Desmond LEAKEY (Jamaica): It is indeed a pleasure for me to lead my country's delegation to this Twenty-fifth session of the FAO conference.
Let me begin, Mr Chairman, by congratulating you on your election to office. The Jamaican delegation is confident that under your guidance the proceedings of this Conference will be most constructive and will contribute positively to the search for solutions to hunger and poverty.
I would also take this opportunity of congratulating you, Mr Director-General, on successfully piloting the affairs of FAO through what can be considered a most difficult period as we sought to review the role of the organization and to effectively deal with the financial crisis. We are indeed impressed by the determined manner in which you have faced these challenges and in many instances found solutions. My delegation is heartened by this since we in the developing world continue to look to FAO for providing technical leadership in agricultural development.
Turning now to a discussion of the more critical agenda items, I would wish to comment briefly on the world food and agriculture situation. It is important to note, Mr Chairman, that while economic recovery has been gaining momentum in the developed world, most of the developing world is yet to experience any significant level of recovery. Increasing inequality in the terms of trade has caused many developing countries to resort to additional borrowing and in my own region of Latin America and the Caribbean, record levels of indebtedness have been reached, indeed, we are all aware that many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean continue to suffer from a most protracted crisis. The reasons for this are also well known and include the soaring net international payments which render the region a net exporter of capital, and the falling prices of primary commodities which have crippled some of the region's main sources of income and foreign exchange.
Against this background one of the major challenges is how to increase agricultural production and productivity in developing countries, since these countries are increasingly hard pressed to find the required foreign exchange to import the necessary agricultural inputs required to increase productivity. It is also becoming increasingly difficult in many countries to import adequate supplies of food staples not produced locally. The implications of this foreign exchange shortage related to food and agriculture are twofold. Firstly, the contribution of agriculture to the overall economy continues to stagnate although in many instances the overwhelming majority of people are dependent on the sector, and secondly, the poorest section of the population of many countries is becoming more vulnerable since it is difficult to ensure adequate levels of nutrition.
The problem of increased nutritional vulnerability is indeed grave and must surely lead us to renewed efforts to secure national and international food security. My delegation is perturbed to note that production of staple foods has fallen below aggregate consumption levels for the second consecutive year and that in per capita terms it was only 1 percent more in 1988 than it had been at the beginning of this decade. We also note that world carry-over stocks of cereals are targeted to be drawn down by the largest recorded amount in any one year in 1988/89 which will result in the minimun level of stocks that FAO considers necessary to safeguard food security. These developments have caused the price of cereals to rise significantly on international markets creating serious problems for low-income, food deficit countries.
Many of our countries, in attempts to come to grips with the problems, have already implemented stringent and painful structural adjustment programmes which in many instances have increased the hardships experienced by the poor. In addition, tariff barriers in developing countries are being removed as a result of conditionalities of structural adjustments loans. This means that fragile agricultural sectors in developing countries must face the full blast of international competition, although in many cases ill-prepared to do so.
My delegation is of the view that these problems are significantly severe to warrant special attention by FAO and would like to see them at the top of the agenda for international agricultural policy debate. It is partly for this reason that Jamaica together with net food importing developing countries will vigorously seek to ensure during the negotiations of this Uruguay Round that proper account is taken of our situation.
In this connection my delegation would also like to make a renewed plea for greater collaboration amongst donor agencies when discussing issues of vital importance to the developing world. We should also like to see more effective cooperation in project preparation and a greater sharing of experiences in the implementation of projects. We believe that such a course of action would ensure improved planning and husbandry of scarce resources and should lead to a reduction in dissipation of efforts and results.
My delegation is of the view that FAO by virtue of its knowledge and interest in agriculture and its close relationship with both the developing and the developed world can and should play a leading role in seeking to bring about such cooperation.
Turning specifically to the Caribbean region it is well-known that many countries of the region were severely affected by hurricanes in 1988 and again in 1989, in some cases to the point of devastation. One effect of this is to make already fragile agricultural sectors even more vulnerable and to wipe out economic gains made in recent times. In my own country, Jamaica, damage to the agricultural sector caused by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 was estimated at US$ 1.6 billion. What has come to the forefront in this experience is the critical absence of adequate agriculture insurance and this has had an inhibiting influence on new investment in the sector. It is clear that we cannot depend on traditional insurance companies to underwrite agriculture since they regard the risk as too great. We will therefore have to find another solution. Countries prone to such disasters will therefore have to work together to develop appropriate programmes and FAO could be of great assistance in this undertaking.
Another area in which FAO can be of great support, is in helping us to quickly access information from earth satellites on changed land cover data immediately following disasters.
My delegation wishes to comment briefly on the report of the fifty-seventh session of the committee on commodity problems. We note that although world merchandise trade increased by five percent in 1987, this increase was concentrated largely in the developed countries, where agricultural exports increased by 11 percent, while that of developing countries declined by four percent. In this respect we are particularly interested in the report of the inter-governmental group on bananas and of its reference to the "delicate balance" in world trade. We are pleased at the decision of the group to "explore equitable solutions to emerging questions regarding movement towards regional integration which would be likely to have an impact on international trade in bananas". This is a subject of vital importance to my country and region and we believe that a forum such as this is appropriate to draw the attention of the European Economic Community (EEC) to the vital importance of the banana industry to many Caribbean countries, and the disastrous consequences which would result if our exports to the United Kingdom should in any way be jeopardized by the unification of the European Market in 1992.
Turning now to the code of conduct on the distribution and use of pesticides. My delegation attaches much importance to the proposed incorporation of the "prior informed consent" clause to protect importing countries which might be ignorant of the fact that a specific pesticide has been banned or its use severely restricted by a particular government. In many cases, developing countries are unaware of such action, sometimes with disastrous consequences. We are supportive of the proposal that any government taking action to ban or severely restrict a pesticide should notify FAO of the action taken. FAO would then be able to play a vital role in advising governments on the issues related to the use of such pesticides. This should greatly assist governments to properly assess the risks involved and to take appropriate action.
Commenting on the FAO plan of action for the integration of women in development, my delegation is supportive of the proposal to introduce a gender code into FAO’s regular programme planning and evaluation system, since we believe that every effort should be made to integrate women fully into development. We would, however, like to stress that programmes developed for women should not disrupt the cultural and family values obtaining in recipient countries but rather should build on these. It would therefore be necessary to develop each programme based on an assessment of the real needs of women in recipient countries and taking into account the contribution that women themselves wish to make.
Commenting on the report on the review of field programmes, we are gratified by the importance being attached by FAO to evaluation of programmes. This is critical to the effective functioning of the organization and the contribution it can make to developing countries. We note that US$2.1 Billion was expended in 1988 for some 2 500 projects in 140 countries. This is indeed an impressive number of projects but every effort must be made to get the maximum results from such projects in a way which enhances development in recipient countries and ensures the transfer of appropriate technology. In this regard, it is encouraging to observe that the employment of national staff in these projects has increased significantly. We are confident that this is one of the best ways of ensuring effective technology transfer.
In introducing this section, I wish to congratulate the Director-General on the prudent management of the financial resources which has allowed the Organization to maintain an effective presence in many developing countries in spite of continuing liquidity problems.
Reviewing the proposed programme of work for 1990-91, we welcome the decision to channel additional resources only to technical and economic programmes, including the Technical Cooperation Programme and to streamline administrative expenses as much as possible. My country certainly regards the Technical Cooperation Programme as the life-line of the Organization.
The priority areas selected for funding seem broad enough to cover areas of real need and my government is particularly pleased at the inclusion of the Tropical Forestry Action Plan since it is of vital importance to us.
Turning now to the proposed budget, my delegation is satisfied that positive efforts have been made to contain cost increases. We are also pleased that the Technical Cooperation Programme will receive a programme increase of 2.4 percent. We are still not completely satisfied however, with the level of funding since even after the proposed increase, the share of the TCP in the total budget will decline to 11.8 percent, down from 14 percent in 1986/87 and 12.8 percent in 1988/89. We believe that greater efforts will have to be made in the 1992/93 budget to increase it to at least the percentage which was obtained in the 1986/87 budget.
Overall, we regard the proposed budget of US$574 million as a pragmatic one taking into consideration the need to balance problems of funding against the real needs of developing countries. My delegation therefore supports the proposed budget of US$574 Million and in doing so, we re-affirm our commitment to the goals and objectives of the Organization.
In closing Mr Chairman, my delegation takes this opportunity of thanking the Government and people of Italy for the hospitality extended to us and also to the Director-General and FAO Secretariat for the very excellent arrangements which have been made for this Conference.
Mrs Lynda CHALKER (United Kingdom): I am conscious of the pressure of time in this assembly and there is a great deal to cover. If I may, I will circulate a full version of my speech, which I have cut a little in order to save time for other delegates.
Two years ago, my predecessor, Chris Patten, painted a vivid picture of the achievements and continuing challenges facing the world's farmers, fishermen and herdsmen as they sought to sustain themselves and to feed and provide for the rest of society. While in the short term the agricultural scene was not too discouraging, he emphasised several growing problems - the issues of the environment and climate, of domestic policy and structural adjustment, and of technical limits hard-pressed by rising population. He called for a thorough reorientation of FAO's own structure and policies, to enable it to play a more effective role in supporting the profound chanages already under way in so many of its individual beneficiary members.
Two years on, as we stand on the brink of the '90s, his analysis and prescriptions are even more relevant than they were then. The colours in the picture stand out more starkly.
Our scientific understanding of the damage the human race can do to our common home has grown by leaps and bounds. This has spurred on international work on climate change, and on the conservation and proper use of tropical forests and other endangered natural habitats whose bio-diversity has yet to become known, let alone analysed. The world has adopted the slogan of sustainable development. That concept must span the entire range of FAO's activities - from fertiliser use to fishing methods. The Commonwealth Heads of Government have recently taken their stand on these and other environmental issues, in the Langkawi Declaration.
But sustainability has twin aspects and faces a twin threat. It does not exist in a vacuum. Its essence is looking ahead to the long term, taking account of our children's needs, and their children's. The question we have to ask ourselves each time is whether the development we undertake can be kept up indefinitely.
The first threat to sustainability comes from the rate at which the world's population is growing. It has doubled since 1950. There are now over 5 billion people in the world and as others have noted there will be more than 6 billion by the end of the century. Our numbers will not stabilize till the second half of the next century, and then at over 10 billion - twice today's population. I am glad to see that the Director-General spoke of this problem right at the start of his general statement. Even though action here is not for FAO, practically none of the Organization's technical work in any country can be carried out effectively without a clear understanding of the local social and cultural tradition, and how this affects both the pattern of agricultural work - in its broadest sense - and attitudes towards family growth, and the consequences for the natural resource base.
But FAO is right at the heart of the action in the Tropical Forestry Action Plan. Last week, my Prime Minister announced at the General Assembly that Britain would aim to commit a further £100 million bilaterally to tropical forestry activities over the next three years, mostly within the framework of the Tropical Forestry Action Plan. We strongly support the Tropical Forestry Action Plan. We are already helping it in twenty countries. But, I think we should consider whether the Tropical Forestry Action Plan needs revitalizing so that it fully addresses its mandate.
Policies relating to forests need re-examining and those that encourage destruction need changing. Policies should encourage reafforestation and agro-forestry, and better agricultural practices which help take the pressures off forests. They should take account of the knowlege and interest of the peoples of the forests. Priorities for investment and research must be agreed. Through the Tropical Forestry Action Plan the richer countries should be prepared to help provide the resources to implement these programmes. This should be seen as a contract between the industrialized countries and the developing countries, based upon a common interest in recapitalizing the world's forests. It should have clear objectives and measurable performance indicators, against which progress can be assessed, and to which assistance can be linked.
We shall take these ideas further at the Tropical Forestry Action Plan forestry advisers' meeting later this month. We look confidently to the FAO to see that the TFAP Secretariat, which it provides, will meet this new challenge. I also expect that as a result of the current IDA 9 negotiations the World Bank will take a much more active role in helping to carry out country forestry sector reviews and to follow them up.
The second threat to sustainability comes from institutional weakness and the grave financial and economic problems besetting so many developing countries. Again this is directly relevant to FAO's work across the board. The fashion throughout the UN system of technical cooperation has increasingly been for short-term projects, in and out, to help tackle specific difficulties. Of course, there is money and prestige in this approach for the Agencies - including FAO. But unless project action has a lasting effect - unless it is sustainable - we are tackling the symptoms, rather than curing the disease. Another Director-General - M. Blanca, in New York - has just brought to the General Assembly the conclusions of seven country reviews of assistance given by the entire UN System. Amongst these conclusions are that there are:
"too many problems in the design of projects... above all because of the continued neglect of above and before project analysis": and that we need "new approaches to maintaining support to institutions after projects are terminated".
Britain's own experience as a donor shows that a programmed step by step approach to helping institutional development is the only way to build up self-sufficient, sustainable national capacity. It is especially needed by the weakest and poorest countries, and by countries grappling with the serious problems of structural and sectoral adjustment. I am glad to see that FAO's review of its field activities strongly supports this line of thinking. It suggests that longer-term programmes of help should be created in such countries, with only limited FAO actions in areas outside the agreed programmes.
Once again, this requires donor agencies, both in the field and in headquarters, to have a clear and continuous grasp of the individual situation, problems and priorities of each recipient country, especially when they cut across sectors.
The same is true for other cross-cutting issues too. One of the most important is the impact of women upon development, and the impact of development upon women.
It is a major challenge to promote the conditions which allow women to play their full part in development. For example under our aid programme in the Yemen Arab Republic, our Women's Agricultural Extension Officer in the Central Highlands faces heavy demands. She has been working with informal women's groups, carrying out training in places acceptable to women. Improved nutrition has been achieved by introducing new vegetables and better ways of cooking. Another example is the Indo-British Fertiliser Project, where materials are being produced to meet the needs of illiterate women farmers. A pilot programme has been established to integrate women farmers in demonstration villages. A staff member with special responsibility for women will coordinate training for integrating women into the agricultural extension programme.
So I am delighted that the Conference is being asked to approve a detailed Plan of Action on this subject. I am even more delighted that the Director-General proposes to begin by training all professional FAO staff in the so-called "gender issues". We have found this the best way to start in our own aid programme. Too often the world's women are fobbed off with a few
grassroots projects worked up by hard-pressed NGOs. A much broader approach is needed which permeates the whole system. But since social and cultural traditions vary so much from nation to nation, it again raises the need for a clear country-differentiated view of these traditions in FAO headquarters.
If a strong country focus is needed to deal with these cross-cutting issues, it is even more necessary so as to allow FAO to fulfil its policy role. Ever since the last Conference there has been a strong demand for FAO to be able to join in, as a full partner, in proffering advice to individual countries on their policies across the board in FAO's area of competence and cooperative advantage. The expert groups who reported as part of the recent review have recommended that:
"country policy studies and advice should be an integral part of the Regular Programme".
And they say that such studies should be cast within the macro-economic perspective of the relevant country, with FAO making systematic use of country economic data and knowledge accumulated by the international financial institutions. I agreee with them 100 percent. Now we have to make it happen.
The demand for such advice is not confined to FAO. One of the conclusions just submitted by Director-General Blanca to the General Assembly is that "many governments are seeking a "partnership dialogue" from the UN system, but are seldom able to obtain it at the quality, comprehensiveness and timeliness required". So there is a current of unease and dissatisfaction here, which every UN institution needs to address.
One call which is voiced time and again is for much closer exchanges of view between different agencies supporting the same country. This has materialized in FAO partly in the shape of proposals that the Organization should play a much more active role in aid Consultative Groups and Round Tables.
