- STATEMENTS BY HEADS OF DELEGATIONS (continued)
- DECLARATIONS DES CHEFS DE DELEGATION (suite)
- MANIFESTACIONES POR LOS JEFES DE LAS DELEGACIONES (continuación)
Greece, Liban, France, Korea (Republic of), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, United Kingdom, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Latvia, Czechoslovakia, India, Estonia, Hungary, Saudi Arabia (Kingdom of)
CHAIRMAN: Ladies and Gentlemen, the House is brought to order. Our first speaker this afternoon is His Excellency, Mr Sotiris Hadzigakis, the Minister of Agriculture of Greece.
Sotiris HADZIGAKIS (Greece): May I offer you, Sir, my warmest congratulations on your election as Chairman of this Conference. My congratulations also go to the Vice-Chairmen of the Conference.
The radical political, economic and social developments which occurred in the late '80s and early '90s, produced severe economic shocks and disturbances, shaping future developments.
In that respect, two of the most important events could be underlined:
First, the rapid socio-political and economic developments, together with the reform efforts occurred in the Eastern European Countries and the Soviet Union.
Second, the equally important evolutions in the European Communities, that is, the developments toward the integration of internal market, the monetary, economic (and lastly political) union, as well as the recently concluded agreement on the European Economic Space.
In my opinion, the most striking characteristics of the current decade could be summarized into the increasing interdependence among the various national economies on the one hand and the entering into a period of increased instability and uncertainty on the other.
The climate of the reduced confrontation and of political dialogue between the two Super-Powers gives a very promising message. New and broader perspectives are open to the achievement of better and closer international relations based upon the respect of international law and of human rights.
We welcome the initiative of the Director-General in submitting to the Conference a very comprehensive and excellent document on the Medium-Term Plan, concerning the strategic orientations of the Organization during the next six-year period, a work worthy to receive our congratulations.
However, the persistence of problems in the agricultural sector and the need to strengthen the role.of FAO toward the promotion and the achievement of sustainable agricultural development leads us to the budgetary question.
We support the proposals for the Programme of Work and Budget 1992-93.
Let us face the present situation with realism and in particular with political will. We appreciate and welcome the efforts of the Director-General aiming at reconciling various positions in order to permit the fulfilment of the main objective. This objective should lead to a consensus approval of the Programme of Work and Budget for 1992-93.
I have also noted the concern of various Member States favouring a higher growth, and we understand their disappointment and frustration. However, let us take into account the efforts of the Director-General, showing at the same time a spirit of solidarity which will enable this Conference to give its final approval to the Programme of Work and Budget for 1992-93.
In the same context, may I underline our collective responsibility toward providing FAO with the necessary means to accomplish its mission.
Although in 1990 and 1991 the overall economic activity slowed down in all regions, the prospects for 1992 seem to be more promising. The rate of growth is expected to recover in both industrialized and developing countries. However, the economic performance continues to vary significantly among the countries. The situation is still far from being satisfactory and there are not any sound prospects toward a radical improvement. This is true especially for the weakest national economies.
Inevitably, this situation has profound impacts on agriculture. In this respect, I should like to draw your attention to three inter-related general issues, which, in our view, will be of top priority during the current decade.
First, the poverty alleviation and, thus, the elimination of hunger and malnutrition.
Second, the promotion of structural agricultural adjustment toward more market-oriented agricultural policies.
And third, the achievement of sustainable agricultural development and the conservation of the environment.
On the above points, special attention should be given to the needs and problems of the Least Developed Countries, where poverty and underdevelopment continue to be the most acute problem. Although there is an ample food supply at global level, the problem of hunger and malnutrition affects already 500 million people. Furthermore, it is estimated that, at the end of the decade, the number of undernourished people will be increased.
Concerted action at national and international level is needed. At national level, there is a need to define and implement policies favouring agriculture, aiming at promoting structural adjustment and economic growth with equity and developing human resources and institutions.
At international level, action should be undertaken to resolve the problem of indebtedness, improve the market access of LDCs products to developed countries, and effect the transfer of resources and technical assistance.
To this end, we would like to point out that any relevant strategy to be followed has to be adapted to the specific conditions prevailing in various countries.
Of course, structural adjustment in agricultural policies has to be promoted not only through the developing countries but also through the developed ones. Several countries have already proceeded in that direction. It is well-known for instance, that EEC is, at present, under way in reforming the CAP.
In that respect, we think that the promotion of the necessary changes could be facilitated by a balanced conclusion of the GATT negotiations.
In the framework of the Uruguay Round, agriculture constitutes one of the most important and difficult issues. But we should underline the fact that it is not the only issue where the views and the aims of the participants differ substantially.
Despite the difficulties faced at various levels, we hope that the negotiations will be concluded successfully, and undoubtedly this will be an important landmark. In the medium-term, it will determine not only the future of agricultural trade, but it will also shape the framework of implementing agricultural policies and the way that the following objectives might be achieved: support of the agricultural income; contribution of agriculture to the general economic development; protection of consumers, regarding the supply and other economic matters on one side and public health on the other; protection of the environment, etc.
Let me turn to the third important and relatively new issue: the need for environmental conservation, which is under consideration in international agenda more and more often.
Obviously, agricultural activities are mostly dependent upon environmental conditions and, conversely, may cause certain impacts on environment. The problem of environmental protection and rational management of natural resources should be considered in the light of the degradation caused to the environment, as well as of the despoiling exploitation of natural productive resources. Increasingly, agricultural forestry and environmental objectives must be pursued simultaneously in the context of integrated policy approaches.
In this respect, we welcome the work already done by the FAO Secretariat and we are fully convinced that the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, now under preparation for 1992, will proceed to useful recommendations.
It has been recognized that the role of women in the development of society is imperative and of the utmost importance.
Therefore, the stimulation of rural women for action is of particular importance. The social and cultural activities of rural women must be promoted side by side with the cultural development of the rural areas. This is very important because rural women must realize that they belong to the society of the community in which they live.
Having the above in mind, we believe that it should be recommended that specific measures should be introduced for, among others:
Drawing up new programmes and re-adaptation of their control concerning women.
Adaptation and transfer of the appropriate technology to the farm household which will enable women to have free time.
Application of social supporting measures, such as nurseries, education, health centres, etc.
Our ability to respond positively to the severe problems we are facing depends critically on our willingness to reinforce the existing international institutions and the multilateral cooperation mechanisms.
In this regard, FAO, as one of the major international organizations specializing in the promotion of agricultural development and cooperation, continues to play an important role. Therefore, the support, encouragement and enhancement of FAO activities and orientation are, in our view, indispensable.
Mohsen DALLOUL (Liban) (Langue originale arabe): Permettez-moi, M. le Président, au début de mon intervention de vous présenter au nom du Gouvernement libanais mes félicitations les plus sincères pour votre élection à la présidence de la vingt-sixième session de la Conférence générale de la FAO, et de vous souhaiter le succès dans votre mission et la réussite des travaux de la Conférence.
Je suis heureux également d'exprimer mon appréciation et ma reconnaissance à M. Edouard Saouma, Directeur général de l'Organisation, pour les efforts déployés au service de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation dans le monde, particulièrement dans les pays en développement, et pour son action visant à rassembler les pays membres autour des projets vitaux pour l'Organisation.
Nous apprécions la réalisation importante des organes de la FAO au cours des deux dernières années, où ils ont aidé de nombreux pays en développement, dont le Liban, à faire face aux difficultés et aux catastrophes naturelles qui les ont frappés.
Vous êtes sans doute conscients qu'il est de plus en plus pressant de développer les services de l'Organisation.
Cependant, ce qui a attiré notre attention dans le programme proposé pour les deux prochaines années est l'absence de toute augmentation du budget. Nous sommes convaincus qu'une croissance zéro du budget réduira le champ d'action de la FAO et ne pourra satisfaire les besoins urgents des pays en développement.
Nul doute que l'Organisation traverse la crise financière la plus grave depuis sa création. Cela est dû en premier lieu au fait que certains pays ne s'acquittent pas à temps de leurs contributions. Je profite donc de cette occasion pour inviter tous les pays qui ne se sont pas encore acquittés de leurs obligations financières à le faire, afin que l'Organisation puisse exécuter les programmes.
J'aimerais dire, et j'en suis fier, que le Liban, malgré la crise qu'il traverse, a réglé toutes les contributions à la FAO, y compris celle due au titre de l'année 1991.
Cette situation financière a obligé l'Organisation à puiser dans les fonds de roulement et le Compte de réserve spécial, et à emprunter auprès des institutions financières, supportant ainsi des intérêts qu'elle ne pouvait éviter. A cet égard, il me parait important d'exprimer notre accord avec les propositions du Directeur général portant sur l'augmentation du Fonds de roulement et du Compte de réserve spécial pour lui permettre de poursuivre l'exécution des programmes prévus en attendant que les pays membres règlent leurs arriérés.
Le PCT, créé il y a 15 ans, a prouvé son utilité et son efficacité. Ce programme a permis à l'Organisation d'agir rapidement afin d'aider de nombreux pays victimes de catastrophes naturelles, ou se trouvant dans des situations urgentes non prévues dans le budget. Nous réaffirmons notre appui à ce programme et la nécessité d'augmenter les fonds qui lui sont affectés et de lui donner la priorité dans les programmes de l'Organisation et son nouveau budget.
Des facilités financières, le règlement des arriérés, le maintien du facteur d'abattement pour mouvements de personnel tel que proposé par le Directeur général et le développement des capacités matérielles de l'Organisation sont nécessaires et vitaux si l'on veut que la FAO continue d'attirer les compétences dans les domaines scientifiques, garde ses techniciens et limite leur migration vers des institutions plus généreuses. Car la compétence scientifique du personnel est le souffle de vie qui anime l'Organisation, sans lequel il n'y a point de vie.
Ma participation aux travaux de cette Conférence et la contribution libanaise continue aux réalisations de la FAO confirment notre respect des principes suivants:
L'engagement du Liban envers les Organisations des Nations Unies, dont il a été un des membres fondateurs, tout comme il a été membre fondateur de nombreuses organisations internationales qui en ont émané. Le Liban est un pays épris de paix, respectueux de la légalité internationale qu'il a toujours oeuvré à soutenir et à promouvoir.
L'engagement continu envers la FAO, la foi en son rôle dans le développement de l'agriculture dans les pays en développement et la réalisation de la sécurité alimentaire ainsi que la protection de l'environnement. Nous sommes convaincus que la meilleure voie reste la coopération internationale et l'aide basée sur les principes humanitaires, pour plus de justice dans la communauté internationale. La FAO doit jouer un rôle de pionnier pour affirmer cette réalité et garantir sa pérennité.
Le Liban et la Région arabe vivent un moment historique qui pourrait déboucher sur la paix et la prospérité si Israël abandonnera position intransigeante dans l'occupation des territoires arabes et son ignorance des droits légitimes des peuples de la région et tout particulièrement du peuple palestinien. Si le monde arabe parvient à sortir de l'état de confrontation, de guerre et d'oppression qui prévaut actuellement, les efforts et les moyens matériels énormes consacrés depuis 45 ans à l'effort militaire seraient utilisés à des fins de développement. Mon pays pourra
mieux soutenir les efforts de développement dans des pays frères qui ont besoin d'aide.
Je viens du Liban, qui sort de l'enfer d'une guerre destructrice qui a ravagé son territoire, et qui a payé pendant 16 ans le prix exorbitant des conflits internationaux et régionaux qui l'ont déchiré, ont dilapidé ses richesses et détruit son infrastructure. Depuis l'accord de Taef qui a annoncé la fin de la guerre au Liban et jeté les bases de la constitution de la deuxième République, le Gouvernement d'union nationale a entrepris de réhabiliter les secteurs des services et des productions de base. L'agriculture était en tête de ces préoccupations, même si les moyens existants restent en deçà des ambitions et des besoins.
Les conséquences de la guerre ont imposé à l'agriculture libanaise de nouvelles orientations. Il est de plus en plus urgent de combler le fossé entre la production locale et les besoins alimentaires. Nous ne pouvons accepter de continuer à être obligés d'importer 85 pour cent de nos besoins alimentaires alors qu'une partie importante de notre production agricole s'entasse faute de marchés extérieurs. L'infrastructure de l'agriculture libanaise a subi des dommages très graves. Les libanais désertent le secteur de l'agriculture, car il a perdu de sa viabilité économique.
Le chômage a aussi augmenté. Les besoins alimentaires sont de plus en plus pressants, et nous en sommes arrivés à une situation dramatique où nous voyons des exploitations agricoles sans ouvriers, et des ouvriers sans exploitations agricoles.
