LE PRESIDENT: Honorables délégués, Monsieur le Directeur général, reprenons nos travaux.
Il nous faut régler un point que nous avions laissé en suspens ce matin, à savoir la composition du Comité de rédaction et sa présidence. Nous avons reçu, de la part du Secrétariat les propositions suivantes:
Pour la présidence du Comité de rédaction, le Docteur Yousef Ali Mahmoud Hamdi, Représentant permanent adjoint auprès de la FAO, de la République d'Egypte.
Les membres suivants sont proposés: Argentine, Australie, Egypte, Inde, République islamique d'Iran, Japon, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexique, Pakistan, Espagne, Etats-Unis d'Amérique.
Avez-vous des observations ou des remarques à faire ?
LE DIRECTEUR GENERAL: Je voudrais me permettre, à ce stade, de faire une remarque aux eminente membres du Conseil. J'ai donné des instructions au Secrétariat et aux responsables de la préparation des projets de rédaction portant sur les différents points du jour, d'être "très sobres" et d'essayer d'écrire le moins possible. En effet, je crains, si l'on propose un projet très long, que le Comité de rédaction risque de passer des heures dessus; il y a un nombre impressionnant de pays membres, je dirais presque le quart du Conseil. Dans le passé, ces réunions ont été très longues, chaque mot, chaque virgule, ont été l'objet de discussions: je lance un appel à 'tous les délégués pour que, tout en faisant bien le travail et en reflétant les opinions, bien évidemment, nous essayions d'être brefs.
L'adoption du rapport, elle aussi, prend beaucoup de temps. Mais, j'espère, comme je l'ai dit dans mon discours ce matin, que les discussions seront amicales. On peut ne pas être d'accord, sans qu'il y ait d'affrontement, sachant que les débats au Comité de rédaction se répercutent ensuite en plénière.
Pour notre part, nous sommes à la disposition des délégués.
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie Monsieur le Directeur général de ses remarques et suggestions dont je pense que les membres du Comité de rédaction tiendront le plus grand compte.
Ms. Joan DUDIK-GAYOSO (United States of America): I wanted to thank the Director-General through you for his kind remarks and just point out that we also would hope that the debates in the drafting group would be as amicable as possible and it would certainly help us if the drafts provided by the Secretariat reflected a balance in the debate. It would save a lot of time in the drafting group and I think brevity is important and I think balance is another quality that we would request.
LE DIRECTEUR GENERAL: On ne peut pas nous faire de procès d'intention; comme d'habitude le Secrétariat sera impartial.
LE PRESIDENT: En tout état de cause, les membres eux-mêmes du Comité de rédaction ont la responsabilité de cette rédaction et 11 leur appartient de veiller à ce qu'elle soit la plus fidèle possible.
José Ramón LOPEZ-PORTILLO ROMANO (México): La Delegación de México confía, como siempre lo ha hecho, en la capacidad de la Secretaría para presentar un proyecto de informe imparcial y balanceado. La función de los miembros del Comité de Redacción todos la conocemos, y los debates, sin duda, serán tranquilos, positivos y fructíferos, en la medida en que haya cooperación por parte de todos. Pero quiero solamente subrayar algo respecto del equilibrio. Puede haber equilibrio cuando las dos partes de la balanza pesan equitativamente. Cuando no es así y hay una inclinación hacia un lado, debe destacarse tal peso mayoritario. En ese sentido entendemos nosotros el equilibrio, que deberá recoger, sin duda, este informe. Y le aseguro, como futuro miembro del Comité de Redacción, que participaremos con el mejor espíritu y la más amplia voluntad de cooperación.
LE PRESIDENT: Je suis convaincu que les membres du Comité de rédaction et du Secrétariat feront tout pour préserver un climat d'entente et de compréhension constructives. Je suis persuadé qu'avec l'expérience que nous avons des réunions, nous aboutirons à une rédaction fidèle.
Avec votre permission, je considérerai que le Comité de rédaction est constitué comme je viens de l'indiquer.
It Was so decided.
Il en est ainsi décidé.
Así se acuerda.
LE PRESIDENT: Nous passons maintenant au point 12. Comme je l'ai dit, ce point est divisé en deux: le point 12.1 - situation financière et perspectives - et le point 12.2 - incidences de la situation financière et mesures éventuelles à prendre pour assurer l'exécution du Programme de travail et budget pour 1988-1989.
Ces deux parties sont pour examen et éventuellement décision. Les documents qui se réfèrent au point 12 sont les documents suivants: CL 94/4 et CL 94/LIM/1.
Je voudrais, comme 11 est d'usage, passer la parole à l'Organisation et, avec la permission de M. Saouma, je vais donner la parole à M. Crowther, Directeur Général-Adjoint du Département des Finances et de l'Administration, qui va nous présenter ce dossier.
Dean K. CROWTHER (Assistant Director-General, Administration and Finance Department): Mr. Chairman, with your permission I shall introduce both Items and handle them together, in that they are both very closely related.
As the Council will recall, the Finance Committee and the Programme Committee have met twice this year - once in the spring, in May, and again in September. During those sessions, both Committees
have met together in a regular joint session at which time on both occasions the Director-General has' presented the financial situation and the consequences of the actions that have been taken.
I shall refer to the Finance Committee's report and more specifically to the Joint Session reports, for both the spring and the September sessions, as well as the LIM document that you have in front of you, and make some reference also to the quarterly report for the third quarter showing the nine months' activity for 1988 that was just recently distributed. In the LIM document, you will note that at the beginning of the year the assessments were made for 1988 in the amount of $ 240 million. At that point the Organization had contributions in arrears from member governments in the amount of $ 93 876 000. The Organization was owed a total on January 1, 1988 of an amount of $334 796 000. During the year and through 11 November, we had received - and I will put these again in the same order - for the 1988 assessments $157 168 000. Of the outstanding contributions in arrears, we have received up through 11 November $37 561 000. To put that in round terms, we have received just over 65% of the 1988 assessments, and we have received approximately 40% of the contributions that were in arrears at the beginning of the year. That still leaves as of 11 November $83 751 000 outstanding for 1988 assessments. That is 34.8% of our entire 1988 assessments are still due and owing.
The arrears picture is even more bleak. At 11 November the Organization was still owed $56 315 000 in arrears, representing about 60% of the arrears that were owed at the beginning of the year. Whilst 65Z of the 1988 assessments have been paid, if you will turn to page 4 of the LIM document you will see that for 1988 73 countries have paid in full, 31 countries have made partial payments and 54 countries have made no payments.
To relate that to the percentages on the amounts paid, you will recall that 65Z of the money has been collected for 1988, whereas 46% of the countries have paid in full. That leaves about 20Z who have made part payments and 34% who have made no payments at all. There still remain 43 countries who have arrears outstanding. This by far is the most serious situation the Organization has ever had to endure.
To put that into the perspective of the expenditures, again if you will bear with me I will refer to the quarterly report that was just distributed wherein we have made projections of our cash flow through the end of 1988. In it we expected to have cumulative disbursements for 1988 of $ 231 million which would leave a cash balance at the end of year of $ 10 million. That sounds as though we would be in pretty good shape, if we had $ 10 million at the end, but bear in mind that we are holding fiduciary funds for a number of payments that must be made; fiduciary funds require a cash balance minimum of $ 12 million, and we will not have enough money to cover the fiduciary funds. In effect, we will be in the red by the end of year.
I would like to put that in perspective for Council members. If you recall, we ended up the last biennium with the first deficit in the history of the Organization, some $ 47.8 million. At that moment we had $28 million in cash carry-over but there was no money in the Special Reserve Account nor in the Working Capital Fund. During the year we have received amounts for the Working Capital Fund which now totals some $ 2.3 million and the Special Reserve Account of $7.7 million. There have been a small number of advances for 1989 already.
In addition, I must refer to the generous contribution of the Italian Government because we have received $ 15 million as a Special Fund for which we have been authorized to fund certain TCP projects. With the help of the Italian Government, and with the payments that have been received from other member governments, particularly those who paid as early as they could, we are in a position that by the end of the year we shall survive. How were we able to do that? It was necessary for the Director-General to take a decision early on this year because it was recognized that we would not have sufficient funds to pay for the operations that would be required. There was no way that the Organization could fund the full level of the Programme of Work and Budget for this year. He took the decision to reduce expenditure by slowing down expenditures in 1988 in the amount of $ 20 million. Had he not taken that position, we would be out of cash today. There were several instances during the year, because of a change in pattern of receipt of contributions by a number of member nations this year, that caused us to run short of cash on several occasions, and in one case we were absolutely and completely out of cash.
Recognizing that fact, and recognizing the positions that have been taken by a number of member governments in changing their pattern of receipts this year, it has been very difficult for the Director-General to be able to manage the cash flow under the circumstances.
Nevertheless we will still end the year with a very small cash balance. Projecting that into 1989 it becomes very clear that even beginning in January we will have a very difficult situation. The expenditures will cost the Organization enough that it will be almost impossible to get through
January with the current balances that are projected. It is extremely important for the
Organization to understand when the individual Member Countries can pay. As you will recall from the basic text the amounts due and owing are payable on 1 January or 30 days after receipt of the billing letter from the Director-General, which, in this case is going to be 1 January and therefore all payments will be due on 1 January 1989. We are aware that we will not receive all the members payments on 1 January 1989. At the same time, in order for us to plan for the cash flow that will be required in 1989 it is essential that we obtain from the Member Governments their plan so that we will know precisely when we can expect such payments. In the call letter we will ask for you to designate when this money might be forthcoming. Without such an indication it is necessary for a number of other decisions to be taken. I may add that during 1988 while there have been some increases in the working capital fund it has not been possible for the Organization to absorb the. original US$13 million that must be paid back to the Working Capital Fund before the end of the biennium. We could not do that in 1988, but it must be done in 1989.
Secondly, there have been a number of cost increases which were not anticipated. There is a General Service Salary increase which was not anticipated earlier on, and the post-adjustment has increased to some degree. As a consequence there have been a number of costs that the Organization has had to incur while at the same time reducing the amount of expenditure. If those same costs continue on in 1989, which we expect fully that they will, it means that it is also even more important that we receive the contributions as early as possible and as a minimum, to be advised on specifically when we can expect to receive those contributions.
With regard to the Special Reserve Account, the Organization was following the Resolution of the Conference in which assessments were made at the level of 50 percent of the normal assessment to replenish the Special Reserve Account. The amount assessed was US$12.3 million. Of that assessment we have so far collected over US$ 7 million. The remainder of that, of course, must be collected during 1989. In order to avoid the use of the Special Reserve Account in 1988 the Director-General took a number of decisions in which he entered into contracts for forward cover of lire to avoid the currency exchange. You will recall that the Special Reserve Account has, among its other purposes, to receive charges - both profits and losses - on currency exchange resulting from staff costs. During 1988, we expect to avoid any charges. Therefore, it may be possible by the end of the year to have some small credit because of the actions taken to enter into forward contracts for lire and avoid the currency exchange losses which we endured when the dollar weakened dramatically in 1986 and 1987. In every case the contracts were in an amount substantially better than the budget rate which was adopted in November 1987. The dollar has been very erratic and is now dropping again which is a clear indication that the forward contract was a wise decision and it will protect the Organization (and therefore the governing body) from those continued losses.