But with FAO's present internal structure this is impossible. There is virtually nobody between the Director-General's Office and the Field Representatives, where they exist, who can speak with authority and responsibility to the senior country managers of the African or Asian Development Banks, the World Bank, the UNDP or even UNIDO. FAO's African Rehabilitation Programme kicked off well by forming ad hoc country teams to do this, but it lost all momentum because after projects were identified the responsibility for processing them and carrying them out was split, according to normal FAO practice.
These factors all point straight to one conclusion. FAO needs to be reshaped internally to create a geographically-based managerial chain alongside the technical chain. Only then will effective decentralization of decisions, and even some staff, be possible. This can go down to Regional Offices, where it is sensible to run activities covering more than one country - as it often is in the Caribbean or Central America for example. But more often it will go right to Field Office level. Only then, too, will clear responsibility for internal coordination also follow in headquarters. Many of the specially-created bodies which now have to be added to one another to meet each new cross-disciplinary challenge could be scrapped. Headquarters responsibility for identifying, formulating and carrying out projects in
particular countries and regions would be brought together, instead of being dispersed. Proposals for a few geographical inspectors are not enough. Nor is a geographical focus an optional extra, to be paid for largely by others. It should be integral to FAO’s structure.
I believe such a reorganization could also lead to a better focus and much greater use of the Field Programme, and FAO’s own Technical Cooperation Programme, to stimulate actual investments. It is a shock to discover that only 10 percent of the projects successfully worked up by FAO's excellent Investment Centre can claim any direct link with the Field Programme.
I have spent some time on this point because it illustrates clearly why the results of the FAO Review carried out by the Programme and Finance Committees are insufficient. Unless they are complemented by other steps, FAO will not be geared up properly for the '90s. Before we meet again, our Governments will have considered, and I hope resolved, the whole sweep of issues affecting the place of the UN system of technical cooperation in the wider donor effort, and affecting the place of the Agencies - including FAO - in the UN system. These decisions could change quite radically the whole system under which we have been operating for 20 years. The tide is running in favour of a much more integrated team of UN country specialists, working together much more closely with the central authorities of each host State, as well as with their technical counterpart Ministries. That will require, above all, a new spirit of cooperation from all members of the UN family, including FAO. Director-General Saouma has it absolutely right when he insists that it is up to Governments to take the same line both in FAO and in the corresponding bodies of other organizations. By the same token, we should all expect FAO's management, like that of other organizations, to be open to change proposed not only here but in those other bodies, and to carry out an extensive and rigorous re-examination of its own structures, with outside management advice where necessary, to look at proposals for doing things in a better way.
I have described the outcome of the recent review as incomplete. Despite the doubts some of us had about its constitution and scope, it has been worthwhile. This is due in particular to the work of the two groups of distinguished experts, and the two Committees. Their findings point to some broad lessons in addition to the country and cross-cutting policy issues which I have already mentioned.
The first lesson is the need for selectivity and concentration, in both the Regular and Field Programmes. Neither the experts nor I feel that the answer to the strains created by trying to manage over 2 500 field projects of uneven quality is just more technical and support staff. Until there is a more careful streamlining of field activities with recipient countries, according to the programme approach I mentioned earlier, their systems will be overloaded as well as FAO's. That will postpone the day when they can manage these programmes largely on their own. I accept, of course, that wealthier recipients, or those better equipped with human resources, may be able to manage a more scattered approach successfully. FAO also now faces a special task as events in Eastern Europe unfold, for example in Poland and Hungary.
For the Regular Programme the Committees have endorsed criteria for selection which the Director-General and my Government also support. I disagree, however, that there is no sensible way then of ranking the priority activities chosen as between each other. For instance, there must be shifts in standing capacity as the composition of the Field Programme
changes over time in réponse to recipients' national priorities. And it must be feasible to run down, and even discontinue, activities which now command relatively lower priority in favour of those that have become internationally most urgent. Forestry, for example, has not received nearly enough of an increase in the draft budget, given its immensely increased importance. It should have been raised accordingly and other activities of less urgency should be downgraded.
Some of you may fear that talk of selectivity and concentration really means fewer FAO activities in your countries. Of course that is not so. If these activities are regrouped, they do not need to be fewer. And national priorities must also govern that FAO does. But the contrast between transfer of technology for countries at the top of the scale, and institution-building for those lower down, is pointed up by FAO's own review. Nor is "concentration" a dirty word I For instance FAO's own survey of the networks it finances under its programme for technical cooperation between developing countries (TCDC) recommends "concentrating on those which demonstrate clear evidence of results, or at least clear potential" and weeding out others. That is exactly the approach we want to see throughout all FAO's work.
Sadly, the whole debate over priorities is clouded by suspicion that it conceals a quite separate debate about budget levels. Nothing could be more wrong. Of course there is a link: the arguments for budget growth are convincing only if every possible step has been taken to improve structures and efficient delivery of programmes so that any fat is cut out. In that way, specific increases will be clearly justified by what they will achieve in measurable terms. But priorities need to be ranked internally by every organization, at any budget level. We expect FAO to do this, and we think FAO's Member States should play a greater part in approving and guiding the process through the Governing Bodies.
A key way of putting changing priorities in perspective is to look further ahead than just the next two years. A return to medium-term planning has been recommended. I support the idea of a six-year plan. It would be reviewed every two years to ensure that we confront new challenges. Member States cannot now promise fixed commitments to either regular or operational resources for so long ahead. But we need to set a clear direction in focusing FAO's main efforts, while keeping different patterns of field activities in different Member States to meet their specific priorities. I agree that this longer-term planning should be carried out at the same time as we prepare for the new International Development Strategy. Perhaps the chapter that goes into the Strategy will be enough. But the membership must be fully involved in this preparation. And FAO should take account of the contributions by others in the UN family - such as the excellent study just done by the World Bank on sustainable growth with equity over the longer term in Africa. But we do not yet know whether the Strategy will be a coherent and consistent blueprint. If it summarizes all the aspirations of the human race, in every sector, as we reach out to the new millennium, ignoring the failings of past strategies, it may give us only limited guidance, little focus and no sense of the real priorities.
All of us who start on the process of Perestroika eventually find that we go much further than first expected, in order to reap its full benefits. This Conference must therefore consider the outcome of the review only as one stage in a longer process. It must reach specific decisions - and I hope we can do that by consensus. But it must also put in place detailed arrangements to monitor the way those decisions are carried out, and to carry them still further. Here a heavy weight of responsibility falls on us,
carry them still further. Here a heavy weight of responsibility falls on us, as Member States in the Governing Bodies and technical committees. So far as I can see there is much to be done, by us, to turn these into more effective places, where there can be a real meeting of minds. Maybe we need to look again at our own procedures, and the way we discuss and record our decisions and give guidance to FAO's management. We need this to ensure that FAO keeps the capacity to change.
We also have the duty to oversee more closely the way the Field Programme is carried out, and its actual impact, together with the relationship between it and the resources we are using from the regular budget to back it up.
In short, we have a very full agenda before us stretching over several years. We have every confidence in you, Mr Chairman, and in your colleagues, and in our very experienced Director-General, that together you can help us turn this Conference into the important milestone it must be for the future of FAO, and for the future of the world.
José Ignacio DOKINGUEZ C. (Chile): En primer término deseo asociarme a los representantes que me han precedido y expresar las felicitaciones de la delegación de Chile por su elección como Presidente de esta Conferencia. Estoy seguro de que bajo su dirección esta Conferencia tendrá éxito en su desarrollo.
Una vez más nos reunimos representantes de los paises del mundo, en este importante foro dedicado a tratar los problemas de la agricultura y la alimentación. En nombre de mi país agradezco a la FAO este nuevo esfuerzo de organización, que nos permite analizar materias de tanta trascendencia para toda la humanidad.
El problema vital que aqueja en forma permanente a nuestros pueblos, y que ocupará particularmente nuestra atención, presenta en la actualidad varias aspectos importantes a considerar. Entre estos destaca la urgencia por aumentar la producción agropecuaria, tomando debida consideración a la creciente exigencia de preservar los recursos naturales y de garantizar un medio ambiente estable y libre de contaminación para las futuras generaciones. Al mismo tiempo, otro aspecto esencial del problema radica en la urgencia de hacer llegar los beneficios del desarrollo hacia vastos sectores rurales, donde se concentran en muchos casos las situaciones de extrema pobreza. Es evidente, en todo caso que la causa fundamental de la subalimentación y la pobreza es básicamente de naturaleza económica y se sustenta en situaciones de desarrollo insuficiente, especialmente en el ámbito agropecuario.
Sin necesidad de reiterar las cifras, que ya están mencionadas en los documentos referenciales de FAO, es claro que globalmente los paises en desarrollo no han sido muy exitosos en la presente década. En el caso de nuestra región, América Latina y el Caribe, encontramos aún muchos paises enfrentados a situaciones de crecimiento insuficiente, endeudamiento excesivo, estancamiento e inflación. La crisis económica de los años 80 aún persiste y se estima que, al concluir el año, el producto medio por habitante será casi un diez por ciento inferior al de 1980.
Sin embargo, creemos realmente que es posible romper este circulo si logramos estructurar y llevar a cabo en nuestros países políticas realistas que, reconociendo las limitaciones que hay, planteen estrategias acordes con las posibilidades existentes.
Para ello es imprescindible valorar ciertos hechos, lo que supone superar esquemas ideológicos de análisis de los problemas y aplicar enfoques pragmáticos. El primero de éstos es el reconocimento de la posibilidad que ofrece la tecnología para inducir el desarrollo productivo de la agricultura, en vez de seguir intentando enfoques redistributivos de la ciudad o centros urbanos al campo. En la misma agricultura existen potenciales efectivos de crecimiento, que radican fundamentalmente en la capacidad de los individuos, de los agricultores.
Si efectivamente creemos en la capacidad e iniciativa libre de los individuos, más allá que en la dirección omnipotente de los Estados o gobiernos, y promovemos estrategias que provean los estímulos reales para ello, así como la asistencia y capacitación para que esta iniciativa se exprese, estaremos sentando las bases para que se manifieste el potencial que existe en nuestros campos y, en general, entre nuestros agricultores.
El segundo aspecto o hecho básico es la necesidad de establecer para estas agriculturas un marco económico y legal, que permita a los agricultores utilizar su racionalidad y sus capacidades para asignar los recursos productivos y para beneficiarse del éxito, fruto de su esfuerzo; ello supone una estabilidad en las políticas y una seguridad en el pleno ejercicio del derecho de propiedad individual sobre los bienes físicos y sobre los resultados del proceso productivo.
El tercer aspecto, cada vez más real, radica en el reconocimiento de la necesaria interacción e interdependencia entre los países y regiones del mundo. La consideración de que no constituimos países aislados, y de que el mercado internacional ofrece oportunidades enormes para el crecimiento de nuestros sectores rurales, es una necesidad en la actualidad. Es importante modificar los objetivos para un autoabastecimiento forzoso y analizar las posibilidades reales que la integración con otros países y con el comercio mundial puede brindarnos, para aprovechar las ventajas comparativas que todos tenemos.
Sin pretender señalar un modelo, ya que cada país requiere soluciones propias y estrategias acordes a su propia realidad, debemos recalcar que la aplicación de los principios mencionados ha hecho que Chile mantenga un crecimiento sostenido de su agricultura en los últimos ocho años, con el consiguiente aumento en la producción, productividad, disponibilidad de divisas, empleo y mejoramiento en el nivel de vida del sector rural.
Cada país, en función de su propia realidad, al igual que la FAO y otros organismos internacionales, debe estudiar y proponer estrategias para el desarrollo, en el convencimiento de que éste es posible, en tanto ellas se sustenten en el estímulo y desarrollo de las capacidades del hombre como sujeto del mismo, y de su capacidad empresarial como instrumento de este desarrollo.
Aparte de estas consideraciones, sin embargo, me parece indispensable señalar la problemática a que nuestras agriculturas se ven enfrentradas en el ámbito internacional y que pueden entorpecer este desarrollo.
A riesgo de ser reiterativo en esta materia, es indispensable hacer referencia a la difícil situación de competencia y acceso a los mercados internacionales, que afecta a nuestros productos y, en especial, a los de origen agropecuario. Esta realidad, como sabemos, lejos de haberse ido solucionando, ha tomado cada vez características más apremiantes y, como en el caso de nuestra fruta, ha llegado a asumir, por decirlo con mucha mesura, rasgos inaceptables y poco conocidos hasta el momento.
La reciente mejoría de los precios internacionales para los productos básicos ha constituido sólo un paliativo a los problemas que generan las medidas como los subsidios y las cuotas, aplicadas principalmente por los países desarrollados.
Tal como lo he indicado, creemos que los países deben basar sus estrategias de desarrollo en la liberación de las fuerzas productivas, revirtiendo el proteccionismo y la intervención estatal.
El desafío actual es lograr que se supere el rígido esquema que por décadas ha resultado en una creciente intervención estatal, vencer la resistencia de algunos sectores productivos a la innovación y la oposición de ciertos grupos políticos, que se esmeran en mantener los atrofiantes esquemas del pasado.
En el caso de Chile, nuestro país ha optado por desafiar la tentación proteccionista en favor de la integración al comercio internacional. Se ha superado el dirigismo estatal del pasado, dando paso al ejercicio de la libertad económica, donde el Estado cumple un efectivo rol subsidiario.
Estamos aquí para analizar lo que se ha hecho en favor de la agricultura y la alimentación en el último tiempo, lo que está previsto hacer en esta materia próximamente y, sobre todo, para comprometer nuestras voluntades en la acción futura.
Nuestra región, la Conferencia Interamericana de Ministros de Agricultura resolvió, en su reunión de Otawa, Canadá, dar forma a lo que hoy denominamos plan de acción conjunta para la reactivación de la agricultura de Latinoamérica y el Caribe. Este mandato fue ejecutado mediante la colaboración entre los países y el Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura y hoy, luego de haber sido recientemente aprobado el plan por la Junta Interamericana de Agricultura, éste se encuentra al inicio de su fase de ejecución.
Valga señalar que el referido plan incluye entre sus fundamentos y objetivos tanto los elementos conceptuales como las orientaciones desarrolladas por la FAO en su plan de acción para el desarrollo agrícola y rural en América Latina y el Caribe, plan que fue realizado como respuesta a la petición formulada en 1986 por los Ministros de Agricultura en la decimonovena Conferencia Regional.
Los proyectos contenidos en el plan de acción conjunta, mencionado en primer lugar, y los que se vayan incorporando al mismo, así como las acciones independientes de cada uno de nuestros países deberán constituir el camino que conduzca al mayor desarrollo de nuestras agriculturas.
Sin embargo, sabemos que nuestro intento será más difícil, o no será posible, de no contar, por una parte, con el respaldo amplio de los organismos internacionales de cooperación técnica y financiera, y, por otra, con la comprensión y colaboración de los países de mayor desarrollo.
En relación a los primeros, debo señalar que, si bien su apoyo es ya valioso, en un esfuerzo común debemos mejorarlo y acrecentarlo. En materia de colaboración técnica, por ejemplo, es indispensable lograr la mayor coordinación entre los organismos pertinentes. Creemos también de la mayor importancia la colaboración y coordinación entre los organismos de cooperación técnica y los de acción financiera.
En cuanto a la relación con los países desarrollados, me parece necesario señalar que, más que una ayuda directa, necesitamos que se nos proporcione el espacio, la oportunidad y el justo trato para desenvolver nuestras capacidades y utilizar nuestras ventajas comparativas.
En concreto, se hace necesario, en primer lugar, acelerar la aplicación de mecanismos destinados a facilitar la solución del problema del endeudamiento. En segundo término, es imprescindible redoblar los esfuerzos para allanar los problemas que hasta el momento dificultan los intentos por liberalizar el comercio.