L'agriculteur libanais a été abandonné faisant face, seul, aux exigences de son activité et aux besoins en alimentation. L'agriculteur libanais a dû combattre l'inflation, importer les matières premières en devises, et se contenter de vendre sa production en monnaie nationale. Il a été exposé aux dangers de l'occupation et de la destruction, il a souffert de l'absence de projets d'irrigation, de l'inexistence de crédits agricoles, de la concurrence des produits importés sans contrôle, et il a été tenté de se tourner vers des cultures prohibées, qui promettaient de meilleurs revenus même si elles étaient en totale contradiction avec son histoire, sa foi et ses engagements sociaux et humains.
Le Gouvernement libanais tente de faire face à cette réalité difficile dont les effets néfastes dépassent les frontières du Liban, en coopération avec les organisations internationales spécialisées, auxquelles nous fournissons le soutien nécessaire, et dont nous attendons une aide efficace pour la réhabilitation du secteur agricole et de son infrastructure.
Nous plaçons nos espoirs dans le Fonds arabe et international pour la reconstruction du Liban, et dans le soutien direct des pays amis ayant les moyens de nous aider.
Notre vision du développement agricole au Liban est centrée sur le développement des capacités des petits agriculteurs, l'amélioration de leur niveau de vie, et les conseils que nous leur fournissons pour une exploitation planifiée des richesses de leur milieu naturel. Les agriculteurs dans le besoin constituent près du quart de la population du Liban. Il est nécessaire de dépasser l'aide immédiate pour exécuter des projets de développement seuls capables d'assurer une agriculture durable, de protéger l'agriculteur contre toute forme d'exploitation commerciale, de le maintenir dans ses terres et d'éviter l'exode vers les ceintures de
misère qui s'étendent à la périphérie des villes et se transforment en foyers de troubles et en terrain propice aux politiques et aux ideologies extrémistes qui laissent leur empreinte sur l'ensemble de la communauté internationale. Ce problème n'est plus une affaire purement locale. Les préoccupations sont complexes et complémentaires. Il est nécessaire d'entreprendre un effort international pour assurer la stabilité de la société rurale au Liban. Nous nous adressons à la FAO et à tous les pays qui le peuvent, pour nous fournir une aide et soutenir ces orientations humanitaires.
Notre participation aux travaux de cette Conférence confirme que le Liban a dépassé la crise, et contrairement à ce que beaucoup ont pensé au cours de ces années noires, le destin du Liban est de vivre, et son message de durer.
Que la paix soit sur vous.
Louis MERMAZ (France): La Conférence générale est donc l'occasion, tous les deux ans, pour les Ministres de l'agriculture des Etats Membres de l'Organisation de faire le point sur l'évolution de la situation agricole et alimentaire dans le monde et d'échanger bien sûr informations et expériences pour tenter d'améliorer la situation générale.
Le rapport présenté à ce sujet par le Secrétariat de la FAO pour cette vingt-sixième Conférence générale contient, hélas, plus de motifs d'inquiétude que de satisfaction.
La croissance de la production alimentaire et agricole mondiale s'est ralentie en 1990 et cette tendance risque de se confirmer pour 1991, et dans ce tableau d'ensemble c'est dans les pays en développement que le tassement a été le plus sensible.
Dans un même temps, si les échanges de produits agricoles sont restés soutenus dans les pays développés, ils ont été plutôt déprimés dans les autres. Et des situations de grave pénurie alimentaire se prolongent dans de nombreux pays d'Afrique mais également d'Asie et d'Amérique du Sud.
Le ralentissement de l'économie mondiale explique pour une part cette situation. Depuis le milieu de 1989, il a touché tous les continents avant d'être aggravé par la guerre du Golfe. Les pays en développement en ont souffert plus que d'autres car, tandis que les prix de l'énergie et des produits manufacturés ont augmenté, le cours des matières premières, notamment alimentaires, s'est effondré et, comme on le voit, les seules voies du marché ne sauraient faire le bonheur de l'humanité.
Le cours mondial du blé a chuté de plus de moitié en 16 mois, celui de nombreux produits tropicaux a poursuivi son mouvement à la baisse.
Les termes de l'échange se dégradent encore, la dette des pays en développement loin de s'alléger pèse plus lourdement encore sur leur possibilité d'investissements, donc de croissance.
Mais au-delà de la situation économique et de l'évolution des échanges, nous savons bien que le problème de fond réside aujourd'hui dans le face-à-face entre les agricultures des pays développés soutenues par des concours publics et agriculture exportatrice d'excédents et les
agricultures des pays en développement qui non seulement ne bénéficient pas de soutiens financiers publics, mais bien souvent sont soumises à des prélèvements sous des formes diverses en vue de financer le développement des autres secteurs de l'économie. Sans compter les déséquilibres dans les termes des échanges internationaux qui tendent à se développer dangereusement.
Alors comment passer du constat, sur lequel nous pourrions être largement d'accord, à des propositions de solution et à l'action?
Nous entendons beaucoup dire que la solution aux problèmes du développement serait dans la libéralisation complète des échanges et que les entraves existantes seraient la cause de tous nos maux, particulièrement celles qui résultent des soutiens publics à l'agriculture dans les pays dits développés.
Mais comment ne pas songer au fait que l'argent investi en agriculture rapporte infiniment moins que l'argent investi dans les autres activités humaines et que, s'il n'y avait pas dans les pays dits développés ce soutien là, l'activité agricole risquerait là aussi de régresser rapidement. Oui, nous sommes pour la libéralisation des échanges et une plus grande ouverture des marchés mondiaux. Pas seulement ceux des produits agricoles, bien entendu. Mais nous voulons nous méfier des panacées universelles. Je rappellerai en particulier que le commerce mondial des produits agricoles ne représente qu'une partie, somme toute modeste, de la production agricole mondiale.
Il représente, ce commerce international, selon les produits concernés, de 5 à 20 pour cent de la production, le reste étant consommé dans les régions de production même.
De plus, le commerce mondial est extrêmement concentré aujourd'hui. Il est réalisé, pour les principaux produits exportés, par un petit nombre de pays exportateurs et par un petit nombre de sociétés de négoce. Il faut donc s'interroger sur ce que nous voulons libéraliser. S'il s'agit de donner une plus large place aux produits des pays en développement et, j'insiste, aux produits des pays en développement, alors là, je serai d'accord.
La Communauté économique européenne est d'ailleurs le premier importateur au monde de produits agro-alimentaires. Elle fait des efforts pour assurer des conditions d'accès préférentielles aux produits des pays en développement sur le marché communautaire. Le Commissaire Mac Sharry aura sans doute l'occasion d'y revenir; aussi me contenterai-je de rappeler que nous sommes fiers d'avoir signé les accords de Lomé et de les avoir renouvelés. Nous sommes fiers d'avoir signé les accords avec les pays ACP (Afrique, Caraïbes, Pacifique), les accords avec les pays méditerranéens. C'est insuffisant, me direz-vous et c'est vrai, mais la CEE importe deux fois plus de produits agricoles en provenance des pays en développement qu'elle ne leur en vend, ce qui est loin d'être la vérité pour l'ensemble des pays dits industrialisés.
Notre attitude constructive dans les négociations du GATT prouve que nous sommes d'ailleurs prêts à améliorer encore les choses. Mais nous sommes aussi persuadés que ce ne serait pas en ruinant les agriculteurs d'Europe que l'on assurerait le salut de ceux des pays en développement. Le libéralisme économique qu'on appelle sauvage, a conduit à la ruine de secteurs entiers de l'agriculture, et dans certains pays développés et dans
les pays en développement. Nous devons tous ensemble réfléchir à ce phénomène. Mon collègue libanais l'évoquait il y a quelques instants devant moi.
La lutte contre la pauvreté et la faim passe par un effort concerté entre pays riches et pauvres, notamment au sein de la FAO pour mobiliser les moyens nécessaires et assurer leur bonne utilisation.
S'agissant des moyens, il faut naturellement, en premier lieu, alléger le poids de l'endettement extérieur sur les économies des pays les plus pauvres. De ce point de vue, la France a réalisé un effort et cet effort n'aura de sens que s'il a valeur d'entraînement pour les autres. La France a réalisé, en effet, un effort considérable en 1990 en annulant 3,3 milliards de dollars de créances sur les pays les plus endettés, sur un total de 4,9 milliards de dollars de remises de dettes consenties par l'ensemble des pays créditeurs au cours de cette même année.
En même temps, la France a décidé, lors du Sommet franco-africain de la Baule, d'intervenir uniquement sous forme de dons et non plus de prêts, au bénéfice des pays les plus pauvres, et d'augmenter d'ici à l'an 2000 la part de son produit national brut consacré à l'aide publique au développement. Beaucoup d'autres pays européens, d'ailleurs, entendent s'engager dans la même voie. Autant que l'importance des moyens mis en oeuvre comptent le cadre et la méthode avec lesquels on agit. C'est pourquoi mon pays, certain que le laissez-faire, laissez-aller n'est pas une réponse satisfaisante aux problèmes du développement, - il y a des valeurs communes et des valeurs communautaires qu'il faut préserver et promouvoir - apporte son soutien à la coopération régionale mise en oeuvre par certains Etats. C'est le cas, par exemple, du Programme de coopération lancé à Dakar en mars 1991, programme qui regroupe 14 Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre avec lesquels nous entendons travailler activement.
C'est dans la même perspective que nous avons organisé, en septembre de cette année, à Paris, avec le concours actif de la FAO, le Congrès forestier mondial qui a placé au centre de ses travaux la question du développement.
Je voudrais enfin indiquer que, si les raisons d'être inquiet ne manquent pas, les motifs d'un optimisme raisonné et la volonté de dynamisme ne sont pas absents de notre réflexion collective. Les progrès de la démocratie à travers le monde, à l'Est de l'Europe, bien sûr, mais aussi en Afrique ou en Amérique du Sud, constituent une raison majeure de croire que les problèmes de la faim et de la pauvreté pourront être peu à peu surmontés. Plus encore que les perspectives de reprise économique annoncée pour 1992, la mobilisation des peuples pour prendre en main leurs affaires contribuera à l'émergence des solutions. De ce point de vue, les bouleversements en Europe centrale et en Europe orientale ne doivent pas être perçus comme une menace par les pays du Sud; ceux-ci ne doivent pas craindre une perte d'intérêt des pays du Nord ou une réorientation des moyens. Cette crainte n'est pas fondée et c'est au contraire la possibilité de fonder un nouvel ordre international, échappant à la logique des blocs, qui nous permettra de faire des économies et de faire plus pour le développement des pays du monde entier.
Dans le domaine qui est le sien, la FAO constitue un lieu d'échanges et d'action fort utile pour mener à bien cette vaste tâche. C'est pourquoi je me félicite de la volonté de la FAO d'élargir l'horizon de ses actions en
mettant en place une programmation pluriannuelle, et de sa volonté de rénover ses méthodes de travail en favorisant la pluridisciplinarité. Je veux rendre hommage à l'action de M. Saouma, le Directeur général. Je souhaite donc que la proposition de budget correspondant à ces orientations puisse être adoptée par consensus.
La FAO constitue pour nous un instrument irremplaçable de coopération multilatérale dans les domaines de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture. La France se félicite tout particulièrement de l'organisation, en 1992, par la FAO et l'Organisation mondiale dé la santé, d'une Conférence sur la nutrition car cela me semble aller dans le sens de ce que doivent faire ensemble les organisations internationales.
Je voudrais également réaffirmer au Secrétariat de la FAO que nous appuierons tous les efforts qu'il fera pour que soient prises en compte les politiques forestières développées à travers le monde et les recommandations adoptées lors du dernier Congrès forestier mondial.
Enfin, je souhaite - et mon pays souhaite - qu'une solution soit trouvée permettant de donner à la Communauté européenne en tant que telle la place qu'elle mérite au sein de notre Organisation où elle peut constituer un élément d'équilibre. Je souhaite qu'elle puisse être membre de la FAO à hauteur des compétences internationales qui sont les siennes. Les problèmes de la pauvreté et de la faim dans le monde, pour nous, démocrates, ne sont pas une fatalité; ils pourront être résolus mais ils ne le seront, si nous le voulons tous ensemble, que par une action volontaire et concertée de la communauté internationale.
Cho KYONG-SHIK (Korea, Republic of): Mr Chairman, Director-General, Your Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a great pleasure and privilege to address this august body and to share my delegation's views on some of the important issues facing us in the field of world food and agriculture on the occasion of the Twenty-sixth FAO Conference.
