J. TCHICAYA (Congo) : M. le Président, hier, notre séance de l'après-midi s'est prolongée au-delà de 17 h 30, et ensuite nous avons voulu, au niveau du groupe africain, nous retrouver pour discuter des candidatures au CPA. Le temps ne nous a donc pas permis de pouvoir remettre les candidatures retenues par le groupe africain au niveau du CPA à l'heure dite.
Donc, compte tenu de l'accord qu'il y a eu au niveau du groupe africain, celui-ci m'a chargé de vous donner l'information suivante : le Lesotho n'est plus candidat, et la candidature retenue par le groupe africain est la Zambie à la place du Lesotho.
En conséquence, pour les deux postes qui étaient à pourvoir, ceux de l'Egypte et de la Sierra Leone dont les mandats touchent à leur fin, le groupe africain propose la Zambie et le Nigeria.
CHAIRMAN: Council members have just heard the representative of the Congo who mentioned that he is speaking on behalf of the African Group and that the African Group after further consultation has decided to nominate Zambia and Nigeria in the place of Egypt and Lesotho mentioned in the list here. I would like to know the wish of the Council. Shall we accept this recommendation of the African Group as voiced by Congo? I hear no voice of dissent or anyone wanting to speak. Therefore, I take it that the Council agrees with the proposal made by Congo, namely that if you take the Order of the Day, on the list now we will have the following countries: Cuba, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Zambia, Nigeria; that will be five countries against five vacancies. Thank you very much, so we accept this proposal from Congo on behalf of the African Group and we place Zambia and Nigeria in the place of Egypt and Lesotho. That means there are five nominations for five vacancies.
CHAIRMAN: I now give the floor to Mr. Régnier, Director of the Office for Inter-Agency Affairs, to introduce this item on the agenda.
A. REGNIER (Director, Office for Inter-Agency Affairs): The basic document before the Council for discussion of this item is CL 82/17 which was drafted during the summer. It is supplemented by CL 82/17-Sup.1, which gives the results of two major United Nations conferences which took place in August, the Second United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and the World Assembly on Aging.
You will also note that the Programme Committee reviewed interagency affairs at its forty-third session in September and was in general satisfied with FAO's interagency activities (see CL 82/11, paragraphs 1.20 to 1.24).
There is little that I need to add to the material contained in these documents, so all I shall do is to bring you up-to-date in a few areas in which there have been more recent developments.
I will, of course, refrain from referring to subjects which, while of system-wide interest, are reported upon in other Council documents or will be introduced under other agenda items.
First, the question of the Global Negotiations. There has really been very little progress unfortunately since the Versailles Summit when Heads of State and Governments of western industrialized countries recognised that the launching of Global Negotiations was a major political objective and that the draft resolution submitted by the Group of 77 was constructive and could serve as a basis for discussion.
In New York, during the present session of the General Assembly, we understand that informal consultations are envisaged, but it is too early to state whether they will actually take place and, if so, whether they will be successful.
These delays are all the more unfortunate in that, meanwhile, the economic recession deepens, the situation of the developing countries worsens and the United Nations system is undergoing a very severe resource crisis.
Evidence of this is the fact that the UNDP is now compelled to plan for no more than 55 percent IPF (indicative planning figures) utilization for the cycle as against an estimate of 60 percent a few months ago, when we prepared the document under review.
Further evidence of this resource crisis is to be found in the disappointing results of the recent United Nations Pledging Conference for development activities; the pledges decreased even in nominal terms over the 1982 contributions.
This resource problem gives cause for concern, as the Director-General pointed out in his statement on Monday. In fact, during a recent ACC meeting in New York, early this month the Executive Heads considered once again the deteriorating situation facing all the organizations of the United Nations system resulting from the declining level of concessional resources available in real terms for international technical cooperation and other operational activities. They decided to assess the situation periodically and requested one of the subsidiary bodies of ACC to help in this exercise. The subsidiary body to which I refer is the Consultative Committee on Substantive Questions (Operational Activities) and you may be interested to know that ACC has decided to appoint our Deputy Director-General, Mr. E.M. West, as Chairman of this body for a term of one year.
I shall not speak at length on the subject of rural development since there is a separate item on the agenda (item 10) on the follow-up of the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. I would simply like to say that the programme of work of the ACC Task Force on Rural Development to which paragraphs 33-36 refer is progressively being implemented and I shall give a few examples of action taken in 1982 in the three priority areas mentioned in paragraph 33.
As regards joint action at country and regional levels the major developments were the despatch of interagency missions to Ethiopia and Somalia. Further missions are already contemplated for Lesotho (December this year) and Mozambique (in the first quarter of 1983). The purpose of these missions is to assist countries in the formulation and analysis of agrarian reform and rural development policies.
FAO is monitoring through regular contacts with FAO Representatives the establishment of national coordinating mechanisms and United Nations working committees for rural development at the national level.
Another example as regards the second priority area (people's participation in rural development) is that a series of reports and studies has been prepared by FAO and other agencies, in particular the ILO, analysing obstacles and constraints to people's participation. These documents will be considered by the second session of the Panel on People's Participation which will take place in Geneva in mid-December.
As far as monitoring and evaluation is concerned, one of the main developments was the convening of regional meetings in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Near East to review the results of studies on socio-economic indicators to assist countries in assessing the alleviation of rural poverty.
The programme of work of the Task Force included the preparation of a newsletter on the work of the Task Force. I am happy to say the first issue of this newsletter is about to be released.
The Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference for the Promotion of International Co-operation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, 1983, held its third session in Vienna at the end of October and the beginning of November. FAO was represented. The discussion turned mostly on the draft provisional agenda for the Conference. This is to be put into final form by the General Assembly, but it seems likely that the agenda will include an item on "nuclear applications in food and agriculture" and FAO has stated its readiness to provide background information for the Conference.
I would now turn to the follow-up of the United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries held in Paris in 1981. This is an important matter to which I would draw the particular attention of members.
In the last few months, two meetings have taken place, at the global level, as part of the follow-up to the Conference; FAO was represented at both meetings. In May 1982 a first interagency consultation on the follow-up to the Substantive New Programme of Action for the 1980s for the Least Developed Countries was organized in Geneva. In October 1982, a meeting of multilateral and bilateral financial and technical assistance institutions with representatives of the Least Developed Countries took place in Geneva. Its main purpose was to review the economic situation of the Least Developed Countries and their assistance requirements and also to review aid modalities and the coordination of assistance programmes.
Another development has been the designation by the governments concerned of officers to act as focal points for the follow-up of the Conference. In addition preparations are being made for roundtables to be convened by UNDP, and aid groups to be convened by the World Bank,as lead agencies. Although these meetings are essentially the responsibility of the governments concerned, the United Nations system is to assist in the discharge of this responsibility. The main goal of the meetings is to secure an increase in the financial and technical assistance resources available. A few roundtable and aid group meetings have already been taking place although most of these meetings will be held in 1983.
FAO has recently drawn the attention of UNDP to the importance of food and agriculture for the Least Developed Countries and has offered to make contributions to the roundtable meetings. The attention of all FAO Representatives in the countries concerned has been drawn to these meetings.
It should be added that the present General Assembly has decided to add five countries to the list of Least Developed Countries, thus bringing the total to 36. The countries are: Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone and Togo.
As far as the follow-up to the United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development is concerned, FAO participated in October in a second round of meetings of the Working Groups set up by the ACC Task Force. Twenty-eight draft project proposals for possible joint activities were elaborated on that occasion.
A third round of meetings of the Working Groups is currently taking place. These are expected to finalize all the proposals for submission to the ACC Task Force and thereafter to the Fifth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Science and Technology for Development.
While FAO could in principle be interested in a number of these joint activities, we must however add that so far no decision has been taken by the Member States of the United Nations as to long-term financial arrangements for the Financing System. Therefore it remains to be seen where the additional financing required for these joint activities is to come from.
Before concluding, I should like to say a few words on two subjects of interest to FAO, not reported elsewhere.
Firstly, on the FAO World Conference on Fisheries Management and Development, which, as you know, will take place in 1984, I should say that the Director-General, at the recent ACC meeting, informed the members of ACC about this Conference and sought their collaboration in the preparations and follow-up of the Conference. ACC pledged its full support to FAO.
Secondly, I should like to say a few words about "Development Support Communication" which is the use of modern communications media in developing countries in support of development efforts. I mention this subject now because ACC, earlier this month, adopted a statement on Development Support Communication, based on a document prepared by one of its subsidiary bodies, the Joint United Nations Information Committee, known as JUNIC. In view of the Information Division's active programme on Development Support Communication, FAO played a key role in the preparation of this document.
The purpose of the document and of the ACC statement is to draw attention to the importance and potential of communication activities in the often forgotten but vital human aspects of the development process. In particular, they highlighted the role of communication media in informing, motivating and training people, especially in rural areas in developing countries.
The statement included information on how the United Nations system can assist governments of developing countries in development support communication planning, services and activities. This statement is, of course, intended for wide distribution.
With these few words of introduction, I submit for your consideration document CL 82/17 and Sup.1 and am, of course, ready to provide further information should you so wish.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for highlighting some of the important points mentioned in this document. We are also very happy to learn that Mr. West has been elected for the coming year as Chairman of the Consultative Committee for Substantive Questions, particularly with reference to operational activities. I am sure with his analytical and pursuasive skills, Mr. West will be able to handle all substantive questions of an organizational nature and bring them to a satisfactory conclusion.
I now open the floor for the discussion of this item.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Nuestro antiguo colega y amigo siempre, André Régnier, como en todas las ocasiones, ha sido lucido y brillante en su presentación que facilita nuestra intervención. Comenzamos con dos observaciones sobre el documento CL 82/17; una marginal y otra de fondo.
La primera se refiere al hecho de que en la versión española, en el documento CL 82/17, sólo aparece un apéndice, el apéndice C de los siete apéndices que en cambio encontramos en el texto inglés. Sa-bemos que esto se debe a un descuido tipográfico, pero pediríamos a la Secretaría que complemente el documento, porque así, en un solo volumen, los delegados de habla española tendríamos textos de Resoluciones de Naciones Unidas y de Recomendaciones del Consejo Mundial que nos son útiles en la conside-ración de estos asuntos.
La segunda observación sobre el documento se debe a que nos ha parecido, a lo mejor estamos equivocados, que no hay en este documento ninguna referencia al FIDA, al Fondo Internacional de Desarrollo Agrícola. El FIDA, como todos sabemos, es una Agencia de las Naciones Unidas y eso es lo que estamos estudiando, y sin duda, la primera reposición de fondos del FIDA es un acontecimiento que interesa muchísimo a la labor de la FAO. Se trata nada menos que de la financiación, tan necesaria ahora cuando siguen escaseando los recursos, particularmente en el PNUD, que ha sido la mayor fuente de financiación de las actividades de campo de la FAO.