Las acciones proteccionistas aún están presente. De nuevo reiteramos a los países industrializados que, para alcanzar el desarrollo, se requiere la oportunidad de competir abiertamente con el resto de las naciones. La ayuda económica de gobiernos extranjeros a nuestros países siempre es bienvenida, pero ésta no reemplaza los beneficios que genera la libre competencia en todos los mercados, más aún cuando son estos mismos países los que normalmente distorsionan los procesos comerciales, tanto internos como externos.
Llamamos a nuestros colegas, particularmente de los países desarrollados, a unificar voluntades y redoblar esfuerzos para lograr que los trabajos en curso, en el seno de la Ronda Uruguay del GATT, culmine en una liberalización efectiva del comercio de productos agropecuarios. En este sentido, Chile comparte plenamente los esfuerzos del Grupo Cairns y es partícipe activo en sus acuerdos.
Alentamos el apoyo que ha estado prestando la FAO a la Secretaría del GATT en torno a la Ronda de Negociaciones Comerciales, cuyo éxito permitiría la concreción de las orientaciones y objetivos del reajuste agrícola internacional.
Chile ha venido recibiendo, desde hace ya muchos años, la colaboración de la FAO en favor de sus actividades agrícolas, forestales y pesqueras. Queremos expresar, una vez más en este foro, nuestro reconocimiento a la labor desarrollada por la Organización, así como nuestro apoyo a su programación técnica y a las orientaciones previstas para los años venideros.
Reiteramos nuestra disposición e interés en participar en las actividades que la Organización impulse, así como nuestra voluntad de colaborar para el éxito de sus programas.
Hemos seguido con profundo interés la labor de los expertos y de los Comités, que analizaron en forma exhaustiva las orientaciones, funciones y prioridades de la Organización. De dicho análisis, cuyas conclusiones apoyamos, creemos que este proceso de revisión debe darse por terminado, ya que su continuación distrae los recursos humanos y materiales del fin último
para el cual la FAO fue constituida. De la misma forma, nos preocupa el eventual crecimiento cero en el presupuesto de la Organización, lo que, en términos prácticos, significaría una contracción real de las actividades de FAO.
Nuestro país vive en estos meses un proceso electoral, contemplado en la Constitución de 1980, que conduce a la recuperación del ejercicio de la plena democracia. En forma paralela, se han establecido efectivamente las bases del proceso de modernización que nos permita, en breve, alejarnos del subdesarrollo y enfrentar el siglo XXI bajo las perspectivas de un pals desarrollado. Hemos basado nuestra política y nuestro esfuerzo en el reconocimiento a la capacidad e iniciativa de nuestros compatriotas, en la creencia de que el verdadero desarrollo se logra a través del establecimiento de una sociedad libre y justa, donde todos tengan el estímulo y la posibilidad de construir su propio bienestar.
A nivel internacional, solicitamos del resto de los países, y en especial de los de mayor desarrollo, que colaboren en la eliminación de los obstáculos artificiales para el intercambio justo entre los países y así, al igual que las personas, nuestros países tengan la oportunidad de construir su propio bienestar.
Mrs Anne VIK (Norway): Mr Chairman, on behalf of the Norwegian delegation I would like to congratulate the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman upon their elections.
Poverty, hunger and malnutrition remain among the most serious threats facing many developing countries. Combined with economic stagnation, debt burden, population growth and environmental degradation, this threatens to cripple the development process, particularly in the least developed countries. When we look at the development of the world food situation during the last few years, it is clear that the food shortage is serious for many countries. Strengthening the efforts to increase food production and ensure a more equal distribution of food are therefore of the utmost importance.
In this situation, the need for efficient international cooperation through the UN system is more important than ever. It is a major challenge for these organizations to examine their planning processes, priorities and working methods to adopt to changing circumstances and growing needs. Norway has taken an active interest in this reform process, because we consider international cooperation necessary and have great confidence in the UN system.
Mr Chairman, it is necessary to strengthen the process of priority setting in FAO. The Organization gives valuable support to Member States, and as a consequence it receives a number of requests for new initiatives and involvements. At the same time the financial and organizational resources are limited. It is only by concentrating its efforts in the areas where it can contribute the most, that FAO can use its limited resources most efficiently and defend its position as a leading institution in its field of competence.
To set priorities between and within the different areas of FAO's work an improved planning policy and a dialogue between the Secretariat and the member countries are required. Discussions of the Programme of Work and Budget for the next two years cannot provide sufficient guidelines for planning of the following biennium. The introduction of medium-term planning would provide possibilities for exchanges of views on priority setting in a longer term perspective and give the Director-General increased flexibility based on agreed priorities, goals and strategies.
Mr Chairman, in our view environmentally sustainable development is a priority issue. Since publication of the report of the World Commission of Environment and Development in 1987, the threats to the world environment have become even more serious.
Recently, we have seen a marked increase in the awareness regarding the threats to the environment and the need for urgent action. Active work to follow up the environmental challenges is now in progress in most international organizations as well as in many countries.
FAO's work related to environmental questions is important. Together with the other Nordic countries Norway has therefore contributed actively to follow-up the discussion at the last FAO conference regarding sustainable development. An independent study on FAO and sustainable development has been initiated and its conclusions shared with the Secretariat as well as other member countries. The study emphasizes the need for FAO to give increased priority to environmental issues and incorporate environmental concerns into all the Organization's activities.
We note with appreciation that environment is placed among the priority areas in the draft Programme of Work and Budget for 1990-91 and given special attention in connection with the analysis of the food and agricultural situation. It is necessary to actively follow-up the integration of environmental concerns in FAO's activities. Norway will, on behalf of the Nordic countries, introduce a draft resolution to this end under agenda item 6.1.
The World Commission on Environment and Development pointed to poverty as a major cause of environmental problems. Population growth and scarce resources in many developing countries are leading to increased marginalization, forcing weaker segments of the community into ecologically fragile areas. The daily struggle of rural poor people to obtain the basic necessities of life is often taking a tremendous toll on the natural resources upon which their very survival depends. It must be recognized that we cannot deal with environmental problems without including the factors underlying poverty and inequality. It is therefore necessary for FAO to target activities more specifically to poor segments of the population dealing among others with factors influencing their situation.
Mr Chairman, it is a fact that poverty is particularly increasing among women in developing countries. At the same time, women are often the main food producers, income-earners and guardians of family health and welfare. As food producers and wood and water gatherers, women are also the main natural-resource managers over much of the developing world. They are at the same time frequently excluded from development activities, and their concerns, needs and knowledge are often ignored.
It is therefore vital to consider women’s multiple roles in relation to agricultural development in developed as well as developing countries. In particular macro-economic planning, national development strategies and adjustment policies relating to the agricultural field must deal with women's multiple roles and include measures to increase women's resources and improve their status. Here FAO has an important contribution to make.
My delegation has noted with satisfaction that the issue of women in development is a separate item on the agenda. The plan of action can serve as a useful basis for the Organization's further work, and we look forward to seeing regular reports on its implementation and results.
When focusing on this agenda item, I would like to add that FAO has a task right here in this building. Women are underrepresented in professional and higher categories within the FAO Secretariat, as only approximately 10 percent are women. There is thus a need for greater efforts to increase the number of women holding important positions within the Organization.
Personally, I also wish to add that I would like to see more female Ministers of Agriculture throughout the world.
Finally, Mr Chairman, I would like to underline that FAO has an important role to play in the agricultural field and must develop and adjust to the challenges ahead. We believe that FAO can do this, and that this Conference will take the Organization an important step forward. The Norwegian delegation will make every effort to contribute to this end.
Thank you, Mr Chairman.
Sik KIM (Republic of Korea): Mr Chairman, Mr Director-General, distinguished delegates and honourable guests it gives me great pleasure to have this opportunity to share and exchange views on world food and agriculture problems with the delegates from member countries on the occasion of the Twenty-fifth FAO Conference.
Mr Chairman and distinguished delegates, certainly, most countries of the world are deeply concerned about food problems, and are devoting their utmost efforts to solve the problems. However, the food supply has not been sufficient to satisfy the ever increasing population due to the limitation of arable land and low agricultural productivity in the developing countries.
In recent years, food production has been quite unstable due to repeated adverse climatic conditions and resultant agricultural disasters in many parts of the world.
World cereal stocks which declined in 1988-89 were expected to decline further and will amount to 16 percent of the world annual apparent consumption by the end of 1989. This level will be below the minimum necessary to safeguard world food security.
This unstable food supply situation has resulted in lower export availabilities and higher international market prices of cereals which had adversely affected the low-income and food-deficit countries, most of which are already suffering from heavy debt burden and lack of foreign exchange reserves.
In this connection, my delegation would like to express my deep concern on this matter and to urge Member Nations and concerned international organizations to take effective and urgent measures to solve the current serious world food supply situation,
Mr Chairman, my delegation firmly believes that in order to increase food production in developing countries, the self-help efforts by the developing countries, assistance from developed countries and cooperation among developing countries need to be secured to the problem.
As regards the cooperation among developing countries, my delegation is pleased to inform the Conference that, recognizing the importance of mutual cooperation, the Government of the Republic of Korea has launched the international cooperation programmes in recent years. The programme includes training of foreign nationals and dispatch of skilled experts to other developing countries in the field of rice and sericulture production, irrigation and water management and other related areas.
For this, the Korean Government had established the Economic Development Cooperation Fund in 1987 and has participated in ESCAP activities by providing finance through the Korea-ESCAP Cooperation Fund for development projects in Asia and Pacific Region.
Secondly, in connection with the agricultural adjustment policy which FAO and other international organizations have been deeply involved in the process of implementation, I would like to make a very brief comment. As is recognized, it is true that the adjustment programme by its very nature, requires longer time and larger budgetary requirements for realizing the benefits from the programmes.
However in the short-run, it creates a number of problems such as foreign indebtedness, adverse effects on agricultural income and employment, and on food security for the countries concerned.
Considering the complicated nature of the policies, we, member countries and international organizations including FAO and World Bank, should try to find a way with a view to minimising the negative effects arising in the process of implementation of agricultural adjustment policies. In this context, my delegation believes that special studies by FAO and exchange of experiences among member countries will be highly desirable. At the same time it is necessary for developed countries to provide to the developing countries financial assistance on concessional terms and for long period, which will help them to overcome difficulties caused by the trade liberalization, especially during the initial adjustment period.
Thirdly, as regards the international trade of agricultural commodities, my delegation would like to express its appreciation for the significant progress which has been made at the GATT multilateral negotiations on agriculture, in which FAO has provided strong technical support to UNCTAD and member countries.
In this regard, I would like to inform that Korea has continuously expanded its agricultural market liberalization policies since the early 1980s, despite our difficult agricultural conditions, insufficient structural development and poor rural economy. Particularly, in April this year, the Korean Government announced a vigorous agricultural import liberalization programme covering the period of 1989-1991.
However, it is inevitable for a food-importing country like Korea to maintain an optimal level of domestic food supply and to continue to adopt the necessary policy measures to ensure adequate food supplies.
Furthermore, as farm population continues to occupy an important place in the country as a whole, it is imperative to apply suitable trade policies so as to protect poor farmers in the country from the imported agricultural commodities, most of which are heavily subsidized even by the exporting countries.
In this context, my delegation would like to urge FAO and other world agricultural organizations to take into consideration the special situations of developing countries in the Uruguay Round negotiations.
In taking this opportunity, I would like to briefly mention the recent developments in Korean agricultural policies.
Although the Republic of Korea has made substantial improvement in the agricultural sector in recent years, we still face many difficult problems, principally because of small land holdings and the imbalance of rural-urban income gap. To overcome these problems, the Korean Government has earmarked US$ 24 billion to launch the new Comprehensive Rural Development Plan, 1989-1992. This plan will focus mainly on structural adjustment of agriculture, improvement of farm income, and enhancement of the rural living environment.
For the structural adjustment, my Government plans to establish the Rural Development Corporation to facilitate land transfer, so as to consolidate and enlarge land holdings per farm household.
Please permit me to briefly comment on the FAO's role and operations. The elimination of starvation and poverty of mankind still remains as the ultimate goal of FAO. For this, the main task of FAO is to eliminate the various technical and institutional obstacles hampering the increase of agricultural production and rural development, particularly in the many developing countries. Bearing this in mind, my delegation would like to endorse the conclusions and recommendations made by the joint session of the Programme and Finance Committees on the basis of the Study Group Report on FAO goals and functions.
I hope this Conference will adopt the conclusions and recommendations for the future work of FAO.
With regard to programme and budget for 1990-91, my delegation would like to support the proposed budget presented by the Director-General of FAO, although it seems insufficient to meet the demands of development programmes for developing countries. We also endorse the nine priority areas, with special emphasis on sustainable development, biotechnology and women in development.
In closing, I wish to re-emphasize the utmost importance of mutual exchanges of experiences among member countries, and financial and technical assistance from developed countries, so that together we may contribute to solve the difficult agricultural problems facing many developing countries.
Jaromir ALGAYER (Czechoslovakia) (original language Slovak): A month ago it was also in Czechoslovakia that on the occasion of the World Food Day great appreciation was given to the effort of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization to solve the global problems of the world.
Czechoslovakia is among the 42 nations which added their signatures to the Organization's foundation charter. This General Conference is held in a period when, within the whole UN system, efforts are taken to improve the effectiveness of the work of the Agencies, including FAO. We are ready to support rational proposals aimed at a strengthening and improvement of the effectiveness of FAO's work and to take tangible measures to enhance international cooperation.
The political climate in international relations is gradually improving on a world scale, and is favourable to implementation of multilateral as well as bilateral cooperation programmes between countries with different social orders. Czechoslovakia attaches great importance to the practical implementation of the policy of peaceful coexistence and international cooperation.
As to the environmental problems, we held in Prague a conference of ministers responsible for environment in May this year; the conference discussed the coordination of efforts in the field of environment conservation.
The steps towards understanding among nations and towards disarmament, made during the recent period, create good prerequisites which can allow, in the near future, to release considerable financial means and to use economic resources in order to enhance international economic security and achieve a world food security.
I am convinced that the FAO as the largest specialized UN agency will contribute to developing new approaches not only to solving the problems of food production in the world but also to international economic security as a way towards the removal of the causes of starvation and malnutrition. Considering this, we thoroughly studied the Programme of Work and Budget for the years 1990-1991. We regard this document as realistic. Our comments and proposals will be raised during discussions in the commission concerned.
Czechoslovakia as a FAO Council member fully acknowledges the leading role of FAO in world agriculture, fisheries and forestry and the great merit of FAO in the development of rural regions. We regularly fulfil our duties associated with regular membership in the Organization, including the membership fees paid to FAO budget, though the geographical proportion of our country both in FAO Headquarters and in the field programmes is far from corresponding to the high standard of Czechoslovak agriculture, to the high qualifications of our experts and to the long tradition of farmer cooperatives. We fully support the principle of a just geographical representation in all FAO bodies and posts, as well as the requirement for a higher flexibility of using the experts for the Organization's purposes.
In spite of these facts about which we are concerned, we are ready to intensify and extend our cooperation with the FAO and to contribute our proposals and active involvement to the solution of the complex tasks the Organization has. Czechoslovakia's agriculture has had good results for a long time and is considered as a stabilizing factor of our national economy. This is so in spite of the fact that we are among the few countries of the world with a very small area of land per head of population: we have only
0.43 ha of agricultural land per caput, and only 0.30 ha of this area is arable land. In recent years our cereal yields per hectare have been about 4.8 tonnes. We produce 309 kg of meat and almost l’ 000 litres of milk per hectare of agricultural land. The consumption of meat and meat products per caput of population is 92 kg annually. We have 1 600 cooperative farms of an average size of 3 000 hectares and 173 state farms of an average size of 6 600 hectares. This is proof that large-scale agricultural production with adequate management produces progressive farming.