At the outset I would like to congratulate you, Mr Chairman, and your three Vice-Chairmen on your unanimous election to steer the deliberations of this important Conference. My delegation is confident that under your able guidance this session will produce fruitful and rewarding achievements.
Prospects for world food and agriculture are currently facing a serious challenge. First of all the political changes in Eastern European countries raise new food problems and many Asian and African countries are still experiencing food shortages. In addition many delegations from food importing developing countries are concerned about their food security because it is becoming more difficult to secure basic foodstuffs due to external debts and the new international political environment. On the other hand, developed countries are critical of soil destruction from the massive chemical uses. They are also more concerned about the environment and the sustainability of agriculture. Under these conflicting problems of surplus and hunger as well as the problems of productivity and environment, the Uruguay Round of negotiations on agricultural reform has been under way for the last five years. My delegation sincerely hopes that the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations should be successfully completed. We also hope that it could provide new international standards in dealing with food and agricultural problems. We all know that there have been
distortions and inefficiencies in world agriculture markets. Excessive export subsidies and various support measures imposed by some developed countries have been incurring distortions in resource allocation.
In the long run, market principles should prevail in world agriculture and the Uruguay Round negotiations should be based on these principles.
Mr Chairman, however, we should not overlook the inherent features of agriculture while we discuss the fundamental reform of the world agricultural system.
Agricultural producers face uncertainties from both production and price since agriculture, by nature, is an industry which depends on biological production processes and volatile climatic conditions.
Furthermore, agriculture performs the very important roles of conserving the environment, maintaining rural society, and providing national food security.
I believe that these various non-trade concerns characterize agriculture as fundamentally different from other industries.
My delegation firmly believes that these concerns of agriculture should be fully taken into consideration in order to successfully conclude the Uruguay Round agricultural negotiation.
In addition, many experts estimate that the on-going discussion of the Uruguay Round negotiations would have negative effects on the food security situation by increasing world prices and reducing world stocks.
In this regard, I would like to emphasize that agricultural reform should not interrupt the efforts of each country to achieve food security.
More specifically, my delegation believes that the uniform reduction of subsidies and the tariffication without exceptions do not fully consider the different levels of agricultural development and socio-political realities of food problems for many countries. It may result in various short-run negative effects and may aggravate the current unstable world food situation.
In this context, it is necessary for a deep understanding of world food problems to be integrated into the Uruguay Round agricultural negotiations.
Mr Chairman, I would like to ask how FAO will adjust itself to facilitate the new world agricultural order after the successful completion of the Uruguay Round.
In this regard, the Conference should examine the direction of world agricultural reform discussed in the Uruguay Round negotiations. The Conference also should intensively discuss effective ways for FAO to lead the new international agricultural system.
Certainly, Conference Agenda Items such as reviewing the world food situation and designing the direction of world agricultural adjustment are very important and timely.
Throughout the Conference we will be able to examine the views expressed in the Uruguay Round negotiations in terms of world food security and strategies to develop each country's agriculture.
Mr Chairman, I believe that FAO should find ways to achieve mutual benefits of member countries in this period of worldwide agricultural reform.
It cannot be overemphasized that FAO should take a leading role in the establishment of a new international agricultural order.
My delegation firmly believes that FAO should strengthen its ability to coordinate member countries' interests and to assist their agricultural development.
Specifically, helping the Least Developed Countries should have the top priority. FAO and the cooperation of other international organizations are required to assist the food-importing developing countries to increase their production of traditional staple food.
In this context, I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our willingness to extend support to the development efforts in all parts of the world. We wish to offer them our assistance to the best of our ability, even though the Republic of Korea is neither a wealthy nor an advanced country.
My delegation believes that FAO will have an expanded role in the global efforts aimed at controlling, managing and even reversing environmental degradation.
Mr Chairman, with your permission, I would like to express my view on more specific FAO projects.
I believe it is very important to the future of FAO that the medium- to long-term plan of 1992 through 1997 be properly linked to the annual budget and plans. This plan should also be prepared so that it can be applied to the planning of domestic development strategies of developing countries.
Basically, I support the proposed budget of 1992-93. It is regrettable, however, that financial difficulties limited the budget increase. I sincerely hope that budget situation will improve, in the next years.
Many important FAO projects, including the development of sustainable agriculture, the application of state-of-the-art technologies, the agricultural information services and the promotion of women's participation in agricultural development, deserve the special attention of member countries.
Moreover, I hope that the TCP projects should be equitably distributed to Asian countries taking into account their populations and the necessity for the TCP projects.
In addition, I am pleased to mention that we have been exchanging our experiences in agricultural development with developing countries through the TCDC projects.
In closing, my delegation would like to take this opportunity to thank 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 the Twenty-sixth FAO Conference.
Allan CRUICKSHANK (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines): His Excellency, Malik Abdul Majid, Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Pakistan, and Conference Chairman; Mr Edouard Saouma, FAO Director-General; CARICOM Ministers of Agriculture and other Delegates and Representatives from the Caribbean Region; Ministers of Agriculture from Latin America and their delegations, Delegates to this Conference from other Regions of the world; Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is indeed a great honour to have been afforded the opportunity once again, as Minister of Agriculture for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, to address this very distinguished and influential gathering on the critical and still very pressing subject of food and agriculture, and also to be able to participate in the processes through which the course of this extremely relevant United Nations Organization will be charted.
Mr Chairman, in addition to speaking on this occasion for my country, my CARICOM colleagues have delegated to me the tasks of presenting to this Conference our collective concerns and interests as a sub-region within the wider Latin American and Caribbean Region.
Since our last meeting two years ago at the Twenty-fifth Conference, the world has witnessed many sweeping and far-reaching changes. On the political front, our welcoming into the FAO fold yesterday of the Republics of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania is but one indication of just how far things have moved in only a few years. In another sphere, the trend towards economic regionalism and trade liberalization continues at a quickening pace. Technologically, we have also entered a new revolutionary period with the emergence of biotechnology.
Mr Chairman, no country represented here today has been, or will remain, unaffected by these changes that are taking place, and I am certain that we would all be in agreement that the unfolding situation presents many problems but also great challenges.
The Saint Vincent and the Grenadines economy is still heavily dependent on the performance of the agricultural sector, and within this sector one crop dominates - that is, bananas.
The movement towards a European Common Market, projected for 1993, and the uncertainty surrounding the continuation of existing favourable arrangements for our banana exports, have spurred on efforts at diversification within the sector as well as within the economy as a whole.
Given the similarities in agricultural sector dependence between several CARICOM countries, and the overall need for adjustments in the light of changed and changing world economic circumstances, both the CARICOM Secretariat and the sub-regional OECS Secretariat have been strengthened to promote and further the agricultural diversification process in the subregion.
In this regard, efforts at coordinating and deepening the development assistance to the Region have escalated.
Mr Chairman, the mission in the CARICOM Region is... to increase significantly and improve the level of production, productivity and profitability of agricultural enterprises; to provide increasing levels and a better distribution of real per capita income for the Region's producers and traders; and to increase the flow of high-quality competitively priced food and non-food commodities to regional consumers, the tourist trade and to extra-regional markets.
The need to maintain environmental balance and to ensure sustainability into the future for the generations yet unborn has not been ignored in the planning process by any of our Governments or by the Region as a whole. In fact, such concerns have featured quite prominently in the individual and collective activity of our countries in the drive to promote agricultural development and with it a better quality of life for all of our people.
In some countries of the Region, Mr Chairman, Guyana for example, the forest resource is such that it would be unwise, if not impossible, not to exploit it in the interest of furthering the development of the people of these countries.
Guyana has gone the route of the TFAP, Mr Chairman, and is still waiting for the concrete assistance which was expected to follow such an exercise. How long must Guyana wait, Mr Chairman? How long can Guyana wait?
Most of the CARICOM Member States are at varied stages in the TFAP process and we stand with countries, such as Guyana, in hoping that the funding required to move effectively from the thinking stage on sustainability to the doing stage will soon be forthcoming.
Mr Chairman, the CARICOM States, recognizing the prevailing economic difficulties throughout the world, and the need for consensus on the FAO budget, have agreed with the proposal that there be a zero-based budget.
However, it is to be expected that those major contributors within the Organization now in arrears running into millions of dollars would take urgent steps to liquidate these amounts from their records.
The CARICOM States would also like to see an increase in the TCP resources, in spite of zero budgeting. The TCP is of vital importance to the Region as it fits very nicely with our type of need, and it is the main window through which the FAO can be of any assistance to countries such as ours. Any cursory examination of the record will show that, in the main, assistance to the Caribbean over the years from the FAO came through TCP funding. Not to prioritize this, Mr Chairman, in the budgeting for the Organization could seriously affect the pace at which adjustments can take place in the Region in response to the march of political and economic change the world over. It would also quite possibly leave us somewhat short of an appropriate response in times of natural disasters to which the Region is somewhat prone. In the past, TCP funding has helped in the rehabilitation of agricultural sectors around the Region in the wake of hurricanes.
Beyond the budget and on the question of membership, Mr Chairman, we would like to express our support for the decision to allow Puerto Rico associate membership in this Organization. It should be pointed out that this type of status should be available to countries in the Region such as Anguilla, Montserrat and the British Virgin Islands should it be sought.
CARICOM States also have no base difficulty with the EEC bid for membership, but there must be adequate discussion and a clear understanding of the criteria and conditions under which membership for such organizations would be granted, since other Regional Economic Groupings, for example our own CARICOM, may in the future wish to seek similar arrangements with FAO.
Mr Chairman, there is a matter which is of great immediate concern to CARICOM countries. It has to do with the spread of the tropical bont tick, Amblyoma Variegatum, southward through the Eastern Caribbean. Countries in the Region such as Antigua, Guadeloupe, Saint Kitts and Nevis are already heavily infected, and foci have been observed at Saint Lucia and Barbados. The cattle egrets from Guadeloupe and Antigua have been sighted more frequently in Grenada and Saint Vincent, and have the capability of spreading adequate numbers of immature ticks. The Region is committed to launching a full-scale programme to check and eradicate this tick which has the gramme capacity to destroy our whole livestock sector.
In our efforts so far, the FAO has played a very significant coordinating and supportive role, through the same TCP which I earlier referred to, and we are now convening a meeting of the Amblyoma Steering Committee on Thursday, at 10.30 hours in the Ethiopian Room to discuss implementation of a long-term project designed to eradicate the tick from the Region and to halt its spread southward to Latin America where, once it gets there, the chance of eradication would be lost.
We would like to invite all those countries and organizations which may have an interest to join the countries and organizations already involved to ensure the immediate implementation of the eradication programme.
In closing Mr Chairman, it would be very remiss of me if I did not express my country's, as well as the Region's, appreciation for the very valuable assistance rendered by the Organization in recent years. It is indeed a tribute to the ability and experience of Mr Saouma and his staff that inspite of very difficult financial problems the Organization has performed acceptably.
We sincerely hope that the FAO's capacity to address the developmental needs of countries such as ours will improve in the years to come, and we expect to be able to play a much larger role as a region in ensuring that this is in fact so.
Mr Chairman, let there be bread.
Thank you very much.
Timothy LANKESTER (United Kingdom): Mr Chairman, two years ago Britain's Aid Minister, Lynda Chalker - who unfortunately is unable to be here today because of inescapable Parliamentary commitments - addressed this Conference. She referred then to the need for a wide-ranging restructuring
of FAO in order to meet its future challenges. Subsequent events on the world scene, not least a resurgence of interest in the UN system itself, reconfirm today the validity of the concerns Mrs Chalker expressed then.
The London Economic Summit in July called for the UN system to be strengthened. The ending of the cold war has made possible a re-birth of its political role. Equally important is to revive the specialized agencies and the UN development system. The FAO stands prominent among them, concerned as it is to meet the fundamental needs of mankind. Against the background of this potential UN renaissance, it is vital that FAO be flexible and responsive to the demands of the international community in this new situation.
As the Constitution of FAO makes clear, the ultimate responsibility for food security, agricultural planning and development rests with us, the Member States. The role of FAO is thus to act as a catalyst, as a focal point of technical expertise and as a facilitator of increasing national execution of projects and programmes. We see the strength of FAO in the future as based on its ability to apply its particular range of technical expertise to global problems of food security and better use of natural resources in support of sustainable development. Because of the importance we attach to the technical and developmental role of the Organization, the United Kingdom has consistently urged FAO to set clear priorities. I am delighted, therefore that the Director-General endorsed this approach in his opening statement to the Conference yesterday. This means identifying and focusing on those areas which FAO alone is best equipped to tackle. Some examples are the highly successful Screwworm Eradication Programme in North Africa, the Codex Alimentarius and the excellent Global Information and Early Warning System. It is clear to us from these activities that, with appropriate support from member countries and other agencies, FAO can achieve a great deal when it has clear, well-focused objectives and well-managed resources.