The Special Reserve Account can be used to substitute and augment the Working Capital Fund pending receipt of contributions. However, with the amount of arrears that is outstanding at this point, and projected to be at the end of the year, the Working Capital Fund as well as the amounts that will be remaining in the Special Reserve Account are obviously not nearly enough to cover the amount of arrears that are there. Therefore, we expect to end the year pretty much as was shown in the quarterly report. We will increase the deficit that arose at the last biennium. There was a US$ 47 million deficit which arose at the last biennium. We will increase that by US$ 10 to 12 million caused completely by the delay in receipt of contributions. This fact alone has caused the cash flow problems, and the erratic receipts which have been very difficult to manage. It has caused the decision to be taken by the Director-General to reduce programme expenditure by US$ 20 million. Obviously the Organization is totally dependent upon the receipt of those contributions on a timely basis. As I have mentioned before, this matter was discussed by the Programme and Finance Committees jointly in the spring and in the fall. In both cases there was an encouragement which was included in the report to all Member Nations to pay contributions as early as possible. We shall issue the call letters for 1989 on the 1 December so that clearly in the 30 days following the amounts will be due, and requests that every effort be made to pay the contributions as early as possible.
I conclude by saying that the situation has not significantly improved. While we have been able to get through this year without reference to credit facilities or borrowing, we have contacted a number of commercial banks and such facilities are available but the Director-General has refrained from using such an arrangement. The financial crisis remains with the outstanding arrears being as high as they are and I think that the amounts shown in the quarterly report properly reflect the amounts that the Organization must receive in the reasonably near future in order to be able to carry out the Programme of Work and Budget.
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie M. Crowther de cette communication et je vais demander à M. le Directeur Général s'il désire ajouter quelque chose pour éclairer le débat.
DIRECTOR-GENERAL: I had not intended to make a statement at this stage but I think that in view of the situationw which we face at this moment, I should like to share a few thoughts.
You have heard a factual statement from Mr. Crowther. Mr. Crowther stands ready to answer any questions you may have on the detailed figures, but as you can see from what he has said, the situation is grave.
At this moment, I want to stress the wider issues of the contributions situation. First, I want to thank all those Member Governments that have paid their contributions for past years and for 1988 in full or in large part, and above all I want to thank the Government of our Host Country for its generous voluntary contribution to FAO.
These payments, together with the "slowdown" of expenditure amounting to US$ 25 million in 1987 and a further US$ 20 million this year, have meant that we have been able to pay our staff and keep vital programmes going. So far we have avoided cash flow problems. These slowdowns, savings or cuts - whatever you want to call them - are not without cost. They are not easy to effect and they damage not only the number of activities but also the range and effectiveness of our programmes in a period when FAO is called upon, more than ever, to respond to acute needs and conditions in poor countries·
This is not a situation which can continue indefinitely or indeed any longer.
We are living a somewhat hand-to-mouth existence, compared to the security of the past, when in accordance with the Constitution, most Governments, especially the richest, paid their contributions in full and, what is more, on a predictable regular schedule and without conditions.
Nowadays, we do not know well in advance, as Mr. Crowther said, nor with any security, if and when large or small amounts are coming in. I have tried hard to obtain schedules of future payments but so far without success. We have to keep close watch on recent patterns of payment and gauge our own operations on virtually a monthly basis.
Now, there are many countries in arrears - 54 have not paid this year - and I am constantly urging them to settle these. I take this opportunity to appeal once again for the earliest and fullest payment of all arrears and dues.
However, it is an inescapable and indeed obvious fact that the largest amount of arrears, by far outweighing all others, are those of the largest contributor.
We all know that this is a special case in view of domestic legislation, but I must confess to puzzlement and disappointment that FAO appears so far to have been singled out for especially unfavourable treatment. For 1987, against an assessed contribution of US$ 50 million, we received only US$ 25 million, in July 1988. This represented only 50 percent of the amount due. All other organizations in the United Nations system received from 75 to 100 percent of the amounts due to them. For 1988, we are informed of an allocation of only US$ 25 million, whereas the total amount due is US$ 64 million, therefore the allocation represents only 38 percent.
I find it hard to believe that the Member Nations of this Organization could accept any reason for the world Organization charged with fighting hunger and malnutrition being treated in a less favourable fashion than others.
We are left speculating about the extent and rate of payments of arrears for previous blennia, plus the dues for this biennium, i.e. in this year and next, by several Member Nations but inevitably, in particular, by the largest contributor, who at this time owes the Organization some US$ 107 million. As from next January, another US$ 60 million will be due. Maybe a payment of US$ 25 million this week or next week, or whenever this year, would be welcome but will still leave a substantial amount due.
However, all payments are most welcome since, as I said at the beginning, we are having to monitor our operations on a careful monthly basis, to ensure we can pay out monthly salaries and other bills for our programmes and services. Mr. Crowther has advised me that unless the pattern of payments is the same or better than it has been in the past, we could have a serious cash flow problem already in January.
The programme, even the visibility of FAO through its publications, has already been damaged enough by the slowdowns of 1987 and 1988. Suppliers have to be paid; staff commitments must be met.
I hope that we will now see an end to uncertainty and conditionality. I shall not fall in exercising my responsibilities to avoid further grave consequences for the programme and the staff, and to report these to the Finance Committee next year.
That is all I propose to say now.
LE PRESIDENT: Je vous remercie, M. Le Directeur général, des informations très importantes que vous venez de nous donner. Il n'y a aucun doute que cela est fondamental pour nous.
J'ouvre maintenant les débats. Quatre délégués se sont inscrits, ceux de la Colombie, de Madagascar, du Mexique et du Nicaragua.
La parole est à M. le Représentant de la Colombie.
Gonzalo BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Vacilo mucho en intervenir porque de las dos declaraciones que se han hecho para presentar este tema, se deduce claramente la responsabilidad de los Estados Unidos en la crisis financiera de la FAO. Por ello, tal vez el orden más lógico del debate hubiera sido el de que la distinguida y eminente Representante de ese país, por un mínimo de respeto a nosotros que somos Representantes de Estados soberanos, nos dijera cuándo y como van a pagar sus cuotas atrasadas. Si es o no cierto que hace apenas una semana que el gobierno de ese país decidió pagar a otras cinco Organizaciones, entre las cuales no está incluida la FAO. Exigimos esa explicación, Sr. Presidente, porque no podemos aceptar que una Organización como la nuestra siga al vaivén del capricho y de la arrogancia de un solo país.
Después de habérsenos presentado en la reunión de Representantes Permanentes de la primavera pasada, el ùltimo informe sobre el pago de las contribuciones y el estado financiero de la Organización, el silencio que siguió sin ningún otro contacto, nos había llenado de esperanzas en el sentido de que todos los Estados Miembros hubieren cumplido sus compromisos. Por ello, las informaciones que acabamos de escuchar nos desconciertan e indignan.
El Gobierno de Colombia desea reconocer la actitud positiva y eficaz de aquellos otros Estados desarrollados, todos menos uno, menos uno bien conocido, que durante 1988 han pagado oportunamente sus cuotas y han evitado así una crisis de mayores proporciones. Nuestro homenaje y reconocimiento a Italia, noble país hospedante y a todos los demás países desarrollados: Japón, República Federal de Alemania, Reino Unido, Bélgica, Francia, los Países Nórdicos, España, Portugal, todos los países que han pagado sus contribuciones, y respetuosamente pedimos a esos gobiernos que ojalá en 1989, al principio del año, consideren la posibilidad de asumir esa misma actitud positiva.
Al hacer este reconocimiento a esos países, Sr. Presidente, a esos estados industrializados con los cuales Colombia mantiene las mejores relaciones, no podemos ocultar cierto sentimiento, aunque sea frágil, de decepción porque jamás hemos oído en ninguna reunión, jamás hemos leído en ninguno de los resúmenes del Presidente del Grupo de Camberley, una sola referencia al hecho insatisfactorio para todos de que los Estados Unidos de América no pagan sus contribuciones.
Nosotros quisiéramos pedirles a los colegas de los países desarrollados que nos acompañen en la tarea de señalar la responsabilidad de este Estado y de exigirle que pague sus contribuciones. Reconocemos que la Administración procedió de buena fe al hacer reajustes en los programas; 25 millones en 1987 y 20 millones en 1988, porque así se aseguró la subsistencia de nuestra Organización. Pero seguramente el hecho de que se haya adoptado esa actitud, ha constituido un incentivo para que ese ùnico país culpable de la crisis, persista en el no pago de sus contribuciones porque parece que aquí se ha demostrado que aun sin esos aportes, la FAO puede seguir subsistiendo.
La Delegación de Colombia pide a este Consejo que coincidamos todos, que declaremos en nuestro Informe que no será aceptable que se proponga ningún nuevo ni adicional recorte, ni reajuste en el Programa para 1989. Resultaría inaudito que un Programa de Labores y Presupuesto aprobado por 158 Estados soberanos en la Conferencia sea sometido a otros reajustes por presión justamente del Estado que no paga sus contribuciones. Pensamos que el Director General ha debido hacer uso de la autorización que la Conferencia le concedió para recurrir a préstamos en vez de haber cercenado el Programa. De todas maneras, queremos pedir al Director General que recurra a préstamos o a cualquier otra facilidad de crédito si fuera necesario, pero que, por favor, no nos proponga ningún reajuste más en el Programa para 1989.
Resulta realmente desconsolador para quien tiene cierta modesta y larga experiencia en esta Organización, ver el degrado a que se está sometiendo la existencia misma de la FAO. Durante 43 años, la Conferencia aprueba un nivel de presupuesto, adopta una escala de cuotas, y todos los ¡6'países, con retardo o cumplidos, pagan sus contribuciones. ¿Qué sucede ahora que el país mal llamado primer contribuyente se niega a cumplir ese compromiso legal y moral y nos tiene a todos arrodillados ante el templo del maná prodigioso para que cada vez que resuelva darnos 25 millones de dólares, debamos sonar las campanas a fiesta? Resulta por lo menos cínico, por lo menos cínico repito, la pretensión de que los Representantes de ese país quieran justificar sus retardos afirmando que 54 Estados tampoco han pagado sus contribuciones. Todos sabemos que los otros Estados no han pagado por circunstancias económicas y no por deliberados propósitos políticos. Todos sabemos también que el impacto que causa en la vida de la Organización la falta de pago de las cuotas de ese país, nunca puede compararse con ningún otro Estado.
Quiero referirme ahora a la actitud, realmente lamentable, del Comité de Finanzas. En el párrafo el Comité ya a fines del año, terminó su reunión el 20 de septiembre, reconocen sus miembros en ese párrafo 4.29, que eran optimistas en sus previsiones. Luego, en el apartado a) del párrafo los Comités se resignan y dicen que ya los Estados Unidos de América pagaron 25 millones en 16 julio y que no esperan que paguen más nada en todo el resto de 1988.
Pero, ¿cuál es la reacción del Comité de Finanzas frente a ese hecho? Veámoslo, Sr. Presidente; veamos los párrafos 4.33 y 4.21. En el párrafo 4.33 el Comité dice que: "Instó una vez más a los Estados Miembros que tengan cuotas pendientes a que pagaran lo antes posible sus atrasos, y las cuotas corrientes". En el párrafo 4.21, los Comités duplican esa dosis de ingenuidad y dicen que el Comité exhortó a todos los Estados Miembros que tenían contribuciones pendientes. Es decir, Sr. Presidente, que el Comité de Finanzas se resignó a esa situación. Hay informes del Comité de Finanzas que aun no estando frente a una situación tan grave y dramática como la actual, son mucho más fuertes e insisten ante los países para que paguen porque si no lo hacen, pierden el derecho de voto. En cambio, esta vez asumen este lenguaje angelical.
Los Representantes de Colombia hemos hecho ya reserva en un convento que se llama convento del candor y de la ingenuidad; hemos reservado veinte puestos para que los miembros de los Comités del Programa y de Finanzas vayan a hacer ejercicios espirituales, hagan acto de contrlcción y se arrepientan de estas malas acciones.