This year Czechoslovak agriculture celebrates an important anniversary: forty years ago the Czechoslovak Parliament passed the Law on the Unified Agricultural Cooperatives which formed a basis for the unification and dynamic development of Czechoslovak agriculture. This significant anniversary as well as the successful forty-year path of the development of agriculture in our country will be evaluated at the eleventh National Congress of Unified Agricultural Cooperatives which will be held on December 1-3, 1989, in Prague, with wide international participation.
I am of the opinion that the use of Czechoslovak cooperatives' results and experience within the FAO may contribute to attainment of the main objectives of the Organization. Some specialized events of the FAO have been held in Czechoslovakia in the recent period. These included, for instance, the seminar on the use of remote sensing on farms, the session of the Technical Committee of the European Commission for Foot-and-Mouth Disease Control, the training course for specialists from developing countries on embryo transfer. Moreover, we also take active part in various FAO programmes and research networks.
Intending to improve the effectiveness of our involvement in FAO activities, we considered thoroughly the fields in which we could offer our experience. We recommend that adequate attention should be paid to the problems of management of large farms, especially in developing countries. In view of the fact that in my country agricultural production is done on large cooperative and state farms, we have prepared a draft project of a training course for specialists in large-scale farm management. Thorough utilization of the reserves that exist in the management of large farms is one of the possibilities of increasing the effectiveness of food production. We also offer to organize training courses, in cooperation with the FAO, on in-vitro fertilization, on the use of roughage in dairy cattle nutrition, on embryo transfer, on the use of remote sensing for agricultural purposes and in other fields. We welcome FAO’s initiative to hold an international Conference on nutrition. As to the problems of rational and balanced nutrition of the population, we intend in cooperation with Austrian experts to hold an international seminar on this subject early next year; FAO experts will be invited to take part in that seminar. Next year we shall organize in Prague the 16th Session of the European Inland Fisheries Advisory Committee. I would like to use the occasion of the session of the General Conference of the FAO to confirm again our interest to organize the 18th Regional FAO Conference in Prague in 1992.
It is our interest that the FAO should enhance its cooperation with the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, and with other subregional organizations. This topic was discussed recently at the 3rd session of CMEA Committee for the Agro-Industrial Complex, held in Czechoslovakia. In our view there are good prerequisites for the relationships of both international organizations to develop into mutually advantageous forms.
After studying the Conference documents and the opening statements we fully agree with the claims presented by Mr Saounia, Director-General of FAO. At the same time we recommend that the Programme of Work and Budget should concentrate for the next years on the elements connected with the prevention of negative influences on world agricultural production.
In conclusion I would like to express my conviction that the 25th General Conference of the FAO will become an important turning point in the development of the activity of the Food and Agriculture Organization as the largest specialized agency of the UN system, and that it will contribute to the solution of the most urgent problems of mankind and to the strengthening of peace in the world.
Sakue MATSUMOTO (Japan): I am greatly honoured to have this opportunity of representing the Japanese Government at this 25th Session of the FAO Conference and of exchanging views with the distinguished delegates of other member countries.
I should like, first of all, to offer you, Your Excellency, John Charles Kerin, my warmest congratulations for your election as Chairman. I am convinced that, with the benefit of your outstanding knowledge and guidance, this session will yield fruitful results for all member countries.
I should also like to express my sincere gratitude and respects for the FAO Secretariat under the leadership of the Director-General, Mr Edouard Saouma, particularly for its efforts in the alleviation of hunger and assistance to small farmers and women. In order to solve world food and agricultural problems, I hope that the Secretariat will continue this hard, but important, task.
In the longer perspective, I dare say that we seem to have so many destabilizing factors such as the effect of climatic changes including global warming on agricultural production, swelling world food demand arising from population increase, or conversion of food consumption patterns to more elementary food.
I feel that we should not be too optimistic about the future world food security. My country currently heavily relies on supply from abroad for our food. The self-sufficiency rate of food measured in calorie terms has fallen to as low as 49 percent, which is among the lowest in the developed countries. As a nation which experienced serious food shortage and hunger not so long ago, Japan maintains strong interest in stable supply of world food on the long-term basis. We share concerns about world food security and fully support the efforts made in the belief that each country should produce at least the basic foodstuff within its own territory. We consider it highly necessary for each country to recognize its own role and responsibility in ensuring the world food security and to make utmost efforts by itself, at the same time international cooperation to attain world food security and alleviate hunger and malnutrition should be continued toward the 21st century.
We highly appreciate FAO's initiative to resolve the world food and agricultural problems. My country has been making every possible effort to implement FAO's resolutions and decisions agreed upon by consensus in order to fulfil its responsibility as the second largest contributor to the organization.
Furthermore, I would like to emphasize the important role accomplished by the United Nations and its related agencies for the development of developing countries.
Japan has been improving market access for agricultural commodities. The number of commodity items subjected to import restriction is to decrease from 103 in 1962 to 13 in 1992, taking into account the abolition of import restriction for beef and citrus fruits which was decided last year.
Enlarged food imports resulting from the improvement of the market access has made Japan the largest net importer of agricultural commodities in the world. I am convinced that Japan, as a large and stable importer, has contributed to the progressive growth of the world market.
However, there is concern that this steady increase in agricultural import might have an adverse effect on Japanese agriculture and erode some basic elements for a society which has been sustained by agriculture, namely, national food security, conservation of natural environment, and sound family farms and rural communities.
We are fully aware that the most important task in the Uruguay Round is the formation of a new grade order for agricultural, forest and fishery products through the establishment of "new GATT Rules and Disciplines". In formulating these Rules and Disciplines, we consider it necessary to take fully into consideration such roles played by agriculture, forestry and fisheries such as food security and conservation of environment.
In order to reach a successful conclusion by the end of 1990, we continue to participate actively in the Uruguay Round in order to contribute to the world agricultural trade and to the harmonious development of agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
We consider that the appropriate management of global environment is the common responsibility imposed on the whole mankind. This sacred task should be carried out jointly in cooperation with the UN System, including FAO and other International Organizations.
We are convinced that, in the field of agriculture, every country is required to pay due attention not only to the economic aspect but also to the maintenance of ecosystem and thus maintain and develop agricultural production in each region, on a stable basis.
My country has been implementing research and studies regarding the effects of global environment on agriculture, forestry and fisheries. We have also participated in multilateral and bilateral research activities such as FAO field projects on the prevention of land degradation and the support for the implementation of the International Code of Conduct on Pesticides.
Furthermore, my Government intends to cope with global environmental problems more positively by full use of our own scientific techniques, experience and knowledge.
I should like to touch upon forestry and fisheries, particularly from the viewpoint of sustainable development. The forests - a vital component of the global ecosystem - have always contributed to the welfare of mankind through their various functions, namely, multiple resources, providing a variety of
social, economie and environmental services. However, unfortunately, critical situations such as deforestation of tropical forests, and expanding forest damage caused by acid rains, are underway in many parts of the world at present.
In those circumstances, formulation of national action programmes are in progress under the Tropical Forestry Action Plan, and my country has extended cooperation such as fielding missions and taking budgetary measures. My Government highly appreciates the leading role played by FAO in these activities.
Starting with the rehabilitation of devastated land right after the Second World War, my country has developed more than 10 million hectares of man-made forests.
Also, my country has been striving for forestry development in order to ensure the stable supply of forest products, the conservation of land and the natural environment, while bearing in mind the utilization of forest resources in the interest of the inhabitants in mountain areas.
Japan has extended cooperation in the field of forestry in the form of bilateral cooperation. We are convinced that our cooperation based on these long experiences in forest and forestry (as well as in various research and development) would contribute to the efforts of developing countries in this field.
My Government will continue to support the activities for the formulation of national TFAPs, while trying to intensify bilateral cooperation for forest conservation, afforestation and related researches, as well as further support to the International Tropical Timber Organization and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research.
I would like to turn to the fisheries issues. Needless to say, fishery products are important protein sources to world food and nutrition. In this regard, my country highly appreciates the Action Plan for Fishery Management and Development adopted by the 1984 World Conference on Fisheries Management and Development. We are extending technical and financial assistance to developing countries for the promotion of the fishery sector along the lines of FAO's resolution. We also actively support the continuation of this plan which was considered in the Committee on Fisheries this April.
My country is really interested in the active utilization of fishery resources, while paying attention to their effective conservation. From this point of view, my country anticipates the FAO's efforts for the proper use and conservation of fishery resources by further promoting active coordination between coastal fishery and long-distance fishery countries, such as the initiative by FAO to establish an international organization for resource management of highly migratory species in the Indian Ocean.
On the other hand, I regret the negation of rational utilization of a specific species without scientific evidence, such as in the case of whaling. In the case of the high seas drift net fishery, there is the opinion to prohibit it throughout the world. However, the drift net fishing method is one of the traditional and important fishery methods, widely used in the world. My country considers that restriction on fishery should be based upon sound scientific evidence to facilitate the conservation and rational utilization of fishery resources.
We hope that FAO will review the actual situation of drift net fishery in the world and examine appropriate action for promoting a study on the effect on the ecosystem of practising the method within its capacities, and take a rational approach based on scientific evidence. Here I would like to touch upon the FAO review which is one of the main agenda items in this Conference. My country expects that FAO will play a dynamic role in technical assistance to the developing countries. We also hope that FAO will strengthen its cooperation with other international organizations. For instance, at the GATT Uruguay Round, plant and animal quarantine issues as well as food standards have been taken up. I think it is FAO's obligation to offer assistance to it. In the field of food aid, FAO can efficiently assist the implementation of multilateral food aid by the World Food Programme through mutual cooperation.
More importantly, FAO should strengthen its capacity to collect, analyse and disseminate information from and to member countries while utilizing its scientific knowledge as a world agricultural information centre. As a global agricultural forum FAO also can strengthen its capacity to exert policy advice. As the policy requirements of developing countries diversify reflecting their own background, policy advice must be given based on the specific needs of individual countries.
There is an urgent need for FAO as the outstanding group of agricultural experts, to establish a more effective and efficient system in operating and managing various programmes including field projects. The key is to utilize a trust fund as well as the UNDP fund in implementing the field projects, taking into full account the intentions both of donor and recipient countries. In a large organization like FAO, covering a wide range of agricultural fields including forestry and fisheries, the activities tend to be carried out in a fragmented manner in each specific field. From this viewpoint, inter-sectoral and overall coordination among activities should be implemented. I hope that all delegates get a practical, final report reflecting the essential objectives of the review, and that appropriate reformation will progress along the lines of the final report.
I would like to close this statement by stating that the Government of Japan will continue to participate actively in FAO's activities. We will work together with other member countries and assume our responsibility for resolving worldwide food and agricultural problems.
Chit SWE (Myanmar): First of all, may I on behalf of the Myanmar Delegation, offer my warm and sincere congratulations to Mr John Charles Kerin on his unanimous election as Chairman of this august Conference. We fully subscribe to his Chairmanship and are highly confident that the wealth of his wisdom and experience will be of invaluable assistance in steering this Conference to a successful conclusion. At the same time, while expressing our appreciation for the excellent arrangements made by the Secretariat, we would also like to take this opportunity to assure this Conference of the full support and cooperation of the Myanmar Delegation.
We are assembled here once again for the 25th Session. We shall be evaluating and assessing the outlook of the world food situation. In addition, the problems of decreasing export earnings and the associated economic decline of the developing countries will be the focus of attention and intensive discussion. Regretfully, this has become a regular feature; yet it is hoped that the Conference will recognize that the issue has circumstantially become a dire necessity.
The past decades have, on the whole, witnessed substantial progress in agricultural development and significant increases in food production. As a result, global total agricultural trade has registered a sustained increase. The increase in the level of exports, however, has been in favour of the agricultural produce of developed countries. These trends coupled with depressed commodity prices have led to serious balance of payment problems and hindered endeavours for economic development.
World economic performance, after undergoing a slackening growth in the early 1980s, recovered considerably in 1988. Consequently world trade accelerated sharply in 1988. Though the developing countries benefitted partially from the said upsurge, the lion's share was as usual confined mostly to the developed countries.
It is obvious that the deeper causes lie in the persistent problems of severe trade imbalances. These constitute imbalances between developed and developing countries and also the chronic imbalances between some of the developed countries themselves. We appreciate the efforts being undertaken by the industrialized countries in addressing these problems. The magnitude of the issue, however, has not diminished, and has led to intensified protectionist measures and the emergence of regional trade blocks.
At the same time, the export earnings of the majority of developing countries continue to decline. The adverse impacts have steadily eroded their fragile economic foundations and heightened their debt burdens. The debt service crisis has struck certain countries. Many other developing countries may soon be joining the club, if the current trade and monetary practices continue unabated.
At this juncture, kindly permit me to convey our appreciation to the UNCTAD, GATT, IMF, World Bank, ADB and related institutions, which have been resolutely assessing these problems. It is hoped that the candid facts brought to the fore in this forum will accelerate the momentum of their quest for equitable and fair solutions to the world's trade and fiscal imbalances.
On the other hand, the need and urgency for developing countries to restructure their economic framework has also become highly apparent. In recognition of this, the Government of Myanmar in mid-1988 instituted drastic changes in its production, manufacturing and trading policies with the objective of maximizing domestic private sector participation and foreign investment.
In the field of agriculture, the dominant sector of the economy, production and marketing of all crops including paddy have been decontrolled. The farmers have been given latitude to plant the crops of their choice and to trade their produce freely, at prevailing market prices. The necessary requirement of inputs is still being made available by the Government, while the burdensome subsidies are being gradually reduced.
Similar measures have been instituted in the fisheries and forestry sectors. Fishing rights have been granted to local entrepreneurs, with permission for their fishing vessels to export marine products direct at the border areas. These rights are also being extended to foreign enterprises in Myanmar waters on contractual terms.
Certain restrictions imposed on the extraction and trading of timber, other than teak, have been lifted. In addition, arrangements have been undertaken to allow foreign lumber companies to extract teak and hardwood logs direct from border areas. Similarly, permission for the extraction and export of hardwoods, from coastal areas, has also been granted.
In the sphere of external trade, registered private entrepreneurs have been permitted transactions, with the exception of teak, petroleum, natural gas, metals and gems, either individually, in partnership, by way of limited companies or through local or foreign vested joint ventures. A foreign investment law was also enacted in November 1988, as a corollary and impetus to the economic reforms. Meanwhile, trade in a number of commodities has been permitted across land frontiers with certain neighouring countries.
It is hoped that said dynamic restructuring would accelerate Myanmar's economic growth and create a compatible climate for fuller domestic and external participation. May I now be kindly allowed to present the agricultural situation of our country. A review of the past two years indicates that the performance of the agriculture sector, which had remained strong since the 1970s encountered a setback during 1987-88. In that year the total sown area declined to 23.87 million acres, against a previous peak of 25.89 million acres in 1984-85. The principal drop was in the cultivation of paddy, leading to a decrease of 0.5 million acres and a production loss of 0.40 million tons of paddy.
Remedial measures in the production and marketing of major crops including paddy were accordingly effected during 1987-88 and the rate of agriculture loans for a number of crops were also raised. Consequently, the agricultural performance showed signs of improvement in 1988-89. Weather conditions were favourable; the total sown area increased to 24.60 million acres and with paddy, the major crop, increasing by 0.27 million acres.