Y ya que hablo del FIDA quisiera, señor Presidente, reiterar aquí una solicitud que fue hecha en septiembre pasado en la Conferencia Regional de Latinoamérica y el Caribe, por cierto que fue una buena Conferencia, que es otro acontecimiento que debe satisfacernos. Decía que en esa Conferencia celebrada en Managua (Nicaragua), los países de América Latina y del Caribe hicimos una solicitud particularmente a los representantes de la Categoría Una del FIDA en el sentido de que, ojalá apenas le sea posible y cuanto antes, ratifiquen los instrumentos que haga operativa, que haga efectiva la reposición de fondos. Reiteramos esta recomendación aquí, porque sabemos que hay muchos proyectos ya aprobados en el FIDA, cuyos desembolsos no se han iniciado porque faltan esas ratificaciones. Comprendemos los obstáculos, las dificultades que tienen algunos países, sobre todo la Categoría Una, para cumplir con este requisito; pero consideramos es sumamente importante.
La delegación de Colombia ha pensado siempre que al entrar en la discusión de este tema nuestras palabras deben limitarse en concentrarse esencialmente en aquellos asuntos que suceden en el contexto general de las Naciones Unidas, pero que tienen repercusión sobre los trabajos de la FAO. A ese respecto permítanos usted, señor Presidente, y distinguidos colegas, que hagamos una declaración política porque siempre hemos creído que éste es un tema eminentemente político, al afirmar que el Gobierno de Colombia se siente verdaderamente orgulloso de admirar la posición destacada que la FAO ocupa en ese concierto general de las Naciones Unidas. El día inaugural de nuestras sesiones usted, señor Presidente, en forma tímida y sencilla, tal vez por ser su propio compatriota, habló aquí de la presencia entre nosotros del Sr. B.R. Sen. Yo quiero decir que sin duda el Dr. B.R. Sen, bajo cuya dirección inicié mi vinculación a la FAO hace ya casi 25 años, cuando seguramente muchos de los colegas que hoy están aquí ni siquiera habían nacido, quería decir que el Dr. Sen fue sin duda uno de los primeros Directores Generales de la FAO que contribuyó a que nuestra Organización adquiriera esa posición de prestigio y credibilidad en el contexto general de las Naciones Unidas. Sé que el Dr. Sen es un hombre modesto y sencillo que no acepta ni siquiera que se le elogie en público, pero si él lo aceptare, podríamos incluir en nuestro Informe un párrafo breve manifestando la satisfacción que nos causa el hecho de que haya estado presente en esta reunión del Consejo, aunque en forma discreta y no oficial. El Dr. Sen es un gran estadista, una gran figura de la India a quien tanto debe esta Organización. Los Directores Generales anteriores al Dr. Sen y sucesores, también, obviamente, han contribuido al fortalecimiento de nuestra Organización, pero sin duda en los últimos años hay que destacar, y lo quiere hacer así la delegación de Colombia, la labor inteligente, eficaz y competente que ha llevado a cabo nuestro actual Director General el Dr. E. Saouma.
La delegación de Colombia quiere sumarse a la manifestación que usted ha hecho en relación con la complacencia que nos causa el hecho de que nuestro compañero y amigo Sr. West haya sido designado para el próximo año Presidente de ese importante Comité en las Naciones Unidas. Al Sr. West también me unen vínculos de vieja data cuando ambos éramos representantes del Reino Unido y de Colombia en el Consejo y luego los dos pertenecimos al Comité del Programa y, por lo tanto, yo estoy en capacidad de testimoniar lo que usted ha dicho, señor Presidente, sobre las capacidades, la consagración y la voluntad de trabajo que caracterizan al Sr. West.
Al entrar ya en el documento mismo, Sr. Presidente, queremos en primer lugar referirnos a las Negociaciones Globales que todos seguimos con atención por la importancia que ella significa para los países en desarrollo en particular. Creemos que es lamentable y así deberíamos consignarlo en nuestro informe, que se siga esperando el inicio de esas negociaciones que, ojalá, por fin se cumpla ese inicio a fines de este año como parece estar previsto. No obstante, nos desalienta la información que nos acaba de comunicar el Sr. Régnier de que se han hecho muy pocos progresos; pero parece que en realidad en el mundo se celebran demasiadas cumbres Norte-Sur, Norte-Norte y que de todas esas cumbres se desgajan multitud de declaraciones, pero se cumplen muy pocos hechos positivos.
Nos preocupa el hecho también soslayado marginalmente por el Sr. Regnier de que se esgrima el argumento de que debe esperarse que la economía mundial se normalice para mantener en suspensión indefinida el inicio de esas negociaciones globales. De todas maneras creo que en cuanto a la FAO misma,
a nosotrosnos corresponde reiterar el apoyo del Consejo a la actitud del Director General de la FAO quien, en cumplimiento de claras instrucciones de la Conferencia, ha ofrecido la colaboración de nuestra Organización a la preparación y prestación de servicios a esas Negociaciones Globales; y es-toy seguro de que todos queremos que el Director General siga actuando en esa buena dirección.
Igualmente deberemos destacar en nuestro Informe la acción positiva del Grupo de los 77 de Nueva York, con el cual el Grupo de los 77 de Roma es plenamente solidario, y ese Grupo 77 ha elaborado un pro-yecto de resolución que ha sido considerado constructivo por importantes países desarrollados y que podrá servir de base para las consultas con los países interesados, como figura en el párrafo 8 del documento 17.
En el párrafo 10 se hace referencia a la iniciativa italiana en virtud de la cual tuvo lugar en abril pasado, en esta ciudad, la llamada Reunión de Roma para la Lucha contra el Hambre en el Mundo. Fue una reunión técnica, preparatoria de una reunión ministerial que se reuniría en otoño de este año y que no hemos tenido más noticias sobre ella, pero que imaginamos habrá surgido algún inconveniente que haya hecho aplazar la reunión, pero queremos consignar la esperanza de que, ojalá, se trate sólo de un aplazamiento y no de una eliminación, ya que el Gobierno de Colombia comparte el aprecio positivo que merece la República italiana por su contribución verdaderamente eficaz a las actividades en favor del mejoramiento de la agricultura y de la alimentación, Hemos sabido, con motivo de la reciente visita a Roma de altas personalidades de los Gobiernos de la zona del Sahel, que el Gobierno ita-liano siempre en contacto con el Director General de la FAO, ha dado una vez más muestras positivas y concretas de su voluntad de ayuda a esos países, lo cual debe complacer a toda la comunidad internacional. En relación con las "Actividades Operacionales para el Desarrollo", que es uno de los puntos que esencialmente interesan a la FAO, la delegación de Colombia opina que será necesario consig-nar en nuestro Informe la preocupación por el hecho de que las contribuciones voluntarias para las actividades de desarrollo, hayan sido inferiores a los objetivos fijados.
Asimismo debemos insistir, y esto lo consideramos muy importante, en que se requiere un aumento sustancial en los recursos para actividades operacionales sobre una base previsible continua y segura, continua y segura, repito; sólo así la FAO como principal organismo de ejecución podrá cumplir programas completos y eficaces en los países beneficiarios. Creo que debemos dejar constancia en nuestro Informe de los perjuicios que vienen causando a los planes nacionales de desarrollo en nuestros países los recortes y limitaciones que en los últimos años se vienen introduciendo en proyectos que ya habían sido aprobados.
Acerca de los párrafos 20 y 23 en cuanto corresponde siempre a la FAO, el Consejo deberá destacar y seguir apoyando las acciones efectivas y crecientes que viene realizando nuestro Director General en cuanto a la mayor utilización de la capacidad de los países en desarrollo en la adquisición de mate riales y equipos, en el empleo de contratistas locales y en la contratación de personal nacional.
Igualmente reconoceremos al Director General la correcta aplicación en la FAO de la Resolución 35/81 sobre más asignación para el desarrollo y la aplicación de diversas y positivas medidas para obtener la máxima eficacia en la ejecución de los programas en los países.
Creo, señor Presidente, que hay un general consenso en que ahora los programas de la FAO en los países se llevan a cabo de manera mucho más eficaz y más positiva, pero es una lástima que esos esfuerzos de la FAO por lograr mejores y más efectivos resultados en el Programa de Campo, se vean afectados por las tendencias confirmadas por el Sr. Regnier en su declaración por la tendencia, repetimos, a disminuir los fondos del PNUD, principal fuente de financiación de sus actividades.
En efecto los párrafos 28 y 29 del documento 17 señalan los desalentadores resultados de las dos últimas conferencias de promesas, resultados que están muy lejos de corresponder a la hipótesis de que la contribución voluntaria aumentaría en un 14 por ciento anual. Cuando leímos el documento número 17 nos alarmó la reducción del 40 por ciento que debería aplicarse en la cifra indicativa de planificación. Esta mañana el Sr. Regnier nos ha dicho que no se trata del 40, sino del 45 por ciento, hecho que en cuanto a la FAO corresponde a la parte que nuestra Organización va a reducir casi a 50 por ciento lo que ya fue en el segundo ciclo, es decir vamos muchísimo más atrás, sobre todo si pensamos en términos reales.
Creemos que es necesario que en nuestro Informe destaquemos esas circuntancias, lamentables que ocurren en el PNUD que afecta el trabajo de campo en la FAO y causa enormes perjuicios a los países en desarrollo.
En medio de todo eso, por fin, un hecho positivo lo representa la aprobación de la Convención sobre el Derecho del Mar, lograda después de 12 años de intensos trabajos, en la Tercera Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Derecho del Mar que se celebró en abril pasado.
El nuevo régimen del mar reconoce y desarrolla para los fondos marinos más allá de la jurisdicción nacional un principio que ya había sido formulado hace 150 años por ese gran latinoamericano que fue Andrés Bello, según el cual hay bienes que pueden permanecer en común para servir a todos y pertenecen al patrimonio indivisible de la especie humana que no pueden marcarse con el sello de la propiedad. Ese es el caso del mar, señor Presidente.
La delegación de Colombia piensa que las nuevas oportunidades que ofrece este campo deben ser estimuladas por la FAO en favor de los países en desarrollo; por lo tanto, será necesario reiterar nuestro apoyo al Programa Especial de Ayuda en la Ordenación y Fomento de la Pesca en zonas económicas exclusivas, programa ya establecido con admirable visión futurista por el Director General de la FAO desde 1979.