Señor Presidente, en el tema 13 nos vamos a referir a otras actitudes en que han incurrido los Comités del Programna y de Finanzas, como el párrafo 1.9 del documento 94/3. Han incurrido hasta en actos ilegales, en exabruptos jurídicos, financieros y administrativos. Como lo ha dicho el Director General y lo anticipó el señor Crowther, la situación es sumamente difícil a partir del año 89. Aunque los Estados Unidos nos hicieran la concesión enorme de pagar otros 25 millones, ni siquiera así habrían terminado de pagar los 67.4 millones que deben del año 87. De manera que, con toda franqueza, no sé de dónde la Secretaría saca el porcentaje del 38 por ciento sobre la cuota correspondiente al 88, cuando ni siquiera han terminado de pagar el año 87.
Señor Presidente, distinguidos colegas, soy profundamente religioso, soy un hombre de gran fe. Hace una semana, el pasado 8 de noviembre, no fui a trabajar. Me encerré en la iglesia de mi humilde parroquia, recé intensamente ese martes 8 de noviembre hasta las 6 de la mañana del miércoles 9, cuando empezaron a conocerse los primeros resultados. Pasé horas de angustia, de inquietud, de tristeza, porque, ingenuo yo también, había concebido la esperanza ilusa de que se producirla algún cambio. Desgraciadamente, señor Presidente y distinguidos colegas, todo parece indicar que se vaa prolongar ese período del más ingrato recuerdo para el mundo en desarrollo: 20 de enero de 1980 - 20 de enero de 1989. Como lo ha declarado uno de los eminentes e ilustres protagonistas, el antecesor montará a caballo al "tramonto", linda palabra italiana ("al atardecer", decimos en castellano), y el sucesor va a capitalizar la herencia de esa era injusta: víctimas inocentes, la cooperación internacional, el multilateralismo, los países en desarrollo.
Apolinaire ANDRIATSIAFAJATO (Madagascar): Comme c'est la première fois que la délégation malgache intervient de façon formelle, je voudrais avant tout me féliciter de vous voir présider de nouveau nos travaux, étant assurés que grâce à votre haute compétence et votre grande expérience, nous attendons de ce débat toute la sérénité que nous sommes en droit d'espérer.
Notre délégation souhaiterait profiter également de l'occasion pour se réjouir de la participation à nos assises des représentants de l'URSS. Comme cela a été dit ce matin, votre présence parmi nous ne fera que rendre plus forte l'Organisation, et nous osons espérer que ce sera le prélude à d'autres démarches plus conséquentes pour l'avenir.
Nous sommes d'autant plus à l'aise pour le croire compte tenu des relations qui unissent nos pays, et je profite de l'occasion pour saluer à nouveau la profonde entente qui a toujours existé entre nos pays dès lors qu'il s'agit de traiter de problèmes d'intérêt commun.
Je voudrais également remercier Monsieur Crowther pour la concision et la clarté de sa présentation.
Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Directeur général, Excellence, Mesdames, Messieurs, c'est devenu un laxisme que de dire que malgré les efforts des pays pauvres pour réorienter leurs politiques économiques et accorder la priorité des priorités à l'agriculture, les moyens dont ils disposent pour y parvenir sont malheureusement dérisoires. La pauvreté est aggravée par des conjonctures défavorables qui font qu'il est pratiquement difficile de mettre en place les infrastructures adéquates de production. Cette situation amène les intéressés à recourir constamment aux apports extérieurs et, au bout du compte, depuis des siècles, ces pays n'ont jamais été maîtres de leur destin.
Voilà l'état d'âme qui nous étreint lorsque nous examinons le document 94/4 et 94/LIM/1 sur la situation financière de l'Organisation. Ayant fondé notre espoir sur les aides si précieuses de la FAO pour nous sortir de ces difficultés, voilà que cette Organisation continue, à son corps défendant, d'éprouver de graves difficultés financières qui ne manqueront pas de compromettre l'exécution de son Programme de travail et budget 1988-1989.
En effet, au lieu de redoubler d'efforts pour répondre efficacement aux nombreuses et pressantes sollicitations des pays en développement dont les besoins d'aide et d'assistance se font de plus en plus intenses, l'Organisation se voit contrainte de réduire ses activités, de consacrer son temps à des exercices de funambulisme intelligents pour rechercher des solutions de survie.
Ma délégation à ce stade ne saurait omettre de féliciter et d'encourager le personnel de la FAO ainsi que son Directeur général qui ont fait preuve de la plus totale abnégation et d'un dévouement exemplaire pour faire face à la présente situation, pour rechercher les solutions de survie et je dis que le Comité de Programme et le Comité financier, conformément aux mandats qui leur ont été édictés par la Conférence dans sa Résolution 6/87, ont fait un travail dont 11 y a lieu de se féliciter, par sa hauteur de vue et son réalisme.
Ma délégation appuiera toutes les propositions pertinentes et les mesures qui pourraient porter remède à la situation qui nous préoccupe à présent.
Aussi, joint-elle sa voix à celles des délégations qui se sont déjà exprimées pour exhorter tous les pays membres à s'acquitter de leur contribution. C'est là, nous semble-t-il, la tâche qui devrait dominer toutes les autres. Elle consisterait à recouvrer les contributions dues au titre des exercices antérieurs, et celles de 1988.
Comment omettre également de remercier tous ceux qui ont rempli leurs obligations! Je ne voudrais pas les citer tous, au risque d'en oublier. Mais la disponibilité des ressources pour obtenir un soutien accru qui puisse répondre aux besoins d'un développement rural satisfaisant et aux aspirations des pays en développement dépend maintenant et singulièrement des plus gros contributeurs.
Sauf à ruiner le crédit de l'Organisation, ils devraient rapidement s'acquitter de leurs obligations. Le respect des obligations nous paraît tout à fait conciliable avec la prise en compte des souhaits particuliers de chacun. Et il n'y a pas lieu de détourner l'attention sur les arriérés des contributions en essayant d'influencer les experts, le Secrétariat, ou les Comités de Programme ou le Comité financier, par des exigences hors de propos.
Nous, nous avons payé Monsieur le Président. Malgré ses énormes difficultés financières et économiques et les sacrifices quasi inhumains auxquels sa population est soumise pour redresser son économie et son développement, Madagascar a tenu à honorer intégralement ses obligations envers l'Organisation. Mon Gouvernement n'a pas hésité à soustraire de ses maigres économies de devises la part correspondant à ses contributions ordinaires et extraordinaires vis-á-vis de la FAO. Je demanderai à l'honorable assemblée de se reporter au document qui précise ce sujet.
Ce faisant, nous avons tenu à souligner clairement l'Importance que nous attachons au renforcement des actions de la FAO; nous avons tenu á dépasser les simples calculs d'intérêt égoïstes pour voir les conditions permettant d'améliorer les actions en faveur des pays en développement dans l'agriculture et l'alimentation. La foi que nous mettons au service de cette cause ne se démentira nullement lorsqu'il s'agira de trouver des solutions à la mesure de nos préoccupations.
On a dit et redit qu'il s'est forgé une conscience plus profonde de l'interdépendance entre la croissance du monde industrialisé et le développement du tiers monde. Ce thème, ainsi que d'autres, revient régulièrement dans nos réunions, année après année. Hais cela reste à l'état de voeux pieux et de déclarations d'intentions. Pour sortir la FAO du bourbier dans lequel elle patauge et s'enfonce, ce n'est pas forcément en procédant à des réformes que l'on y parviendra. Une telle gesticulation, loin d'éclairer le débat, nous plonge dans la perplexité et jette un rideau de fumée sur la réalité.
Car cette réalité, Monsieur le Président, est le dépérissement progressif de l'Organisation, sa mort lente par ionanition dont le seul remède, comme l'ont dit Monsieur le Directeur général et tous les orateurs qui m'ont précédé, consisterait a lui redonner les moyens et les ressources pour sa survie et sa vie. La leçon des derniers mois est amère et ne pas y procéder ressemblerait á une opération de torpillage qui risque de retendre dangereusement la corde et d'ajouter un peu plus d'embrouille à la situation actuelle.
Monsieur le Président, 11 faut se féliciter que le Programme de Coopération technique ait été jusqu'à présent épargné des mesures de réduction opérées dans les autres programmes grâce surtout á la contribution généreuse du pays hôte. Nous tenons à en remercier très sincèrement le Gouvernement italien.
Par la même occasion, nous souhaiterions lancer un appel aux pays industrialisés pour que, d'une part, ils renforcent leurs contributions au Fonds fiduciaire et, d'autre part, ils acceptent une majoration des taux de remboursement des dépenses d'appui au Programme de terrain. Concomitamment, nous encourageons le Directeur général dans ses efforts de réduction du coût global de telles dépenses·
Enfin, Monsieur le Président, tout en regrettant que le Directeur général soit obligé de recourir aux emprunts si la situation financière ne s'améliorait pas et s'il n'arrivait plus à garder suffisamment le contrôle de la situation, nous estimons, tout comme la Colombie et le Comité financier, que pour sauver l'Organisation, 11 faudrait alors effectivement emprunter. Il y a lieu, comme 11 est suggéré dans le document, de conclure des accords spécifiques de crédits qui ne seraient cependant utilisés qu'en cas de besoin extrême.
Tout cela est bien triste et si ma délégation avance de telles propositions, c'est qu'elle est hautement animée du désir d'aider au renforcement de la capacité d'intervention de la FAO et voudrait, en toute bonne foi, améliorer les redressements à entreprendre pour la sortir de sa sclérose actuelle. Dans pareille situation, la tentation est grande de croire aux prodiges; je ne suis pas un saint comme l'honorable délégué de la Colombie, mais 11 n'y aura pas de miracle: le seul remède c'est de payer les contributions.
Tout pêché n'est pas miséricorde; l'estime que nous continuons de porter au plus gros contributeur pour son action résolue envers la lutte contre la faim et la malnutrition nous incite à ne pas le condamner énergiquement, mais plutôt à l'engager à prendre davantage conscience de ses responsabilités morales vis-à-vis de ceux qui attendent plus de souplesse de sa part.
José Ramon LOPEZ-PORTILLO ROMANO (Mexico) Es muy difícil hablar después de los excelentes oradores y por eso mis comentarlos los reduciré en la medida de lo posible. Señor Presidente, en primer lugar, deseamos agradecerle al Dr. Crowther la información que nos ha proporcionado. Dadas las circunstancias, no podemos hacer otra cosa que tomar nota de la situación en que nos encontramos, cuya solución, en parte, depende de nuestra voluntad; pero, en la otra, la mayor parte, del ahora mayor deudor.
No debemos, sin embargo, por ello dejar de agradecer a los países de la OCDE y a otros países en desarrollo los grandes, enormes esfuerzos que han hecho por contribuir, inclusive anticipadamente, para ayudar a resolver la crisis financiera por la que atraviesa FAO. Especial referencia debe hacerse al esfuerzo extraordinario del Gobierno anfitrión, de Italia.
México y otros países en desarrollo, como usted bien sabe, hemos hecho esfuerzos extraordinarios por pagar en tiempo, a pesar de que nuestra situación financiera y económica se deteriora rápidamente, agravada, por cierto, por fenómenos inesperados naturales, como aquellos a los que hizo alusión el Director General esta mañana. No obstante, hemos intentado cumplir, y cumplir a tiempo. Hace unos días, México ha pagado una parte de lo que le debe a la Organización para este año, y hacemos todos los esfuerzos para terminar de pagar nuestra parte a la mayor brevedad.