The prospects of crop production for the current year have been highly encouraging. It is mainly contributed by the mechanisms of free markets, set in motion last year, and the anticipation of higher farm-gate prices. Accordingly, we have much pleasure in informing this Conference that the forecast of crop production at this juncture is highly favourable.
As a predominantly agriculture country, the livestock and fishery sectors are of high significance; the former, in particular, for the increasing requirements of draught cattle, which still constitute the main source of animal power needed for cultivation and rural transport. Improved methods of breeding, the provision of selected breeds, increased artificial insemination facilities and attentive animal health services will continue to serve as the core in strengthening the livestock infrastructure.
The fisheries sector as a major source of animal protein and hard currency earner has also assumed increasing importance. The potential for inland fisheries development is still vast, and measures are being taken to improve its structure and utilize its resources fully and systematically in conjunction with appropriate laws and regulations. Similarly, the average
annual marine fish catch remains far below the sustainable yields. In accordance with the new economic policy, fishing rights have now been granted to foreign entrepreneurs in order to tap the maximum potential. In this context we wish to assure this Conference that the extent of such fishing rights will be based on resource surveys and exploratory fishing research activities so as to serve as an insurance against the depletion of the marine resources and environmental degradation.
May I now turn to the forestry sector. The forests of Myanmar have been under systematic management for over a century, and we wish to assure this Conference that the said policy will continue to be strictly adhered to. During the past decade about 4550 square miles of high value forests were additionally brought under reservation. Further, 0.24 million acres have been reforested to date, and will continue to be stepped up at the rate of about 80 000 acres annually.
All the same, as a country still inadequate in petroleum-based energy, the pressure on wood fuel has taken tolls on timber resources in certain localized zones. As a counter-measure, extensive acreage of fast- growing tree species are being expanded, while arrangements for the introduction of agroforestry practices have been stepped up. The data obtained from an ongoing UNDP/FAO assisted Forest Resources Inventory Survey will also soon be serving as a basis for a complete and updated management plan covering the silvicultural and production aspects of the changing forestry conditions.
In connection with crop diversification it may not be irrelevant to mention my Government's earnest efforts being carried out for the integrated rural development programme with particular emphasis on crop diversification and overall alleviation of the socio-economic conditions in the remote border areas where opium poppy cultivation has been their livelihood.
The areas under opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar are concentrated in inaccessable highly elevated and heavily forested areas. As a matter of national concern, and as a duty to the international community, the Union of Myanmar has been resolutely waging a war against the opium poppy cultivation and trafficking. The eradication of opium poppy is being carried out through diversification with the free provision of appropriate planting materials and inputs. It is evident that these measures would soon significantly contribute to regional development and the eventual eradication of opium poppy. In this regard, we are most grateful to the United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control for their assistance rendered to us. We hope the international community would also take cognizance of our sincere attempts and reciprocate with their cooperation and assistance.
The agriculture sector has been given, and continues to be accorded, priority in investment. But the level of investment still remains inadequate, and the declining terms of trade have aggravated the situation further.
In this respect, the need for private and foreign investment has become more imperative. In recognition of this my Government has already paved the way for domestic as well as external participation and it is hoped that the response for cooperation in the development of our agriculture, fisheries and forestry resources will be substantial.
We also would like to take this opportunity of extending our gratitude and sincere thanks to the agencies affiliated to the United Nations and the banking institutions for their consideration and assistance, and also to the respective governments for their generous bilateral and multilateral aid and grants. We highly appreciate their gestures and invaluable contributions.
The FAO has been contributing significantly towards agricultural development. The international food situation has improved appreciably under its policies, and the developing agricultural nations have achieved substantial growth through its assistance and direction.
In spite of these strides, however, most of the developing nations still remain steeped in economic decline. The achievements of the developing nations attained so far are bound to be dissipated if opportunities for fair trade and economic growth remain strangled and limited. We earnestly appeal to the higher values of the industrialized countries to seek solutions to these pressing aspects, and in these endeavours we also look forward to the leadership of FAO.
Saeed Mohamed AL RAQABANI (United Arab Emirates) (original language Arabic): Mr Chairman, it is a pleasure for the delegation of the United Arab Emirates to congratulate you on your election to chair this important Conference. I am firmly convinced that you will direct the work of this Conference most ably. I would also like to congratulate the Vice-Chairmen, hoping that the work of this Session will be crowned with success.
The State of the United Arab Emirates would like to stress most clearly the leading role played by the Food and Agriculture Organization within and outside the United Nations system in tackling problems related to food, agriculture and the environment. This is a noble task with which our brother, Dr Edouard Saouma, is entrusted. We thank him most warmly for establishing in the past strategies and approaches that respond to the aspirations of the international community. FAO has displayed a great deal of insight and has adopted an integrated approach towards agricultural production, food security and the preservation of the environment. The Organization continues its efforts and has strengthened its support in various fields, efforts for which we are most thankful. We would also like to express our sincere thanks to our brother, Lassaad Ben Osman, for his efforts as Independent Chairman of the Council.
The spread and the worsening of malnutrition is gradually attracting increasing interest at the international level. Together with other specialized agencies the FAO has paid major attention to this issue ever since its inception. Evidence shows that malnutrition is likely to remain a major problem well into the 1990s and even beyond.
The reason for such interest, of course, is the seriousness of this issue. Statistics show that half a billion people suffer from hunger. The problem does not lie in the scarcity of food but in its unequal distribution and the serious imbalances between producing countries and those that cannot produce due to circumstances we are all aware of.
Experts are unanimous in saying that one of the main reasons for the worsening of the problem is the distortion of the structure of international trade for the benefit of some and at the expense of others. In this context we strongly support the proposals to convene an international conference on
nutrition. FAO, in view of its mandate and expertise, should call for the convening of such a conference as soon as possible in cooperation with other concerned organizations of the United Nations system, such as the World Health Organization. No doubt this conference would be an opportunity to review the problem and to agree on coordinating corrective measures to make nutrition part and parcel of development strategies. It would be an opportunity to restore the balance in a world divided into societies that indulge in overeating and others that have to go hungry to repay their debts.
We are all well aware of the various techniques invented in some countries to dispose of food surpluses to prevent falling prices instead of transferring them, as is natural, to those countries which are in need of them, and whose conditions did not permit to expand their food production. We had hoped that such abundance would help to deepen the concept of world food security defined by FAO in the 1980s as guaranteeing access to food for each and everyone in sufficient quantities and at all times. We believe that FAO's proposal made a decade ago in this same place has not responded to the expectations of the peoples of the world.
The State of the United Arab Emirates, since its establishment in 1972, has been aware of its full role as a developing country and has begun by implementing an ambitious agricultural policy to achieve more self-sufficiency and to vary the sources of national income in order to contribute at the international level and at the levels of the Arab region and the Gulf in any activities aiming at coordination and complementarity. This is thanks to the wise guidance of his Majesty Sheikh Zaaid Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates. The UAE has made contributions in world economic activities through IFAD and its own institutions such as "The Abu Dhabi Fund for Economic Development", "The Abu Dhabi Investment Centre." It also cooperates with Arab States through the "Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa" and the "1Arab Fund for Technical Assistance to Arab and African Countries." It cooperates with the Islamic countries through the "Islamic Development Bank." The UAE is also involved, together with other developing countries, in financing joint projects such as bilateral investment companies and companies for agricultural and livestock development. It has also sought to establish friendly relations with Arab States and assisted them in completing agricultural projects and financing irrigation and fisheries projects.
As to external assistance, the United Arab Emirates' contribution ranged between 16 to 20 percent of its national income during past years, a share considered to be one of the highest in the world in this field.
In the recent past, the world celebrated the Ninth World Food Day by shedding light on one of the most important issues of our time, Nutrition and Environment. The UAE took part in this celebration firmly convinced that agricultural development, whose foundations were laid by His Majesty, is a vital necessity and that environmental conservation is an urgent problem requiring a strong will. It is on this basis that our country began the march towards increasing food production without causing pollution or contamination to the environment.
My country managed, in a short period of time, to achieve self-sufficiency in certain foodstuffs such as fish and vegetables and has neared self-sufficiency in some fruit crops, fodder, meat, poultry, eggs, dairy products and even managed to export some of its surpluses.
It has also carried out reforestation projects of vast forestlands, established green belts and issued decisions prohibiting the use of pesticides harmful to human and animal health and the environment. Legislation was also enacted to protect fish resources, and precautions were taken to prohibit the entry of radiated foodstuffs for the protection of the environment and human health.
As to prospects for the 1990s as related to the international debt, flow of resources, trade, the elimination of poverty, the development of human resources and natural resources, these issues are of a scientific, technical, economic and political nature. International organizations sounded the alarm several years ago, and the international community must confront them by adopting short-term, long-term and medium-term policies and measures at both regional and international levels for the benefit of future generations.
The State of the United Arab Emirates cannot hide its concern as to the economic difficulties faced by developing countries, problems related to commodity prices, trades, finances, the external debt and the instability of the international monetary system. We believe that cooperation among developed and developing countries should be based on justice, equity and common interests.
We would like to stress that international economic negotiations for the establishment of a new international economic order will give an impetus to the development process in developing countries.
The support of the agricultural sector means the elimination of want, poverty and famine. It means economic growth and industrialization. It means the preservation of the environment, the restoring of equilibrium among countries at a time during which we are witnessing enormous scientific, economic and agricultural strides forward. I am quite convinced that man is perfectly capable of winning the fight against problems which hamper his efforts provided he is attached to the principle of international cooperation.
Finally, we would like to thank you, Mr Chairman, for your wise guidance in the work of our Conference, and our special thanks go to the Secretariat of the Conference for providing comprehensive and detailed documents.
May God help us in fulfilling all our hopes and aspirations for the benefit of mankind as a whole. May peace and the grace of God be with you.
Gueorgui MENOV (Bulgarie) (langue originale Bulgare): Je suis heureux de vous féliciter, Monsieur le Président, et de souhaiter à tous les membres de la Conférence beaucoup de succès à l’occasion de la vingt-cinquième session de la Conférence. Les deux années qui se sont écoulées depuis notre dernière session n'ont pas été faciles pour l'Organisation.
Ces difficultés étaient dues à des problèmes intérieurs notamment. Cependant, nous estimons que malgré les difficultés financières le Programme 1988/89 a été réalisé dans les grandes lignes, grâce aux efforts déployés par la gestion de l'Organisation, grâce à la coopération de la majorité des Etats Membres, grâce à l'aide des Nations Unies et d'autres organisations internationales.
Un résultat positif à ce sujet a été réalisé par certaines décisions du Secrétariat pour améliorer l'organisation et l'évaluation des projets de terrain, la structure des projets, autant que le renforcement des efforts déployés dans des domaines nouveaux, actuellement importants pour l'agriculture.
C'est avec préoccupation que nous avons pris connaissance de ce qu'a fait le Conseil, de ce qu'ont fait d'autres organes de la FAO, de ce qu'ont dit les pays membres, à savoir que, hélas, on n'a pas pu accomplir de véritables progrès dans le secteur de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation dans les pays en développement, même si, dans telle ou telle région, certains succès ont été obtenus. Cela est dû à la situation dans ces pays, cela est dû au fait qu'il n'y a pas eu de modifications qualitatives à l'échelle mondiale, tout d'abord sur le plan de la dette et ensuite sur les marchés internationaux.
Comme le rapport du Conseil le dit au sujet de la situation agricole et alimentaire dans le monde, la production des aliments de base en 1989 a diminué par rapport à l'ensemble de la consommation.
Les stocks mondiaux également sont à un niveau alarmant, les prix des céréales sur les marchés internationaux ont fortement augmenté et cela pose des problèmes de plus en plus importants aux pays importateurs les plus pauvres. Pourquoi ? Parce qu'ils n'ont de ressources financières que limitées. Entre-temps, un certain nombre de revenus agricoles sont restés bas si on les compare aux prix des produits industriels et il est évident que cela a réduit les possibilités d'importation de la part de certains pays et que les pays exportateurs eux non plus ne peuvent pas vendre puisqu'ils n'ont pas d'acheteurs.
Si on veut vraiment résoudre de manière durable ces problèmes aigus d'alimentation, il faut introduire des méthodes modernes, efficaces et qui ne nuisent pas au milieu. Mais le facteur humain jouera un rôle déterminant dans cette voie.
Pour nous la session actuelle de la Conférence devra discuter et trancher un certain nombre de problèmes très importants pour l'avenir de l'agriculture et de l'apport alimentaire. La collaboration en vue d'une stratégie internationale de développement dans le cadre des négociations du GATT, pour les programmes de terrain, les ressources phytogénétiques, l'utilisation des pesticides, etc., tout cela nous paraît très important. Au cours de la présente session, nous devrons donner priorité à l'adoption du Programme de travail et budget pour 1990/91. Ce Programme a été préparé avec compétence en équilibrant utilement les besoins et les possibilités. La discussion finale qui aura lieu à la Conférence devrait trouver le moyen de renforcer la collaboration entre pays européens en matière de recherche. Il serait utile de créer un réseau de recherche par exemple sur l'élevage des buffles. Comme vous le savez, en 1991 un congrès mondial sur ce point aura lieu en Bulgarie précisément.
A notre avis, la FAO devrait s'engager fermement à soutenir cette Conférence, à l'aider, ce qui serait très bénéfique pour les pays membres.
Les pays européens doivent aussi collaborer davantage en matière de nutrition ou de protection de l'environnement, ce qui permettra d'ailleurs de renforcer la collaboration avec d'autres régions. Nous nous félicitons de ce qui a été proposé, à savoir organiser une conférence mondiale de l'Alimentation en 1993; ce projet serait discuté aux conférences régionales dès 1990.
Notre délégation appuiera des propositions visant à améliorer la structure et les fonctions de l'Organisation pour que soient créées des conditions d'une gestion vraiment efficace pour une bonne répartition des ressources, afin que la FAO soit mieux apte à résoudre les problèmes du développement agricole, dans tous les pays et dans toutes les régions.
Nous attachons aussi de l'importance à la participation de la FAO à la préparation de la nouvelle stratégie internationale du développement durant la quatrième décennie des Nations Unies. Pour nous la FAO devrait épauler ces efforts qui vont dans un sens pratique, avec des objectifs réalistes, concrets, compte tenu des vrais problèmes de développement que connaissent actuellement les pays. Selon nous, la session spéciale des Nations Unies sur la coopération économique internationale, qui aura lieu en 1990, permettra de bien centrer l'effort de recherche pour trouver une solution à ces problèmes de la faim, de la malnutrition, de la pauvreté.
La République populaire de Bulgarie participe aux activités de la FAO dans la mesure de ses moyens et, selon ce qui est devenu une tradition, nous continuerons de compter sur l'assistance et sur les perspectives de la FAO dans le développement de nos propres sciences et pratiques agricoles. Je rappelle que la session spéciale de la FAO et de la CEE sur les structures agraires et sur la rationalisation des exploitations a eu lieu à Varna, en septembre, avec des participants des pays européens. Nous avons eu d'ailleurs des cours de formation pour des experts agricoles venant de pays en développement.
En fait, notre pays a été une barrière empêchant certaines infections et maladies de passer la frontière et de pénétrer en Europe. Nous avons d'ailleurs un Institut créé en Europe avec l'aide de la FAO et du PNUD mais peut-être n'a-t-on pas assez tiré parti de ces fonds pour intégrer notre pays dans le réseau de collaboration avec les pays en développement.
Notre gouvernement souhaite tout particulièrement étoffer sa collaboration dans les secteurs que nous avons évoqués ici. Nous voulons aussi participer à des projets techniques de la FAO dans notre pays pour une collaboration en matière d'élevage, de sélections végétales, de forêts, de pêches et d'aquacultures.
