FIRST MEETING
PREMIERE SEANCE
PRIMERA SESION

(14 November 1979)

The First Meeting was opened at 9. 50 hours,
M. S. Swaminathan, Chairman of Commission II, presiding

La première séance est ouverte à 9 h 50
sous la présidence de M. S Swaminathan, Président de la Commission II

Se abre la primera sesión a las 9. 50 horas
bajo la presidencia de M. S. Swaminathan, Presidente de la Comisión II

CHAIRMAN: Mr. Director-General, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, I feel highly privileged to have the opportunity of chairing Commission II of the Twentieth Session of the General Conference of FAO. You all know that this Commission has been charged with the responsibility of going into the Programme and Budget of the Organization for the first two years of the next decade. We have, therefore, a very heavy responsibility and I am sure with the cooperation of all the members we should be able to do as good a job as the task demands. We are particularly grateful to you, Mr. Director-General, for sparing the time to be with us this morning since I know there are so many calls on your time. The main Plenary Session is only in its Second Session this morning and therefore we particularly appreciate your presence.

I would only like to say before I call upon the Director-General to introduce the first item, namely the Programme and Budget of FAO, that we have had in the last two days several important statements which should provide the necessary guideline and inspiration for the work of our Commission. In particular I would like to quote three statements briefly because I believe that is the backdrop against which we must consider the Programme and Budget of FAO.

The first statement was made by His Holiness Pope John Paul II and I quote "The struggle against hunger cannot be fought merely with sentiments, sporadic and ineffectual bursts of indignation will not take us anywhere. "

The second statement I would like to quote is from President Kenneth Kaunda, "The poor people everywhere are no longer prepared to wait till tomorrow to eat, they want to eat now. "

And finally, I would like to quote from our own distinguished Director-General's statement yesterday, I quote, "It is my sad duty to underline the fact that on the basis of most criteria the food situation has deteriorated further, it is, in fact, grim. " well, distinguished delegates these three statements should provide us with the necessary guidelines for our examination of the Programme and Budget of FAO, and I now request the Director-General to take the floor and address us.

DIRECTOR-GENERAL: Mr. Chairman, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen. I did not refer to my proposed Programme of Work and Budget in my opening speech to the Conference. There are a number of reasons for this. The principal one is that through the year long successive stages of preparation and consideration by the Programme and Finance Committees and the Council, including the Council just completed, there has been almost total unanimity in support of the strategies, policies, programmes, allocations, means of action and level.

It is olear that this unprecedented degree of support can be attributed to the main characteristics of the proposals. The fact is that we have been consistent and insistent on putting into practice the new policies decided in 1976·

Our whole approach is permeated by support for the achievement of a new international economic order, reflected in our traditional roles as well as in the direction of our technical activities.

Our global policy, information and normative study roles, exemplified in our provisional study on "Agriculture: Towards 2000", and our assistance to the United Nations Committee of the Whole and in the formulation of the new international development strategy, demonstrates that we are making a major central contribution to the long-term strategic, economic and social objectives of member nations. At the same time, the policy of emphasis on action at field level, meeting the needs of developing nations, has been rigorously pursued, while the percentage of our expenditure on the Headquarters bureacracy has been steadily reduced.

As regards means, we are faithfully but rationally pursuing the policies of decentralisation, particularly through the establishment of FAO representatives, the maintenance of the Technical Cooperation Programme, and the furtherance of technical cooperation between developing countries.

Mr. Chairman, you will have noted particularly that, in the very short space of two years, I have brought about approximately a doubling in the use of consultants from the developing countries and quadrupling in the use of national institutions. These policies have been the basis of a very rigorous approach to the examination of the totality of existing programmes to ensure that we obtain maximum benefit to member nations at the minimum cost.

In comparison with needs, the proposed total resources are very small. We are talking of a couple of hundred millions for two years in the context of a dosen billions of dollars needed for food and agricultural development. The proposed budget of FIO, our annual budget, is much, much less than the budget which many industrial countries devote to their bilateral assistance in the field of agriculture. The budget of CGIAR, for instance, is of 150 million per year, so we are, therefore, really talking about very small amounts.

On the other hand, we have been facing four years of economic crisis in which the real value of the resources has been eaten into by inflation. Many countries are facing even more severe economic difficulties.

We will, of course, be submitting for your consideration a revised appropriations Resolution, to take account of the prevailing dollar/lire rate as compared with the rate of 879 used only for the purposes of comparison when the budget was prepared.

On the basis of present trends, the revised total would be in the region of 278 million dollars for the two years 1980 - 81.

The real Regular Programme increase proposed is not only less than 2. 6 percent per annum; it is 20 percent lower than it was in the last biennium. For many industrialized countries, maybe seven or eight of them, this increase will be even less in real terms. Obviously for rich countries such as Germany and Japan, Switzerland and Austria and the Netherlands and France the real percentage of what they will have to pay in their national currencies which have been reevalued will be much less than that applying to the overwhelming majority of developing countries; but those are facts which are very obvious.

Mr. Chairman, I cannot advocate nor support proposals for reducing this very modest increase. In fact, I am confident that full, perhaps even unanimous approval will be given. In order to facilitate this, my colleagues and I are here to clarify and up-to-date the copious information already provided to you.

In conclusion, I would only say that my conscience is clear, that I have done my best to face up to the needs of the situation, the demands on the Organization, the economic problems now upsetting all member nations, and the "orise de conscience" that faces all concerned with the inadequacy of the current response, particularly by the richest countries of this earth.

None of us can vote against, nor abstain from trying to increase that response, nor should appear to wish, even in a limited sense, to resist the cry of the poorest and the hungry, for succour for the barest needs of a life with some hope and a little dignity.

CHAIRMAN: Delegates will be aware that the terms of reference of the Commission are in document C 79/12-Rev. 2, paragraphs 27-32 · I would also draw the attention of delegates to the terms of reference of the Resolutions Committee in paragraphs 33 and 34 of the same document and Appendix D. Delegates who wish to propose resolutions should first send them to the Resolutions Committee before they are discussed in the Commission.

We have three distinguished Vice-Chairmen of this Commission: Australia, Sierra Leone and Nicaragua.

We shall have to establish a drafting committee, a very important committee, which will prepare I the report of the Commission. I would request nominations for that committee which will consist of a Chairman and six members. Delegates will be aware that normally sessions will be from 09. 30 to 12. 30 and from 14. 30 to 17. 30 but that could be changed by common consensus. This gives us a total of 57 hours. I think it is an adequate amount of time and if we divide 57 hours by the number of delegates it gives 21 minutes for each delegation for the entire work of the Commission, not for one item. As the Independent Chairman commented, brevity is the soul of wit. I would ask delegates to make their interventions as brief and precise as possible so that all delegates may have a share of the total time available.

Are there any general comments on the first item of the agenda Programme of Work and Budget, 1980 -81, introduced by the Director-General and considered in detail and in depth by the Programme Committee, the Finance Committee and the Council, so the work of this Commission has been very much listened by the work done already by the Organization and the various Committees.

S. KADBMBA-SY (Sénégal): Tout à l'heure, vous avez donné des indicationes sur le mandat de la Commission II et, à cet égard, vous aves rappelé que les débats de la Commission II doivent se concentrer essentiellement sur l'introduction présentée par le Directeur Général qui vient de la présenter. Nous l'avons écouté verbalement, mais peut-étre serait-il souhaitable que nous ayons cette introduction par écrit.

CHAIRMAN: The Director-General's report will be circulated in writing.

Shall we now move to item 11, the Programme of Work and Budget, 1980-81.