciable impact in assisting developing countries in the prevention of their food losses, as recommended in the resolution No.3362 adopted by the Seventh Special Session of the UN General Assembly, an assured level of funding is absolutely essential. The PFL Programme as it was approved by the Nineteenth Session of the FAO Conference can only show the way how national programmes can be developed and present basic information on the basis of which Governments will be able to obtain the necessary large-scale financing.
The Programme and Finance Committees have reviewed the progress of the PFL Action Programme in their recent October meetings and while the Programme Committee commended the satisfactory implementation of the Programme, it expressed concern over the fact that the requests for assistance by member countries exceeded considerably the availability of resources to provide the needed assistance. Also, the Finance Committee in reviewing the progress of the work stressed the importance of reaching the target of the Special Account of 20 million dollars by December 1979, and urged that every effort should be made to replenish the Special Account as necessary with voluntary contributions of at least 20 million dollars per biennium.
At present there are projects operational under the PFL programme in more than 40 countries, while we have projects under preparation for another 22 countries. More requests for assistance continue to reach the Director-General.
Results obtained by the Programme so far, are encouraging and more efforts are being made to cooperate to the fullest extent with multi- and bilateral agencies in providing assistance to member governments.
At the time when we planned this Programme, it was anticipated that the lack of trained and experienced manpower both nationally and internationally would be a major constraint to the implementation. We have therefore made substantial efforts to identify and locate suitably trained and experienced staff for the implementation. I am happy to report to you that we are reasonably satisfied with the results obtained so far. Several suitably trained and experienced candidates for expert posts have been identified recently, a large proportion from developing countries. We shall need however to continue our efforts as the Programme's activities expand and the demand for trained staff increases. We are also utilizing the experience of national institutions in the execution of our field projects.
It is still too early to report in any detail on results achieved; the first country projects began to operate around the middle of 1978 and, with an average duration of two years, results from these projects will not be available before the middle of next year.
We hope we shall be able to report at that time on the measure of success achieved in assisting Member Governments in the development of large-scale national programmes for which, we hope, multi and/or bilateral agencies will make available the necessary financing.
CHAIRMAN: The item is now open for discussion.
J. GODIN (Colombia): El documento CL 76/12 indica que los gobiernos han aceptado con satisfacción el programa de acción para la prevención de las pérdidas de alimentos. En efecto, lo demuestra así el número de proyectos aprobados y solicitados.
Encontramos muy bien que además de los proyectos financiados con. fondos del Programa, otros proyectos hayan sido aprobados para presentarlos a la consideración de los donantes de fondos fiduciarios. Esta práctica deberá continuarse para ampliar los beneficios del programa más allá de sus propios recursos.
La delegación de Colombia desea solicitar algunas aclaraciones sobre la situación de la Cuenta Especial. En el párrafo 2 del documento CL 76/12 se afirma que cinco Estados Miembros retiraron dinero de la Cuenta Transitoria, y tres de estos Estados Miembros hicieron promesas. Nosotros nos preguntamos: ¿los otros dos Estados qué actitud han asumido? ¿Cuáles fueron los Estados que no cumplieron el pacto cuando taxativamente se habían comprometido a que el retiro de la Cuenta Transitoria acumulada, si mal no recordamos, por diferencia favorable de cambio, sería solamente simbólico?.
Pensamos que sería conveniente explicar al Consejo esta situación por parte de la Secretaría suministrando los nombres de los cinco Estados que retiraron de la Cuenta Transitoria la suma, y de los tres Estados que hicieron promesas, así como informar si estas promesas se han cumplido.
La Delegación de Colombia apoya la principal recomendación de los Comités del Programa y de Finanzas sobre este tema. El Consejo debe hacer una nueva llamada para que se alcance la meta original de 20 millones de dólares y los países donantes deberían hacer esfuerzos para que el programa contara en cada bienio con, por lo menos, los mismos 20 millones de dólares, que deberán ser repuestos en cada período.
E.M. WEST (Director (ADG), Office of Programme, Budget and Evaluation): In the event there was only one government which did not make a contribution either directly into the Special Account or subsequently through a voluntary contribution. I think that is the only specific point that required an answer.
CHAIRMAN: I hope the delegate of Colombia is satisfied. That concludes this item unless there are any more comments.
The next item is quite complex. I suggest that we adjourn now to give time for members and the secretariat and the Finance and Programme Committees to sort out their thoughts and we will take this item first thing in the afternoon.
SECRETAIRE GENERAL: Je voudrais attirer l'attention du Conseil sur un troisième sous-point figurant au point d'ordre du jour qui a été approuvé maintenant, ainsi que sur le calendrier provisoire qui est contenu dans le document CL 76/l(a)-Rev.1 distribué également ce matin, en ce qui concerne en particulier les amendements qui ont été apportés à l'organisation de la vingtième session de la Conférence, c'est-à-dire des changements au calendrier des premiers jours de la Conférence, en particulier du lundi 12 et mardi 13 novembre.
Il s'agit en effet de tenir compte de la visite au Siège de l'Organisation de Sa Sainteté le Pape Jean-Paul II qui, sur l'invitation du Directeur général, s'adressera à la Plénière le lundi matin à 10 h 30 ou 10 h 45. S.E. le Président de la Zambie également, Monsieur Kenneth Kaunda, qui sera le onzième Conférencier MacDougall, a très aimablement accepté de faire cette conférence l'après midi du lundi. Les autres changements découlent de ces deux événements, et en particulier la déclaration du Directeur général qui est maintenant prévue pour le mardi matin au lieu du lundi comme initialement envisagé à la suite de la remise des prix B.R. Sen et A.H. Boerma.
Le débat général proprement dit débutera donc mardi après-midi, ce qui veut dire que ceux qui étaient inscrits sur la liste pour le mardi matin ne pourront parler que le mardi après midi. Nous avons donc envisagé une séance de nuit pour permettre aux orateurs inscrits pour 1'après midi de pouvoir faire leur declarations dans cette séance de nuit. Ainsi, comme certains parmi eux ont manifesté leur intention de quitter Rome le lendemain ils seront en position de le faire. Le calendrier révisé de la Conférence figure au document 79/12 Rev.l qui sera distribué très bientôt.
J'ai tenu à vous mettre au courant de ces changements envisagés qui sont contenus dans les documents que vous aurez sous les yeux.
CHAIRMAN: I think we will come back to this when we have actually got the document in our hands, because it is going to affect some of the proposals which we approved to forward to Conference, so we will come back to this. I hope now you took note of what Mr. Sylla has told us.
The meeting rose at 11.45 hours.
La séance est levée à 11 h 45.
Se levanta la sesión a las 11.45 horas.