Dans notre pays l'agriculture a pratiquement transformé de manière radicale la situation; de nouvelles formes économiques et d'organisation dans la gestion des terres ont été créées, il s'agit d'assurer une plus grande autonomie, un plus grand intérêt des paysans. Différents types d'exploitations ont été créés, autonomes ou non autonomes, par exemple pour stimuler l'initiative et l'intérêt des producteurs. Le gouvernement veut encourager ces productions par des facilités en matière d'impôts, avec des taux d'intérêt favorables, des règlements sur les prix, etc.
Les résultats économiques de cette année nous laissent entendre que les fondations sont maintenant en place pour que l'agriculture se développe au cours de la période qui s'ouvre actuellement.
La population du globe se trouve menacée par la pollution de l'air, de la terre et des eaux; il faut préserver ce milieu naturel, c'est essentiel pour que l'humanité survive.
Nous constatons avec plaisir que c'est là un problème sur lequel l'Organisation se penche tout particulièrement elle aussi. Les représentants de tous les pays européens, lors de la réunion intergouvernementale à Sofia tout récemment, ont bien souligné l'importance de ce problème et des mesures ont été proposées pour ce qui est des efforts des gouvernements et de l'effort international.
La FAO devrait continuer de renforcer la collaboration dans le secteur de l'environnement. Les pays sont conscients de ces problèmes. Ils savent que c'est essentiel dans le sanitaire si l'on veut que l'agriculture progresse.
Des événements internationaux se sont produits au cours des dernières années; ils devraient permettre d'apporter des mesures encore plus décisives pour lutter contre le retard dans le secteur agricole. Notre pays se félicite des relations améliorées entre l'Union soviétique et les Etats-Unis.
D'autre part, à la Conférence sur la sécurité et la coopération en Europe, il y a des progrès. Ceci nous inspire de l'optimisme. On devrait pouvoir trouver une solution utile aux problèmes du désarmement. Ainsi, des ressources considérables seront libérées, ressources que l'on pourra consacrer au développement et en priorité, bien entendu, dans le secteur de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture. J'en viens à ma conclusion. Mon pays est bien persuadé que cette vingt-cinquième session de la Conférence permettra de faire un pas en avant et un pas important pour le développement agricole et pour résoudre les problèmes alimentaires du monde. Je vous remercie.
Colin J. MOYLE (New Zealand): I would, at the outset, like to congratulate my friend and colleague from Australia, John Kerin, on his election to the chairmanship of this year's Conference. I know he wants to see this organization healthy and effective, and its work advanced. I wish him well, in that.
Mr Chairman, when we note that FAO is currently covering more than 2 500 field projects, we simply must see that our priorities are right and that we are not spreading our resources too thinly to do essential jobs well. We do have to ask whether low priority activities can be discontinued so that we can redirect resources to new priorities. We do have to ask whether all practicable steps have been taken to improve coordination and communication. We do have to check that our field activities are adequately integrated with those of other UN bodies. Most of all, we simply must keep on demanding that the accounting methods give us a clear picture of our spending and its effectiveness.
This call for more effective, more careful and better targetted spending is not an attack on the professionalism of FAO staff, or a demand that they do less. It simply reflects the pressure on all governments to target spending on jobs and priorities that taxpayers can understand and support. We are not being asked to curtail essential work or developments; we are each being challenged to use the resources entrusted to us more effectively, so that we can do more overall.
I am heartened to see the growing acceptance that agricultural trade must be based on exploiting the comparative advantages each country may have.
In promoting the cause of liberalized agricultural trade, New Zealand has never asked for one set of rules for itself and another for everyone else. We have accepted the fact that reform of agricultural policy is never easy, but global reforms must begin at home.
Over the last five or more years, the New Zealand Government has carried through a set of economic reforms aimed to promote greater competition, to improve efficiency, to adjust production systems to what markets will pay and to remove the distortions that obscure the choices farmers must make when deciding what they are going to produce and how much. We have reduced tariff protection across the board. We have eliminated practically all forms of support for domestic agriculture. We have liberalized and deregulated, and are now decentralizing, our economy. It is largely market forces that now influence production and investment decisions in our agriculture.
This adjustment process has not been without its pain, but we could see that interventions by government had developed into intricate webs of subsidies that were too complex and too costly to justify or even manage. Reform became essential. We believe that the benefits of reform will far outweigh short-term adjustment problems. We have proved that there is life after subsidies, and our farmers are better off knowing just what they are farming for.
I believe firmly, that such reforms are necessary before we, as the team of agricultural ministers from all countries, can decide together how to harness and connect our production systems to meet the challenge of adequately feeding ever more people. This brings me to the question of global reform and liberalization of agricultural trade.
It is not enough for each of us to improve the flexibility, responsiveness, and efficiency of our own production systems. We must do better when we put our systems together.
You will know what critical importance New Zealand puts on the current round of multi-lateral negotiations. It is the first time nations have ever agreed to include agriculture at all. We now have the first real opportunity to negotiate meaningful reform of domestic and international trade policies for agriculture. We can dispense with the nonsense of having one set of rules for agriculture and another for industrial trade. Since the GATT Round of negotiations were launched some three years ago, New Zealand and other members of the Cairns Group have worked hard to promote agreement on fundamental reforms. Based now on our own experience, we are certain that competitive, market-led world systems of agriculture will best serve the common, long-term needs of all countries - both developed and developing. New Zealand must therefore commend the role FAO is adopting in furthering the objectives of the GATT negotiations on agriculture. We recommend these steps to all members and we congratulate the United States on the recent policy statement in this regard.
I would like to turn now to the issue of sustainable development. This is one of the most vital issues all of us have to face and resolve. In evolving patterns of sustainable agriculture, forestry and fishing, our interdependence is obvious. Each of us may find our responsibilities in our own countries onerous enough: but like it or not, as ministers we must also admit to global responsibilities. The job of feeding the world while sustaining the capacity to keep on doing so, is a job that will not wait.
One of the issues that highlights our responsibilities is that of drift-net fishing. It is of great concern to New Zealiind and to all other members of the Southwest Pacific, Many of the small island states depend on the sea to keep on feeding them - it provides both their livelihood and their sustenance. It gives them access to migratory species of tuna. For many of them the growth of an indigenous tuna fishing industry holds out some of the best prospects for self-sustaining economic development.
South Pacific tuna stocks are coming under increasing pressure, as catches by distant-water fishing operators grow. The most dramatic threat comes from large-scale pelagic drift-netting.
I am talking about nets of up to 50 kilometres long, set in lines across the ocean each night, left to drift and catch almost all living creatures in their path. They catch not just target tuna species but other fish, seals, dolphins, whales, turtles and sea birds. Nets lost at sea last for a long time and go on catching and killing marine life indiscriminately while they last.
I am talking about these nets at a time when those of us responsible for fishing are developing sophisticated management regimes that try to balance the harvesting against the recruitment of each species. I am talking about the use of nets that ignore or blatantly defy all of those techniques being used to bring concepts of sustainable development to life in fisheries management.
The use of large-scale drift-netting in the South Pacific, in the way it plunders stocks now without measuring what is needed for the future, is environmental piracy.
In the way it threatens the livelihood of small island states, without giving them any say in the matter, it is economic piracy and cannot be allowed to continue. We must develop procedures for saying so and taking action. Let me say briefly what we have done so far to develop such procedures. The South Pacific countries have taken measures to stop drift-netting in their own Exclusive Economic Zones. The Tarawa declaration sought support for the South Pacific position. The Commonwealth heads of government, meeting recently in Malaysia, urged the abandonment of this disastrous practice. South Pacific representatives will meet this month to consider a convention banning the use of drift-nets by their own nationals on the high seas. They will begin discussions with distant water fishing nations on a management regime for albacore tuna in the region. With the United States, they will ask the United Nations to support an immediate ban on drift-netting in the South Pacific. Such a resolution is before the United Nations at present.
I hope all members of FAO will support this resolution. New Zealand looks to FAO to respond to these concerns and to see them reflected in its work programmes.
We, in this forum, have inherited the responsibility of feeding populations that are still growing. We cannot abdicate the field to those concerned only with conserving the environment but who are less ready to take on the responsibility for feeding the people in it. That is what sustainable development means.
Let me sum up, by urging that calls for reforms in the way we operate FAO must be pressed forward with vigour. Reform of our operations is not an attack on our staff; it is a prerequisite if we are to have any chance of obtaining more support for FAO. It is a prerequisite too if we are to be honest to ourselves and FAO's goals. The job to be done is immense.
We must each demonstrate to our own people the need to reform our own agricultures as we call for world reforms. We must also get them to accept that economic development is wider in scope than economic growth alone. The reforms each of us must carry out at home now have to be done in the context of global responsibilities. These responsibilities require new patterns for agricultural trade, uncluttered by subsidies, and trade barriers, and rquire practical and working models for sustainable development.
Mr Chairman, in your opening comments you reminded us that ministers of agriculture usually don't last very long. You and I and a handful of others are among the longer serving ministers of agriculture. I am stepping down next year after almost a decade in the hot seat, so perhaps you will permit me a few words of advice.
Time is short for ministers of agriculture and time is short for the world to find solutions to the problems that face us.
So while you are here my colleagues - whether your time is short or not -remember to make it effective. This forum is not a bunch of foreign office diplomats.
Don't pussy-foot around - don't be afraid to cast the odd rock into the international pool of smugness, complacency and excuses. Excuses are not reasons. The problems of the undernourished and underprivileged will not be solved by excuses, pontification, food aid, pop concerts or charities. What they need is the means to produce and the right to sell that production in a free and fair market. I believe that this GATT round gives us that chance -let us take it.
Our thanks to Italy - our hosts - the home of much of the world's great Art. Michelangelo's "David" inspires the world. Our agriculture - your countries' and mine- can feed the world, so long as our agriculture is coupled with fair trade, then we can and we will feed the world.
Thomas MAPOUKA (République centrafricaine): Monsieur le Président, Excellences Messieurs les Ministres, Excellences Messieurs les Ambassadeurs, Mesdames et Messieurs les Délégués et Observateurs, Mesdames et Messieurs.
Permettez-moi de présenter à l'introduction de mon intervention les congratulations les plus vives de la délégation centrafricaine à l'endroit du Président pour sa brillante élection.
Monsieur le Président, votre élection à la présidence de la présente Conférence est le résultat conséquent de votre dévouement manifeste à la cause des déshérités. La République centrafricaine par ma voix vous prie d'accepter ses vives félicitations et souhaite que de cette session placée sous votre autorité sortent des décisions porteuses d'espoir pour auréoler à jamais votre auguste personne.
Cette 25ème session de la Conférence de la FAO nous réunit à un moment où le poids du service de la dette a atteint un niveau insupportable pour la quasi-totalité des pays en voie de développement, pour ne pas citer les pays les moins avancés qui, eux, en sont déjà à une asphyxie.
Les termes de l'échange se sont considérablement détériorés, rendant l'avenir hypothétique.
Depuis deux ans, les cours mondiaux des principaux produits d'exportation connaissent d'amples fluctuations; c'est le cas du coton, du café, du cacao et autres qui assurent l'essentiel des revenus monétaires de plus de 80 pour cent de la population du tiers monde.
Parlant de mon pays, la République centrafricaine, le gouvernement a toujours consenti d'énormes efforts pour garantir un revenu acceptable aux paysans qui représentent 85 pour cent de la population en s'endettant auprès des bailleurs de fonds, non pour des investissements mais pour subventionner la production des principaux produits agricoles d'exportation.
Parlant du café et du coton, rien que pour ces deux spéculations, le gouvernement a consenti 9 milliards de FCFA pour l'année 1988 et 6 milliards pour 1989.
A bout d'efforts, le gouvernement a été contraint de réduire presque de moitié le prix d'achat aux producteurs du café, comme tant d'autres pays. Cette décision, bien que courageuse, entraînera des conséquences multiples, notamment la baisse du niveau de vie des masses rurales déjà déshéritées.
C'est pourquoi la mise au point d'arrangements efficaces pour stabiliser l'offre et assurer des cours mondiaux rémunérateurs doit demeurer la préoccupation majeure de la Communauté internationale. Encore mieux, ces arrangements doivent constituer un objectif prioritaire.
Malgré les dispositions prises pour rentabiliser les productions d'exportation au niveau des paysans, malgré les divers programmes d'ajustement structurel auxquels plusieurs Africains et Latino-Américains se sont engagés dans l'espoir d'assainir leur économie, les résultats enregistrés restent minimes, voire aléatoires.
A toutes ces situations s'ajoutent d'autres facteurs qui pénalisent l'avenir du tiers monde. Je veux citer la menace acridienne, la malnutrition, l'analphabétisme, les effets pervers de la sécheresse, l'insuffisance de la couverture sanitaire et j'en passe.
La République centrafricaine s'est toujours préoccupée des problèmes liés à la bonne alimentation, à l'amélioration du niveau de vie (de l'humanité). Non seulement elle appuie la politique alimentaire de la FAO en organisant des manifestations qui regroupent tout le pays le 16 octobre autour du Représentant de la FAO en République centrafricaine pour la célébration de la Journée mondiale de l'alimentation depuis son instauration en 1981, mais elle recherche les voies et moyens susceptibles de la conduire vers un développement intégré et intégral.
C'est ainsi que pour le suivi de la table ronde de Genève en 1987, présidée par Son Excellence le Général d'armée André Kolingba, Président de la République, Chef de l'Etat, Président fondateur du rassemblement démocratique centrafricain et qui a réuni les principaux partenaires, il a été organisé à Bangui du 20 au 24 juin 1989, une consultation sectorielle sur le développement rural.
Lors de cette sectorielle, la République centrafricaine a réaffirmé que l'agriculture reste et demeure le principal moteur de sa croissance économique et que sa politique de développement rural vise à:
- assurer l’autosuffisance alimentaire,
- augmenter les exportations,
- améliorer le niveau de vie en milieu rural.
Elle a réaffirmé par ailleurs sa volonté de décentraliser l'économie nationale, notamment par une approche régionale de développement rural intégré en se fondant sur une démarche du type "systèmes de production". La cohérence globale de cette approche sera assurée dans le cadre de politiques et programmes nationaux. Ces politiques concerneront notamment:
- la mise en valeur et la préservation des ressources naturelles,
- le crédit agricole et rural,
- la recherche,
- la vulgarisation,
- la formation,
- l'aménagement rural,
- la promotion du monde rural à travers les groupements avec un accent particulier sur l'organisation des femmes qui jouent un rôle prépondérant dans les activités agropastorales.
Les bailleurs de fonds ont dans l'ensemble répondu favorablement en faisant des déclarations d'intention dont nous attendons la concrétisation sur le terrain suivant un plan d'action comportant trois phases d'exécution:
- à court terme: 1989-1990,
- à moyen terme: 1991-1995,
- et à long terme: 1996 à l'an 2000.
Il va sans dire que la réalisation d'un tel plan d'action ne peut se faire sans le précieux concours de tous les pays amis, des organisations non gouvernementales et des institutions financières à qui nous lançons un vibrant appel pour leurs généreuses subventions et des prêts à conditions douces.
D'ores et déjà, nous rendons hommage au Programme des Nations Unies pour le développement (PNUD) pour avoir accepté de financer et d'organiser ces consultations qui ont permis de diagnostiquer les principales contraintes du développement rural de la République centrafricaine et de proposer des solutions thérapeutiques sur lesquelles nous fondons de réels espoirs pour le devenir de notre économie.