FAO cannot, of course, do everything, or will its expertise be applied successfully in isolation. Individual projects do not succeed if policy in the overall sector or the overall economy is misguided. That is why FAO needs to work closely and cooperatively with other UN and non-UN development agencies.
The review of FAO's procedures, undertaken by the last Conference, is not an end in itself. It is a means to achieve the objectives. FAO is faced with overwhelming challenges in areas which it is uniquely equipped to address. It simply cannot afford to disperse its considerable technical, financial and human resources over too wide a range of activities, possibly duplicating the efforts of other agencies. Priority setting and appropriate inter-agency coordination are thus of the utmost importance.
These comments apply more widely than the FAO alone. We support the general approach to reform of the UN development system proposed by the Nordic countries. For FAO, as elsewhere, this means improving its governance. Action by the Secretariat - a more open approach, greater accountability, a clear setting of priorities - needs to be matched with action by the members. We too have obligations as well as rights. Perhaps the time has come for us to sit down together and agree how best to fulfil them; how best to balance the essentially multilateral nature of our institution with
the reality of differing national needs and contributions. My delegation will pursue these issues in the specific subjects covered during this Conference in its three Commissions.
Mr Chairman, it is vital that Member States of FAO work hard to reach a consensus on the setting of budget levels as well as on the priorities of the Organization.
It would be unfortunate indeed if the debate over budget levels were to obscure the community of interests of all Member Governments. Contributions to FAO are, after all, proportionately as burdensome for the developing as for the developed nations. More fundamentally still, it is in the interest of all developing countries who are the prime beneficiaries of FAO's development activities that these activities should be carried out as efficiently, as effectively and as economically as possible within the limits of available resources. Efficient aid delivery and priorities which are correctly set to achieve maximum results in development with social justice must surely be common goals both of aid donors and recipients.
The national execution of projects is another key ingredient in achieving the kind of self-reliant development which countries themselves require. This is a natural complement to the participatory approach which FAO is now incorporating in its programmes through the Plan of Action for People's Participation. We welcome this. Of course, developing countries will continue to need and have access to the technical expertise of FAO - its prime normative function. Again, it is in the interests of both aid donors and recipients that the capacity for national execution be steadily strengthened and enlarged.
FAO, Mt Chairman, has made commendable steps towards the decentralization of functions and the strengthening of its country offices to meet the new demands for country-focused policy advice. However, we believe that there is still mote that could be done to strengthen this process and thus to enhance the role of country offices. This will put increasing demands on FAO in those areas where its real strengths lie: in technical and managerial backstopping of field projects rather than in the implementation pet se of these ptojects. Again, we would like to see more progress in the development of these activities.
Then there are a number of key cross-cutting issues which any development organization must address. Perhaps uppermost is the environment and the need for sustainable development policies which protect the environment while at the same time enabling peoples to realize their legitimate aspirations to improve their material standard of living.
I want to single out forestry in particular because there is enormous and justified public concern about tropical deforestation and its impact on such crucial matters as climate change and the loss of biological diversity and livelihoods of forest dependent people.
FAO estimates that tropical forests are disappearing at the rate of 20 million hectares a year - put another way, the size of a soccer pitch vanishing every second. Once gone, these valuable forest resources can never be restored to what they were. The donor community and the timber trade must work with developing country Governments to resolve the complex problem of deforestation and to help achieve sustainable forest management. It must be a genuine partnership based on mutual understanding of
development needs of countries with tropical forest resources. Programmes of action must address causes and not the symptoms. Bans on tropical timber will not help as they will deprive the forests of their value and reduce incentives to manage the forest.
There have been some encouraging developments recently. The third UNCED PrepCom meeting in Geneva, for example, agreed on a draft Statement of Principles for sound management for the world's forests. We hope this will be endorsed by world leaders at the meeting in Rio de Janeiro next June and that it will eventually form the basis for agreement on a Forest Convention.
It has been two years since we asked the Director-General to review and improve the TFAP. The report by Ambassador Ulsten's team made several clear recommendations. A year ago Council asked the Director-General, together with the other co-founders, to take matters forward. However, despite ad hoc group and contact group meetings in Geneva and Paris, there has been very little progress.
We must resolve the problems and rejuvenate the TFAP before we go to Rio next year. The TFAP should become the principal mechanism by which actions agreed in Agenda 21 will be implemented and countries will be helped to achieve the ITTO goal of Sustainability 2000.
This issue is too important for governments to abdicate their responsibilities to agencies, sponsors or consultative groups, however wise or representative they may be. We cannot expect ad hoc or contact groups to solve these problems for us, though they can and have helped to take us forward - but too slowly.
It is our strong view that this work could best be done by a group similar to that which met in Paris, but with wider membership and meeting for longer. I am pleased that last week's Council endorsed this approach. Tight though its time-table may be, we believe that the conclusions of this group should be ready for UNCED PrepCom IV, so that they inform its discussion of Agenda 21. It is clearly the case that this important work which FAO is taking forward is set firmly in the context of the UNCED process and the Rio Conference which my Prime Minister plans to attend.
Looking more widely at environmental matters, FAO is indeed playing an active part in the preparatory activities leading up to UNCED. We should now consider what role the Organization might play afterwards. Whatever specific role falls to FAO, it is vital that the Organization is seen to concentrate on its areas of comparative advantage. Above all, this means data collection, and monitoring changes in the world's agricultural and other natural resources. Deforestation is a prime example.
As I said earlier, coordination with other agencies is important. We congratulate FAO and the Government of the Netherlands for the jointly sponsored and successful Conference on Agriculture and the Environment held in the Netherlands this year.
Just as the environment is a key cross-cutting issue, I might mention also the equally important areas of population and the role of women in agriculture. We welcome therefore the fact that FAO recognizes these issues as priorities in its Medium-Term Plan. FAO has an important role to play in fostering women's participation in agricultural development. We hope,
therefore, that FAO's practice will match the laudable aims which are expressed in the Medium-Term Plan for gender, social development and people's participation.
In conclusion, I have attempted to address today the main challenges which already face us in the 1990s. How FAO and indeed other members of the UN family tackle these challenges will determine the shape of these organizations as they enter the Twenty-first century. They are challenges which offer unprecedented opportunities for international cooperation and for a renewed and strengthened United Nations to play to the full its role in guiding a concerted international response.
Much has been done but much remains to be done. I hope that this important Conference will result in more progress and prepare the Organization for its future tasks. In doing so I wish you, Mr Chairman, the Director-General and all the staff of FAO every success in these crucial endeavours.
Anat ARBHABHIRAMA (Thailand): It is a great pleasure and honour for me to have the opportunity to address the Twenty-sixth Session of the FAO Conference. At the outset, I wish, on behalf of my delegation and myself, to extend to you, Mr Chairman, and to the Vice-Chairmen, our congratulations on your elections to the high office of this august Conference. I am confident we are in capable hands. We also wish to welcome the new Members of our family, namely the Republic of Latvia, Republic of Lithuania and Republic of Estonia, and an Associate Member, Puerto Rico, and sincerely hope their membership will be of mutual benefit to the respective countries as well as to this Organization.
According to initial indications, overall food and agricultural production in 1991 will fall below last year's growth rate from 2 percent to 0.3 percent. This, unfortunately, will be the first global decline since 1983.
I would like to share my observation that the food and agricultural situation, particularly in developing countries, is deteriorating. The production in developing countries has fallen alarmingly. This would mean the decline of per caput food production in developing countries, particularly in Africa and Latin America. The expected agricultural production growth at 0.7 percent in the Far East would be the lowest in the last two decades. We would like to encourage the international community to assist those affected countries, especially the most adversely affected populations.
Also of concern is the bleak situation in world agricultural trade. The value of agricultural trade expanded in developed countries but remained generally depressed in developing countries, including Thailand.
I would like to stress that the increase in producer subsidy and protection in world agricultural trade, especially in certain developed countries, have put further pressure on declining prices of output and on the volumes of export. Such circumstances represented disincentives to farmers in developing countries to efficiently increase their farm production and income.
In this connection, the Thai delegation wishes to address the developing countries' agricultural trade in relation to the world trade body. The export developing countries did not playa major role in the formulation of the GATT rules, because they have less bargaining power. However, as Thai agriculture has been oriented to the world trade and the crop subsector is expected to continue to produce exportable surplus over the local demand, our basic trade strategy is to maintain and improve its competitiveness. As a result it has to take more action at both unilateral and multilateral levels. Regarding the unilateral actions, Thailand has been relaxing its border measures, including reduction in some protective rates, in farm export taxes and in import duties of capital goods, and also eliminating non-tariff measures.
Thailand, along with other countries, has for several years been playing an active role in focusing world attention on the international trade in agriculture. While we have succeeded in identifying the principal causes which continue to distort agricultural trade, stifle competition and hamper liberalization in this highly critical sector of international trade, our efforts to summon the political will of those who have resisted the major changes in their agricultural policy have so far not been successful. Despite the renewed attempts in the Uruguay Round, especially by the Director-General of the GATT last week, there is no clear indication that the dismal failure of the Ministerial Meeting in Brussels one year ago will not be repeated.
Certainly other areas of the multilateral trade negotiations are very important to Thailand, which depends greatly on its ability to export for its sustained growth and development. However, agriculture remains a key sector and Thailand's standing in international trade in agriculture is well known. It is the hope of my Government, therefore, that all those countries and groups of countries which have so far not shown their readiness to address the principal causes of agricultural trade problems will change their position and join in the world-wide efforts to bring about a successful conclusion to the Uruguay Round by the end of this year.
Hence, we once again urge the FAO to continue its support for the Uruguay Round to the utmost extent possible.
As far as sustainable agriculture and rural development are concerned, the essential goals have been aimed at ensuring food security, eradicating rural poverty, conserving natural resources and protecting the environment. Hence, the important role of agriculture should not be underestimated. In Thailand, as the economy has successfully transformed from a subsistence agrarian economy into an agricultural exporting country, its natural resources, namely land, water and forests, have been excessively exploited in fueling the diversification and sustained growth of the economy. Due to growth and structural change of the economy, resource conflicts and scarcity occur and are becoming a threat to sustainability of the agricultural sector in Thailand. Over 25 years of economic development, Thailand has reached an exceptional performance that led to a rapid growth in industrialization, urbanization, commercial and tourist industries. All these activities give rise to competing demands for resource uses, especially land, water and forests. As a consequence, land prices have been pushed up tremendously high, inducing a rapid conversion of agricultural land to non-farm sector uses in many areas. As for water resources, the growing demand for water by both the agricultural and non-agricultural
sectors is no less dramatic. Whereas only 20 percent of Thai agricultural land is irrigable, water irrigation use is in competition with the remarkable growth of the tourist resort industry.
The problem of resource conflicts and scarcity, for which I share with you my deep concern, is one among many other problems challenging the sustainability of agriculture and environmental development. In this regard we fully recognize the FAO's initiative and efforts to resolve these problems: however, the achievement apparently takes lengthy time at tremendously high costs. The Thai Government, in recognition of the problems, has put emphasis on the consistency of both sustainability and conservation objectives. These policy objectives have been clearly underlined and implemented in the current Seventh National Economic and Social Development Plan (1992-1996). My Government, therefore, is particularly pleased to endorse the United Nations General Assembly, in Resolution 44/228, which has set important goals for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, to be held in Brazil in 1992. We believe and hope that the outcome of this meeting will benefit all countries and mankind.
Forestry, both inland and mangrove forest, is another major area of concern to the international community, as much of it has been improperly managed. In Thailand we are taking a major step towards ensuring a proper balance between sustainable forest use and conservation. To achieve this end, we are demarcating areas for conservation and for economic uses. We are also promoting the concept of community forest. In simple terms, it is the local community which is responsible for reforestation, maintenance and achieving a wise use of this resource. We are expecting to come up with a working plan to save the forest, watershed area, and its ecological balance, which will lead to a better environment as well as better living standards for the people.