Es inaceptable, por eso, señor Presidente, retender igualar la importancia de todos los contribuyentes. El ahora mayor deudor ha querido usar el financiamiento como un arma contra la FAO y contra los programas y políticas que unilateralmente no les convienen o interesan. Y me atrevo a decir esto después de un año de expectativas, en que las razones económicas y políticas que les motivaban eran diferentes. A estas alturas, lamentablemente, debemos reconocer que tenemos serias dudas respecto de sus verdaderos intereses. Me voy a explicar. Los Estados Miembros y la Secretaría de FAO somos, de hecho, en estas circunstancias y por la dimensión que implican los pagos del mayor deudor, rehenes de ese país. Hemos hecho todo tipo de exhortos; hemos reiterado que las obligaciones para con la Organización son irrenunciables e innegociables; hemos instistido en que no aceptamos ni aceptaremos la vinculación de estas presiones con los procesos de reforma y de reformulación de programas y de políticas, así como tampoco en el condicionamiento a nivel presupuestarlo de la FAO; hemos hecho alusión, como ultima instancia, al fundamento ético y moral del pago oportuno del mayor deudor para atender una situación económica, agrícola y alimentaria catastrófica en muchos países en desarrollo, y muy debilitada en la totalidad de éstos, como bien lo describió el Director General en la mañana de hoy y en las referencias que ha hecho al respecto esta tarde. Nada ha bastado, ni el reconocimiento de las obligaciones, ni la ética, ni la moral; pero aun así se ha mantenido viva la llama de la confianza en la seriedad del mayor deudor de cumplir con sus obligaciones. La credibilidad en ese país les ha permitido a los Comités del Programa y de Finanzas llevar adelante ciertas propuestas de revisión de varios aspectos de la FAO, entre otras en materia programática y presupuestaria para renovar el entusiasmo de todos los países por la viabilidad, utilidad, eficacia y eficiencia de nuestra Organización.
Pero, Señor Presidente, la confianza y la credibilidad en el pago anunciado por el Jefe del Ejecutivo del mayor deudor y también de otras instancias del Gobierno de ese país, se desmoronan ahora que ha pasado un año en el que no hemos visto respuestas a la altura de las circunstancias y de las concesiones. Peor aun cuando confirmamos que hay una discriminación explícita, artera, contra la FAO. Ello nos obliga a levantar por tanto nuestras más oscuras dudas.
A pesar de que sea poco elegante decir lo que he dicho, y lo que seguirá, me atreveré a mencionar que durante este año se aceptaron una serie de concesiones a los intereses de ese mayor deudor. No sólo porque sonaban razonables, aunque, por otra parte, estoy seguro para la mayoría de los países miembros no son, o no serían, o no serán, prioritarias. Lo hemos hecho también, o se ha hecho, porque nos levantaban también de la pena de ser causa de excusas infundadas ilegales para no pagar. Muchos se acalambraron, otros razonablemente vieron una luz de esperanza en la seriedad de los compromisos de ese país si avanzábamos en ciertos ajustes a la Organización. Pero todo tiene un límite, inclusive la capacidad de intimidación, y esa frontera debe conocerla ya el mayor deudor. Que no paguen inmediatamente implicará, estoy seguro, una burla hacia los otros Estados miembros, no sólo en desarrollo, sino también desarrollados, particularmente aquellos de la OCDE, que de buena fe han querido introducir en la FAO un proceso de revisión para eventualmente reformarla y fortalecerla. Sería inconsecuente todo ello, porque tal revisión perdería su significación y su sentido práctico. Qué se puede en toda honestidad esperar de una Organización que no sabe como quedará amputada.
Al respecto Señor Presidente, deseo recordar aquí los temores de mi delegación respecto a que todo este proceso de presión financiera combinada con ciertas novedades y cambios en materia de programación y presupuestación parecen tener otro objetivo. Es a ello a lo que me refería al principio de mi intervención. Un objetivo ultimo que sería la amputación de ciertas partes inconvenientes para ese mayor deudor dentro de la Organización. No creemos, si no paga, que las reformas que busca son de buena fe; es decir pensaríamos que efectivamente trata mediante esas presiones de eliminar unilateralmente aquellos programas y actividades que no son de su interés o inclusive que puedan dañar los intereses del mismo.
Sé, Señor Presidente, que no soy elegante al decirlo, pero temo que es lo unico que puede explicar las oscuras dudas a las que hacía referencia. Subrayamos de nuevo que para la delegación de México no existe vínculo posible entre el no pago y las reformas a la FAO. Que para que estas reformas se acepten debe previamente resolverse la situación financiera de la Organización; que no aceptamos posteriores recortes a los programas y presupuestos; que la FAO al hacer los ajustes financieros necesarios deberá asegurar la ejecución más completa posible del Programa de Labores y Presupuesto para 1988-89. Para ello el Director General podrá, como tiene autoridad, sobregirarse en las cuentas que osterita la FAO. También la reducción de las labores para un determinado período no debe aceptar la formulación y preparación de las actividades programadas a largo plazo. Los programas de un menor nivel de labores deberán considerarse en términos de demoras, suspensión y aplazamiento de ciertas actividades, no de su completa cancelación. Dicho aplazamiento podría reanudarse y llevarse a cabo si la situación financiera de la Organización mejorara más adelante.
Debe protegerse a los programas de alta prioridad relativos a la agricultura, cultivos, ganadería, desarrollo rural, nutrición, pesca y montes. La FAO debe identificar los mecanismos que permitan maximizar la utilización de los recursos de que dispone, además de evitar reducciones en actividades prioritarias que pudieran vulnerar la efectividad de la Organización. En todo caso los ajustes
deberán centrarse en esferas administrativas y no en el aspecto tributario de los programas. Las condiciones financieras que prevalecen en el Organismo hacen indispensable priorizar las actividades otorgando mayor importancia a aquellos programas que respondan a la necesidad y prioridades de los países en desarrollo.
Sé, Señor Presidente, que al decir esto me estoy adelantando a algún tema; pero lamentablemente en el contexto en que nos encontramos no puede dejar de vincular una cosa con la otra; es decir la situación crítica por la que atraviesa la FAO, los recortes que hasta la fecha ha habido, las presiones que implican para sucesos inmediatos en otras esferas, inclusive de nuestra agenda.
No nos queda más que reiterar un último exhorto al mayor deudor para que haga honor a la credibilidad y a la confianza que todos los Estados miembros hemos puesto en él, sobre todo cuando nos ha reiterado una y otra vez, de su pronto, formal y completo pago.
Danilo VALLE (Nicaragua): La delegación de Nicaragua luego de estudiar detenidamente el documento relativo a la situación financiera de la FAO considera que este estado difícil y crítico por el cual atraviesa el Organismo, se ha venido reflejando a lo largo de los últimos años, quedando plenamente identificado a la luz de estos documentos el factor principal de la misma, consistente en la falta de pago de las cuotas respectivas de cierto número de países miembros. Unos, por su precaria situación económica en sus respectivos países y, otro, el mayor contribuyente, que se ha transformado hoy en el mayor deudor, que se resiste a aceptar que este es un Organismo por la vida, la esperanza y el bienestar de la humanidad; pero que sin embargo gasta sumas millonarias en programas de destrucción y muerte, como la ayuda a grupos paramilitares, los Contras en Nicaragua, y en otros pequeños y pobres países del mundo que luchan por sobrevivir. Este dinero consideramos nosotros debe ser entregado a la FAO. El documento arroja que a la fecha la deuda de los países deudores anda alrededor de los 140 millones de dólares, siendo la cuota por pagar del mayor contribuyente, de 103 millones de dólares. Como se puede observar la relación es a todas luces desproporcionada, tanto por el monto de la deuda como por la riqueza material del mayor contribuyente, hoy el mayor deudor. Instar al pago sin condicionamientos, ni discriminaciones, debe de ser la solución por parte del mayor contribuyente en aras de continuar los programas planificados de la FAO que luchan por la vida y la sobrevivencia alimentaria de nuestros pobres países.
Para finalizar nuestra delegación quiere agradecer al Gobierno de Italia por su generosa contribución a la FAO.
Muhammad Saleem XHAN (Pakistan): Since this is the first time that my delegation has assumed the floor, let me start by recording the immense pleasure of our delegation at your presence in the Chair, and our congratulations to the three Vice-Chairmen elected this morning.
We also take this opportunity to thank the Director-General for his comprehensive and forthright statements, as well as the valuable work that the FAO has been performing under his able guidance for the past several years to alleviate poverty, misery and malnutrition amongst millions in the underdeveloped countries like ours.
FAO as the oldest UN specialized agency has proved the importance of the ever-increasing role of the UN system in this area of human endeavour. We, as Member Nations of the system, are obliged by the Charter of the United Nations to support and foster the Organization to the maximum extent possible.
We have been disturbed to observe from the documents before us for this session, and from the statement of the Director-General, the severe financial crises perpetuated in the organization by the non-payment of contributions by some of us. Various valuable programmes have had to be put back. Essential meetings and bulletins have had to be dispensed with. Necessary staff strength and facilities have had to be sacrificed in order to tighten our belts. We have passed from an era of global plenty in terms of food supplies to one of global shortages, with looming dangers of mass hunger and malnutrition. Regional disparities have become more pronounced. Natural disasters have further compounded the situation. More than ever the FAO has a prominent role to play, if not to improve at least to arrest the situation. To put the FAO on the altar at the moment would be unfortunate·
Sir, review and reform is a continuous process in any organization for the health and improvement of the Organization. But need we stop everything until such time as the review and the reform are completed? We feel that the two can go hand in hand to work for a better tomorrow. We therefore
take this opportunity to appeal for better international support and cooperation to enable the FAO to serve humanity with even more vigour and imagination, to urge all Member Nations to pay their outstanding contributions without further hesitation.
Pakistan is a great believer in the UN system, and as such would never be found lacking in its support for the system. Therefore, in response to the call of the Director-General we were among the first nations to pay our contribution despite our own grave financial difficulties. We do notice that in Appendix A at page A3 of the English version of Document CL 94/LIM/1, we have been shown as having outstanding contributions of $ 32 967.93. This is perhaps an error or an oversight and will be corrected by the Secretariat.
Finally, Sir, we would like to add our voice to the many others who have voiced their thanks to the host government for their extraordinary support of the FAO.
Stanley Munkindia GUANTAI (Kenya): My delegation takes this opportunity to convey to you, Mr. Chairman, our sense of reassurance to see you again in the Chair. We also wish to welcome the Vice-Chairmen who were elected this morning to support you.
My delegation welcomes the documents tabled on this Agenda Item which have provided a fair amount of analysis, particularly regarding the financial status of FAO. We have listened to Mr. Crowther's presentation and the passionate appeal by FAO's Director-General. We are moved by the gravity of the situation and by the implied consequences. Despite the cut-backs and the economies instituted by the FAO, the Organization is far from finding a level from which it could perform its mandate efficiently. Any developing country, and indeed the world, looks to the FAO for guidance on technical support in food and agricultural matters. We are very aware of the fact that there are over 500 million to 700 million in the world, depending on the parameters you use, who are living below the required minimum levels of survival. It is these people among many more for whom the hearts of the members should bleed. Let those members who have not paid - and they are many, all equally responsible - remember that reduced performance and reduced efficiency of their Organization may sentence thousands of these under-privileged, under-nourished and, furthermore, suffering people to the denial of the right of opportunity and the hope that could have been provided through the FAO.
Under para. 4.15 (b) of Document CL 94/4 and the chart provided, it implies that receipts have followed the normal trends. If this is true, then my delegation believes that the FAO has every reason to look once more at its budget process, but we take seriously - and we are witness to - some of the severe economies undertaken. The implications of this are obviously that despite normal trends this time the amounts owed are much more substantial than previously. We may indeed learn that the world economy and food requirements are dynamic and increasingly demanding. We appeal once more, therefore, for those members who still owe the Organization their pledged contributions to see the Organization through the eyes of those starving millions who are suffering and who have little hope ·
Document CL 94/4 also refers to staff salaries and the cost-of-living index in Rome. Those of us who live in Rome will agree that the Secretariat's analysis is correct. For our part, we wish to thank the FAO employees for their patience and understanding.
The document also refers to the audited accounts of the WFP and the UNDP under which there are interesting revelations that we will come back to on the appropriate Agenda Item. We recall during the Conference the special authorization for a number of countries to pay their dues in instalments was provided, and we wish to refer to Appendix A, page 41 which shows that at least one country has more or less cleared its debt. We should thank that country for its efforts.