La FAO debe insistir e intensificar su asistencia a los países en desarrollo para que estos puedan aplicar de la mejor y más eficaz manera aquellas partes de la Convención de las Naciones Unidas sobre el Derecho del Mar que se relacionen con la pesca.
Otra ocasión importante sobre estos aspectos será la Conferencia Mundial sobre Ordenación y Desatrollo Pesquero, a la cual nos referiremos en otro tema de nuestra agenda.
Finalmente, la delegación de Colombia apoya la asistencia que la FAO viene ofreciendo al pueblo palestino en cumplimiento de las resoluciones pertinentes del ECOSOC y de la Asamblea General de Naciones Unidas. En medio de una posición política equilibrada que el Gobierno de Colombia desearía para la situación del Medio Oriente, nuestro ministro de relaciones exteriores ha dicho hace poco en la Asamblea General que Colombia reconoce el derecho del pueblo palestino a tener un estado soberano.
Señor Presidente, una última referencia a la optica a través de la cual Colombia admira la posición de la FAO en el concierto general de las Naciones Unidas. Creemos que esta reunion del Consejo, al terminar su primera semana, ha confirmado ya el apoyo general con que cuenta nuestra Organización por parte de los representantes de todos los estados miembros.
Sabemos que recientemente el país más alto contribuyente a la FAO y no de los que más eficazmente ha colaborado aquí en nuestras actividades ha asumido una actitud positiva que, si bien se trata de compromiso ya adquirido, significa una muestra de buena voluntad, de aprecio, de respeto y credibilidad por la FAO. Igualmente otros países desarrollados están en igual tónica, todo lo cual nos hace pensar, como lo espera la delegación de Colombia, que para fortalecer la posición de la FAO en el contexto general de las Naciones Unidas en el bienio 1983/84 nuestra Organización va a disponer de los medios y de los recursos necesarios que le permitan contribuir a que se establezca un nuevo orden económico internacional en todo el conjunto de las Naciones Unidas, a fin de modificar la deplorable situación actual dentro de la cual las poblaciones del Tercer Mundo representamos el 80 por ciento y apenas disfrutamos del 28 por ciento de la riqueza mundial.
P. GOSSELIN (Canada): Mr. Chairman, let me begin first by joining with you and with my colleagues of the Council in offering our congratulations to Dr. West on his appointment to the Chair of the Consultative Committee.
I would just briefly refer to the statement of the delegate of Colombia with regard to IFAD, where he referred to the ratification of the replenishment, particularly in respect of Category 1. The delegate from Category 3 should also realise that participation in the first replenishment of IFAD is a requirement by all categories and we are sure the delegate also knows that all Category 1 members have fully fulfilled their contributions to IFAD's initial funding, while other categories have not.
Turning to the document before us, we reviewed with interest the information provided in document CL 82/17 on recent developments in the United Nations System. My delegation considers this an important item on the Agenda. A major concern of my Government is the increasing fragmentation and lack of coherence in the United Nations System. So many governing bodies, executive boards, councils and conferences of so many UN organizations meet in isolation from each other, that it has become extremely difficult for any one organization to keep track of all the events of the system which impinge on its own activities.
In addition, to be frank, it becomes very difficult for governments themselves to coordinate a consistent approach to the many and diverse activities of this multi-faceteted system. The report before us today is therefore very timely and as such we would recommend that this Agenda item remain a regular feature of Council and Conference meetings.
To turn to the specific events referred to in the report, firstly the delay in launching global negotiations is of considerable concern to my Government and we join with others in our hope that difficulties will shortly be overcome.
Secondly, on the capacity of the United Nations System to respond to emergencies, we are pleased to note the reference to the fact that all participating organizations at the time of an emergency are expected to assist and cooperate fully with the lead entity as designated by the Secretary General. We would hope that this will help eliminate the difficulties which have arisen in the past over responsibility for coordination.
Thirdly, on operational activities for development, we believe that it would have been useful for Council Members if the Secretariat had attached a copy of UN General Assembly Resolution 36/199 to assist them in the consideration of this item. As stated, organizations were asked to provide information on the implementation of paragraphs 8, 9 and 11 of General Assembly Resolution 35/81, to remind us these paragraphs refer to section 5 of General Assembly Resolution 32/197. This is the chapter on operational activities for development in the omnibus resolution on the restructuring of the economic and social sectors of the United Nations System. This Resolution was passed in 1977 - five years ago - and represented a consensus arising out of lengthy and difficult negotiations.
Paragraph 23 of the document before us refers to the discussion which took place in the 21st session of the conference on the subject. As delegates may recall there was a considerable range of opinion on the degree to which the FAO had conformed to its request. The conference in its report, paragraph 3.9 states: "The conference agreed that the policies of the Director-General had been in line with the resolution". Accordingly we would like that wording used in the document, rather than the phrase used in paragraph 23 that would indicate that FAO has fully complied with the resolution and nothing remains to be done.
In keeping with that statement we would look forward to the Secretariate report on what work has been done to bring about greater uniformity procedures, more effective administration at the field level and whether any steps had been taken to unify the country offices. We would be grateful to receive such information and suggest that the Secretariat may wish to provide it to the Director-General for development and international cooperation in the context of the preparation of the 1983 policy review on operational activities, as requested under resolution 36/199 paragraph 12.
Turning to the UNDP, the major policy debate was the uncertain resource situation and how to go about putting the organization on a firmer long-term footing. Canada, as President of the Governing Council this year, fully supports the negotiation currently underway to bring about long-term stable solutions to the problem. We believe that the future of the UNDP rests on the strengthening of its role as a central fund and coordinator of UN technical cooperation. We particularly endorse the ECOSOC resolution which we notice is not mentioned in the document before us but which invites UN organizations to facilitate the role of the resident coordinators which in all cases are the resident representatives of UNDP.
With respect to the main issues dealt with by the World Food Council at its 8th ministerial session, my government would like to endorse the report of the WFC in which "the Council stressed that international organizations dealing with agriculture and food should use resources more effectively, improve their general efficiency and avoid duplication of work and efforts". In addition we would endorse paragraph 14 of the document before us which reports on the general support given to the concept of national food policies and strategies within the framework of national development plans.
Finally turning to UNEP, we are pleased that the special session of the governing council of UNEP met last May as reported in document CL 82/17 and agreed that many of the environmental trends problems and priorities, identified in a major resolution of that session are of direct relevance to FAO activities.
Canada fully endorses the decision concerning the systemwide, medium-term, environment programme adopted at the 10th session of the UNEP' s governing council which, inter alia urges other organizations of the United Nations system to continue their close cooperation with UNEP in the pre-paration of a system-wide programme.
M. TRKULJA (Yugoslavia): Firstly, our compliments to Mr. Regnier and his colleagues for a very well-prepared document which is concise and at the same time very comprehensive, the review of recent . developments in the United Nations system of more or less direct bearing on FAO. My compliments also for the very very excellent introduction of Mr. Regnier.
Just to keep up with the ritual I will say my delgation is also very happy with Mr. West's election as Chairman of CCSQ, a body.in which he has been very active for years now representing FAO, of course.
It is very difficult to add anything on the global negotiations. Or course, we are most unhappy with the very substantial delays in launching the global negotiations and we can only express our hope that the global negotiations might be launched by the end of this year.
Secondly we are reasonably satisfied with the arrangement worked out by the Secretary General in ACC aimed at strengthening the capacity of the United Nations system to respond to emergencies, which of course includes the concept of lead entity. We feel that the arrangement is flexible enough and would , enable the UN system to respond effectively to the variety of specific situations.
Operational activities for development; of course, we are aware, not necessarily of only paragraph 8, 9 and 11 of the resolution 35/81, but many more other much more substantive portions of the resolution, especially those calling for steep increases in resources for technical assistance but let me limit
my comments on 8, 9 and 11. I think the Delegate of Canada is quite right in saying that the whole range of views was expressed by the conference but the position of the conference was quite clear. My delegation is very much satisfied that the practical solution is also in sight now which would resolve the problem of reporting the issue with the conference. The last conference paid certain attention too.
On UNDP, I fully agree with what the delegate of Colombia said. The situation is really very desperate and UNDP is only one of a number of cases which all witness the fact that today the rift between the rhetorics or even commitments and debts isas huge as ever. We are very much afraid that the assessment of paragraph 29, that the FAO's share in the UNDP programme in the next cycle may not be more than 70 percent as compared with the second. It could turn out to be very optimistic unless the situation improves substantially.
With regard to the WFC session, of course Yugoslavia has been a member of the WFC right from the beginning. We endorse the position of the WFC at the recent session, the last session in Acapulco but I would again reiterate some very very serious difficulties that we have with the overall concept and indeed the campaign launched by the WFC secretariat on national food policies. Let me only explain that we fully agree with the objectives. We fully agree that developing countries should attach much greater priority to agriculture to incrase a decision on the food and agricultural issues to the highest political level.
We also fully comply with the idea that they should try their best to improve planning and implementation procedures. But, as is quite well known, it has always been the position of my country that we disagree fully and emphatically with the international campaign and especially excessive so-called technical assistance to countries which amounts, in certain cases at least, to a sort of import of food strategies from abroad. We do not believe that this is the correct approach.
Finally, I would just mention that we fully support the FAO response to a number of UN resolutions - I am not going to quote them - on the Lebanese and Palestinian people. We are very satisfied with the FAO response and wish that we should seize every opportunity to increase the amount and efficiency of FAO assistance to the Lebanese and Palestinian people.
Equally we support fully the FAO role in implementing the decision of the United Nations General Assembly on Namibia.
I will refrain on this occasion from going into the complex issue of the coherence in the United Nations system, but just indicate that my delegation is not of the opinion expressed by Canada before me. If necessary, and on a much more appropriate occasion we will certainly be prepared to discuss the whole matter at length.
MRS. M. PIOTROWSKA (Poland): Poland attaches great importance to the many-sided cooperation in the field of agriculture of all countries regardless of the social political system. Simultaneously, we have always emphasized that FAO should have a universal character and should take into consideration the needs of all the regions. A good example of this kind of cooperation is the so-called scientific cooperation network in the field of agriculture in the European region. We support this kind of activity because of the great significance of scientific research in achieving technical advance and higher output in agriculture as well as considering the fact that the benefits of these scientific networks should also be extended to developing countries through transfer of appropriate technologies. A very good example could be the newly set up network of rural energy.
A complex cooperation and technical assistance will play an ever-increasing role in accelerating social and economic advance. A vital instrument of this many-sided technical cooperation to which our country is attaching great importance is the United Nations Development Programme. In this context the Polish Delegation would like to express its satisfaction on the successfully developing inter-relation between FAO and UNDP. We have now implemented in Poland programmes on the intensi-fication of plant breeding and seed production and dairy production.