Les Comités chargés de l'examen de certains aspects des buts et opérations de la FAO ont conclu, en ce qui concerne les finalités de la FAO, que "45 ans après la création de la FAO, le souci des Etats Membres est bien:
- d'élever le niveau de la nutrition et les conditions de vie des populations placées sous leur juridiction respective;
- d'améliorer le rendement de la production et l'efficacité de la répartition de tous les produits agricoles et alimentaires;
- d'améliorer la condition des populations rurales;
- et ainsi de contribuer à l'expansion de l'économie mondiale et de libérer l'humanité de la faim".
Les Comités ont estimé que "cette conception de la FAO se justifie toujours et qu'il n'est pas nécessaire d'apporter des modifications aux grandes finalités que lui assigne le préambule de son Acte constitutif".
C'est en respect de ces principes que la FAO, lors de la Consultation sectorielle, s'est engagée à intervenir en République centrafricaine dans divers domaines, notamment:
- la définition des politiques,
- la mise en place d'un plan de développement de l'élevage à moyen et long termes,
- la recherche sur la chimiorésistance afin de prévenir les effets pervers de l'utilisation massive des trypanocides,
- l'appui au projet de conservation des ressources naturelles,
- l'assistance préparatoire au programme de formation avec l'assistance de la Banque mondiale et du Fonds des Nations Unies et de l'équipement (FENU),
- l'étude pour la mise en place d'un institut national de recherche agronomique et forestière pour ne citer que celle-là.
Le Directeur général de la FAO, depuis son investiture à la tête de notre Organisation, a toujours su prêter une attention particulière aux sollicitations de nos Etats malgré la crise qui n'épargne aucune institution aussi philanthropique soit-elle. Qu'il retrouve ici l'expression de notre reconnaissance et notre profonde gratitude.
Je vous parlais tantôt des effets pervers de la sécheresse et de la malnutrition. Ces fléaux constituent une réelle menace dans les pays du tiers monde. La République centrafricaine profite de l'occasion qui lui est offerte pour saluer les nobles efforts du Programme alimentaire mondial (PAM) en faveur de nos populations déshéritées et fait appel à la générosité des donateurs d'accroître leur aide en dépit de la conjoncture économique défavorable, tout en souhaitant que ces aides soient ponctuelles et réorientées vers des investissements durables pour la survie des concernés.
Voilà les quelques réflexions que j'ai tenu à apporter à nos débats en ce moment opportun et crucial où nous devons rechercher les voies et moyens susceptibles de nous aider à affronter un environnement international particulièrement défavorable qui ne tend qu'à annihiler les efforts de nos braves paysans.
En effet, le faible taux de croissance de l'économie lié à la chute inexorable des cours de nos produits d'exportation, les déséquilibres des finances publiques et de la balance des paiements, le faible taux d'investissement demeurent nos préoccupations quotidiennes.
Dans le cadre de cette vingt-cinquième session de la Conférence de la FAO je lance un appel à tous les partenaires du tiers monde pour continuer à l'aider à rechercher des solutions à court, moyen et long termes aux problèmes de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture pour la survie de l'humanité.
Je vous remercie.
Monseigneur A. FERRARI-TONIOLO (Observateur du Saint-Siège): Monsieur le Président de la Conférence, Monsieur le Directeur général de la FAO, Excellences, Mesdames et Messieurs,
Qu'il soit permis à l'Observateur permanent que je suis de témoigner par la présente intervention son appréciation pour le travail quotidien de la FAO qu'il suit constamment. Il effectue une évaluation attentive du point de vue moral des initiatives et des critères, notamment ceux qui sont adoptés dans cette Conférence générale, dans une vision universelle répondant à la mission de l'Eglise, et en vous soumettant toutefois des remarques et des suggestions spécifiques qui se réfèrent à certains points de l'ordre du jour.
De cet intérêt continu de l'Eglise à fournir l'élaboration d'une doctrine appropriée et mise à jour, répondant aux engagements de justice dans la solidarité pour le développement économique et le progrès civil, témoigne aussi le récent Colloque d'étude sur "La science pour le développement dans une structure de solidarité" réalisé par l'Académie Pontificale des Sciences. Dans cette rencontre il y avait la présence de savants, d'experts et de personnalités eminentes du monde entier, ainsi que des responsables des nombreuses organisations intergouvernementales qui sont appelées à agir dans le cadre d'une coopération convergente pour le développement et la lutte complexe contre la faim.
Je dois tout d'abord me féliciter avec la FAO pour la préparation en temps utile de la documentation préparatoire de cette vingt-cinquième session et pour la possibilité qui nous est ainsi offerte d'effectuer une évaluation attentive du bilan tant relative au Programme ordinaire qu'au Programme sur le terrain pour les deux ans 1988-89 (C 88/89 et 89/4), et surtout d'affronter l'examen détaillé des différents points du Programme de travail et budget pour les deux ans qui vont suivre 1990/91 (C 89/3, C 89/3-Sup.l et C 89/3-Sup.2). De surcroît, il nous est permis de connaître en temps opportun la situation de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture, non seulement par le document annuel principal présenté dans ce lieu (C 89/2) avec les plus récentes mises à jour (C 89/2-Sup.l et 2), mais aussi par rapport aux problématiques les plus significatives sur les différents aspects et facteurs du développement agricole et alimentaire et en ce qui concerne la révision de certains buts et opérations de la FAO (C 89/21).
Je tiens à souligner que la FAO satisfait ainsi au but de service des Etats Membres selon sa principale activité statutaire de documentation mise à jour et communiquée en temps utile, sur la réalité productive et sur les réserves agricoles et alimentaires. Il faut rappeler que l'estime et l'appréciation
positive de la FAO sont dues avant tout en vertu de son efficacité par rapport à ce but primaire de documentation et d'orientation de l'action de politique intérieure et internationale, et non pas seulement en se référant à la réalisation de ses propres activités opérationnelles. De cette manière l'on favorise la formulation de programmes et de projets sur demande des gouvernements de ses Etats Membres; la précision de l'amplitude à conférer à l'assistance technique relative; les propositions pour l'action commune et pour les initiatives visant des objectifs spécifiques adoptés par la Conférence générale.
Il est vrai aussi que, louablement, la FAO favorise la détection des différents facteurs proches et lointains à appliquer au moment de la réalisation des projets concrets formulés au service des gouvernements, surtout celui de plus en plus important des financements correspondants. Il m'est agréable dans ce sens de souligner la grande opportunité de la célébration qui a été faite le 13 juin 1989 dans ce siège central de la FAO, pour les vingt ans de l'organe spécial préposé aux financements qui est le "FAO Investment Centre". On a pu à cette occasion mieux évaluer l'ampleur croissante de l'apport réalisé au cours de ces dernières années.
Naturellement il n'échappe pas à l'Observateur Permanent du Saint-Siège à quel point il est important que soit garantie la participation active des Etats Membres par leur concours continu de manière à assurer non seulement l'analyse et l'approbation des différents aspects du Programme ordinaire, mais aussi l'attention constante aux réalisations de ce qui est décidé dans cette Assemblée.
Je ne peux me dispenser de remarquer - ainsi qu'il nous a été justement signalé - qu'il est urgent même de la part des Etats Membres de reconnaître concrètement leur obligation de contribution annuelle pour le budget ordinaire de la FAO et le versement régulier de celle-ci. Il faut déplorer de graves retards dans les paiements, qui sont d'autant moins compréhensibles lorsqu'ils sont le fait de pays grands et prospères, qu'ils obligent à de néfastes limitations des activités des programmes déjà prévus, et empêchent d'assurer d'éventuels financements additionnels en vue des initiatives suggérées dans les évaluations des buts et opérations de la FAO (C 89/21) en tant que développement nécessaire pour le futur.
Une préoccupation plus grave est provoquée par la tendance de certains Etats à réduire leur soutien aux plus importantes organisations internationales intergouvernementales, en abandonnant même parfois leur position d'Etat Membre, ce qui fait manquer aussi une partie importante du budget ordinaire.
Qu'il me soit permis aussi de mettre en relief qu'au cours de ces derniers temps est de plus en plus évidente l'utilité que l'on réalise une coordination entre les organisations et les organismes qui opèrent directement dans le domaine du développement agricole et alimentaire. A l'apport qualifié et continu de la FAO s'ajoutent en effet l'action spécifique de l' 'IFAD pour les investissements en agriculture et l'importance de l'aide alimentaire de la part de cet organisme interinstitutionnel des Nations Unies et de la FAO qu'est le Programme Alimentaire Mondial. En faisant référence à ce dernier il faudrait que dans l'activité du PAM soit rendue une amplitude prédominante au soutien des programmes de développement continu, plutôt qu'au concours pour les urgences qui est devenu trop important en pourcentage par rapport aux moyens mis à disposition.
Et il ne faut pas négliger l'invitation aux gouvernements des Etats Membres à donner une plus grande place aux tâches de définition annuelle des lignes de la politique internationale et intérieure pour la lutte contre la faim et la malnutrition confiée à la rencontre des Ministres de l'Agriculture auprès du Conseil mondial de l'alimentation, avec le Secrétariat correspondant. La FAO, l'IFAD et le PAM doivent confirmer leur disponibilité à participer au CMA à l'égard des tâches de coordination qui sont confiées à celui-ci, sans obliger à recourir à d'autres structures additionnelles.
Cela permettrait une utilisation plus ordonnée du concours à la lutte contre la faim et la malnutrition pour laquelle on reconnaît désormais l'apport spécifique et nécessaire de plus de 25 institutions du système des Nations Unies.
Il paraît opportun de souligner certains points spécifiques rappelés dans la partie que cette session dédie aux tendances et politiques principales en matière d'alimentation et d'agriculture.
Les problèmes de l'ajustement agricole international trouvent d'utiles indications dans le document C 89/18 qui se réfère à certaines lignes d'orientation - parmi les 12 déjà approuvées dans la Conférence générale de la FAO de 1975 (Résolution 9/75) - et qui se rattache à la synthèse précieuse offerte sur des faits nouveaux intervenus dans le Système des Nations Unies (C 89/9) et spécifiquement au rapport intermédiaire sur les négociations commerciales du GATT.
La tentative d'une évaluation sur l'évolution récente des politiques agricoles qui ont une incidence sur le commerce international (C 89/18, par. 3-21) est d'une actualité remarquable.
On fournit des éléments mis à jour sur les retours préoccupants de formes différentes du protectionnisme dans le commerce agricole et sur la continuité de mesures particulières de contingentement et de soutien à certains produits, en créant de nouveaux obstacles dans les échanges et dans l'accès aux marchés par rapport aux pays en voie de développement.
L'appel à prêter l'attention qui leur est due aux accords initiaux obtenus dans les négociations multilatérales au milieu de l'Uruguay Round dans le cadre du GATT (C 89/23) paraît opportun.
Naturellement on accueille avec juste intérêt la conclusion d'un ensemble de lignes qui paraissent en accord avec des critères de justice dans la solidarité en ce qui concerne la réglementation des rapports commerciaux dans le domaine de l'agriculture. Se dessine ainsi un système plus équitable de commerce des produits agricoles qui soit basé sur le marché. On souhaite que le processus successif prévu parvienne à des réductions progressives et substantielles dans les politiques de soutien à l'agriculture, de manière à remédier aux restrictions et aux distorsions qui se manifestent dans les marchés agricoles mondiaux et à les prévenir.
Dans cette deuxième partie de l'Uruguay Round il faudra réaliser des accords multilatéraux ultérieurs et plus précis qui donnent lieu à une réglementation inspirée aux principes directeurs de la réforme et aux éléments à long terme, rapportée aussi aux applications à court terme.
On rappelle que les participants à ces négociations se sont engagés dans l'immédiat à ne pas dépasser les niveaux actuels de protection du secteur agricole sur le plan intérieur et à l'exportation, et à faire en sorte que les obstacles tarifaires et non tarifaires ne soient pas intensifiés et ne soient pas étendus à d'autres produits.
Il est évident qu'il serait important que non seulement la FAO dans son ensemble, mais chacun des Etats Membres singulièrement, participant aux négociations, se sentent sincèrement engagés à définir la réglementation esquissée du commerce agricole international.
En ce qui concerne la stabilité du marché mondial des produits agricoles et des prix rémunérateurs, je me borne à me référer - plutôt qu'aux accords internationaux sur les produits individuels - à l'institution de mécanismes multilatéraux particuliers pour faire accroître le soutien à la commercialisation effective et stable des produits agricoles.
Il faut noter que l'UNCTAD a rendu opératoire le Fonds commun institué pour le Programme intégré des produits de base. Il paraît intéressant de remarquer qu'à ce fonds commun participent par leurs apports conjoints tant des pays en voie de développement que des pays développés.
En outre en raison de la diminution de la disponibilité d'aliments au niveau global mondial on a constaté une réduction des réserves qui représentent un soutien décisif dans les moments de demandes particulières de produits.
On a ainsi réduit l'apport de la Réserve Alimentaire Internationale d'Urgence (RAIU) gérée par le Programme Alimentaire Mondial.
Il s'avère nécessaire par contre que par une solidarité effective à laquelle tous les pays apportent leur contribution, surtout les plus développés et hautement producteurs, on assure des niveaux de sécurité alimentaire convenables. Il faut favoriser le concours extérieur, même moyennant une action d'organes multilatéraux et désintéressés, à la constitution de fonds de sécurité nationale dans chaque pays.
Il faut encourager les mesures prises dans le but d'accroître les investissements dans le domaine agricole. Quant à l'aide extérieure provenant de sources de financements tant bilatérales que multilatérales (C 89/18, par. 40-50), il est opportun de se rapporter davantage aux investissements qui constituent de véritables aides financières.
On souhaiterait mettre en lumière un éclaircissement - utile surtout aux informateurs de l'opinion publique - pour une évaluation plus objective et précise de la portée des revendications qui sont faites de manière trop générale et indifférenciée de la part des gouvernements et de la part des populations.
En affrontant la problématique de l'endettement extérieur de chaque pays, il faut avant toute chose reconnaître que les dettes croissantes de chaque pays proviennent d'une multiplicité de causes, surtout des facteurs rattachés aux importations et aux exportations des produits agricoles et à la balance des paiements subséquente.
Il faudrait essayer d'éviter l'attribution globale et générale de l'endettement aux emprunts provenant des organisations multilatérales.
C'est de plus un devoir que de distinguer, dans le cadre de l'endettement extérieur,les dettes provenant de prêts consentis par des banques commerciales privées et leurs taux d'intérêt élevés, des dettes provenant des banques qui opèrent par la voie multilatérale. Ces dernières mettent en oeuvre des étalements graduels des charges, tant en ce qui concerne les périodes de délai pour le remboursement du capital prêté qu'en ce qui concerne les intérêts, définis plutôt en tenant compte des conditions économiques et financières des pays qui y accèdent.
A ce propos il faut louer les recommandations précises et actuelles proposées dans le document de mise à jour rédigé par la FAO pour ce qui est des opérations de prêts et de contributions de la part des différentes formes bancaires (C 89/9, par. 59-76).
Au niveau mondial donc il existe d'efficaces opérations de financement du Fonds monétaire international et de la Banque mondiale et des filiales relatives, qui soutiennent des projets d'investissement tant public que privé dans les pays en voie de développement même à des conditions de faveur particulières.
On y retrouve en effet non seulement la référence à l'Organisation intergouvernementale de la Banque mondiale (IBRD), mais aussi les données concrètes relatives aux opérations de l'Association internationale pour le développement (IDA) dont les prêts à des conditions de faveur au cours de l'année fiscale 1988-89 se chiffrent à presque 5 milliards de dollars E.-U. (C 89/9, par. 61-66).
On y cite aussi l'autre filiale de la Banque mondiale - la Société financière internationale (IFC) - qui finance directement des entreprises privées à des conditions d'étalement graduel compte tenu de la situation dans les pays en voie de développement.