In conclusion, we would wish to join those who have conveyed their appreciation and thanks to the members who have paid their dues, and particularly to the host government which has done quite a lot for this Organization and continues to give it hope for stronger continuity.
Ms. Joan DUDIK-GAYOSO (United States of America): We agree with the statements made by the Director-General this morning that world agricultural production faces great challenges. We also agree that the FAO can play a key role in addressing many of those challenges. The United States, in providing over $ 9 billion annually in bilateral and multilateral assistance, despite the current budget climate, has shown its commitment both to alleviating emergency situations and to addressing the longer-term issues in agricultural development. Over 35% of our development assistance now goes
to agricultural and rural development programmes across the whole range of the sector from ag-credit and pest management to irrigation, storage and research. In addition, Food Aid Programmes amount to another $ 2 billion annually.
We have also quickly come forward with funds for special emergency needs in providing most recently, for example, US$3 million through FAO for the locust campaign.
We welcome this opportunity to inform Council that last week the United States notified the Director-General of FAO that it had initiated the process of paying US$25 million just appropriated, for FAO by the United States Congress. FAO should receive the payment shortly.
As we have explained before in this Body, and as the Director-General noted, the present United States fiscal situation, especially the United States government budget deficit, has required and will continue to require, tough choices on funding priorities both for domestic and international programmes. We believe the first priority for the United States as a member of the International economic system is to get our own fiscal house in order. This we intend to do. The deficit is a problem any US administration must confront. It will not go away by itself and there will be no miracles here either.
The Director-General noted that he is now preparing the 1990/91 budget for presentation in January. In all candour I must note now that the outlook for substantial increases in United States contributions for the next biennium is very unfavourable We would not like to see FAO again in a situation where its major donor must choose between fiscal responsibility and payment of its assessed obligations. We would like the record of this Council to show that we urge the Director-General to prepare his 1990/91 budget proposals with a keen sense of realism as to the capacity of FAO's members (including the United States) to provide the necessary resources. The United States takes seriously its responsibilities and its obligations as a member of the multi-lateral system. However, as I said earlier, we are confronted with painful choices and many needs. All of us - both the secretariat and all FAO Members - have a heavy responsibility to ensure that plans fit the resources available. To do otherwise harms the Organization and its programmes. I can assure you that as we proceed with the planning for 1990/91 my Government will be as candid and realistic as possible in indicating the level of budget we can expect to support.
As you know the United States is opposed to external borrowing by international organizations. In addition, we are prohibited by law from paying any share of interest expenses on loans incurred by international organizations through external borrowing.
In closing, I should like to recall that the United States support for UN system agencies was demonstrated by President Reagan's announcement on 13 September of his intention to request full funding to the extent permitted by law and overriding considerations for assessed contributions to UN agencies in 1989. With regard to the payment of US arrears to FAO in his 13 September statement the President also directed the Secretary of State to develop a plan regarding the payment of US arrears to international organizations in the UN sysem. We have prepared options which are currently under review, however, no decisions have been taken at this time.
Gerhard LIEBER (Germany, Federal Republic of): Let me first through you Mr. Chairman, thank the Director-General and Mr. Crowther for their introductory statements which clarified a number of points which are important to us. The agenda item that we are discussing now is of great importance to the work of FAO. We are all aware of the gravity of the financial situation facing our Organization and we should do our best in the course of this Council session to contribute towards a realistic analysis and to the formulation of suitable counter measures. May I urge strongly that we do so in an objective and constructive way.
In spite of the contribution just announced by the United States delegation (which we welcome very much) we have to state with regret that the outstanding contributions at the end of this year will, in conformity with the information received, stil be very high. Therefore, we welcome the fact that the Director-General has initiated measures which will lead to a slow down of expenditure by US$20 million. However, on the basis of current available Information unfortunately it is obvious that this US$20 million may probably not suffice to make up for the total deficit in income. We think that nobody should spend more than he has at his disposal·
Let me recall that my Government has requested for years that the UN system organizations should make one or the other provision for contingencies. Some organizations have already achieved some results in this respect. The 24th Conference of FAO took a decision with Resolution 20/87 which goes at least in the right direction. Accordingly, the Council of FAO is authorized and called
upon to discuss the necessary economies and elated programme adjustments. The Organization cannot wait with such measures until the next Council session next summer. At that time programme adjustments would be practically impossible because there would be only six months left for their implementation.
We have already pointed out on several occasions that we do not consider it right that paying Member States should take the responsibility for unpaid contributions of other Member States. Therefore, we appeal to all Members to fulfill their duties to the Organization. At the same time, for our part we would assure the Organization that we shall do our best to pay our contribution for the coming year as early as possible.
The Director-General has the authority to borrow, but in the worse case this would also result in additional costs, namely interest, which would also have to be paid by the Member Countries which are not responsible for the present situation.
Let me now come to another detail in our document. It was duly reported that the Director-General entered into forward exchange contracts to avoid losses due to exchange rate fluctuations. We all know that a number of other UN specialized agencies have been faced with the same situation as FAO they also budget in US dollars, but, however, make most of their payments in the currency of the respective host country. We are dealing at length with the implications of exchange rate fluctuations, which means that their Governing Bodies discussed in detail, and are to some extent still discussing, the existing situation and the measures before a final decision on how to proceed is taken by their respective Conferences. We would have welcomed an exchange of views with the Members States in Rome as happened for example in Geneva, Paris and Vienna. We would like to be informed about the conditions on which the Director-General entered into the forward exchange contracts and in this connection we. also suggest that the external auditor should, in due time, submit a detailed report on these operations. However, we have also to examine whether, and to what extent, these measures have an impact on other activities in connection with the budget. Between the forward exchange contracts of FAO and the Special Reserve Account there is undoubtedly a close connection. Mr. Crowther made reference to that in his statement. However, we wonder why the Special Reserve Account must be replenished (we have paid our share in the replenishment already this year) by additional contributions of Member States at the same time when, as it was reported, profitable forward exchange contracts are being entered into. We are quite happy about the fact that they are profitable. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, we would like to ask through you that the Council, and the Finance Committee deal with this issue and examine whether the existence or replenishment of the Special Reserve Account is still justified if exchange rate risks could be covered by forward exchange contracts.
There is one more point in connection with the Special Reserve Account. It is stated in document CL 94/4, para. 1.31, that US$1.8 million are to be taken from this account to cover most of the costs of the review, which is according to Conference Resolution 6/87. Frankly, we believe that this is in contradiction with the destination of funds of the Special Reserve Account. Therefore, we should also like to ask the Finance and Programme Committees, in consultation with the Director-General, to find alternative solutions.
Jean Luc GRAEVE (France): L'Organisation pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture est durement atteinte par le retard dans le versement des contributions de ses Etats Membres. Quelques chiffres déjà cités par Monsieur Crowther illustrent cette situation; le montant exceptionnellement élevé des sommes dues au 11 novembre 1988 (140 millions de dollars), le nombre élevé des Etats qui n'ont effectué aucun versement - ou seulement des versements partiels - à l'Organisation, le fait que le plus important contributeur ait accumulé des retards qui constituent la majeure part des arriérés, les retards de paiement dus par l'ensemble des Etats Membres.
Les conséquences, comme le Directeur général l'a mentionné ce matin et cet après-midi, sont graves pour l'Organisation. L'Organisation a dû prendre des mesures d'économie qui touchent le recrutement, les voyages, les publications, les réunions, la substance même des programmes.
Les agents récemment recrutés partent, les postes vacants ne sont pas pourvus; la substance humaine de l'organisation en souffre et cela alors même que le rôle de l'Organisation paraît plus essentiel que jamais, notamment en tant que Conseil auprès des Gouvernements.
Ma délégation appelle l'ensemble des Etats qui n'ont pas réglé - ou qui n'ont pas pleinement réglé leurs obligations financières - à s'acquitter de leurs engagements.
Cet appel ne peut pas ne pas s'adresser également au plus gros contributeur qui, dans les dernières semaines, à annoncé sa volonté d'apurer ses dettes à l'égard de l'ensemble du système des Nations Unies et notamment de notre Oganisation.
Ce sont là des indications très positives et encourageantes qui laissent espérer une restauration progressive de la santé financière de l'OAA.
Il est clair cependant que la crise actuelle de paiement laissera des traces durables. La délégation américaine a annoncé le paiement très prochain de 25 millions de dollars: à la fin de cette année le montant des arriérés et des retards de paiement dus par le plus important contributeur sera largement supérieur à une année entière de contribution.
Par ailleurs, il existe une incertitude sur les modalités de paiement qui seront effectués en 1989 par le plus important contributeur. Il est à craindre que les paiements de cet Etat ne pourront être faits au début de l'année mais ne le seront qu'en fin d'année, ce qui laissera à l'Organisation des choix difficiles, une situation financière délicate, et au Directeur général, sans doute l'obligation de faire encore une fois des choix douloureux qui handicaperont la capacité de l'Organisation à effectuer son programme.
Il est sans doute trop tôt aujourd'hui pour que les Etats Membres puissent donner des conseils ou tirer des conséquences sur la situation nécessairement fragile de l'Organisation au début et tout au long de l'année prochaine, tant que les plans d'action actuellement à l'étude, de l'autre côté de l'Atlantique, n'auront pas été connus. En tout état de cause, l'Organisation se trouvera encore l'année prochaine dans une situation d'incertitude, même si un versement de 25 millions de dollars est quand même de nature à faciliter la situation de l'Organisation en décembre prochain et au début de l'année prochaine, quand les premières contributions seront versées.
La France, quant à elle, s'efforcera, comme elle l'a fait chaque année, de verser dès le début de l'année prochaine l'intégralité de sa contribution.
Je souhaiterais maintenant aborder un point plus technique mentionné dans le document 94/4 et qui concerne la décision du Secrétariat d'ouvrir deux comptes bancaires oû sont déposés séparément les recettes du Programme ordinaire et celles du Programme des fonds fiduciaires.
Ma délégation se demande si le fait que la trésorerie des deux programmes soit maintenant distincte n'entraîne ou n'entraînera pas une rigidité nouvelle dans sa gestion en empêchant les compensations de trésorerie qui s'effectuaient antérieurement.
Ma délégation souhaiterait savoir si le besoin de trésorerie du Programme ordinaire ne s'en trouvera pas augmenté.
Yousef Ali Mahmoud HAMDI (Egypt) (Original language Arablc): First I would like to express my gratitude for the trust placed in me by the Council in selecting me as Chairman of the Drafting Committee. This is an honour for my country and it is a propitious opportunity for me to work together with you, Sir, at this Session.
We have listened very carefully to the introduction of the document before us and we appreciate the efforts made by the Director-General and his staff in an attempt to get the Organization to do its work as well as possible in the current difficult financial situation because of the cash flow crisis. This has been made possible through a slowing down of expenditure and also by cancelling some work headings but we are afraid that this may go further because these cost-cutting measures are in fact reducing essential activities of the Organization in some aspects and especially activities to be developed in countries which need the Organization's assistance very sorely indeed.
We therefore feel that the cuts should stop and we would plead with countries which are in arrears to kindly hurry up and pay up as quickly as possible. There is no doubt about it that those countries cannot but realize the difficult situation in which FAO finds itself at the present time and the negative impact resulting from the non-payment of contributions due. The payment of such contributions will help the Director-General to go forward with the Organization and to perform the programme of work that we all adopted together and thus strike further blows in the battle against hunger and malnutrition. This will also help the Director-General to avoid having recourse to borrowing, having to exercise the borrowing powers that have been invested in him, because if no cash is available inevitably the Director-General would find himself compelled to borrow.