Turning now to fishery: while the crucial role of fisheries has been noted by many countries as a supplier of food for domestic consumption, a source of foreign exchange earnings and a generator of employment and income, there is also a widespread recognition of the important role played by small-scale fisheries in providing food for local consumption and employment in disadvantaged areas, and of the need to improve the welfare of marine and inland fishing communities. Consequently, my country has given a high priority in the national fisheries development plans to protect small-scale fisheries and to improve not only their efficiency but also the socio-economic conditions of fishing communities. With increases in population and the rapidly-changing society, the need to utilize, especially, marine resources has increased dramatically. Therefore, Thailand will continue its firm intention to utilize those marine resources with proper actions on management, conservation and sustainable development of fisheries. In this connection, it should be noted that the Thai Government has promulgated a Fishery Act. Under this Act, all populations of marine mammals, such as turtles, seacows and dolphins, are completely protected by listing them as either threatened or endangered species, and trading in these species is prohibited.
On this aspect, may I now draw your attention to the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 44/225, which requested that the FAO study the adverse effects of large-scale driftnet fishing on the high seas on the depletion of the living marine resources. It is widely understood that this resolution is intended to ban only large-scale pelagic driftnet fishing
activities. However, small-scale driftnet fishing, traditionally conducted in coastal waters by artisanal fishermen of developing countries can be continued if the fishing nets used are less than 2.5 kilometres long, the size specified by the Wellington Convention in November 1989. In this regard, Thailand is of the opinion that the small-scale pelagic driftnet fisheries should be allowed to operate legitimately in countries where proper management actions are taken.
Last but not least, Mr Chairman, please allow me to recall the statement made by the Prime Minister of Thailand, Mr Anand Panyarachun, to the World Bank/IMF meeting in Bangkok a few weeks ago. In his opening statement, among other things, he said: Today, I shall find it difficult to understand why it is harder to help the poor, to feed the hungry and to make the world cleaner, than it is to make war. I shall not try to elaborate on his statement, since it is clear and precise in itself. We only wish to state that we fully realize the difficulties involved in the tasks to reach the final goals of the FAO, and Thailand will continue to give the FAO our fullest cooperation.
In conclusion, with a lowering of global political tension, as well as an ending of the arms race, my delegation would invite all countries, rich or poor, to invest more in instruments of peace rather than in instruments of war. I refer in particular to poverty eradication, increasing food production and environmental conservation.
R.M. DHARMADASA BANDA (Sri Lanka): Mr Chairman, Your Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, let me at the very outset congratulate you, Mr Chairman, on being elected as the Chairman of this important Conference. I am quite confident that with your wealth of experience you will be able to steer this Conference toward reaching definite conclusions on important issues which would undoubtedly influence the future directions of FAO.
I do not propose to weary this august assembly by presenting in detail Sri Lanka's agricultural programme. I would, however, place before you the new direction of Sri Lanka's agriculture policy and invite your attention to the possible areas where FAO could lend more support and continue to reinforce FAO's commitment to develop and sustain agricultural programmes in our country.
Under the able guidance of our President, His Excellency Ranasinghe Premadasa, Sri Lanka has a new vision and a new deal for its people. Restoration of peace, enforcement of discipline, and the alleviation of poverty are the cornerstones of this new vision. This would be achieved through the restructuring of the political, economic, social and administrative machinery of the country.
Sri Lanka has given highest priority to programmes of investing in the human resource base. The people are provided direct access to resources with the aim of transforming the passive, the inert and the excluded population into productive creators and owners of assets. The aim of this basic policy is growth with equity.
During the past decade or so the agricultural policy of Sri Lanka was directed towards achieving self reliance in the requirement of food and increasing farmer income. The two-pronged strategy adopted focused on
developing large-scale irrigated settlements and commodity-oriented development programmes emphasizing rice and a few other crops. The realization that farmer income needs to be enhanced has led to policies with a conscious effort to diversify rural activities to the extent possible in order to provide farmers more opportunities to maximize the use of their resources and thereby maximize incomes.
During the post-independence period the national policies of the country have been focused primarily on increasing the supply of food and improving the standard of living, particularly of the rural population, through a combined effort on agricultural and rural development. Developing and transferring the technology on regionally appropriate crops, cropping and farming systems with the required technical knowledge and the provision of production inputs at reasonable prices was one aspect that received attention. This enabled the farmers to increase the productivity per unit area of land. To support and sustain this process the Government continued to strengthen the irrigation base of the country. Developing additional water resources, renovating, rehabilitating and maintaining the existing large and small tank irrigation systems, systematic harnessing of shallow-and deep-groundwater resources through agro-wells and tube wells, training farmers on water management, and farmer organization on proper maintenance of irrigation infrastructure constitute the package to maximize the use of this scarce resource. Creation of an institutional base to build up a vibrant and well articulated people's organization, which would be harnessed for nation building, was followed up as a strong policy measure.
While marketing and determination of prices for agricultural produce has been left largely to the market forces, the Government has ensured a reasonable price to farmers through a floor-price scheme which is subjected to periodic revision and strategic intervention in pricing through taxes, tariffs and other fiscal policy measures. The Government also intervenes and facilitates the marketing of agricultural produce and thereby ensures that farmers are protected.
During the recent past special attention has been given to systematic land development and allocation of land to the landless. Marginalized farmers and landless agricultural labourers are given a parcel of land for cultivation and several programmes are designed to assist those engaged in production pursuits.
To attain sustainable growth with equity through a continuous process of development a conscious effort has been made by the Government to decentralize the administrative power structure to the lowest possible operational level and to harmoniously blend the political leadership with the administrative mechanism so as to enable the people's representative to enter the arena of decision making on resources allocation, monitoring programmes, implementation, etc.
Despite all these efforts the pace of development in the desired direction has been slower than expected. The process is further slowed by the constraints faced by the producers and market participants. I wish to take this opportunity to explain for the active consideration of the FAO that many of these constraints are linked to the inadequate capacity and efficiency of the rural financial markets. To move away from traditional commodity sectors and to engage in diversification and small-scale industry, as envisaged in a rural diversification strategy, requires development of an effective rural financial system that is strong enough to
absorb the shocks associated with the new developments, and one that can also mobilize rural savings. This cannot be achieved without a mechanism to infuse the needed capital into the rural areas. The approach of the Government to assist in this situation has been to strengthen formal rural lending agencies, such as rural banks and agricultural credit programmes. Despite improvements, as in many other developing economies, the state and institutional lending is not easily accessible to the small farmers who constitute a majority of the rural population.
Improvement of marketing institutions and participation remains another aspect that is often neglected in the agricultural production programmes. The rural market intermediaries and small-time traders perform the role of assembling produce from a large number of farmers scattered over a wide area. The marketing operations by these small traders do not qualify them for formal credit facilities, thereby forcing them to operate on their own resources. As a result, the volumes that can be handled by these traders are quite small and the ability to hold stocks is quite limited. These limitations increase marketing costs and constrain the possibilities for the producers to receive the best possible prices. Therefore, along with production credit, a scheme for marketing credit to those involved in these activities would be required. In the case of diversified crop production, marketing credit would be essential.
The FAO has been remarkably sensitive to the emerging needs and the aspirations of countries such as Sri Lanka, and I must express our appreciation for the support extended to us by the FAO in facilitating the access to the farming community, particularly those with poor production resources.
My delegation wholeheartedly supports the approach of FAO where increasing attention is now being directed towards environmental considerations in programmes aimed toward poverty alleviation. I must take this opportunity to bring to the notice of this august assembly that we too have captured this important aspect in our lead project, the Janasaviya, the poverty alleviation programme which seeks to invest in the poor and make them equipped to move away from the poverty trap and be partners in development. We too have recognized that any programme designed for those groups will necessarily have to be environmentally sustainable. I am greatly encouraged to note this aspect included in the agenda for discussion. I am sure these deliberations will result in developing new dimensions in this very important area of development.
In view of the mixed results of the past policies, Sri Lanka is now embarking on an innovative, forward-looking, aggressive policy in agricultural development. Consequently, in the medium-term the overriding goal of agricultural development for Sri Lanka will continue to be directed towards achieving food self-reliance, giving rice a place of importance within the entire basket of commodities to be promoted. The principle aim of agricultural development programmes will be to contribute to raising rural household income to levels comparable to at least those of families in other sectors of the economy. The main instruments to be used will be deepening and widening the use of modern production and marketing techniques, diversification of the portfolio of crops and facilitating the expansion of off-farm sources of income.
The land-man ratio in Sri Lanka is on the decline. Furthermore, resource-poor farmers at present generally produce to meet family consumption needs and consequently continue to be at subsistence levels. An interesting feature is that, in the past mid-size and commercially oriented agricultural and livestock production units have generally been ignored in the mainstream of agricultural development programmes. This segment has the resources and reliance to fully participate in efforts to modernize the agricultural sector. The present resource availability and administrative capacity in the Government sector is inadequate to cater to all areas with equal emphasis. Therefore, the harnessing of a critical mass of development support with unlimited geographic programme priorities is a requirement for the future development of the agricultural sector.
Having recognized the changing scenarios in this dominant sector, and the need to meet the challenges of providing adequate food and improving the standard of living of the population, the conceptual framework for agricultural development in the medium term has been redefined. Let me elaborate briefly.
Firstly, on a sector-wide basis, future development programmes will be focused in a manner that will differentiate between the resource-poor farmers (small farm units) and better-endowed farmers (medium- to large-scale units). Specific programmes will be developed to bring about a harmonious integration of the two categories of farmers into sustainable production and marketing systems. The market development programme and production enhancement programme will be given equal emphasis.
Secondly, the new directions would embrace the diversification of the portfolio of crops produced by agricultural entrepreneurs in order to maximize the income generation potential. It would also involve the active participation of the private sector in cash-crop oriented export agriculture, particularly for fruits, vegetables, horticulture and ornamental plants. While providing the necessary support to increase the productivity in existing small holdings of spice and beverage crops, emphasis will be given to the establishment of commercial cultivation to create a new generation of professional spice and beverage farmers who would use improved technologies and through this process increase the foreign exchange earnings.
Thirdly, in livestock sub-sector the emphasis would be to develop the dairy sector to achieve a higher target. Besides dairying, the development and promotion of non-traditional livestock species will be undertaken with private sector participation.
I hope these new directions will help create a new environment in the agricultural sector, which will ultimately lead to greater farmer prosperity and an equitable distribution of incomes.
In conclusion, I sincerely hope that the path and the direction that is set out during the deliberations of this Conference will undoubtedly pave the way for a much more comprehensive and sympathetic understanding of the complexities of agrarian problems of the developing countries, particularly in the regions, so that these countries would be able to solicit assistance from the FAO to improve the standard of living of the people.
Uldis BENIKIS (Latvia): Mr Chairman, Excellencies, Distinguished Ministers, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to thank you for your congratulations and good wishes which you have offered to us, Latvia, and other new members of FAO.
On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Latvia and on my personal behalf I express gratitude for the possibility given to our delegation to participate in the work of one of the most widely represented organizations of the United Nations, FAO.
I shall characterize briefly the present political and economic situation in the Republic of Latvia.
Our sovereignty has been recognized by the majority of states in the world. We express our gratitude to the representatives of these States here for this recognition.
In the sphere of economics the Republic of Latvia, consistently carries out the basic principles of economic independence which were accepted already in 1988 at a meeting of the Baltic republics. According to these principles the cornerstone of transformation of Latvia's national economy is a transition to market economy liquidating the centralized planning system.
The Government of Latvia has determined that private property will form the basis of market economy in Latvia. The sector of private property in the economics of Latvia will grow under the influence of the following conditions:
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by privatizing the existing state and collective enterprises, decentralizing and splitting large enterprises during the process of privatization; |
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by forming new private enterprises (especially small and middle size enterprises), stimulating and developing this process; |
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by forming an infrastructure for the support of private entrepreneurship, by the help of corresponding crediting, insurance and production technology system; |
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by creating a bank system for the promotion of economic activities of private sector; |
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by envisaging favours in the tax system for newly-formed enterprises; |
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by making foreign investors interested in the development of different type entrepreneurship, joint ventures, 100 percent foreign capital enterprises, etc.; |
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by forming customs politics favourable for enterpreneurship; |
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by counteracting to any monopolization of domestic market. |
Our price formation politics is based on gradual price liberalization adopted by the Government accepted by the Parliament of Latvia in July 1990.
At present the level of free prices in the total production of goods is 62 percent, but without food products - 90 percent. The level of these prices has grown at an average of 3.2 times. The most important factor influencing the price level this year was the change of prices for raw materials, materials, machinery, equipment, etc., bought from the USSR.
During the remaining period of this year the presently regulated prices for agricultural products will be changed to free prices.