On fait remarquer de surcroît qu'à de telles opérations se sont ajoutés des fonds fiduciaires spécifiques provenant d'institutions bilatérales comme Pays-Bas, Canada, Italie, Suisse, Etats-Unis et CEE.
Dans une autre partie du document (C 89/9, par. 71-76), on donne un juste relief aux formes bancaires régionales aussi, auxquelles il faut ajouter les établissements bancaires reliés aux organisations internationales de zone et de regroupement qui sont en train d'assumer une capacité croissante à affronter les problèmes des pays en voie de développement.
Il faut remarquer, en tant que fait positif, l'ensemble des suggestions en matière de réorganisation de l'économie des pays endettés et de critères mieux adaptés en vue d'un renouvellement de la politique économique intérieure qui sont esquissées et indiquées aux pays individuellement par le Fonds monétaire international et par la Banque mondiale et ses organisations affiliées. On favorise ainsi - à l'instant où les prêts sont assurés - une orientation réaliste au profit du pays bénéficiaire et de son développement organique, et pas seulement des mesures temporaires visant sa condition financière.
Le document C 89/17 me permet de revenir sur un sujet affronté plusieurs fois par l'Observateur permanent.
Dans les rapports officiels des différentes organisations intergouvernementales à l'échelle mondiale et à l'échelle régionale, on peut remarquer qu'il est fait de plus en plus référence aux ONG et à leur apport au développement du fait de leurs activités. On ne voudrait pas que ce recours aux ONG, plutôt que de constituer une reconnaissance de leur contribution fonctionnelle aux objectifs du développement agricole et alimentaire, n'ait d'autre but que de faire tomber sur celles-ci les responsabilités d'objectifs qui n'ont pas été atteints et qui ressortissent à la responsabilité des organisations intergouvernementales et de leurs Etats Membres.
Je tiens à renouveler la confiance dans les Organisations non gouvernementales - surtout celles qui sont réellement l'expression d'un volontariat désintéressé opérant au niveau international - et dans leur participation aux activités de la FAO, tout en réaffirmant la juste distinction par rapport aux Etats Membres et leur fonction officielle concernant les décisions, les programmes et les normes.
Il faut répéter que la liaison entre la FAO et les ONG - aux trois différents degrés de reconnaissance dans la condition de statut juridique: consultatif, consultatif spécial, et de liaison - ne se limite pas à l'enregistrement auprès du fonctionnaire de la FAO responsable ou dans la liste des participants à une réunion convoquée par la FAO.
Il s'agit de mettre en lumière de quelle façon les ONG peuvent effectivement participer non seulement à des réunions spécifiques convoquées pour les ONG mais en intervenant tant au cours de la séance plénière que dans les commissions de cette Conférence générale, suivant leur droit d'intervention à chaque point de l'ordre du jour, mais après les Etats Membres et les observateurs des organisations internationales intergouvernementales.
Il faut donner effectivement de l'espace à cette participation active au moment des choix afin d'obtenir de faire participer par la suite les ONG au moment des opérations de mise à exécution, en ce qui concerne le programme ordinaire et les initiatives spécifiques.
Je tiens à remarquer que la coopération de la part des ONG dans des programmes communs au niveau mondial ou régional, et surtout dans des programmes et des projets au niveau de chaque pays, doit être conçue et mise en oeuvre afin d'obtenir la coordination dans la vision d'ensemble en ce qui concerne les lignes de politique de développement établies par la population locale et par la communauté civile, de manière à assurer en même temps l'autonomie de chaque ONG selon ses fins propres et ses méthodes statutaires.
Les ententes nécessaires dans les situations de difficultés spécifiques que l'on peut rencontrer en portant son aide dans des zones particulières peuvent plus facilement amener au dépassement des oppositions de la part des gouvernements si habituellement de la part des ONG on essayait constamment de servir le pays de manière désintéressée et subordonnant sa propre action au dessein de politique du développement qui répond aux nécessités et aux priorités réelles présentées par les populations intéressées et aux choix définis dans les programmes et dans les projets officiels.
Je prends la liberté de demander, Monsieur le Président, que le texte étendu de la présente intervention soit entièrement publié dans le procès-verbal, même si, pour des raisons de brièveté, toutes les parties qui le composent n'ont pas été exposées oralement.
En conclusion, je voudrais encore une fois renouveler la cordiale invitation pour la participation à l'audience spéciale que, cette année encore selon une longue tradition, le Pape Jean-Paul II tiendra demain, jeudi 16, pour les personnalités qualifiées et les délégations et représentations des Etats Membres et des organisations internationales ici présentes.
John NIBA NGU (Cameroon): On behalf of the Cameroon Delegation, I am pleased to address to you, Mr Chairman, in particular, and to the Conference in general our warm and hearty congratulations on the occasion of your election to the important office of Chairman of the Twenty-fifth Conference Session of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. At the same time, I am pleased and deeply honoured to be the bearer of greetings from all the Cameroon people and from our Head of State to you, Mr Chairman, to the Director-General, and to all the distinguished Delegates of FAO. Our Head of State hopes that the deliberations of this Session will be crowned with resounding success and will give to our respective governments, to the various organizations of FAO, to all the institutions within the United Nations system, to all governmental and non-governmental organizations, to Observers present or represented here, the necessary force required to take stock of the crucial problems facing the development of agriculture in developing countries where the food situation is and remains a matter of great concern. For my own part, I am anxious to assure you, Mr Chairman, of the support and collaboration of my Delegation in all the deliberations of the Conference.
The FAO is 44 years old and has played a very important role in the development of world agriculture. It has contributed significantly to the efforts made by my country to safeguard our food self-sufficiency which must now be transformed into food security. My country is most grateful to the FAO, and especially to the Director-General for the sustained efforts which have brought benefit to Cameroon.
Data furnished by the Secretariat of FAO in the copious working documents prepared for us clearly indicate that by the end of the century the total land surface of developing nations - about three times the surface presently in cultivation - will hardly produce enough to feed their populations if farming techniques presently practised continue to preserve their traditional nature. In other words, this means that appropriate strategies must be adopted by each Government concerned to steer the agricultural sector clear of all the constraints presently slowing it down. It will be necessary to rationalize the production apparatus through the management of soil and water, the improvement of farming techniques, the use of fertilizers, improved seeds and all other planting materials wherever and whenever possible.
At this stage it is imperative that agronomic and zootechnical research programmes should be integrated with those of extension and training.
The structurization of the rural milieu through the creation of agricultural production and marketing co-operatives and the institution of agricultural credit adapted to the conditions of the small farmer require particular attention.
At its creation the FAO assigned to itself the noble ideal of eliminating hunger, malnutrition and misery from the surface of the earth and took upon itself the ambitious and exalting mission of:
- raising the level of nutrition and living conditions of the masses;
- improving the production and efficiency of the distribution of food and agricultural products;
- improving the lot of rural masses, and in so doing contribute to global economic expansion through the liberation of humanity from hunger.
Actually, 44 years after the birth of our Organization much progress has been achieved in the area of food production the world over.
Enormous efforts have been made by the international community to raise agricultural production, but in spite of spectacular results obtained in Europe and North America the ghost of hunger, misery and malnutrition is still haunting with impunity a good number of developing countries suffering from food shortages. The Sub-Saharan zone of the African continent demonstrates, among these countries, the cruel image of this crushing reality which illustrates the disequilibrium in the functioning of the system regulating cooperation between well-to-do and developing countries. In effect, we are witnesses to the ever-present world of abundance and food security on the one hand, and that of malnutrition and food insecurity on the other.
The ninth World Food Day was celebrated this year under the theme "Food and the Environment". This theme remains a crucial reality for black African countries, especially when note is taken of the fact that for most countries in this region their ever-disturbing food situation is characterized by persistent shortages of basic foodstuffs, in short, a situation of near chronic underfeeding and quasi-generalized malnutrition.
It has been established that the causes of hunger, malnutrition and misery are directly linked with the destruction of the environment and that food insecurity experienced by a good number of countries is due mainly to a food producing sector that is not performing very well. This situation is closely linked with the degradation and perturbation of the ecosystems by man.
To this disturbing situation has to be added the distressing phenomenon of desertification, which has already affected thousands of millions of hectares of land bordering the Sahara to the south.
These lands, devastated by drought and made bare by over-grazing may, perhaps, never again be restored, given the extent to which their productive capacities have been reduced. This will with time fatally culminate in the creation of a fundamentally deficient agricultural sector in this zone. All this goes to underscore the fact that the food crisis in Africa is a reality.
In Cameroon we are fully aware of the danger of the degradation of agricultural lands by rain erosion and of desertification, which is visibly affecting the northern part of our country. Aware of the exigencies imposed by the management of our forest resources, the government has, with bilateral and multilateral assistance, just drawn up its Tropical Forestry
Action Plan. The plan, which in no way substitutes for our VIth National Plan for economic and social development, clarifies and complements the forestry sector guidelines in a long-term global approach by way of projects.
In this context, my Government intends setting up a modern forestry sector with the aim of exploiting in the most profitable and rational manner all the resources of this sector while safeguarding existing ecosystems, including its flora and fauna. Agriculture remains the key sector of our economy, employing more than 70% of the active population and contributing more than 30% of our gross national product (GNP).
The Government recognizes this priority position of agriculture and does all to enhance its role as the pivot of development. In this approach man is the object of sustained attention because he is considered as one whose efforts can result in real progress.
In the main orientations of our economic and social policy top priority is given to the mobilization of human resources since the sum total of the objectives of the National Development Plan is the active and effective participation of the masses.
It is also for this reason that rural exodus constitutes a major preoccupation of my Government, because, when a farmer or a breeder leaves the countryside for the town, he ceases to be a producer and becomes a mere consumer, if not an unemployed person.
Contrary to the European rural exodus which drained farm labour to industries, urbanization in developing countries has the sad effects of attracting rural youth to towns where living conditions seem more attractive, and thereby depopulates villages and contributes to the growth of delinquency and crime. Rehabilitation of the peasant condition requires the reduction of rural exodus and increased mobilization of the active population in the production apparatus.
To achieve this it would be necessary to encourage the farmer to produce through ensuring attractive prices, markets and accessible agricultural credit, which enhances the acquisition of indispensable inputs. Once this motivation is expressed in concrete terms, the peasant routine syndrome, characterized by instinctive prudence vis-à-vis the complex relations that exist between man, the land and plants and animals, will disappear.
We are of the conviction that the consolidation of real food security in developing countries requires the priority of sustained growth in production. But, faced with the constraints imposed on us by the present economic crisis, the amount of resources Third World governments can afford for the financing of the agricultural sector is in permanent decline.
We are aware of the fact that the war against hunger can be won. We are equally convinced that food problems can be effectively resolved only when the rural populations are given the means to produce enough food for their consumption and the satisfaction of the ever-growing demands of rapidly expanding urban populations. And since there cannot be evolutive agriculture without investment in the sector, the problem of modernization of the agricultural production apparatus requires more and more heavy financial resources.
The big question, however, is how can it be possible to think of investing in agriculture when the meagre resources obtained from exports must be used either in the servicing of an increasing foreign debt or in importing foodstuffs because drought, locusts, inundations or other calamities have plundered the local harvest?
It is a fact that the level of government assistance to development continues to drop and that the quota for agriculture is becoming even smaller and smaller. The situation is rendered more and more difficult by the current economic crisis where prices for primary products have fallen rather vertically and discouragingly for the rural populations. Our traditional export crops have been hit in an unprecendented manner and primary commodities have known price falls of well over 60 percent compared to prices ruling in the 1980s.
The consequences of this situation are many and nefarious for Cameroonian agriculture. We have difficulties selling our cash crops, whose stocks are rising as a result, while foreign exchange earnings are falling. At the same time, government investment has been reduced.
Faced with this situation, the Government of the Republic of Cameroon has taken several decisions with the objective of making the agricultural sector more efficient while protecting the farmer's earning capacity. The government's intervention in economic development has been streamlined through the liquidation of non-viable state or parastatal enterprises, the privatization of those which can best be managed by the private sector, and the rehabilitation and restructuring of some strategic public utility corporations.
Efforts are being made to diversify agricultural production, increase and diversify markets for our export crops, develop trade among member states of the Central African Economic and Customs Union (UDEAC) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and encouraging in-country processing and consumption of our farm produce to take more advantage of "added value".
The creation of an agricultural "credit" Organization, the farmers' bank, will not only encourage savings among people in the rural communities, it will make for easy access to credit facilities to farmers of all sizes thus enabling them to modernize agricultural fertilizers, plant protection, etc.
The present Conference Session is taking place at a time when my country, like many others in Africa and elsewhere, is seriously hurt by the vicious effects of world's economic and financial problems. In fact, despite some favourable developments which led to a sustained global growth in 1988 and 1989, the world economy still faces the persistence of protectionist and other reprehensible trade practices, the debt problem exacerbated by monetary disorders, the persistence of low prices for the major tropical commodities and the decline in the global food security and food aid supplies following the drop in the cereals crop in 1988.
That is why the discussion of issues on our agenda dealing with the intervention of the World Food Programme and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is of particular importance. In effect the WFP and IFAD capability to mobilize and furnish added material and financial resources on special conditions to the poorest peasants of developing countries constitutes a great boost to their food production.
The reactivation of agriculture with a view to raising the contribution of this sector to the global development of the peasant farmer is one of the major options of the Cameroon Government. In this context FAO assistance is highly solicited. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations needs to play a leading role in the identification, the formulation and either the execution or monitoring of projects requiring its technical and financial assistance.
This Session of the Conference has before it many issues, one of the most important of which is the reform process. My country has been closely associated with the efforts to reform the activities of FAO. Cameroon chaired the Twenty-third Session of the Conference and suggested in the closing remarks that a new reform process be launched. I am, therefore, happy to see that the experts group appointed by the Programme and Finance Committees has completed its work. I congratulate the experts as well as the members of the two Committees for the diligence with which they approached their tasks. I thank the Director-General for his support, which has in no small way helped the experts group to prepare the reports which are before us today.
My delegation welcomes the review reports but wishes to point out that our understanding of a review is that it is the examination and evaluation of existing activities to see where improvements can be made, costs reduced, efficiency improved, relevance increased and impact assessed, if possible. Of course, in the course of a review new areas requiring attention could be identified but the essential objective of a review is to ensure that existing activities are relevant and to make suggestions for improving implementation.
My delegation is in agreement with the roles and objectives of the Organization as stated. We agree with the Director-General that it would be difficult to assign precise priorities, but in the view of the Cameroonian delegation the technical assistance role of FAO should be the first. Of course, technical assistance can be interpreted as making experts available to execute projects.
In the view of my delegation highest priority should be accorded to technical assistance aimed at human resource development, which will in turn permit countries to identify, formulate, implement and evaluate their own development projects. We, therefore, support the recommendation of the experts for the institution of such a training programme in the FAO. It should be noted that the FAO Regional Conference for Africa called for specific training programmes to develop human resources in Africa during its Twelfth and Thirteenth Sessions held in 1982 and 1984. I would, therefore, suggest that the training programme now included under Category 3 to be financed from extrabudgetary funds be moved to Category I for financing from regular resources.
The Cameroon Government is convinced that it is possible to eliminate hunger, misery and malnutrition from poor countries through the application of the extraordinary results of science and technology, but this objective can only be achieved with the assistance of men of goodwill, animated by a high sense of generosity.
The fight against hunger and misery can be won but first poor nations have to pay a high price in efforts. This is the path we in Cameroon have chosen.
The meeting rose at 13.00 hours.
La séance est levée à 13 heures.
Se levanta la sesión a las 13.00 horas.