Bashir EL MABROUK SAID (Libya) (Original language Arabic): First I would like to thank Mr. Crowther for having given us such a clear presentation of this document that we are now considering. The statements made by Mr. Crowther as regards the financial position of the Organization show a regrettable situation which is deteriorating further, adding to the number of victims in developing countries, which is something which worries us very considerably indeed.
We are certain that the Director-General and his staff have made the most extraordinary efforts in order to make it possible for FAO to carry on in the best possible manner in implementing its programmes in spite of the current crisis, in spite of the fact that numbers of programmes and publications have had to be cancelled. But we cannot but say that this is a very regrettable state of affairs.
However, we feel that if this situation were to be allowed to continue in the future we really must wonder whether the Organization will be able to survive and perform its appointed task, and we can appreciate that the Director-General may have to have recourse to the powers to borrow which were vested in him by the Conference if the cash flow crisis gets any worse. He would not have any other choice if this situation were allowed to continue, in other words if contributions due are not paid promptly. We feel that to make the payment of assessed contributions due dependent on certain things being done is not really the right kind of approach. The contributions have been duly assessed and they are therefore due and I think the majority of member organizations feel that what is due is due irrespective of analyses or restructurings or whatever. We must all pool together in a constructive manner to keep our Organization, which matters so much to us, afloat. It is not just a matter of big countries or small countries, big contributors or small contributors. We all contribute to the measure of our possibilities to this Organization. We all contribute in accordance with the assessed scale of contributions. So we cannot say that there are rich people here that give charity to the poor, we all contribute what we can and in proportion we all contribute the maximum amount that we can.
We are anxious to avoid confrontation, but we would exhort once again everyone concerned to respect their obligations and commitments so that we may all make a positive contribution.
I would like to say here that in spite of the economic circumstances which my country is facing, and which everyone is aware of, we have great faith in this Organization and in its principles and we have transferred our contribution for 1988 to the full.
Sra. Mercedes FERMIN GOMEZ (Venezuela): Hemos analizado ya con bastante detalle y para gran satisfacción nuestra una excelente exposición del Director de Administración y Finanzas, exposición que le agradecemos, de cuales son la situación y las perspectivas futuras de esta Organización. Podemos deducir perfectamente cuáles son, pues, las consecuencias de esta situación financiera. Y respecto a las posibles medidas para el Programa de Labores y Presupuesto 88/89, la exposición del señor Director General nos ha adelantado algunas de estas medidas.
Desde luego, todos estamos de acuerdo con que la primera medida es la responsabilidad que deben cumplir los países que no han hecho honor a su compromiso de pagar las cuotas a que están obligados. Algunos de estos países se encuentran, desde luego, en bastante dificultad, con motivo de otras obligaciones, como es el problema de la deuda externa. Por lo que a mi país respecta, hemos tratado de ponernos al día y, efectivamente, Venezuela, para el año 1988, tiene todavía un remanente del 2 por ciento de su cuota de este año; es mi responsabilidad recordar a nuestro Gobierno que debe ser cumplida lo antes posible y así lo haremos.
En relación con las medidas de reajuste que ha anunciado el señor Director General (con la mayoría de las cuales debemos estar de acuerdo, porque son obligatorias), yo quería referirme a los puntos 4.4, 4.5 y 4.8 del informe que estamos leyendo del documento CL 94/4, en relación con los viajes en comisión de servicio. Este es un punto en el que los países, digamos, adversarios de la FAO han hecho mucho hincapié en cuanto a los gastos que significan los viajes, el Programa de Cooperación Técnica y los trabajos de campo. Pero no sé como pudiera la FAO prescindir de estas actividades, que son la esencia de su trabajo. La FAO debe atender los países del Tercer Mundo, que están, desgraciadamente para quienes se lamentan de estos gastos, esparcidos por todo el mundo, y no precisamente en Europa: están en el continente africano, en Asia, en América Latina, que son bastante distantes de Roma, y, si no se envían allí personas para hacer su observación "in situ", difícilmente la FAO podría encontrar otro medio de responder a las solicitudes de programas de estos países.
Por consiguiente, estos viajes de las comisiones de servicio tienen que ser, indudablemente, cumplidos por la Organización, aunque cualquiera de nuestros críticos diga que deben consultarse las otras organizaciones. Yo no creo que el Banco Mundial gaste, para sus viajeros, menos de lo que gasta la FAO, porque depende de dónde parten. Si parten de Roma y van a ir, seguramente, a Venezuela no tienen más remedio que ir en avión, porque sería muy costoso para ellos en cualquier otra forma.
Por esta razón, yo creo que esta insistencia en hacer una redución de los gastos de los viajes para el servicio de los observadores, para el servicio de los que tienen que formular una opinión acerca de la viabilidad de los proyectos de la FAO, es un poco inoficioso, creo yo. Y la misma cosa podríamos decir de aquellos funcionarios expertos, técnicos que tienen que actuar en el propio país en donde se va a realizar el proyecto, como elementos de trabajo de campo; no hay otra manera.
Nosotros pertenecemos a un campo profesional que es la geografía, y que nos dice que no se puede hacer geografía ni en el mapa ni en la fotografía aérea cuando se quieren aplicar determinados procedimientos: hay que ir allí y hacer un examen directamente en el campo, aunque tengamos los demás instrumentos para poder complementar ese trabajo. La FAO no podría prescindir de estos elementos para realizar su trabajo de una manera eficiente. Por eso yo creo que cualquier otro medio de reducción del gasto de la FAO podría, como ya lo ha advertido el señor Director General, encontrarse en publicaciones, por ejemplo, o en cualquiera de los otros capítulos de gastos; pero no de estos programas indispensables, que son generalmente los que más comprometen la razón de existencia de la FAO y que son muy importantes para los países del mundo subdesarrollado, del Tercer Mundo, que es el que lo necesita con mayor razón, y también para los países en desarrollo. Porque muchos de nuestros países, el mío incluido, pueden tener especialistas y profesionales en algunos campos; pero para esta especialidad de directa observación en el terreno de estas actividades y para poder aconsejar, para poder asesorar lo que es necesario hacer en determinados momentos sobre determinadas actividades, no hay otro remedio que mandar técnicos que ya tienen experiencia.
Por eso yo, haciendo hincapié en las medidas para asegurar la ejecución del Programa, insisto en que hay algunos elementos, algunos aspectos del programa que pueden ser reducidos; algunos gastos que pueden ser disminuidos, pero los que no toquen a este campo de los programas de cooperación técnica, de los programas de trabajo de campo, de las realizaciones directas, que son la obligación de la FAO. Es para ella obligación la supervivencia de estos países pobres, de estas comunidades, que no tienen otro medio, sino la FAO, para poder llegar a mejorar sus condiciones de vida. Por esa razón, ésta es una obligación que no puede dejar de cumplirse. Para no repetirme en puntos en los que ya han abundado todos los que me han precedido en el uso de la palabra, pienso que respecto de las demás invitaciones a que los miembros cumplan con sus obligaciones puntualmente, nos corresponde cumplir nosotros mismos; pero en cuanto a la reducción del Presupuesto, yo creo que vale la pena insistir en recordar que estos puntos no deberían ser eliminados, cualquiera que sea su oportunidad y el gasto que produzca su ejecución.
LE DIRECTEUR GENERAL: Excusez-moi d'intervenir en ce moment mais on a évoqué des sujets qui ne l'ont pas été par nous-mêmes, comme le niveau du budget de 1990/91, qui n'est pas en discussion; on a parlé aussi d'emprunts ou de non emprunts, d'intérêts, du Programme de 1989: faut-il couper ou ne pas couper ?
Si vous êtes d'accord, je voudrais exprimer mon opinion sur ces sujets pour éclairer la discussion car 11 s'agit de questions que je n'ai pas évoquées et, si j'attends que tout le monde ait parlé et que la discussion soit close, l'intérêt sera moindre.
La mise en garde - en anglais, "urging": "We urged the Director General" - a été bien entendue et bien notée. Ma réponse sera la suivante: en tant que Directeur général élu par l'ensemble des pays membres, je dois également tenir compte d'autres facteurs,de l'avis de tous les pays membres.Je dois aussi tenir compte de la situation économique dans laquelle les pays en développement se trouvent.
En six ans, le budget de la FAO a été amputé de 4%. En six ans, la population du monde a augmenté de 500 millions d'habitants. Dans deux ans, elle aura augmenté de 180 millions. Peut-on, en conscience, proposer des budgets décroissants ou à croissance négative ? Cette mise en garde signifie-t-elle que je dois présenter un budget réduit de 40 millions ? Jamais je ne le ferai, vous le savez bien. Je suis un homme juste, un homme consciencieux, et vous m'avez donné l'autorité de proposer un niveau de budget. Ensuite, c'est à vous de décider. J'entends des mises en garde, je les accepte, mais 11 faut également voir dans quel contexte ce nouveau budget doit être préparé. Nous revenons de très loin, nous avons été amputés; il y a plus de 200 postes gelés. Nous n'avons plus assez d'argent, nous n'existons presque plus. Il y a des centaines de milliers de personnes dans le monde qui lisaient nos publications, elles ne les lisent plus.
Je n'ai pas l'intention de proposer un budget extraordinaire mais, je le dis franchement, je ne peux pas présenter un budget décroissant, un budget à croissance négative.
Pour ma part, j'aurais voulu obtenir une explication sur les raisons pour lesquelles la FAO est traitée différemment d'autres organisations du Système des Nations Unies par le principal contribuant. En 1987, la FAO n'aura reçu que 50% de la somme qu'il lui doit alors que d'autres organisations ont reçu entre 60 et 100%. En 1988, pour la deuxième année consécutive, la FAO a été punie. Le principal contribuant ne nous a réservé que 38 Ζ des sommes dues, c'est-à-dire 25 millions de dollars, alors que d'autres organisations ont reçu bien plus de sa part.
Parlons maintenant d'autre chose, de choses aussi sérieuses peut-être que le Programme de travail pour 1989. Pendant deux ans, je me suis retenu d'emprunter, j'ai voulu faire plaisir aux Etats-Unis, à l'Allemagne et à tous les pays qui ne voulaient pas que j'use de l'autorité qui m'avait été donnée par le Conseil et la Conférence. Je ne me suis pas servi de cette autorité et j'ai regretté, en conscience, d'avoir puni tous les Etats Membres en coupant le budget de 25 millions en 1987 et de 20 millions en 1988. Et maintenant, faut-il encore le couper en 1989 ?
En tous cas, je ne voudrais pas être obligé d'utiliser les facilités de paiement bancaires. Je vais parler doucement ici d'une question délicate et importante. La résolution de la Conférence qui m'y autorise m'oblige de faire d'abord ce que l'on appelle des emprunts internes · Il existe des formules selon lesquelles nous pouvons emprunter certaines sommes de fonds internes non liées à l'exécution du Programme de travail. Mais si ce n'est pas suffisant, nous n'allons pas signer un contrat avec telle ou telle banque pour emprunter 30 ou 40 millions de dollars payables en 2 ou 3 ans - c'est ce que l'on appelle un "emprunt".
Chacun d'entre vous a un compte en banque et bénéficie de facilités bancaires. Vous avez une ligne de crédit. En général, on dit au fonctionnaire: "Ne dépassez pas le montant de deux ou trois mois".
En ce qui nous concerne, dans certains cas, nous avons peut-être un découvert dans certains de nos comptes courants. C'est de cela que je veux parler. Je veux rassurer ici le Représentant de l'Allemagne qui m'a stupéfié en me demandant si les ventes de dollars à terme étaient légales ou illégales. J'approuve son initiative de faire examiner la question par le Comité financier s'il ne l'a pas encore fait. Mais comme il le sait, le Directeur général a la responsabilité de gérer les fonds de la FAO. Il est de mon autorité, assisté par M. Crowther et M. Heim, de faire en sorte que les décisions à ce sujet soient prises sur la base d'appels d'offres auprès de plusieurs banques.