In a short time in the second half of 1990 there were developed and adopted new tax laws. This system started to function on 1 January 1991.
A definite result of the functioning of the new tax system is the budget of the Latvia State without deficit. We have a positive trade balance with other former republics of the USSR. Among these only in Latvia no money emission takes place.
We are gradually improving also the Government structure which is caused by the necessity to separate the state and enterprise functions.
Our new legislation defines that the state does not interfere in production.
The state property monopoly in the Soviet Union and the priority of industrial development also on the territory of Latvia have gradually formed an asymmetric model of industrial and agricultural development.
Thus during the years of Soviet rule the volume of industrial production in the republic grew 61 times, but of agricultural production - only 1.8 times. Compared with 1939 the area of agriculturally used land has diminished by 1.1 million hectares, that is nearly by one third. A half of this reduction is constituted by the most valuable part of land, fields.
As a result the total amount produced per one inhabitant is 1.5 - two times smaller than the level achieved by our closest neighbours - the Nordic countries, and this backwardness grows from year to year.
As a most serious heritage of this absurd economic politics is a disbalanced production and consumption of feed amount necessary for the preservation of the present number of livestock and poultry. In the past the development of cattle-breeding and poultry raising were based on imported concentrated feed.
This factor is especially perceptible now when in the majority of the former or present Soviet Republics the harvests of cereals are low. For this reason the amounts of imported grain by our Eastern neighbours for their own use in the next year will be even greater than in the previous years. And their interest in grain selling to Latvia even previously agreed amounts is rather indefinite.
The amount of imported grains of 1.2 - 1.5 million tons which should be purchased for local consumption in Latvia will be one of the most important problems also during the next few years. Alongside with economic, technological and plant cultivation culture structural reorganization which is carried out in the republic to liquidate the deficiency of home grown
grains in the next 5-7 years, we shall still need the help of foreign countries, for the supply of unavailable grain. We envisage that the amount of this help will be diminishing from year to year.
The reason of our next most important problem - insufficiency of sugar - is the same as for the reduction of grain production.
In pre-war Latvia the produced amount of sugar was completely satisfied by the local sugar market. During and after the war period when the sugar consumption per one inhabitant gradually grew it was compensated by the importing and processing of the Cuban raw sugar and simultaneously the local areas of sugar beet growing were diminished.
As a result of such activities in Latvia at present they produce only one-third of sugar beets necessary for processing. Therefore we need cooperating partners which could help us in this sphere not only by offering new technologies for grain and sugar beet growing and processing, but who would also be ready to invest in the formation of joint ventures for the introduction of these technologies, thus promoting the solution of these problems in Latvia.
We offer cooperation on mutually advantageous basis also to possible investors in the production, processing and trading of ecologically pure agricultural produce.
The soil of Latvia in comparison with the Western part of Europe is less polluted. Therefore it is potentially more profitable for the production of clean produce.
The Government of the Republic of Latvia supports this course of agricultural development. We regard our task to reduce the pollution of the Baltic sea in the result of agricultural activities.
Now about the formation of individual farms. Today we have about
11 000 private farms. Also we have about 45 000 applications for setting
new private individual farms.
The land reform and formation of individual farms in the republic proceed in accordance with the adopted laws and the programme for the realization of agrarian reform. According to these documents we have set the following main tasks:
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to reorganize property relations in agriculture, simultaneously restoring legal rights of former owners to land; |
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to develop people's managing abilities and possibilities; |
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to promote the production increase of qualitative agricultural products; |
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to use rationally and multiply national resources of rural areas; |
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to preserve and raise soil fertility. |
Secondly - technical provision of individual farms. To provide individual farms with qualitative technical equipment for work or to provide a possibility to use this equipment - this is regarded as a vital task today
as some time ago restoration of Latvia's independence. If we do not manage to achieve this task we shall not manage to attain economic independence from our large Eastern neighbour. But in our concrete situation it would mean also only the illusion of political independence.
For that reason we have developed a system of machinery corresponding to our production technologies and we try to implement it within the framework of regional engineering industry programme.
There is already being formed and in the near future will expand even more swiftly both the cooperation of our engineering industry specialists and foreign partners in the formation of productions for definite machinery, and cooperation between foreign and Latvian scientists in the development and introduction of new production technologies.
I want to remark here that we do not hope and expect charity from the governments of other countries. The question is about direct mutual partner relations with the producers of agricultural machinery and designers of technologies of other countries, based on market conditions.
Please pay attention to the just mentioned facts and inform your Governments about our willingness to cooperate in this sphere on a possibly wider scale on mutually advantageous conditions the execution of which is guaranteed by the Government of the Republic of Latvia according to the accepted developed programme of regional engineering industry.
The Government of Latvia has stated that processes of land reform and property conversion that at present are going on in the country cannot be turned back. The Government declares that all types of financial and material assistance should be directed first of all to the privatized sector, among this in the countryside only and solely to individual farms.
Unfortunately the Government lacks means, so do private farms for the production stabilization and intensification. Therefore I apply to FAO and its Member States and hope for your help the agriculture of my native land, Latvia.
Thank you for your attention!
Vladimir DLOUHY (Czechoslovakia): Ladies and Gentlemen, first of all, on behalf of the delegation of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic let me express the honour I feel to address the audience of this most important Conference.
The world development during the past two years has not been very favourable as regards improving agriculture and nutrition. The unfavourable impact of the reduced economic growth in the industrialized countries multiplied by the Persian Gulf crisis has had a considerable impact on the economy of the developing countries. The slow down in the increase in the demand for the decisive commodities and higher energy prices have primarily affected weak economies and deepened their chronic problems with the lack of hard currency, foreign indebtedness, sale of domestic raw materials and products on foreign markets, currency instability, etc. At the same time, the economic, political and social framework of the agriculture production
of the developed countries, especially in the European Communities, faces the difficult period as well and there is no doubt that it faces deep changes.
The Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, after the substantial political changes in November 1989, has entered into the period of the radical economic reform, aiming at the transformation from the central planning to the market economy. This reform is characterized by massive liberalization of the price system and trade, the introduction of the convertibility of the currency, removal of the major part of existing subsidies, macro-economic restrictions of both fiscal and monetary nature and privatization. The economic policy of the Federal Government has been in this initial period concentrated on the problems of the macro-economic stabilization and this goal has been achieved: today inflation is stabilized as is the exchange rate, the foreign indebtness increases very modestly and all the basic macro-economic performance criteria, followed by international institutions, are fulfilled.
This success, however, is mirrored in the deep fall of the industrial and agriculture production, increasing unemployment and bankruptcies and the fall of real wages and incomes. The general situation is worsened by the adverse development of the external condition, as has been mentioned already above, which in our case is multiplied by the immense problems on the former COMECON markets, especially in the Soviet Union. The Czechoslovak economic reform, consequently, is behind a successful start, the basic task in the nearest future is the massive privatization, but the formation of government policies vis-à-vis the most important sectors is also one of the top priorities. Needless to say that agriculture is one of these sectors.
The present situation of the Czechoslovak agriculture can be characterized as follows: the urgent need for the change of the structure of the ownership in agriculture. At present about 25 percent of agricultural land have been managed by state farms, about 74 percent by agricultural cooperatives and there are only less than one percent of farmers. However, the existing cooperatives in many cases are disguised state enterprises as well. The transformation of the property rights in agriculture, namely the privatization and restitution of the land, are thus the main issues. The whole process will respect the basic principles of the cooperativism as well as the returns to scale conditions and the long-term comparative advantages of the Czechoslovak agriculture. The newly emerging group of private farmers will enjoy the support of the Government.
We have inherited the structure of agriculture as it has been generated by forty years of central planning and the autarky. The existing structure of production does not fulfil any comparative advantages, neither would it be able to withhold the foreign competition. It is the agricultural production with high investment, energy, material and labour intensity, with low productivity and high ecological burden.
The general economic reform removed the bulk of subsidies both from the consumer food prices and from the production and opened the market to the competition. This on one side lowered the demand for the agriculture products substantially, on the other side revealed the extremely high costs of the domestic agricultural production.
Consequently, a high number of agriculture cooperatives and firms are in a difficult financial position, facing virtual bankruptcies. We do not consider this process as fatal, the general fall of agriculture production in Czechoslovakia must become a reality and only the change of property rights may improve the situation.
The governmental policy sees the agriculture as a standard part of the economy, where the standard rules of the economic reform apply. In this respect, the Government considers the production of reasonably priced, good quality and competitive food products of the international standard in the conditions of the open market as the main strategic aim. However, we do not want to repeat the mistakes of some developed countries, especially of the Common Agriculture Policy of the European Communities, in the long-term subsidizing of the agricultural production. We do not intend to see the farmers as a very aggressive political group of our society. We intend, however, to accept the general comparative advantages and open our agriculture to foreign competition. We did not accept the idea of quotation and for the next year we guarantee the prices of three basic agricultural products only, namely wheat, beef and milk.
There is no doubt in this respect but a question of the access to the markets of developed countries is essential for us as is essential the final set-up of the talks in the framework of the Uruguay Round of the GATT. This process will not be socially painful. This forces us to accept some temporary measures. The restructuring of the Czechoslovak tariff system, in general liberalizing the trade, takes into account some very temporary protectionist measures with a clearly limited time horizon. We set up the institution aimed at the intervention on the domestic agriculture market, subsidized from the state budget, to ease the possible structural disequilibria on the market with agricultural products. However, the remaining subsidies may not be targeted to the support of the agricultural production, but to solve the social implications, to the job creation processes and, to some extent, to fulfilling mainly the ecological function and that of settlements and forming the landscape.
Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, Czechoslovakia as a founding member of FAO pays great attention to the activity of the Organization, especially to the main orientations of its development, contained in the Medium-Term Plan for the period from 1992 to 1997. Its implementation will be a very complicated process and will demand an active and flexible attitude to rapid political, economic and social development in the world. It will be possible to achieve the main goals of FAO only by making its activity more efficient and carrying out the necessary reforms. At the same time, it will be necessary to proceed from the fact that the main activity of FAO is too great an extent oriented at the developing countries. We believe that the countries of Central and Eastern Europe will benefit from the joint activities as well. We are conscious of the fact that financial possibilities are limited and that the Organization is in the deepest financial crisis since its foundation. This state can to a great extent threaten the professional activity of the Organization and have considerable negative impact on the further development of world agriculture. It is necessary to speed up the started reform steps of FAO and to search for internal as well as external reserves, related to the activity of the Organization.
Czechoslovakia supports the principle of the highest economy in the Organization and a zero actual budget growth, which makes it possible for the member countries to fulfil their financial obligations, that is membership fees. However, the need for increasing the efficiency is essential and must have the highest priority. If that is not the case, the positive effects of the activities of FAO will diminish for all the Member Nations, including the underdeveloped ones, and the membership for some countries may become obsolete.
Affiliation of new countries, including three European, proves the importance and worldwide significance of FAO. Czechoslovakia supports and actively participates in drawing clear rules, which will make possible the affiliation of regional economic organizations to FAO. We regard the affiliation of EC as the first regional integration economic organization to FAO as a qualitatively new step in the whole United Nations with a positive effect on the future activity of the Organization.
Czechoslovakia, as the host country to the Eighteenth FAO Regional Conference and a coordinator of the European member countries, expects FAO to intensify its activities in Europe, particularly in Central and Eastern European countries, while continuing to be overwhelmingly oriented in the developing world. These countries face economic problems in transition to a market economy, which I have described in a nutshell above. Recently, we have welcomed a certain activation of FAO in Central and Eastern Europe which, however, is not in keeping both with its possibilities and its potential. I am convinced that it is in the interests of FAO to resolve the problems of the agrarian sector of Central and Eastern countries resulting from the transition to a market economy so that these countries could use their economic potential to participate more increasingly in solving critical problems of developing countries.
I appreciate the approach and willingness of FAO to give assistance to finding solutions to the problems of the Czechoslovak agrarian sector. As requested by the Government of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic several joint programmes have been launched recently which are aimed at dealing with problems of importance. In the future, I expect increased participation of FAO in Czechoslovakia, primarily in agricultural policy advice, restructuring of agricultural production, consultancy, marketing, development of rural areas and selected technical problems. In return, we would make available our highly skilled experts and manufacturing and research facilities of quality to be used to provide technological assistance to other FAO members. I am of the opinion that FAO must take various measures to ensure appropriate representation of its member countries. The participation of skilled experts both in the headquarters and field programmes will further enhance FAO's efficiency and more appropriately involve the Member States in the implementation of goals pursued by this largest specialized agency within the UN framework.
Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you very much for your attention.