We are also in favour of expanding regional programmes such as the European Regional Cooperation Programme on Crop, Genetic Resources, Conservation and Exchange.
J.E. MENDES FERRAO (Portugal): Je voudrais me référer au document CL 82/17.
Nous avons pris connaissance avec beaucoup d'intérêt des résultats de Rassemblée mondiale sur le vieillissement qui a eu lieu à Vienne le 6 août dernier.
Le problème est de la plus grande actualité pour mon pays, car en ce moment la plus grande partie de la population rurale portugaise est d'un âge supérieur à 55 - 60 ans, et la jeunesse n'est plus attirée par l'agriculture. Le vieillissement de la population rurale portugaise est inquiétant.
Le gouvernement, à l'aide d'institutions privées ou semi-privées, est en train d'envisager, depuis quelques années, un schéma de maisons pour vieux, mais 1 expérience déjà acquise a démontré que ce schéma n'est à mettre en pratique que pour les vieux qui n'ont pas de famille.
On donne maintenant la préférence à ce que l'on appelle les "Centros de dia", les centres de jour, où les vieux peuvent passer la journée ensemble pendant que les membres de leur famille sont à leur travail. Le soir on vient les chercher pour qu'ils passent la soirée dans leur milieu familial. Dans ces centres de jour, les personnes âgées peuvent exercer des activités compatibles avec leurs possibilités et qui apportent une contribution au développement, pour qu'ils n'aient pas la sensation d'être un poids pour leur famille et pour la société.
Nous attendons avec beaucoup d'intérêt les résultats d'études faites dans d'autres pays sur ce même sujet, ainsi que les recommandations internationales en cette matière, afin de les adapter et de les appliquer dans notre pays.
A.H. EL SARKI (Egypt) (original language Arabic): My delegation would like, at the outset, to commend the Secretariat for this excellent document and congratulate Dr. West for his election. Furthermore, we would like to stress the fact that the Arab Republic of Egypt supports the content of para. 20 of this document concerning the need to use the existing capacities in the developing countries for the implementaiton of development programmes. We are willing to provide training in agriculture and related activities for nationals of developing countries and help these countries to set up the appropriate infrastructure. I would like also to take this opportunity to inform the Council that selected Egyptian cadres hold key-posts in many bilateral and multilateral technical aid programmes.
Egypt has participated in the 8th Ministerial Session of the World Food Council held in Mexico and supported the Resolutions concerning the increase of the "grain facilities" and the need to increase international development aid for agriculture. Egypt has also supported the Resolution calling on developing countries to establish their own grain reserves.
Furthermore, we wish the FAO full success in its work on energy for agriculture and rural development.
Mr. Chairman, my delegation would like to applaud the efforts made by FAO to provide technical assistance to the Palestinian farmers and we do hope that this will lead to substantive results.
S.P. MUKERJI (India): My delegation shares the anxiety of the Director and all the delegates regarding the delay in the launching of global negotiations on international economic cooperation and development. We sincerely feel that the world conscience in this very vital sector and at this very critical juncture of economic recession will prevail With all the concerned countries in persuading them to lauch this concerted and laudable exercise in the field of international cooperation. We can only hope and pray for the best, and I will leave this matter at that.
In regard to pragraphs 13 and 14 of document CL 82/17, a reference has been made in regard to a lead agency to coordinate relief operations in case of natural and other disasters. Perhaps I have missed that point but in this regard I would like FAO to be recognized by the United Nations system as the lead agency on natural and man-made disasters. Considering that most of the calamities are related to agriculture and rural areas and considering also that the World Food Programme is taking a leading part in the matter of disaster relief, I cannot see a more suitable world agency than FAO to act the part of lead agency as envisaged in these two paragraphs. I would like to be informed whether any decision to identify this lead agency has been taken. If not, we should insist that FAO should be recognized as the lead agency.
In regard to paragraph 20, it has been mentioned that the General Assembly invited the organizations of the system to make greater use of the capacities of developing countries in procuring material and equipment in training and services, in using local contractors and in recruiting local personnel. This is an unexceptionable recommendation and I would request that FAO and all its other agencies, including WFP, should accept this in total, perhaps they are already doing this, but in a determined manner to ensure that in all their operational activities, whether it is relief or development, the existing capacities of the developing countries in regard to supply of material and services and technology must be given the topmost priority.
In regard to paragraph 23, it has been mentioned that the DG FAO's policies in regard to raising increased resources for development for the Special Action Programme has been endorsed by the United Nations Conference, and for that my delegation would like to congratulate the DG FAO, Dr. Saouma.
My delegation sympathises with and fully endorses the pleadings of the Governing Council of the UNDP in regard to the pledging conference and the sorry state of affairs with regard to the resources which have been pledged which have come to the point of UNDP being compelled to reduce its programme to the extent of 40 percent. My delegation would like to stress and plead for greater assistance to the UNDP programme.
In regard to paragraph 34, the FAO's scheme of sending inter-agency missions for assisting the developing countries in the formulation and analysis of agrarian reform and rural development has been endorsed. FAO needs to be felicitated on the recognition of their programme of inter-agency missions. I can only submit that India as a major partner in the effort of agrarian reform and rural development in the world can offer its consultancy and other services born out of its long experience during the last 30 years and more in the field of agrarian reform and rural development to the FAO and other world organizations. In regard to rural development, I have a feeling that there are a number of agencies that are interested in different degrees in the matter of rural development, and that is why perhaps an Inter-Agency Task Force was found to be necessary. I would like to suggest for consideration of the FAO whether the FAO cannot take a leading role in this respect and, in consultation with all such agencies as are interested in rural development, draw up a common guideline of criteria to be followed in identifying areas for rural development, norms for priority, norms of help and assistance, etc. which will enable the different agencies to work in a coordinated and uniform manner, so that they will not cross each other's path and launch different systems of rural development and schemes with different patterns of assistance which will confound the recipient countries. I would suggest in this regard that apart from everything else that is being done in the field of rural development, some sort of guidelines and criteria to be followed by different agencies in the matter of rural development could be thought of.
In this document, FAO's participation in a number of world conferences has been mentioned. They are very useful and I would like to comment very briefly on some of the conferences in which FAO has taken particular interest. For instance, in the Conference on the Law of the Sea which has been mentioned in paragraph 46, the developing countries have a great stake, and we are very happy that the Director-General of the FAO, having recognized the potential of fisheries resource that the developing countries can have in the Exclusive Economic Zones, has organized a World Conference on Fisheries some time in 1984 or early 1985 for which all preliminary action is being taken. We want to felicitate the Director-General on this very laudable step taken. In regard to science and technology in the field of agriculture, science and technology have a very, very crucial role to play, and it is therefore very apt that the FAO has been participating in the United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development. I would only request that in all such participation, the FAO's need and interests in intensifying research in problem-oriented areas particular to different regions and different countries should be adequately projected.
In paragraph 55, some reference has been made to the lack of resource to the Intergovernmental Committee on Science and Technology for Development. We would like to support greater pledged assistance for this purpose and also for long-term financing arrangements.
In paragraph 56, it has been mentioned that FAO's share out of the projects approved by the Interim Fund for Science and Technology is only 6.6 percent. This to my mind is very low, considering the part that science and technology can play in the field of agriculture. We would request that FAO should ask for and legitimately claim a large portion of the project in the matter of science and technology so far as agriculture, forestry, fisheries and animal husbandry are concerned. I would think that FAO should not be satisfied till they get at least 25 percent of the total outlay on such research projects for development.
FAO has very appropriately taken part in the deliberations on the United Nations system of new and renewable sources of energy, and also on environment. I would only request that FAO should kindly ensure that specific action points and action programmes are stressed and in the developing countries in regard to agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fisheries, the programmes of development of alternative sources of energy through biomass and the effect on the environment in regard to agriculture, afforestration, should be properly projected in these conferences and FAO should set up some cells within this Organization if they have not already done so in regard to alternative sources of energy and also in the matter of environment.
As you are aware, the Government of India has already established a new Department of Environment, and even at the state level, a number of Departments of Environment have been set up. I am sure that FAO is taking as keen an interest in the matter of environmental security and environmental stability as the situation now demands.
I have only one suggestion to offer for consideration of the FAO in regard to FAO's participation in the conferences. FAO has participated in the conferences very aptly and, I hope, adequately, but perhaps it will help the FAO Secretariat if before participation in these conferences, some selected countries which may be particularly interested in that particular topic or which have
the infrastructure or technology or experience are consulted in the matter of FAO's interest in those items, so that a similar awareness at the country level is also generated and each country is able to contribute something to the FAO Secretariat for projecting the needs of the agricultural and rural development sector in the matter, whether it is energy or nuclear energy or outer space and so on. This will perhaps be for the benefit of both the countries concerned and also the FAO Secretariat to get some specific feed-back on specific points of participation.
I will only close by expressing my feeling that FAO is the champion of the developing countries; FAO knows their needs and aspirations; the least developed, the poorest, the downtrodden and the victims of manmade and natural disasters look up to FAO. FAO is to be congratulated for what it has done so far for them. We as the members of the august Council should all try to strengthen the hands of the FAO financially, technologically and materially so that it can play its humanitarian and ameliorative role effectively, commanding the respect and attention of all other world bodies.
J.J. GORMLEY (United States of America): My delegation has studied this document carefully. We have no specific comments on the various items covered in the document. We have been fully involved with these matters in the various fora where they arose. We would note here that under the item Follow-up to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea, paragraphs 45 - 51, there are references to the upcoming FAO Fisheries Conference. We will be commenting on plans for this conference under the agenda item on the reports of the Finance and Programme Committees.
S. HASAN AHMAD (Bangladesh): At the very outset I would like to thank the Secretariat for providing us with a wealth of information through document CL 82/17. There are, globally speaking, so many international bodies and organizations working on so many subjects and topics of direct interest to mankind that it is becoming more and more difficult for everyone to keep abreast of all that is happening. The coverage given in the document is indeed commendable.
I would also like to congratulate Mr. Régnier, the Director of the Inter-Agency Affairs Office, for the very clear and lucid introduction he has given by way of initiating this discussion.
I would wish to preface my statement by underlining and emphasizing my country's support for and commitment to the UN system as a whole. The proliferating number of conferences and deliberations within the system listed in the document merely reiterates the fact that concern for improving the quality of life globally transcends national boundaries, that mutuality of interest between the developed and developing countries is widely understood and accepted and that international development has to be on the basis of partnership and mutual cooperation between nations irrespective of their rich or poor status.