En tant que Directeur général, je n'envisage pas de faire des réductions dans le Programme de travail de 1989. Je voudrais vous assurer que les intérêts ne seront pas payés par des contributions supplémentaires des Etats Membres. D'ailleurs, les Etats Membres qui m'ont conféré l'autorité d'emprunter ont prévu la façon dont les intérêts seraient payés: ils le seront avec les revenus divers. Nous avons des revenus divers et ce sont eux qui serviront à payer les intérêts. Je le répète: il n'y a aucun danger à utiliser le crédit bancaire. On ne nous demande même pas de garanties. D'ailleurs, si je suis amené à utiliser ces facilités bancaires, je réunirai le Comité financier pour que ses membres soient informés et obtiennent tous les détails possibles au sujet des opérations bancaires. En pratique, on a un découvert pendant un mois, d'un ou de deux millions dans telle banque, de trois millions dans telle autre, et quand on reçoit un paiement d'un pays membre, on rembourse immédiatement ces banques. Il ne s'agit pas d'emprunter pour quatre ou cinq ans. Il y a des mois où nous avons des surplus. Au début de février, nous avons eu plusieurs dizaines de millions de dollars pour lesquels nous avons reçu des intérêts. Puis, en juin, la sécheresse.
Je vous prie de me croire. Je ne cherche pas à emprunter. Je n'aime pas l'emprunt par nature. Avec le paiement probable de 25 millions de la part des Etats-Unis, M. Crowther me dit que nous passerons le cap de l'année, que nous commencerons même l'année avec une toute petite réserve. Cela dépend de vous. Si les gros bailleurs de fonds, la Suisse et les pays nordiques, exemplaires comme d'habitude, payent avant le 15 janvier, nous pourrons fonctionner normalement en janvier. Peut-être alors qu'au mois de juin, il faudra avoir recours au fonds interne de la FAO, aux fonds fiduciaires que nous avons. Si cela n'est pas suffisant, il faudra s'adresser aux quelques banques qui acceptent de nous faire crédit pour quelques mois. Je n'ai pas le choix.
Je fais confiance à la déléguée des Etats-Unis qui dit que, pour 1990, les Etats-Unis vont prévoir dans leur budget le paiement du total de leur contribution. Mais elle me dit gentiment: "N'exagérez pas avec le budget, ne le faites pas très élevé." Bien sûr, j'en tiens compte. Seulement, si j'ai présenté un budget à croissance zéro ou 1% pour ces années, c'est parce que j'ai tenu compte de l'avis du groupe de Genève. Mais je ne peux vraiment pas aller plus loin en présentant un budget négatif. J'irais en arrière, car qui n'avance recule. Nous avons reculé depuis six ans. Le budget a diminué de 4%.
Ce n'est pas le sujet de la discussion mais j'ai voulu le relever. Car si vous prenez certaines décisions qui m'obligeront à vous présenter un document au mois de janvier, cela valait la peine d'en parler.
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie le Directeur général de ces informations. Je crois qu'elles ont été utiles à l'ensemble du Conseil et à ceux qui sont inscrits sur la liste des orateurs.
Joao Augusto de MEDICIS (Brazil): Since I am addressing this Council after we accepted the presence of an observer from the Soviet Union let me welcome this decision and hope that his presence today will signal a permanent and fruitful participation of the USSR in FAO. In a time when the Soviet Union is giving repeated proofs of its desire of strengthening international cooperation with the UN System, the participation of the USSR in FAO should only be a logical, and I repeat, welcome consequence. The good relations between our two countries have just been enhanced by the visit to Moscow and Leningrad of the President of Brazil and our government will look forward to cooperating with the USSR in this Organization.
The Brazilian delegation does regret the constraints faced by FAO during the current biennium. Substantial programme cuts have to be made affecting many of the priority activities of the Organization. It is sad and frustrating to observe the drastic reductions of services rendered by this Organization. We all know that many FAO programmes address the crucial needs of many of the developing countries. We consider these activities as very valuable and important and oppose their being eliminated or seriously affected under the situation created by the voluntary retention of payment by one member country.
It is time again to emphasize that the pressures exerted on FAO through the withholding of contributions are unacceptable. Trying to force reforms through financial pressure will have an adverse effect. The improvements we want to introduce in the Organization have to be achieved through an objective analysis of the situation, through a constructive and positive dialogue, and not through pressure, through ignoring constitutional obligations or creating a permanent state of uncertainty about the Organization's future or even by submitting the payment of their contribution to unilateral conditions.
At the beginning of the current year, we agreed to reform the programme budget process of the Organization in order to meet the concerns of the largest debtor. Showing great flexibility and a spirit of conciliation, we have taken some important steps towards a compromise, because we believed that this would lead to a more positive attitude from the major debtor.
The announcement that the United States are going to pay another small percentage of its arrears may be considered a sign of good will towards this Organization. Nonetheless, as the Director-General pointed out we may still consider that FAO is being discriminated against by the US Government, because the amount which will be paid to FAO does not correspond, in proportional terms, to the amounts which are being paid to the other United Nations bodies and we have no room for hope after we have heard the United States delegate's warning to Council, or should I say threat to Council, that we should not, in the consideration of the next biennium budget, expect any good will from her government. I cannot see how the United States delegate can reconcile this statement with the declaration of support just made to the UN System by President Reagan. Trying to justify what cannot be justified the United States delegation this morning advanced a fallacious argument when it tried to share the blame for the financial crisis with S3 other countries, all of them from the developing world. The simple indication that the total debt of those 53 countries amounts to one-third of the United States debt is enough to show the weakness and falseness of this argument. If all these 53 countries could promptly pay their contributions, this Organization would still be in a very difficult economic condition. We should in no way confound the politically motivated attitude adopted by the United States government with the situation of the developing countries which face legitimate difficulties with the payment of their contributions. Brazil, which has been going through the most serious financial crisis of its history paid last month its contribution relating to 1987. We still owe our quota for this year but we hope we shall be able to pay our full assessment in the near future.
Amin ABDEL MALEK (Liban) (langue originale arabe): Permettez-moi, M. le Président, de préfacer mon intervention par des paroles de félicitation à votre endroit, car vous aurez à présider le Conseil de l'Organisation au cours d'une période certes difficile du point de vue financier. Votre expérience et votre compétence sont les meilleures garanties pour trouver une solution à cette situation.
Je voudrais saisir cette occasion également pour féliciter les trois Vice-Présidents qui ont été élus ce matin.
Je dois aussi féliciter M. Crowther de la présentation excellente de la question dont nous sommes saisis actuellement, c'est-à-dire la situation financière de l'Organisation, car sa déclaration a été très claire, très précise et nous partageons ses craintes quant à la situation financière concrète que connaît l' Organisation et ses conséquences éventuelles à l'avenir.
Vous connaissez tous la situation très difficile dans laquelle se trouve le Liban depuis treize ans déjà, surtout du point de vue économique et financier. Malgré toutes ces difficultés, nous n'avons jamais eu d'arriérés dans les versements de nos contributions. Récemment, nous avons versé notre contribution pour 1988, car nous accordons une très grande attention aux activités de la FAO, et au service de l'humanité en particulier.
Nous ne pouvons que lancer un appel pressant aux Etats-Unis pour que ce pays examine en toute sincérité les conséquences de son attitude pour l'Organisation et les Etats Membres. Le chef de la délégation américaine, qui est un ami que nous respectons, réfléchira à cette question et nous sommes certains qu'à la fin de la présente session, après avoir réfléchi mûrement sur la situation, il pourra être notre porte-parole auprès de son propre gouvernement. Nous sommes certains que cette superpuissance doit aider les pays en développement, pour que ceux-ci améliorent leur situation agricole, et nous sommes certains que ce grand pays versera sa contribution afin de permettre à l'Organisation de fournir l'assistance voulue par le biais de ses activités et de ses programmes dans l'intérêt des pays en développement.
Nous essayons tous de maintenir un niveau élevé d'efficacité de l'Organisation, car nous sommes habitués à l'excellence des activités de l'Organisation depuis sa création, et surtout depuis que le Docteur Saouma en est devenu le Directeur général. Je ne dis pas cela parce que le Directeur Saouma est libanais, mais parce que c'est un excellent Directeur général, et nous en profitons pour le remercier des efforts inlassables qu'il a consentis, malgré les ressources fort précaires dont il dispose pour maintenir l'efficacité et la qualité des activités de l'Organisation. Je suis certain qu'il pourra faire face avec nous à la crise actuelle.
Sumiji NAKAZAWA (Japan): To begin with, I would like to thank Mr. Crowther for his excellent introduction to this Agenda Item, and also the Director-General for his very impressive comments on this matter. However, I would have appreciated them more if Documents CL 94/4 and LIM/1 had been delivered to us earlier.
At any rate, my delegation welcomes the fact that FAO has managed to tide over its financial crisis so far, with efforts by the Secretariat and cooperation of the member countries. My delegation understands from Document Ç 89/5, page 6, that the financial status of the Organization is positive on an accrual basis reflecting the fact that an increase in staff costs - caused by fluctuations in the US dollar/Italian lira exchange rates - was covered by the Special Reserve Account and the programme cut in the last biennium. It shows us clearly that the financial crisis in the last and present biennia have been caused mainly by non-payments of assessed contributions by a number of countries. My delegation admits that the Secretariat uses the phrase "liquidity problem" as an explanation of the crisis.
My delegation holds the basic position that borrowing, especially external borrowing, is questionable as it may cause insecure finance and will bring an additional share of interest upon member countries who have already done their duty. My delegation would therefore like to stress the importance of payments of the arrears and outstanding contributions by the member countries concerned, and to request the Director-General, as well as the Programme and Finance Committees, to examine the possibility of further slowing down programme implementation.
Finally, my delegation would like to have more detailed Information on the forecast of the cash flow for the rest of the present biennium from the Secretariat.
Earl W. WEYBRECHT (Canada): Let me say first of all that the Canadian delegation wishes to express its pleasure at seeing you in the Chair, Mr. Chairman; and to congratulate the three Vice-Chairmen on their election.
We welcome the reports provided under this Item, and thank the Secretariat for its efforts, including the introductory remarks given by Mr. Crowther. Although one document, CL 94/LIM/1, was only received this morning, it does have the advantage of having very up-to-date and helpful information on the current financial position of the Organization. We note in paragraph 4.32 of the Finance Committee's report that on the basis of the latest cash projection it will not be necessary to borrow during 1988. This is welcome news. Having narrowly avoided the difficult issue of borrowing this year, we should not be complacent about the present situation. We are encouraged by the announcement that the largest contributor will make an additional instalment of $ 25 million in the current year, but we note that more than 50 Member Nations have paid nothing at all in 1988. This is most regrettable. The Finance Committee and the Director-General have urged all Member States to pay their assessed contributions in full. We hope that in the very near future conditions will be such that they are able to do so.
My delegation would welcome the provision of a break-down of the budget appropriation and expenditure by major programmes which shows cash disbursements and outstanding obligations for the current biennium. This was provided to the 24th Session of the Conference as Document C 87/LIM/41 dated November 1987 at the request of a Member Nation.
We note from the documents before us that there is a large shortfall in the receipt of contributions, but we do not know with any precision the effect this cash flow has had on the programmes approved by the Conference.
The Director-General has had some difficult choices to make and has given some indication of this in his introduction this morning. We would like to have a clear picture, however, on what programmes have been affected, what meetings have been postponed, what publications have been cancelled or delayed, which posts have been left unfilled, which capital expenditures are cancelled or upheld. These are important questions. They involve priorities. Member States have had little or no say in what was cut. My delegation would request that the Council be better informed about the effects on the programme of work of these late assessments, and that such Information be provided in the future.