Balram JAKHAR (India): Mr Chairman, it is a matter of great pleasure for me to be here today and address this august assembly. First of all, at the outset, let me again, Mr Chairman, congratulate you on your unanimous election and I hope with your wisdom you will be so successful that it will
be a pleasure for all. I also extend my felicitations to the Vice-Chairmen who will also be there to assist you in conducting the affairs of this Assembly.
Since the last Session of the Conference significant changes have taken place in the international, political, economic and social situation. Many developing countries are increasingly facing chronic difficulties in the shape of heavy indebtness, mounting inflation, deteriorating terms of trade and low agricultural growth rates. A number of low and middle income developing countries are still struggling to recover from the setback received as a result of the Gulf War. Besides, the contemporary developments in Europe may have negative consequences for developing countries by way of diversion of resources, including development assistance and food aid, and access to markets. Protectionist policies followed by developed countries continue to prevent developing countries from realizing their true potential. The Uruguay Round of GATT Negotiations are yet to be brought to a successful conclusion.
When we survey the global agricultural scene, developments therein are also not particularly encouraging. The world food and agriculture production slowed down in the year 1990 from the relatively high growth registered in 1989. In 1991 a further deterioration is feared. FAO's forecast of world cereal production for 1991 has been lowered by a further 20 million tonnes to 1 894 million tonnes, which is some 3 percentage points down from last year. An equally disturbing sign is that the safety-net provided for the food security by the world stock holdings is threatening to decline to its lowest level since 1976. With the likely higher imports of foodgrains by some major food importing countries, export prices of most cereals are further expected to rise, adversely affecting the volume of food aid to meet the emergency needs in low-income food deficit countries. Regional food problems in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia may worsen if the current cereal production forecasts do not materialize due to adverse weather for crops on the ground. Countries undergoing reforms, particularly those related to price liberalization and land tenures, are also experiencing serious economic and food security difficulties. We have just listened to our friends here. They were expressing the same fear and we have to share that with them.
However, largely due to the technological changes introduced in the Indian agriculture during the Green Revolution, India has continued to achieve higher levels of foodgrains production. In the decade of the 80s, the emphasis was essentially on creating sounder marketing facilities and an institutional framework to minimize the disadvantages of the small and marginal farmers. We have also designed programmes to build on the success already achieved during the Green Revolution period with the overall objective of ensuring more balanced growth amongst different regions of the country.
It has been an achievement in India. In the fifties we were short. Only 340 million people were there and we had to import millions of tons. Now, when we are 850 million people or more, we have the capacity to sustain ourselves quite well.
The percentage increase of food grains production during the year 1990 was 3.5 percent over 1989 levels in India. In the current year, despite the somewhat unfavourable monsoon, the level of agricultural production may not be very different from that of last year. Having reached a stage of near
self-sufficiency in the cereals and crops like cotton and sugarcane, the thrust is now on diversification of agriculture of enhancement of farmers' incomes.
We have not been planning for self-sustenance so far but now we want to plan and we have been planning for the prosperity of the farmers' community.
The successes achieved in applying the fruits of science and technology and its spread amongst the farmers will have to be carried further and made farmer specific. We believe that in order to respond to future food security challenges, agriculture must be supported by effective research and technology. These receive high priority in terms of basic and applied research in the field of crop sciences, animal sciences, fisheries and horticulture. Hybrid research in cereals, oil seeds, vegetables and forages, sustainable farming systems, watershed management and genetic engineering and bio-technology have been identified as areas requiring national and cooperative efforts. Research and extension linkages with greater emphasis on integrated farming systems, the role of women in agriculture and peoples' participation are some of the highlights in the agriculture sector.
Similarly, it is my view that governments, donors and international research organizations like the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research should provide resources and long-term support to agricultural research and technology in the developing countries to meet the escalating food demand. There is need for greater spread of the Green Revolution to cover a wider range of food and fodder crops, agro-ecological zones, livestock and fisheries. India has been advocating the need for diffusion of technologies to promote close linkages amongst developing countries. India has a long-standing commitment to South-South Cooperation and has been willing to share with all those interested whatever lessons we have learnt in our agricultural development. In line with this emphasis, we hosted during the last month a Technical Cooperation amongst Developing Countries that is, TCDC-Programming Exercise in the agriculture sector in collaboration with UNDP and FAO, during which 375 bilateral activity proposals were finalised to the mutual advantage of the 32 participating countries from all parts of the world. I would like to thank the FAO for the support we received from the Organization in the preparation as well as in conducting this Exercise and look forward to FAO's continued support during the implementation phase of the TCDC projects.
The UN General Assembly has proclaimed the 1990s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, calling for concerted international action for reducing the occurrence and minimising the adverse effects of natural calamities. Its specific goals are addressed to improving the capabilities of countries to face the challenges of natural disaster, to devise strategies for natural disaster reduction and to take measures for mitigation of natural disasters. India has attained self-reliance in coping with the situations created by natural disasters. India's management of the 1987 drought, one of the worst droughts of the century, has been widely acclaimed. India has also been a pioneer in dovetailing mitigation efforts with developing programmes and has considerable experience to share in this vital area with other similarly placed developing countries. We are willing to extend cooperation for strengthening disaster preparedness and management strategies of other developing countries.
May I just remind my friends here that natural disasters are unpredictable. We have to cope with them on an on-the-spot situation. We have seen three years of continuous drought which brought something terrific for the mind even to imagine, have coped with them in an unparalleled way. We all have to share in this for future calamities anywhere in the world.
India, like other Member Nations celebrated the Eleventh World Food Day on the 16th October, 1991 which is also the anniversary day of the FAO. In the context of the unacceptably high rates of land degradation, deforestation and loss of cultivable land in many countries the theme of the World Food Day this year aptly emphasised the importance of trees for achieving long-term global ecological and food security.
This is one of the most important subjects we have to face. It has to be seen from two aspects: one for the developing and one for the developed countries. Both have to realize what they have to offer to the world. As a natural effect we have to care for mother nature. If we do not care for mother nature, she gets angry and you have to suffer. It is born between the Creator and man himself. Naturally it is to our own advantage that we safeguard the natural resources which are at our command otherwise future generations might say that we were so negligent in our responsibilities and in meetings those responsibilities that we just said goodbye to them. Let us not be termed as those who gave way to the exigencies of the situation and did not wake up to the realities which were looking us right in the face.
The Twenty-fifth Session of the Conference had adopted Resolution 3/89 calling for increased awareness and concern amongst the Member Nations for promoting and strengthening efforts for sustainable development, the protection of environment and proper management of natural resources in the interests of future generations. It also called upon the Director-General of FAO to make these concerns an integral part of the goals and priorities of FAO. We are happy that as a sequel to the Conference discussion and the Den Bosch Conference held in April 1991, an overall international Cooperative Programme Framework for meeting the needs of Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development at national and international levels is being evolved. It is also commendable that besides various measures taken by the Director-General of FAO to strengthen and integrate sustainable development activities in the Organization, the FAO has also made significant contribution towards the preparation for the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development.
The third Report in the four-year cycle of reporting on the progress in the implementation of the Programme of Action adopted by the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development with particular focus on the rural poor, is on the Agenda of this Conference. It is gratifying to note that significant strides have been made in several developing countries towards rural development, alleviation of poverty, providing rural employment and wages, granting access to land markets and to inputs, as also human resource development. With the adoption of the Den Bosch Declaration and the SARD policy objectives these efforts will get a further boost, ensuring greater sustainability to development.
These concerns are also reflected in India's strategy for agricultural development in the 1990s which will endeavour to provide a framework for increasing agricultural productivity and production, generating a faster rate of rural employment, removal of regional disparities and imbalances in
growth, especially of the rainfed areas, and for amelioration of life support systems including land, water and vegetation to ensure sustainable agricultural development. We trust our new approach will substantially improve the quality of life of the farmers and the rural poor at an accelerating pace and meet the growing demand for agricultural commodities and capital formation for deployment in the agrarian sector, simultaneously ensuring resources recoveries and enrichment.
Today there are more than 500 million people in the world who are undernourished. Furthermore, there will be over one billion more people to feed by the turn of the century. The not-too-bright economic prospects for many developing countries during the early 1990s, massive unemployment and increasing threats to agricultural production from the potential impact of climate change, loss of bio-diversity and land degradation, call for concerted international action to eliminate poverty, hunger and malnutrition and to foster economic growth with equity in the world.
In this context, the Medium-Term Plan 1992-97 presented by the Director-General of FAO, to the Conference in compliance with the Conference Resolution 10/89 succinctly brings out the challenges facing the international community. The document also discusses the policies, priorities and strategies that are required to be forged to meet the challenges. I congratulate the Director-General for this bold attempt, and hope that this document will generate a constructive discussion in the Conference leading to the finalization of a medium-term approach through the next three biennia to the chronic problems defying solution, besides uniting the Member Nations in their resolve to strengthen FAO action.
It is, however, a matter of great concern that at a time when FAO action needs to be strengthened, persisting financial crisis is threatening to seriously impair its programmes and activities. Not only that, larger resources are not being made available for implementation of some of the measures arising out of the recommendations of the Twenty-fifth Session of the FAO Conference, particularly in the context of the review of FAO's goals and objectives, sustainable development, women in development, etc. The normal assessed contributions have also not been paid by a number of governments. Resources constraint has reduced the Organization to a hand-to-mouth existence which has deleterious implications for the services it renders. We urge all Member Nations to spare no efforts to honour their commitments and pay their assessed contributions, thereby assisting in making FAO more effective and efficient in addressing the needs of the developing countries. We need to resolve to commit ourselves once again to the goal and objectives of FAO, and to provide it with the means to globally address the well-being of farmers and agricultural workers.
I would like to conclude by acknowledging the great honour that it has been for me to address this prestigious body. Let me also express my sincere thanks for your patient hearing. I fervently hope that deliberations of this Conference will assist us in shaping an appropriate response to the challenges of the future.
Finally, Mr Chairman and friends, the thought that I would like to leave with you is that history has revealed that the future of humanity lies in cooperation, not confrontation. On the occasion of this FAO Conference in Rome almost on the eve of Christmas, it would be well for us to be mindful of the message of Jesus Christ, Peace on earth and goodwill towards all.
Maido PAJO (Estonia): Please allow me once more to express deep appreciation and gratitude towards all the countries and nations who actively supported us during our difficult pursuit of independence, and who have helped us in becoming affiliated with the United Nations and FAO. Please also allow me to express what a significant day was yesterday for Estonia, its people and its agriculture.
Once again the Republic of Estonia is following the pathway of political and economic self-determination under complicated circumstances. For fifty years we have been part of the planned Soviet economy. This has seriously hindered the democratic development of our society and has caused backwardness in our economy.
But we have firmly decided to restore a democratically organized way of life and once again integrate with the European and world economy.
The aim of our political reforms is to create stable and democratic mechanisms. We have set ourselves the task of a quick transformation to private property and structures based on the principles of a market economy. This year we have set free prices on our agricultural products. We have adapted our laws on property and land reforms as well as on favouring foreign investments and their state guarantees.
Traditionally Estonia has been an agricultural country. Even in 1939, the meat and milk produced in Estonia held high value on the European market. During the last years, the total agricultural output has covered 15 percent to 20 percent of our total economic production. For many years we have exported 30 percent to 40 percent of our meat and mild output. Purposeless utilization of resources and technological backwardness, caused by the planned economy, have hindered the quality of work and production and have given rise to complicated social and environmental problems.
Because we are still dependent on the Soviet economy, the process of reorganizing our own economy is very complicated and needs big resources. We have started to restore the family farms based on private property over a year ago.
We have also begun to privatize state agricultural property. The economic situation in the transfer period, and for the duration of it, depends on how quickly we can carry out the privatization of the land and the capital involved in agriculture.
The assistance of democratic forces in gaining the independence of Estonia provides us with a sure basis for hoping that cooperation with FAO and its member states will give us the possibility to carry out the necessary reforms in our agriculture and ensure the stability of the democratic processes so that the Estonian farmer can again take an active part in the integration of Europe and the world.
Elemér GERGATZ (Hungary): Mr Chairman, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen! On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Hungary it is my honour to welcome the Conference and to wish every success in its work. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my congratulations to you, Mr Chairman and to the Vice-Chairmen upon their election. It is my pleasant
duty to welcome the newly admitted full and associate Member States. I am convinced that their presence and activity will contribute to the integrity of the Organization and to the long-sought after global feature of FAO.