It is in this context that it is to be regretted that not much progress has been made so far in the matter of global negotiations even so long after the adoption of the International Development Strategy. Apparent support and reinforcement of ideas from all quarters provided by concern for creating a new atmosphere of international cooperation has not also succeeded in yielding quick results.
Nevertheless, it is reassuring to learn about the reiteration the question of global negotia-tions received from the Versailles Summit, and we are also happy to learn that quick progress is now expected. In this connection we congratulate the Director-General of FAO for the initiative he has taken in this regard as a lead agency for agriculture and food, and since one of the prime objectives of the negotiations would be to combat world hunger, it is only in the fitness of things, and we accordingly fully support that FAO should assist in the preparation and the servicing of the global negotiations. We sincerely hope that this role can be successfully discharged.
We would also like to congratulate the host country, Italy, for organizing the recent meeting for fighting hunger in the world, which has once again established that the struggle to combat world hunger has emerged as an unchallenged priority to which the international community must make a joint commitment. The outcome of this meeting re-asserts the need to launch global negotiations.
Moving on to the issue of strengthening the capacity of the UN system to respond to emergencies, we are glad to hear about FAO's anxiety to cooperate with other organizations in the provision of relief and assistance to member countries in disaster situations.
As far as Bangladesh is concerned, FAO has a commendable record of promptly responding to emergency requests for assistance. Clearly, FAO has the ability, and in this context we share the Secretariat's views that while as a participating organization it should fully assist and cooperate with the lead entity, FAO should be able to retain enough flexibility so that it can respond to requests for emergency aid. Indeed, we will go a step further and request the Director-General to ensure that in matters concerning the food and agriculture sector FAO plays the major role.
It is with some considerable concern that we view the reduction in UNDP resources, and it is a rude disappointment to be told that the real value of the FAO's share of the UNDP programme in the third cycle will not exceed 70 percent of that in the second.
While we are talking endlessly of the priority to be accorded to agricultural production and achievement in food security, such a cut in the work of the FAO seems paradoxical. We would earnestly hope that genuine measures will be taken to augment UNDP's resources, and that sincere efforts will be made to see the professed importance of agriculture does not turn out to be an exercise limited only to theory.
My delegation is happy to note the progress of work undertaken by the ACC Task Force on Alleviation of rural poverty. My delegation would like to take this opportunity to congratulate FAO on the work done so far to follow up the Programme of Action of WCARRD. Undoubtedly there is still a long way to travel before we see tangible results, but whatever has been done so far appears to us to be obviously the result of relentless efforts, and this is truly commendable.
The World Food Council's recommendations on increased flow of external aid, on strengthening of IEFR and IMF cereal financing facility, developing country-based reserves, liberalisation of trade, and its reiteration of support for the WCARRD Programme of action, can only be acknowledged with due thanks and can be regarded as re-asserting the issues which can make or mar the prospects of a global food security turning out to be a reality.
We fully share the views expressed in these recommendations, and it is to be hoped that World Food Council recommendations would help narrow the gap which now exists between pronouncement and performance, and that FAO as the lead agency in this field would do all in its power to facilitate the realization in practice of these recommendations.
I would wish to refer very briefly to the follow-up of the United Nations Conference on new and renewable sources of energy held last year in Nairobi. The question of taking fast action on rural energy, particularly in the area of integrated rural energy development, cannot be over-emphasized, and we are happy to note the development in this connexion within the framework of the Nairobi Plan of Action. FAO, however, can play a very major role in this sphere. While its efforts here so far are admittedly praise-worthy, it can discharge its catalytic functions more effectively by actively engaging itself on devising ways and means for assisting exchange of information, sharing of experiences, pooling of technical know-how, and resources for research development and extension on a regional or sub-regional basis.
While institutional programmes and arrangements are being formalized, FAO can establish more direct linkages with individual countries in connexion with energy-related work, to reflect the priority in the rural energy development, and to increase technical cooperation programmes covering that field.
We are happy to note the progress in the follow-up to the UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries, and the attention and emphasis that is being given towards the meeting of the needs of the LDCs, MSAs and land-locked countries.
We also congratulate FAO in its efforts to help the cause of the Palestinian people and occupied Arab territories, and while fully endorsing the work of FAO, we hope that concerted effort and assistance from all quarters will quickly help alleviate suffering and distress in that area.
Finally, happy as we are with the progress on the different issues in the various UN fora, we cannot help observing that we seem to be giving more time to talks than to action. These deliberations and recommendations cover practically all conceivable issues that affect human life without however actually making much difference to the quality of human life itself, insofar as it relates to the uncared-for millions inhabitating the surface of the globe, if one takes critical stock of the situation, one is bound to find that developments in the last two decades, despite the best of intentions, has largely bypassed the vast mass of our rural population about whose wellbeing we are apparently so concerned in our meetings, conventions, conferences, and so on.
It would almost seem to be evident now that in our quest for prosperity we are burying ourselves deep-er and deeper in the rhetorical morass. Rhetorics alone will not solve our problems. This statement has been repeated often enough, reflecting our understanding of the fact that more action designed to change the status quo is now needed than talks and declarations. But even that statement has now become a part of the routine utterances. As a representative of a developing country, it would be my fervent hope that the world community as a whole would feel in this situation a much greater urge than it has felt before to act quickly and decisively.
W.A.F. GRABISCH (Germany, Federal Republic of) : I should like to concentrate on a few points only. Regarding operational activities for development for the United Nations system, I should like to state that the Federal Republic of Germany made available in 1981 US$ 430.7 million for this purpose. Germany is the third largest donor and it looks at the moment as if this would be the case in 1982 also. Approximately 30 percent of our total contribution was made within the framework of multilateral cooperation, and in 1982 the proportion may be even greater. Present trends suggest that on the basis of commitments entered into in previous years this level will be maintained.
One decisive criterion for our participation in multilateral programmes is the significance and effectiveness of such measures in terms of development policy.
With regard to UNDP, I would like to recall that the Federal Republic of Germany has doubled its contributions to UNDP over the last 10 years, mainly from US$ 20.6 million in 1973 to US$ 47.5 million in 1982. Having made available an overall sum of about US$ 409 million during this period we have become one of the five largest donors of UNDP. The Federal Republic of Germany sees its involvement in United Nations operational activities in the overall context of its development aid efforts for the Third World. It regards multilateral and bilateral measures as equal and complementary instruments for achieving development policy objectives.
In 1981 my country made available bilaterally an amount of US$ 1.35 billion. With regard to the instruments of international cooperation and the necessity for continuously improving their coordinated action, an issue which was touched on by the delegate of Canada, I should like to re-state the position taken here by my country in the Second Committee on the ongoing 37th General Assembly of the United Nations and I quote : "We are concerned about the proliferation, the mushrooming of evermore special funds. We regard this as a negative development, because for one thing we are convinced it is not in the interests of developing countries to be constantly creating new bureaucracies and thus consuming funds which are so urgently needed for direct assistance to these nations. The Federal Republic of Germany shares the view of other donors that improved instruments for the control and evaluation of programmes are necessary in order to ensure transpar-ency of operational activities of the United Nations and the effectiveness of its Agencies."
To conclude, I wish to re-state what was also said at the same session and I quote : "The Federal Republic of Germany will continue to participate in the financial and technical cooperation of the major multilateral institutions. Our financial scope which is at the moment limited, will depend on economic developments in the years ahead. It will also depend on how effective the respective UN insti-tutions and agencies prove to be in terms of programme implementation and costs."
H.H CARABAÑO (Venezuela): Mi delegación es consciente de que estamos analizando un documento de gran utilidad e importancia y por eso nos sumamos al reconocimiento que se ha hecho a la Secretaría, así como por la forma elocuente como fue presentado.
No voy a referirme a todos aquellos puntos trascendentes que, desde luego, mi delegación reitera; nos limitaremos exclusivamente a una consideración muy de tesis general.
En el seno de la FAO, en el Consejo Mundial de la Alimentación y en el FIDA, para sólo hablar de los organismos que tienen su sede en Roma, mi país se identifica plenamente con todos los planteamientos que ha hecho el Grupo de los 77. Estamos persuadidos, entre otras cosas, de que los organismos internacionales son un valioso medio en defensa de los pueblos del Tercer Mundo y creemos que éste es un criterio que deberían compartir unánimemente los países desarrollados.
Nosotros hablamos con temor del bilatéralisme y pienso que también los países desarrollados deben ver con preocupación el bilateralisme porque podrían verse enfrentados entre ellos mismos con una competencia que no haría bien a nadie; sin embargo, me temo que en este análisis de las dificultades de los organismos internacionales nos está haciendo falta objetividad y buen juicio. Hemos entrado en un decenio cargado de grandes dificultades para toda la comunidad universal; los grandes países dan razones para explicar que no pueden intensificar sus ayudas por cuanto estarían confrontando problemas internos, que desde luego nadie desconoce. Sin embargo, los planteamientos que estos países hacen pareciera que es evidente que aun cuando esas dificultades no existieran mantendrían aún sus reservas frente a los organismos internacionales, y es aquí donde yo creo que es necesario que prevalezca el buen juicio. Desde luego que a veces ese buen juicio lo acicatean las dificultades; estamos frente a grandes dificultades; yo creo que perfectamente es demostrable que lo que se ha hecho a través de organismos como la FAO no ha sido esfuerzo baldío, que el mundo ha sacado provecho de ello y que, sin lugar a dudas, el hambre ha sido acorralada aunque no erradicada y que ello ha contribuido en buena medida a mantener la paz, precaria pero paz al fin, de que disfruta el mundo.
Pienso que nosotros, los países del Tercer Mundo, hemos contribuido en una cierta medida a que este diálogo no vaya más aprisa, y como quiera que lo importante es la autocrítica digo que somos responsables porque muchas veces cuando analizamos los problemas en el seno de una organización cuidamos casi como una cuestión diplomática el no referirnos a otra organización y de repente nos vemos nosotros mismos tratando los mismos problemas en distintos foros como si fueran compartimentos estancos.
Yo pienso que es imperativo que forcemos la cooperación entre los organismos internacionales; no podemos seguir considerando una mala palabra o una palabra descortés el hablar de coordinación entre los organismos. Vemos, por ejemplo, y yo lo dije aquí ayer, que una institución tan respetable como el Consejo Mundial de la Alimentación ha tomado una bandera hermosa de las estrategias justa-mente para decir que no es posible por parte de los países desarrollados que sigan invocando que no dan sus ayudas porque esas ayudas se diluyen o se pierden en el seno de los países que no tienen estrategias coherentes. Yo he dicho que esas estrategias de seguridad alimentaria pueden movili-zarlas, pueden promoverlas, pueden estimularlas el Consejo Mundial de la Alimentación, pero es obvio que el Consejo Mundial de la Alimentación, qué sólo dispone de una cincuentena de funcionarios, no podría llevarlas adelante con buen éxito y estaríamos entonces frustrando a la Comunidad Universal de una solución que verdaderamente puede ser una solución; en cambio, si esas estrategias de seguridad alimentaria estuvieran canalizadas por intermedio de la FAO o del FIDA, con toda seguridad que los aportes que den los países desarrollados rendirían muchos mayores frutos.