Mr. Chairman, in various discussions which have taken place previously in the Conference and in the Council, the problem of late assessments has often been invoked. Canada and others have indicated on these occasions the need for a forward-looking process that will allow for the Member States to set priorities amongst the activities. Looking to 1989, we are very concerned that the problem of cash shortfall will again face the Organization in perhaps an even more acute fashion.
We would like at this time to suggest that a forecast of receipts and commitments be prepared for 1989 on a programme-by-programme basis, and that such a document be brought to the attention of the Programme and Finance Committees and to the Committee on Agriculture.
LE PRESIDENT: Nous pourrions peut-être demander au Dr. Shah de bien vouloir répondre aux questions précises du Délégué du Canada.
V.J. SHAH (Assistant Director-General, Office of Programme, Budget and Evaluation): Mr. Chairman, the distinguished delegate of Canada requested information on the programme adjustments which had been proposed to be carried out and the slow-down of $ 20 million which is being effected during this year. The question comes as somewhat of a surprise to me because Canada, of course, is a member of the Programme Committee and this Information was discussed specifically at the 54th Session of the Programme Committee in May 1988. The document submitted to the Programme Committee on that occasion gives full Information on the manner in which the programme adjustments were approached, the level of the programmes affected by programme, the specific activities such as meetings and publications which had to be postponed and cancelled, and the views of the Programme Committee are, of course, given in their report under paragraphs 2.7 to 2.18. I believe this information exists in accordance with the requirements. The Programme and Finance Committees have considered together the level of the adjustments which will have to be made, and the Programme · Committee examined in detail the adjustments as regards their programme effect and implications.
J.D. AITKEN (United Kingdom): Mr. Chairman, before I begin I would like on a personal basis to echo the congratulations and pleasure mentioned by my head, of delegation earlier on about seeing you in the Chair again. I would also like to add my delegation's congratulations to the Vice-Chairmen who have been elected·
Mr. Chairman, through you I would like to thank Mr. Crowther and the Director-General for their introduction to this Item, both at the beginning of the items and in the interventions and in the Director-General's opening speech. I would particularly like to say how much we support the Director-General's comments in the conclusion to his opening speech, that it was his most fervent wish that an atmosphere of harmony, goodwill and cordiality will characterize the work of this Council. In all sincerity, I hope that our intervention will contribute to this.
I would like pubilcally to go on record as thanking Mr. Crowther's department for the provision of information about the financial situation and the cash flow which has been given us over the year. The documents have actually been improved over time and the information that we have available in the latest quarterly one is more useful and more detailed than we had in the first series. This is the sort of improvement that we always welcome. This quarterly cash flow projection has proved to us to be very useful, and we hope that this statement can become a regular feature of the financial Information provided to Member States.
Ort a minor point of detail about these presentations, our understanding at present is that the dollar/lira exchange rate used in the calculations of cash flow is the same one as is used in the calculation of the budget, that it is the one that was agreed in November. It would be useful simply to have on record confirmation from the Secretariat that this is the case, but also to ask them if they make any change in the assumptions that this information will be included in the quarterly statement so that we are aware if the basis changed.
We were very pleased to learn that it will not be necessary to borrow this year. This, we believe, reflects prudent and sensible management on the part of the Secretariat, both in the Programme Division and the Finance Division, and it is only right that we should take note of this and thank them.
I can again reiterate on the question of borrowing that the position of the United Kingdom remains unchanged. We are opposed to external borrowing and we believe that the Organization should live within its income. We believe again that this is a practice of prudent management.
We have noticed though the level of arrears and the number of countries which are behind with contributions. Again, I need not remind the meeting that my government's position is quite a straightforward one: all member states should meet their obligations and not fall into arrears.
There are two comments on this. We have heard a number of statements which point out the size of the debt from a particular member state. I think too that we should remember this in the context of the contributions this same member state has made over the past 40 years to the institutions and to the international community. It should be seen in this light as well as in its current situation.
The other comment we have on the arrears is that we note that many of the countries in arrears suffer from chronic foreign exchange shortages. These were referred to in the interventions of a number of countries including that of the distinguished delegation of Venezuela. We hope that the secretariat is actively pursuing a policy of discussing the situation with these members who are in arrears, and possibly informally suggesting payments by instalments which these countries might find easier to fulfill than meeting a relatively large single payment. In fact, we have written to the secretariat about this matter. We are sure that this recognizes the reality of the poorer countries·
Concerning another aspect of prudent management, we were pleased to note that FAO has started to enter into forward contracts for foreign exchange purchases. This is a practice which is a standard practice in some other UN organizations and it has worked well there. We hope that FAO will continue with this sensible action. This approach to foreign exchange represents flexibility, and we believe that flexibility is an important aspect in prudent management. Here, we should like to associate ourselves with the comments made by the distinguished delegate of France about the wisdom of opening two accounts, one for the Regular Programme and one for TCP. We believe that management should have a degree of flexibility and that the key element here is transparency so long as everyone is aware of what is going on. We believe that we must look to the future - the next year and subsequent biennis. We had a very clear statement from the distinguished delegate of the United States and also from the Director-General and other delegates.
As far as concerns the financial aspect, it is our view that it is of prime importance for both the secretariat and the Member States to have a realistic forecast of the cash flow as soon as possible. We certainly welcomed the news from the distinguished delegate of the United States, and we hope that with this Information it will be possible for the secretariat to let us have a projection of their best estimates of cash flow and expenditure for 1989 before we leave Rome at the end of this meeting. Through you Mr. Chairman we would like specifically to ask the secretariat to provide that Information.
We believe also that it is necessary for the Member States and the secretariat to have an accurate picture of spending against the programme headings in the budget. This was one of the points made by the distinguished delegate of Canada when he referred to CL 87/LIM 41. We have also raised this matter with the secretariat and we understand that there is some difficulty in producing this paper at short notice. However, we are also aware from the secretariat that they produce a similar, although not so detailed, version for the Finance Committee. If I may go into a little detail, the difference is that LIM/41 gave us details of actual expenditure and commitment separately, whereas the detailed paper for the Finance committee groups them both together. Through you again Mr. Chairman, I should like to suggest that it would be very helpful if the secretariat could speed up the process of the availability of this information and let Member States have it as soon as possible after the end of this year - anyway, this will be the accounting point for the secretariat. If the Information could be made available in a form which distinguishes between actual spending and commitment it would simply be a slight extension of the Information already given to the Finance Committee. The only further request I would make is, because of the exceptional circumstances, that this information should not be limited simply to the Finance Committee but could be made available to all Member States.
Turning now to the Programme, because under this item we have to consider the effects of a shortfall on the Programme. As with a number of delegates we recall the discussions in the Conference about the need to have a rational approach to reshaping the Programme in the light of available resources. In our view this remains a priority. There remains a need to engage Member States in this process which will become one of the identifying priorities in selecting between alternative forms of implementation. To help us as part of this process, we think it would be useful if the secretariat could share with us the rationale or the way in which the activities of the Organization have been shaped to account for the US$25 million slowdown which we have heard about from the Director-General earlier. Our Canadian colleagues were asking for something very similar to this and I listened with considerable interest to Mr. Shah's reply. In view of what he said I think it would be very helpful if he could consider whether or not the information about the activities which have been selected could be made available to the Member States as well as to the Programme and Finance Committee. There is a slight nuance here in that if I understood my Canadian colleague properly, he was asking for a catalogue of what had happened. My request would be to have some guidance on the rationale, the theology, behind the selection of the catalogue. In this connection we would also value a statement on the rationale which will be used in 1989.
Finally, in view of all that we have heard I think it would be wise to recognize that the process of planning the biennium 1990/91 will soon be upon us. One would hope that the Organization will see a way through its troubles, but as we have heard this may not be possible. We can also appreciate the position of the Director-General and how he feels in relation to his legal and moral obligations. There seems to be a slightly religious tone to this meeting set earlier by the distinguished - and I think someone described him as "saintly" - delegate of Colombia. The piece of religious wisdom that I call to mind at this point is the parable of the wise virgins, and the wise virgin who ensured she had some oil in her lamp. If I could continue with this theme it is sensible for us to plan to have some oil in our lamps in case there is some darkness we cannot foresee. I suggest in order to enable Member States collectively to consider the Programme and Budget, the secretariat should provide the Spring meetings of the Finance and Programme Committees with an indication of what they see as the priorities within the Programme and the choice between activities. This is very similar to the request already made by the distinguished delegate of Canada and I should like to associate myself with that.
In conclusion, I should like to add that in addition we believe that the Committee on Agriculture as the body which has responsibility for considering the major part of the Programme should also be provided with similar information. At present it has been the practice that the Committee on Agriculture considers the Programme to some extent in isolation from financial considerations. I suggest that what we have heard today concerning the possibilities for the 1990/91 biennium means, in fact, that we should change this procedure and COAG should have some indications of possible resources and choices.
LE DIRECTEUR GENERAL: Après ce qu'a évoqué l'Honorable Délégué du Royaume-Uni, je voudrais faire quelques remarques.
Le sujet en discussion est la situation financière de l'Organisation. Le délégué du Royaume-Uni est sorti du sujet en parlant du Programme de travail pour 1990, du travail du Comité de l'Agriculture.
Je voudrais attirer l'attention du Conseil sur un second point. Le Conseil n'est pas le Comité financier. Il y a un Comité financier dont font partie les Etats-Unis, l'Australie et nombre d'autres pays; 11 fait son travail et examine les différents points dans le détail. Veut-on transformer le Conseil en Comité financier?
Nous sommes dans un biennium extraordinaire; le Représentant de l'Italie avait proposé à la dernière Conférence que les Etats Membres reçoivent un état de la situation financière, non pas dans le but d'inspecter ou de voir si on avait trop dépensé, mais pour que les Etats Membres puissent suivre continuellement l'état de notre trésorerie.
Nous accueillons avec plaisir tous les Représentants permanents qui veulent venir nous voir, nous demander tous les renseignements qu'ils désirent; en effet, nous gérons des fonds publics et nous sommes tenus de rendre compte de la gestion.
Il nous est impossible en 48 heures ou en quelques jours de demander des documents supplémentaires; nous n'avons ni le personnel ni l'argent; nous n'avons pas d'argent pour recruter du personnel qui ferait des heures supplémentaires, alors que le Conseil est en session.
Vous êtes venu avec vos collègues voir Monsieur Shah et Monsieur Crowther. Nous ne cachons rien mais nous ne pouvons pas. parce qu'une délégation le demande, faire des documents en cinq langues.
J'ai voulu vous dire ça gentiment, nous en reparlerons au cocktail.
J.D. AITKEN (United Kingdom): I ask your indulgence to comment on the remarks made by the Director-General. It is rather unusual and I would not normally do so, but I think it is easier if I speak now and try to respond in the same spirit as the Director-General's intervention.
First of all, I should like to explain the reasons why our intervention covered the areas that it did. The agenda item looks at the financial situation and future prospects. Given the structure and calendar of our meetings, we do not think it is unreasonable to look ahead, if only briefly, to 1990/91. As far as concerns the other request for Information it may be helpful if I explain the reason that we asked for this, and asked for it to be given to the Membership as a whole. These are items which are generated normally and which contain a high content of tabular Information -figures, rather than a verbal presentation which means that it is not high in translation costs. By having this information it enables us to shape our interventions better so we do not ask unnecessary questions and make unnecessary comments.
We also feel that if we have this Information we can better contribute to the work of the Organization and the task of the Director-General, and certainly as far as my country is concerned there is no question of harassment - I may have got the translation wrongly - but there is a genuine desire to try to contribute and participate in the process and to try to do so in an economical manner. This is why we feel that if we have the documents in advance and we get the particular information we can make a more useful contribution.
The meeting rose at 17.45 hours.
La séance est levée à 17 h 45.
Se levanta la sesión a las 17.45 horas.