It was with satisfaction that my delegation has studied the documents of this Conference and I should like to commend the Director-General and his staff for their preparation. The documents suit the double purpose of the Conference, namely to give a forum to ministers and other senior officers to exchange their views on the issues of world agricultural development and to provide the Organization with proper guidance.
The Hungarian Government has always looked upon the Conference as an agricultural world summit and I therefore feel it is my special privilege to share with you some of my thoughts.
The United Nations has recently introduced a new term, economies in transition instead of centrally planned economies which has applied so far. I find this term most appropriate as far as both my country and, especially, Hungarian agriculture is concerned. The former system of agricultural policy has fallen to pieces and no new one has yet fully replaced it. You may be aware of the fact that among all Hungarian economic branches most market elements had been pursued in agriculture. This might have been responsible for the ability of Hungarian agriculture to meet its main objectives. That is, a full food supply to consumers and a mighty contribution to national export performances in spite of the changes in socio-political systems and all the troubles around the country.
The document, C 91/2, before us offers a fair description of some of the most important problems of Hungarian agriculture. I should only like to make some complementary remarks.
Our integration into world-scale economic processes and the full application of a more market-oriented approach called for price and other subsidies, which had so far distorted real economic relations, to be discontinued. This, as a matter of fact, resulted in significant price increases and the collapse of the CMEA market.
The price increases have resulted in a far-fetching negative development on the one hand and a relatively positive one on the other. It has been a negative development that consequent to the dwindling domestic purchasing power agricultural GDP decreased both in 1990 and in 1991, and rather hard work will be needed to stop this trend in 1992. The relative advantage derived from this development was the increase in our exports to Western markets brought about by the changes in our market-structure.
Besides the problems of structural transformation Hungarian agriculture is facing the transformation of land tenure policies and the assertion of environmental issues, which, I have to admit, have rather been neglected so far.
My Government is working hard on a package of bills in order to keep the productive potential of the large-scale farms and to establish cooperatives fully respecting the principle of voluntary cooperation and with a third partner, namely, the family farms, to create a symbiotic agriculture resting on three pillars, including farms of various ownership and management types.
I set great store in touching upon some problems of agricultural trade, since even under changed conditions we are selling approximately 30 percent of our agricultural output on external markets. Protectionism prevailing on international agro-markets is a fact, and we have to grudgingly admit that there is nothing left for us but to adjust to this fact for we cannot afford to follow suit. May I elaborate on some thoughts of mine in this respect.
I have already mentioned the new situation the Hungarian agriculture find itself in following the collapse of the CMEA markets and the consequent changes needed to raise the quality of the production, and to sign contracts with the independent states which have seceded and will secede from the USSR.
The Hungarian Government still attaches hope to the GATT talks. Positive results of these talks would offer advantageous opportunities to Hungarian agricultural products, though at the same time would call for a full and unconditional openness of our domestic markets. Consequently my country endorses the liberalization of agricultural trade and a full removal of protectionist barriers. It is known that my Government has taken initiatives to gain an associated status in the European Economic Community. This would require our production and marketing policies to be further adjusted to international requirements.
The many-sided and active cooperation with FAO has always been given great importance by my Government. We consider FAO to be no doubt primus inter pares in the flow of agricultural information and technical assistance to be given to countries in the field of agriculture in its broad sense. Our cooperation with FAO may in the future become even more open and without problems through the application of new policies. As a characteristic example I may mention that after many years of unofficial cooperation with the Global Information and Early Warning System we have formally joined a few months ago.
I should state that we deem the potential of the Hungarian economy and that of agriculture as appropriate to find the way out of the actual recession. In spite of this, we reckon with the assistance of the international community. The President, the Prime Minister and other senior officials of Hungary have already and repeatedly stated that we are not striving for aid but for working capital and smaller technical assistance which could exercise a catalytic effect in the stabilization and later upward trend of our economy.
Mention must be made at this forum of how very much my Government appreciates the technical assistance received so far in this field. In the framework of the Technical Cooperation Programme the Director-General approved a project under which we have recently held a regional workshop on remote sensing, which proved to be a success. FAO is assisting us in streamlining the structure of our food quality control, veterinary and plant protection services.
I should also like to touch upon the PHARE programme of the European Community, which is efficiently participating in forming the new Hungarian agricultural structure. My Government would not object to amalgamating in some fields the financial resources of the EC and the human ones of FAO in order to reach an even higher grade of efficiency. We are looking forward
to other low cost-intensive projects to be implemented in Hungary to assist us in spreading and teaching appropriate know-how in agricultural modernization.
For approximately two decades Hungary has been the only country in the European region, formerly called eastern Europe, participating in a donor capacity, although with modest means, in food aid to least developed countries through the World Food Programme. It is my privilege to take this opportunity to announce that, in spite of our rather heavy economic problems, we would like to keep up this contribution. Pledges will be made accordingly at proper fora. For good measure I would like to point out that my Government would greatly appreciate it if WFP would consider the purchase of Hungarian products for aid supplies directed to other countries of the region.
Finally, I am going to mention some agenda items of the Conference. We think that the priorities as set out in the Programme of Work and Budget, in the report on the State of Food and Agriculture, and in the Medium-Term Plan are correct, and my delegation supports these. We are pleased that the Director-General has formulated the principles and practical measures that the Organization will be working on in the coming six years, and has put these on the Conference's Agenda. The emphasis put by some delegations on cost-conscious management is not alien from our endeavours. What I am going to stress, however, is that there are no priorities recommended with which we disagree.
Without contradicting our statement on cost-conscious management, however, I would like to draw, Mr Chairman, your attention to an important point.
Hungarian delegations to the Conference sessions have never failed to point out the outstanding importance of the cooperation between European Member Nations, and I would like to do so even now.
I hope it is absolutely clear that my Government fully endorses FAO allocating its financial and human resources nearly fully to developing, and mainly to least developed, countries. At the same time we are not quite happy with the decrease in funds earmarked in the 1992-93 programme for the operations of the European Regional Office.
The cooperation of European countries in research and other fields have so far yielded good results also with FAO assistance, and I trust the indirect but positive impact of this successful cooperation by all FAO member countries does not need detailed explanation.
I hope that the Director-General will consider my remarks, with special thoughts to the actual situation where a number of countries, among them new member countries, are looking forward to promoting their agriculture and looking upon FAO as a major vehicle of this know-how.
To end, I would like to ask you, and through you all countries, to be assured of the importance Hungary attaches to FAO and to the cooperation with the Organization. We deem that FAO has pursued devotedly since its foundation its main objective, i.e. the alleviation and eradication of the great paradox of our times, hunger.
That is what we wish every delegate to this Conference will work for successfully.
Abdullah AL-MUSAED (Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of) (Original language Arabic): Mr Chairman, Mr Director-General, Distinguished Delegates, it is a pleasure for the delegation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to participate in the deliberations of the Twenty-sixth Session of the FAO General Conference. We would like to extend our sincere congratulations to the Chairman and Vice-Chairmen on their election.
We would like to affirm our cooperation to reach positive resolutions that will reinforce the work and activities of the Organization in carrying out its task.
The world has witnessed in the last few years important developments which will certainly have far-reaching effects on the international order as a whole, and we look forward to the adaptation of this new order with the new developments in our world. We hope that it will be more in harmony with the changing international relations, and more sensitive and responsive to the tragic conditions of the people in many countries.
The 1980s have witnessed great harm done to the social and economic conditions of many developing countries still suffering from a burden of external debt which exceeds US$ 1.29 trillion, accompanied by a weak infrastructure and a decrease in national income.
The United Nations General Assembly in its Eighteenth Special Session has referred to these deteriorating economic conditions of the developing countries and has called the attention of the world to their poverty and hunger, and the need to grant these issues priority among the preoccupations of the international community.
No doubt the efforts of the United Nations and its Specialized Agencies in calling the attention to the problems of development in their different aspects, in many developing countries will lead to an increase in world awareness of the problems and difficulties faced in order to find a solution to overcome these problems. The UNCTAD Annual Report for 1990 has referred to the sufferings of the developing countries and to the deterioration of their general production.
We all know that sound economic development in today's complex environment is based on setting up a sound international order that takes into account the factors which affect the economies of the developing countries in order that their commodities find access to international markets in a climate of fair competition and enable these countries to have access to the means of development such as science and technology, which are necessary to improve their production and economies, and to reduce the transfer of their resources to developed countries.
We do not say that all the harm done to the economies and the standards of living in the developing countries is the responsibility of the developed countries alone. There is no doubt that the unfair economic relations and other external conditions have played an important role in the conditions prevailing in these countries. However, it is up to each developing country to work within its capacity and the means at its disposal to set up economic development policies which are efficient, since national policies are the solid basis for development.
The developed and industrialized countries should consider their economic conditions in the light of the international economic situation, and deal with their problems, whether they are budget deficits or production surplus, in a way that will not harm the international and economic relations between the North and the South.
On the other hand, trade relations should undergo effective reforms so that they lead to general economic recovery. Therefore, we have followed with interest the negotiations concerning the world trade system, and the Uruguay Round of GATT. We hope that these negotiations will lead to positive results that will ensure for the world a new liberalized trade system leading to economic recovery in the 1990s.
We are all aware that agricultural development and the increase of food production in developing countries are a necessity not only to improve the national income and the standards of living of the people, but also to protect the environment, the problems of which now occupy a very important place in the concerns of the international community.
There is no doubt that hunger is one of the basic reasons for the sufferings of countries as a result of desertification and deforestation which will cost the world economy a lot and for generations to come as the world population will reach eight and a half billion people in 2025. Therefore, as the Director-General said, we should have long-term solutions for the problems of food from which 15 children die every minute according to estimates by the Organization's experts.
The expansion of agricultural development as a result of international cooperation in all the fields of technology and science, in addition to sound national policies, will certainly enable developing countries to solve the problems of food and the environment, and thus protect the environment and our planet from the risks to which it is exposed.
The Organization has warned us in its reports and publications that the world cereal production in 1991 will witness a reduction of 20 million tons, that is to say, 3 percent less than last year, and that this will lead to a large draw upon the world reserve, which will reach its lowest limit necessary for world food security. Moreover, the food aid that will be provided by the donor countries in 1991-92 will reach 8.7 million tons, i.e. 4 percent less than last year, which will affect world emergency reserve for assistance.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has achieved a lot in agrarian reform and agricultural rural development in spite of limited natural resources at our disposal. We have been able with our continuous efforts and with the help of God Almighty to attain our objective of self-reliance, as well as to become an exporter of basic food commodities. The agriculture of Saudi Arabia, which is one of the basic elements of the success of our development process in the Kingdom, makes us proud today. We also receive the appreciation of many of our friends.
Indeed, from the beginning, and contrary to what happened in other countries, we were aware of the importance of establishing an agricultural sector that could be self-sustainable development in the long term. We have been able to attain this objective. As a result, we have been able to increase agricultural production and improve efficiency, as well as expand rural development. Therefore, we have been able to obtain population
balance in the Kingdom. In addition, the development process has been achieved within a liberal economic system without the State being obliged to resort to any monopoly in production or marketing. We have left the door open for all competition, internal or external alike. The Kingdom has been keen through its development and environmental institutions to protect the environmental balance. We have taken necessary measures to improve the environment and fight desertification. The Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, together with the authorities concerned, have been planting large areas of forests that have been cleared in different areas of the country.
The achievements made by Saudi Arabia in the agricultural sector have enabled the Kingdom to be responsive and to extend humanitarian aid in the form of food aid to countries suffering from hunger. Our assistance was either direct or through the World Food Programme and IFAD. The Kingdom has also participated in developing the agricultural sector in a large number of developing countries through bilateral cooperation, through the Saudi Development Fund, through its participation in the other regional development funds, through the Islamic Bank, and through the international financial institutions and UN Specialized Agencies.
The delegation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia appreciates the enormous efforts made by FAO in its assistance activities and technical programmes that extend assistance directly and indirectly in order to increase international agricultural production, fight hunger and the tragic conditions of many people, in an effort to ensure food and decent living for all people in the world in conformity with the Organization's Constitution and objectives.
Our delegation would also like to express appreciation for the efforts exerted by the Director-General in the preparation of the Programme of Work and Budget for 1992-93, which has come up to the hopes and aspirations of the Member States and which we find, after reviewing its various aspects, to be suitable and copes with the prevailing conditions.
We hope that the Conference will reach positive results which will further reinforce the objectives of the Organization and enable it to pursue its noble mandate. May God's peace and blessings be upon you.
The meeting rose at 18.00 hours.
La séance est levée à 18 heures.
Se levanta la sesión a las 18.00 horas.