Por eso creo que de este Consejo deben salir recomendaciones muy valiosas, muy sinceras, a la alta dirigencia de los organismos internacionales para explicar que las condiciones precarias en que está el mundo exige que busquemos ese efecto de sinergia de los organismos internacionales, que se potencien recíprocamente y yo estoy seguro de que los países desarrollados también se darán cuenta de que es por esta vía que deben canalizar sus ayudas, porque estoy absolutamente seguro de que en una política de bilatéralisme abierto no sólo sufrirían impacto los países del Tercer Mundo, que
verían un poco mediatizada su soberanía, sino que pronto los grandes países se encontrarían en una competencia inconveniente para ellos.
De manera que este momento es un momento crucial; no nos debemos llamar a equívocos; los organismos internacionales están viviendo unas dificultades que deben ser superadas y ello no puede ser sino a base de que el Grupo de los 77 actúe de manera coordinada para plantear a los países desarrollados la necesidad de buscar entre todos autocrítica y caminos de coordinación y de eficacia para los organismos internacionales que son y deben ser un instrumento de defensa de los pueblos más desasistidos.
L. ARIZA HIDALGO (Cuba): Queremos expresar que para nosotros es satisfactoria la información como se ha expresado por la Secretaría, independientemente de las situaciones no resueltas o retrasadas que nos exponen.
No queremos hacer una exposición larga, sólo queremos apoyar, por ser nuestros criterios totalmente coincidentes, a las delegaciones que han fundamentado la necesidad de terminar las negociaciones globales.
Creemos que la espera es bastante larga.
Nosotros lo expusimos cuando se presentó el tema de la situación mundial de alimentos y lamentamos la grave situación del acceso a los recursos financieros; creemos que lo que se nos ha informado sobre la situación de recortes presentado al PNUD profundiza más la grave situación que, a nuestro juicio, ahora afecta directamente a la FAO en su ejecución.
Esta cuestión ha sido también analizada y enlaza con nuestra coincidente aprobación porque consideramos que el PNUD tiene con la FAO que jugar un gran papel en el apoyo financiero a nuestros proyectos.
Específicamente nos llama la atención el capítulo 32 de los aspectos internacionales, organización de desarrollo rural y el trabajo del grupo de acción.
Vemos con agrado que los esfuerzos de la FAO para hacer cumplir los acuerdos de la Conferencia Mundial de Reforma Agraria, y expresamente el plan de acción que surgió de ella, están avanzando; sin embargo, coincidimos con las distinguidas delegaciones de Bangladesh y de la India en que a veces se está hablando más de lo que se está ejecutando. Creemos que hay bastantes retóricas sobre esta situación. Para nosotros la Conferencia dejó muy bien claros los mecanismos, las medidas conjuntas en el plano nacional, la participación popular quedó muy bien definida e inclusive la vigilancia y evaluación del desarrollo.
En estos momentos queremos sencillamente llamar la atención al Grupo de Acción, que indudablemente ha trabajado, que nos expone una serie de acciones positivas en pro de que pueda catalizarse de una vez la participación popular en pro del desarrollo rural. Queremos llamar la atención al Grupo en el párrafo donde se plantea el análisis de los obstáculos y limitaciones al desarrollo, queremos llamar la atención, repito, para identificar uno de los obstáculos a nuestro juicio más importantes y definitivos; definitivos decimos porque cuando la Conferencia Mundial de Reforma Agraria entró en su fase final donde ya estaba saliendo a flote toda una serie de planes claros para poner en ejercicio el desarrollo rural y reforma agraria fueron los países los que plantearon la necesidad de que todo eso debía ser puesto en ejecución partiendo de la decisión política de cada Estado. Creo que el primer obstáculo a identificar es la decisión política de cada Estado.
Finalmente, estamos de acuerdo con la forma expuesta de la participación de la FAO en los eventos de las Naciones Unidas y el desarrollo de los países pobres y queremos felicitar al Dr. West.
T. AHMAD (Pakistan): We would like to join the other distinguished delegates in congratulating the Secretariat for the document and Mr. Regnier for the excellent and eloquent introduction to the document. We also wish to take this opportunity of congratulating Mr. West on his appointment to a very important United Nations body.
As far as the document is concerned, we will be brief and would only highlight one or two issues which are of concern to us, as most of the other items have been dealt with by other delegates. We are very concerned that the global negotiations have not been launched so far. My country has been actively pursuing the launching of these global negotiations at all the international fora, particularly at the United Nations Headquarters. We are happy to see in paragraph 2 of the document that there is some sign of progress and, hopefully, the negotiations will be launched by the end of this year - the year is ending, perhaps by the beginning of next year. Within the context of global negotiations we feel that food and agriculture issues, as pointed out by the 21st Conference, have to remain at a very high level of the Agenda because they are of extreme interest and concern to developing countries.
We therefore commend the efforts of the Director-General in this direction and hope that, as recommended by the 21st Conference, FAO will indeed provide the technical backdrop and support for these global negotiations.
We do, however, wish to express a note of concern; we feel that while we should continue to strive for the launching of the global negotiations, at the same time we should continue to make the best use of available negotiating fora for whatever progress can be achieved. At least in the food and agriculture sector we have a number of very well defined and internationally accepted guidelines and proposals. International development strategy lays down a specific recommendation including quantitative targets for implementation by the international community. We must not slacken our efforts to get these agreed recommendations implemented. These recommendations include world food security, external assistance to agriculture, food aid, food and agriculture trade. We recognize that these by themselves are not the total input to the global negotiations but we feel they will provide a very very valuable input as and when the global negotiations are launched and in the meantime we would be making some progress in the direction of the food and agricultural sector.
As far as the UNDP is concerned, we do share the concern of other delegations that the share is being reduced and we wish that the trend would be arrested and that there would be a better contribution of the programme within the FAO sector.
Before ending we would wish to commend the UN system in general and the FAO in particular for the assistance to the Palestinian people and we wish that this is not only continued but is increased.
J.M. SCOULAR (United Kingdom): I intervene only on a point of clarification and would like the Secretariat's views. It is the question of the lead entity in disaster situations and my point arises from what the delegate of India said in which he seemed to me to imply that FAO would always be a lead entity, a lead agency in any disaster situation. Now, from our point of view, of course, FAO is bound to be involved in almost all disaster situations. We think that the ACC has the correct answer in Appendix C of the paper, that each agency is picked for each disaster situation on its merits and I wonder if that is the view of the Secretariat.
G.N. GOLUBEV (United Nations Environment Programme): It is my pleasure and honour to greet you on behalf of the Executive Director of UNEP, Mr. K. Tolba.
The problem of adequate food supply continues to loom large among the challenges that face mankind in the 1980s.
Against such background, therefore, it will be increasingly important that the ecological basis necessary to increase production must not be destroyed. Any strategy to increase food production on a sustained basis will therefore explicitly need to take account of the complementality of environment and development. Indeed, we believe that there is no area where the objectives of environment and development are more interrelated than in the production of food on a sustained basis. Any increase in production must therefore take into account the full costs of that increase and its total impact on broadbased agricultural ecosystems.
Such environmental considerations in agricultural development have been the subject of several decisions and resolutions of UNEP Governing Council sessions since its inception, these culminating in the Session of a Special Character, the SSC, earlier this year, which was convened in order to take stock of past achievements since the Stockholm Conference and give new impetus to the environment movement for the next decade. Since Stockholm increasing knowledge has confirmed some ideas and refuted others, and has also revealed some new areas of concern. Perceptions, too, have
evolved and emphasis is now less on the changes in the environment themselves than in their causes and impacts. The various components of the environment are today more clearly perceived as resources to be conserved, and their interrelationships are more generally acknowledged. However, progress in the application of the concepts developed so far remain unsatisfactory, indeed many uncontrolled or planned activities of many such as deforestation, soil and water degradation and desertification have reached alarming proportions and are increasingly causing environmental deterioration and thereby continuing to seriously undermine our planet's capacity to sustain agricultural production. Furthermore, diseases associated with water development projects are a continuing threat to the exertion of optimum efforts in food production in many developing countries.
To this effect, the Session of a Special Character recommended to the Governments and the international community certain priority areas of action for the coming decade some of which I shall underscore later because of their present or potential importance in joint FAO/UNEP activities. I am not going to cover the priority areas. They cover areas of terrestrial biota and bio-productive areas, health and water.
Many of these priority activities are already being implemented by UNEP in collaboration with FAO and other United Nations and Non-Governmental Organizations and I shall, with your permission underline only a few.
During the past three years UNEP, in close cooperation with FAO, Unesco, WMO and ISSS, and other relevant international organizations has defined the scientific, institutional and legislative principles of a World Soils Policy. The United Nations Environment Programme's tenth regular session held after SSC endorsed the definition and objectives of the policy and recommended to member states of the United Nations system and other relevant international organizations that they give effects to the objectives of the Policy, taking into account the principles and guidelines set forth in the World Soil Charter adopted by the 21st FAO Conference last year, the World Conservation Strategy and draft World Charter for Nature which has now been adopted by the General Assembly. Further, the tenth session requested the Executive Director to transmit the draft plan of action for the implementation of the World Soils Policy to FAO and Unesco for comments and in the light of these and the financial implications to the eleventh session, of the governing council for consideration. UNEP is firmly confident that joint FAO/UNEP activities will give profound results in this area.
The World Conservation Strategy is today on the political agenda in many countries. Despite this, the need for coordinated implementation of activities and fruitful collaboration between environmental agencies, national organizations, planners, decision-makers and developers remains crucial. To this purpose, an ad hoc meeting on the follow-up to World Conservation Strategy was held in Geneva with FAO, UNEP and other UN agencies and bodies. The meeting was very successful and we look forward toward other practical actions in this field. As you know, among the high priority follow-up activities of the strategy is to assist developing countries in the development, promotion and implementation of national conservation strategies upon government requests. Closely related to this is, of course, the World Charter for Nature just adopted by the General Assembly. Follow-up activities concern the further development and implementation of the principles of the Charter. These are only a few highlights of what can be achieved through cooperative action by international organizations in the field of living resources conservation.
Another area of common interest which was given priority attention by SSC is the continuing development and implementation of integrated pest control in agriculture. As you may know, our involvement in this priority area of activity has been extensive and we intend to continue cooperating with FAO here and in efforts to reduce food losses in the system-wide programme. To date joint efforts have led to the initiation and implementation of integrated pest control programmes in cotton growing in Africa, the Near East and Latin America. We intend to cooperate further with FAO in agreed joint activities in integrated pest control in the future. In the area of genetic resources, collaborative programming between FAO and UNEP has been proceeding smoothly and effectively with significant progress. In crop plant genetic resources the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources, of which both FAO and UNEP are members, established and is supporting a global network of genebanks for a world base collection which is safeguarding the world's crop genetic resources and backing extensive breeding programmes. The question of free accessibility to such resources is an area of priority concern at both FAO and UNEP. Elements of a draft agreement on accessibility are being worked out by FAO, in response to a resolution by the FAO 1981 Conference and UNEP is most eagerly awaiting FAO's report on this matter. In forest genetic resources, FAO and UNEP collaborated in the establishment of ex situ international standards for selected provenances of pine and eucalyptus species in several African and Asian countries and are vigorously supporting the development of a systematic methodology for establishing in situ conservation within the framework of broad ecosystem conservation. In animal genetic resources FAO and UNEP concluded inter-regional surveys of indigenous breeds of livestock and embarked on establishing regional data banks and pilot conservation schemes for some of these breeds. In microbial genetic resources, FAO and UNEP are jointly programming for field application of relevant microbial technologies for soil fertility, organic residue utilization and pest and vector control. A joint survey of the state of application of biological nitrogen fixation - as an environmentally appropriate means of supplementing plant nutrients in the soil - in developing countries has been concluded and we jointly have embarked on an ambitious programme for intensifying biological nitrogen fixation and legume production, in small farms in conjunction with FAO's regular Fertilizer and Legume programmes.
UNEP continues to regard the promotion of programme activities for sustainable management of tropical forests as a very key area and maintains that a coordinated and harmonized international programme in support of national efforts for rational management of tropical forest resources is the best approach. Already, commendable progress in inter-agency cooperation has been achieved and the two expert meetings jointly sponsored by FAO, Unesco and UNEP have specified a series of international actions which require even closer integration of our efforts. In these, considerations should be given to the recommendation that the already existing Committee on Forestry Development in the Tropics should be transformed into an inter-agency mechanism capable of coordinating and inter-grating future programmes and activities.
Those are but only a few examples of past joint activities and highlights of possible areas of cooperation between FAO and UNEP in the future. There are many more, such as the continuing support to the Codex Commission, training in food contaminants control and the ongoing programme on workshops on food and nutrition planning, programming, implementation and evaluation with the ACC/SCN and the FAO/UNEP/WHO Panel of Experts on Environmental Management for Vector and Disease Control.
May I in conclusion mention special cooperation that merits a word. The elaboration of the system-wide medium-term environment programme submitted to the tenth session of the UNEP Government Council has benefited from close participation of and elucidation by FAO which has, once again, seriously embarked on its translation from general concepts to implementable specifics, including possible budgetary data, during the early years of the SWMTEP period.
FAO collaboration with UNEP in preparation of the programme budget document of 1984/85 has further developed the system-wide medium-term environmental programme coordinated by UNDP. May I in this connexion draw the attention of delegates to the report of the International Organizations Committee on International Labour Organization. A report of the session held last week in Geneva reads : "The Committee decided to recommend the Governing Body to request the Director-General to pursue his cooperation with UNEP in the further collaboration of the system-wide medium-term environmental programme and to ensure that it reflected the ILO's concerns and that its relevant parts were taken into consideration in future revisions of the ILO Medium-Term Plan and its biennial programmes and budgets."
To finish my address I would like to state that we in UNEP deeply value these positive signs of collaboration both at the bilateral and interagency levels and hope that they will continue to characterize our relations as we venture into the next decade and beyond.
CHAIRMAN : Thank you. Kindly convey to Dr. Tolba and all the staff of UNEP our admiration for the very valuable work that they have done on behalf of the United Nations Environment Programme.
G. DESESQUELLES (Observateur pour la Communauté économique europénne) : La Communauté europénne ne souhaite pas intervenir sur l'ensemble du document CL 82/17 concernant les faits nouveaux intervenus dans le système des Nations Unies. Bien entendu, nous avons soigneusement étudié le document et pris bonne note des commentaires de présentation effectués par M. Régnier, mais nous saisissons avant tout l'occasion - car nous pensons que cela intéresse l'ensemble du Conseil - pour vous faire part d'une communication sur le suivi de la Conférence de Vienne relative à la science et à la technique au service du développement (paragraphes 52 à 58 du document). Comme nous l'avons déjà précisé lors de précédentes interventions, nous considérons que la recherche est un élément fondamental du développement, notamment pour les cultures vivrières.
C'est dans ce contexte que j'ai le plaisir de vous annoncer que le Conseil des Communautés européennes va décider le 3 décembre prochain, juste avant la clôture de nos travaux, un programme de recherche qui s'intégre parfaitement dans le programme d'action de Vienne décidé par le Comité intergouvernemental sur la science et la technique au service du développement.
Les Etats Membres de la Communauté européenne se sont en effet mis d'accord pour allouer la somme très importante de 40 millions d'écus (à l'heure actuelle, la valeur de l'écu est sensiblement équivalente à celle du dollar, je peux même vous dire qu'hier un écu valait 0,92 dollar) pour la recherche dans les domaines de l'agriculture tropicale, la médecine et la nutrition dans les zones tropicales. Ce programme sera exécuté en étroite collaboration par des instituts des pays membres de la Communauté européenne et des pays en développement. Des représentants de la FAO seront invités à assister la Commission des communautés européennes dans le cadre de ses comités consultatifs de gestion pour la mise en oeuvre de ce programme.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for this useful information.
N. DESAI (United Nations Development Programme): Thank you very much for affording me the opportu-nity to address the Council on behalf of UNDP. It goes without saying that the deliberations which take place here remain of the utmost relevance and interest to the Administrator of UNDP, in view of the close association and partnership which has characterized the working relationship between our two respective organizations over the years in the common pursuit and cause of serving the developing countries in the attainment of their overall development objectives, and more particularly by virtue of FAO's predominant role as the largest executing agency in the UNDP family. As is now all too well known, the UNDP Administrator is at this point of time preoccupied in meeting perhaps one of the most critical challenges facing UNDP as the central funding multilateral mechanism in technical cooperation in the UN System.
The document before this Council, CL/82/17, highlights the disappointing resource picture which now faces UNDP. The results of the Pledging Conference for 1983 held earlier this month in New York are now in. In merely nominal terms - without taking into account the inroads made by inflation - the $666 million in contributions pledged and estimated for 1983 is significantly lower than the $697 million pledged four years ago for 1979. But in real terms this figure is well below the $307 million pledged to UNDP for 1973 - 10 years ago. UNDP and its country partners have already this year been operating, for planning purposes, on the basis of a reduction to 80 percent of illustrative IPFs until the Pledging Conference results were known.
The Governing Council requires the Administrator of UNDP to administer the programme within the confines of the actual resources available to it. In the light of the results of the Pledging Conference the Administrator is now advising governments to revise downward their planning estimates of Programme resources available under the 1982-1986 Cycle from the aforementioned 80 percent to 55 percent of agreed illustrative indicative planning targets. Our own estimates are that insofar as FAO's share of UNDP's Third Cycle Programme is concerned it will amount to approximately 75 percent of the value of the Second Cycle Programme.
The results of this year's Pledging Conference - coming on top of what is already an inadequate resource base - can only be described as extremely disappointing. For developing countries this in turn means virtually no UNDP supported activities to meet new development needs and in some cases cut-backs on projects designed to meeting existing needs. It is a severe blow to the momentum that UNDP has been able to generate over the last decade to the prospects of developing countries for their human resource development and in fact to all committed to the ideal of an international cooperative endeavour. Under these circumstances it is evident, and is indeed well brought out in the debate in this forum, that the resource dilemma is not just a problem of UNDP. Any erosion of UNDP resources as the central funding organization in the UN system is a challenge to all interested and involved in multilateral development assistance and it becomes all the more important that governing bodies of all UN agencies and organizations cooperating with the UNDP will exert their influence and lend an appeal for the reinforcement of the call of the General Assembly for increased resources of UNDP on an assured,continuous and predictable basis.
In order to help UNDP face this critical challenge as the central multilateral funding mechanism for technical cooperation in the UN system, the UNDP Governing Council at its recent session in June in Geneva set up an Inter-Sessional Committee of the Whole to study as a matter of priority options and recommendations for the longer-term financing of UNDP, including such measures as voluntary contributions, replenishment, multi-year pledgings, assessed contributions and various combinations of voluntary and assessed contributions. This is the main objective of the work of the Committee which is to report to the Council of UNDP at its June 1983 session.
The Inter-Sessional Committee has already held its first meeting in September, with another one scheduled in the early part of 1983. In accordance with the decision taken by the Committee at its first session, all agencies and organizations in the UN system are formally invited to participate in the Committee deliberations in accordance with the relevant rules of procedure of the UNDP Governing Council. It is our hope that this will provide an opportunity for them to make their views known which ultimately will contribute in strengthening the central multilateral mechanism constructed so arduously for the benefit of the developing countries and more especially the lesser developed of those countries.
The distinguished Director-General in his brilliant introductory statement to this Council, made a strong plea for multilateral development assistance. The UNDP Administrator, Mr. Bradford Moss, has spared no efforts in echoing the same viewpoint in all the major fora of the UN system and has relentlessly underscored the danger which would result to the development efforts of the developing countries if this central instrument of multilateral assistance were allowed to falter through insufficient support.
In his winding-up statement at the conclusion of the Pledging Conference for development activities on 9 November 1982, Mr. Moss said: "Since the allocation of the programme resources has been subs-tantially altered in the Third Cycle to favour least developed and low income countries, it is apparent that it is these countries which will proportionately suffer most from the across-the-board reductions that I will be required to announce tomorrow. The full impact of such expenditure deductions is of course even greater than you may imagine. Governments, executing agencies, all our partners in the field, do not suddenly wind down UNDP-supported operations without serious disruptions to their own planning, recruitment and financing processes. There are virtually no UNDP-supported programmes which do not require matching counterparts or matching contributions from governments. If we fail to give governments at least a year's notice as to what these requirements are we play havoc with their budget processes".
I have greatly valued this opportunity to underline what has been so well articulated in this Council itself. In conclusion I would like to pledge the UN Administrator's support and express his good wishes to this Council and its deliberations.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. I am sure our Drafting Committee will give adequate expression to the Council's own concern about the state of financing of UNDP's resources, particularly those where FAO is the executing agency and the consequential repercussions which you have rightly pointed out. I thank you for your statement.
Now before I ask Mr. Regnier to answer or make some comments on the various points made by the fourteen Council members and three Observers who have spoken, I would also like to ask Mr. Regnier to explain one point. In the portion relating to international years and decades, mention has been made of the World Communications Year and so on, but there is this United Nations Drinking Water and Sanitation Decade, and I have always hoped that the Land and Water Division of FAO, because considerable investment is going into irrigation and with some appropriate linkages between those who are in charge of drinking water supply and those who are in charge of irrigation arrangements, the whole programme of drinking-water supply to the rural people can be greatly expedited. I am sure there must be adequate linkages, but since there is no particular mention in the document, I just wanted to repeat the importance of FAO's input into the drinking water arrangements through its irrigation programmes.
A. REGNIER (Directeur, Bureau des affaires interinstitutions): Je voudrais avant tout remercier les très nombreuses délégations et les observateurs qui ont pris la parole dans ce débat, témoignant ainsi de l'intérêt et de l'importance qu'ils attachent à ce point de l'ordre du jour. Du côté du Secrétariat nous avons été encouragés par l'accueil qui a été donné à ce document et surtout par les contributions qui ont été faites par un certain nombre de délégations. Je ne voudrais pas faire un résumé des questions,des points qui ont été soulevés; notre rapport, bien entendu, en tiendra dûment compte. Je voudrais plutôt faire quelques commentaires et répondre à un certain nombre de questions ou de préoccupations.
Tout d'abord je voudrais remercier certains pays de l'appui qu'un très grand nombre de délégations ont donné aux actions que le Directeur général a promues pour assurer que la FAO joue le rôle qui lui revient dans le système des Nations Unies; il a fait référence à ces initiatives concernant la négociation nord-sud et bien entendu pour permettre d'accroître la capacité opérationnelle de la FAO au niveau des pays. Je voudrais également remercier les délégations qui ont indiqué leur appui au rôle de chef de file, dans le système des Nations Unies, que la FAO doit revêtir dans le secteur de l'alimentation, le développement rural, les activités d'urgence liées à l'alimentation et la relance du secteur agricole. De même pour l'appui général qui avait été donné aux actions de la FAO dans la préparation, la tenue et le suivi d'un certain nombre de conférences mondiales, qui ont bien entendu un intérêt considérable pour la FAO, citons l'énergie, la science, le développement et bien d'autres encore. Certes le système des Nations Unies est complexe par sa nature. Il touche à bien des activités, sinon à toutes les activités de l'homme et par conséquent il est diversifié. Je comprends très bien l'intérêt qu'une documentation comme celle-ci présente pour les délégations, de manière à se faire une idée de la somme des secteurs embrassés par le système des Nations Unies. Je voudrais donc dire que nous aussi nous comprenons le délégué du Canada lorsqu'il dit que ce genre de rapport est opportun et il devrait être un trait permanent des sessions de notre Conseil. Je voudrais le rassurer pour ce point qui est à l'ordre du jour de façon traditionnelle au Conseil de la FAO. Nous nous efforçons de faire un tour d'horizon général des activités du système des Nations Unies ayant une importance pour la FAO. Malheureusement, ces activités sont nombreuses. Nous devons par la force des choses être sélectifs et c'est peut-être pour cela que toutes les informations désirables ne se trouvent pas nécessairement dans ce document. Le représentant de la Colombie a mentionné le FIDA. Il n'y a pas de référencesdans le document au FIDA parce que l'aspect des ressources, le FIDA et les autres organisations de financement, sont généralement mentionnés dans d'autres documents présentés au Conseil sous les points : "Situation générale de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture", et il faut éviter les doubles emplois et les doubles références et en même temps rester bref dans le document qui nous est présenté.
Je ne voudrais pas parler des points de substance comme le lancement des négociations nord-sud, la question des ressources en général, du PNUD en particulier, de la part des ressources du PNUD à travers la FAO. Notre rapport mentionnera les références déjà faites. Cependant je voudrais faire deux commentaires sur les questions qui sont posées. Le délégué du Canada a indiqué, en ce qui concerne les activités opérationnelles, qu'il serait utile de savoir si la FAO a mentionné les efforts faits pour la mise en oeuvre de la recommandation de résolution de l'Assemblée générale, 35/81, sur le renforcement de la capacité du système des Nations Unies au niveau opérationnel. C'est un exercice qui est en cours de manière permanente. Nous avons bien évidemment communiqué la teneur des conclusions de la Conférence de l'année dernière au Directeur général, du développement et de la coopération économique internationale, et cela a pu l'aider à présenter son rapport, pour ce qui concerne les aspects qui nous intéressent, à la présente Assemblée générale. Il est évident aussi que M. Ripert doit présenter l'année prochaine un document sur les opérations du système des Nations Unies qui est un document d'ensemble et de politique; là aussi sans doute il souhaitera connaître l'avis et les positions des différentes agences et organes qui font partie du système, et il y a là un dialogue. Je voudrais rassurer le délégué du Canada sur ce point.
La question des urgences a également été mentionnée et je voudrais rapidement préciser quelques points sur ce sujet. Dans la plupart des .situations d'urgence en réalité, elles sont suffisamment simples et l'on peut d'emblée identifier qui doit prendre l'action immédiate et la coordination est simple et se fait très bien. Cependant le CAC a reconnu dans certains cas particulièrement complexes de grande envergure et de grande portée qu'il était probablement nécessaire de prévoir des dispositions spécifiques. La décision du CAC qui est communiquée au Conseil prévoit la procédure par laquelle dans ces circonstances spécifiques les organisations du système intéressées par les opérations d'urgence se consultent pour décider s'il y a urgence nécessitant une procédure spéciale et, si la réponse est positive, comment la coordination se fera et elle peut se faire, par exemple, par la désignation d'une agence chef de file par le Secrétaire général après les consultations nécessaires, et en accord avec les organisations intéressées, ou par la désignation d'un représentant spécial du Secrétaire général; ces choses se faisant sur une base ad hoc en fonction du cas d'espèce. Par conséquent, il est évident qu'en ce qui concerne le secteur agricole et rural, la relance de la réhabilitation agricole où les opérations d'urgence immédiates en matière d'aide alimentaire, la FAO et le PAM sont toujours tenus en considération mais la décision est une décision ad hoc. Une question est également posée par le représentant de l'Inde concernant la "task force" sur le développement rural: je voudrais préciser qu 'effectivement la FAO est le chef de file reconnu dans le cadre du système des Nations Unies, par conséquent ceci va dans le sens de la préoccupation exprimée par le représentant de l'Inde. Il a indiqué qu'il serait souhaitable que des directives générales pour les projets en matière de développement rural soient considérées. Je voudrais simplement à titre d'information lui indiquer que de telles lignes d'orientations, de telles directives sont à l'examen de la "Task Force" sur le développement rural. J'ai devant moi un premier projet de ce qu'en anglais on appelle "Guidelines for the design and use of monitoring and evaluation systems in managing rural development." Donc cette question est à l'examen pour l'instant de la "Task Force". Le premier projet sera discuté à sa prochaine session en avril 1983 et; une fois que ces directives seraient approuvées, elles seraient utilisées aussi bien par le personnel des Nations Unies dans sa préparation de projet que nous l'espérons au niveau national. Le représentant de l'Inde a également indiqué qu'il serait sans doute utile en ce qui concerne l'énergie rurale nouvelle et renouvelable de disposer d'une cellule à la FAO qui puisse maîtriser l'ensemble de ce secteur. Je voudrais le rassurer à cet égard puisque le Directeur général a désigné il y a quelque temps un groupe de travail départemental sur l'environnement et l'énergie. C'est donc cette cellule dont nous avons parlé tout à l'heure.
Je crois avoir répondu ainsi aux principales questions. Je voudrais seulement dire que nous avons pris note du lancement de ce nouveau programme par les communautés européennes d'un programme sur la recherche en matière d'agronomie tropicale et sur l'offre de participation de la FAO au comité de gestion. Nous en avons pris bonne note.
En ce qui concerne la question que vous avez vous-même posée concernant la décennie sur l'utilisation de l'eau, il n'y a pas référence à cette décennie dans ce document-ci car la question a été traitée lors d'un Conseil précédent et n'ayant pas eu de développement depuis lors, nous n'avons pas pensé utile d'en parler. C'est une chose que nous suivons de près, y compris la nécessité tout à fait particulière d'un lien avec les problèmes de l'eau dans les villages et dans les zones rurales et également le problème de l'irrigation. C'est une chose que nous avons en tête.
CHAIRMAN: I am very grateful to all of you for the very interesting discussion this morning, and to Mr. Regnier and to the staff of FAO for making such a discussion possible.
Election of Five Members of CFA
Election des cinq membres du CFA
Elección de cinco Miembros del CFA
Y. A. HAMDI (Egypt) (original language Arabic): Thank you Mr. Chairman. I apologize for taking the floor so late. The Chairman of the African Group announced that the Group were putting forward the candidacy of Nigeria and Zambia for the CFA in order to replace Sierra Leone and Egypt. This decision was adopted when our delegation was not present, Mr. Chairman. This announcement has led to considerable confusion among the members of the Council. For this reason, my delegation would like to stress that the Arab Republic of Egypt is still a candidate for the CFA, and leaves the final decision to the honorable members of the Council.
B.N. SEQUEIRA (Angola): I wonder whether the Chairman of the African group would be kind enough to give us some clarification on this issue.
J. TCHICAYA (Congo): Je ne voudrais pas retenir plus longtemps le Conseil, mais je dois dire que l'annonce que j'ai faite ce matin, je l'ai faite au nom du groupe africain. Nous maintenons notre position: le groupe africain présente deux candidats au moment où deux autres pays voient leur mandat se terminer. Les deux pays que nous proposons sont le Nigeria et la Zambie. Je demande aux membres duConseils d'aider le groupe africain à soutenir ces deux candidats.
CHAIRMAN: I would therefore like to revise what I stated earlier in the morning. In the Order of the Day paper, as programmed on Monday morning, there will be an election of five members to the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes. On the UN/FAO World Food Programme the nominations are: Cuba, Egypt, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Zambia and Norway. The only change is that Zambia replaces Lesotho. I think that is all right. In the morning when I asked, there was no response from Members, which I took as concurrence,
M. PHOOFOLO (Lesotho): That is agreed. Lesotho will now step down.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for the clarification. So the only change is that Zambia replaces Lesotho.
The meeting rose at 12.30 hours
La séance est levée à 12 h 30
Se levanta la""sesión a las 12.30 horas
