GENERAL DISCUSSION (continued)
DEBAT GENERAL (suite)
DEBATE GENERAL (continuación)

-	STATEMENTS BY HEADS OF DELEGATIONS (continued)
-	DECLARATIONS DES CHEFS DE DELEGATION (suite)
-	MANIFESTACIONES POR LOS JEFES DE LAS DELEGACIONES (continuación)

Belgique, Kenya, Portugal, Malaysia, Burkina Faso

EL PRESIDENTE: Vamos a empezar nuestra sesión de esta tarde. Como aparece en el Diario de la Conferencia para hoy, estaba previsto que el primer punto de esta reunión de la tarde fuera la aprobación del Informe de la Comisión III sobre el tema 24. Adhesión como miembros de la FAO de las organizaciones regionales de integración económica y enmiendas de los Textos Fundamentales de la Organización. Sin embargo, dada la importancia de este asunto y las sugerencias que al respecto han hecho algunas delegaciones sobre la necesidad de disponer de un poco más de tiempo, vamos ahora a proseguir con el debate general.

Harán uso de la palabra solamente tres oradores en el debate general, y luego pasaremos a ocuparnos de la aprobación del Informe de la Comisión III sobre el tema 24.

Antes de conceder la palabra al primer orador de esta tarde, debo informarles que el Excmo. Sr. Ministro de Bélgica, Sr. Keers Maeker, ha entregado a la Secretaría el texto de la declaración que debía hacer dentro del debate general. Entiendo que de acuerdo con la práctica vigente, la Conferencia no tiene inconveniente en que ese texto del Ministro de Bélgica se incluya en las actas.

Keers MAEKER (Belgique): M. le Président, M. le Directeur général, Mesdames, Messieurs. Nous nous trouvons actuellement à un moment particulièrement crucial dans l'évolution de la planète. En effet, depuis la précédente Conférence, on constate une formidable accélération de l'histoire du monde. Si elle est, à ne pas en douter, porteuse d'espoir d'une part, elle est de l'autre génératrice de désordres dont il est maintenant difficile d'en appréhender les effets à l'avenir. Mais n'est-il pas vrai aussi, que toute transition est par définition complexe et difficile!

Dans cette conjoncture, le rôle de Forum que s'est toujours efforcée de jouer la FAO et son caractère Universel sortira, à ne pas en douter, renforcé et ce par l'intermédiaire d'un double élargissement; en premier lieu, le dégel des relations Est-Ouest conduit à l'indépendance d'Etats dont certains ont demandé leur adhésion à notre Organisation; en second lieu à côté des membres traditionnels, on voit apparaître des acteurs dont le poids en matière d'agriculture et d'alimentation est substantiel. L'adhésion de la Communauté européenne est à l'ordre du jour de cette Conférence, la Belgique est d'avis qu'elle devrait engendrer non seulement un profit mutuel aux deux Organisations mais encore à leurs membres respectifs.

Cet environnement international en mutation met en évidence une fois de plus que l'agriculture et l'alimentation continuent à être des données primordiales pour le Monde et ce, nonobstant le fait qu'il évolue dans un contexte technologique extrêmement sophistiqué! Cette constatation m'amène à souligner des tendances que je qualifierais de préoccupantes:

1) Le recul sensible de l'accroissement de la production alimentaire dans certaines régions du globe et plus particulièrement en Afrique. Pour répondre à ce défit et donc assurer la sécurité alimentaire pour tous, il faut que les niveaux adéquats pour les stocks céréaliers soient assurés. Or, je constate, à cet égard, qu'ils sont proches du minimum exigé par la FAO pour garantir uniquement la sécurité alimentaire mondiale, c'est-à-dire 17 pour cent de la consommation céréalière. Il est donc de la responsabilité commune d'oeuvrer afin de renforcer la sécurité alimentaire et d'en répartir les bienfaits. Dans un même ordre d'idée, nous répétons qu'il est impérieux d'articuler les activités du Programme Alimentaire Mondial avec celles de la FAO.

2) Le déséquilibre des échanges commerciaux mondiaux et une meilleure distribution des ressources notamment alimentaires sont des problèmes qui restent à ce jour aigus.

Comme vous le savez, la mise en place d'un système d'échange stable et équitable est le formidable enjeu des négociations multilatérales du GATT. Dans ces dernières, le dossier agricole est l'un des plus délicats. Comme, je l'ai déjà déclaré, lors de la dernière Conférence, mon pays est favorable à une libéralisation raisonnable du commerce agricole qui devrait tenir compte de la spécificité reconnue du secteur. Au plan interne de la Communauté, nous nous employons à réaménager notre politique agricole commune. Je suis persuadé que ces efforts importants conduiront à des solutions qui réduiront à la fois le déséquilibre et assureront une meilleure distribution des ressources.

3) La dette extérieure, selon la situation individuelle des pays concernés, peut être une grave entrave à la croissance et au développement de l'agriculture. Nous sommes partisans d'un renforcement significatif de la stratégie internationale en la matière et ce, en particulier au profit des pays les plus pauvres et les plus fortement endettés. Nous continuerons à agir dans ce sens au sein des enceintes multilatérales concernées.

Si l'on considère maintenant la période biennale à venir, la FAO devra adapter sa tâche intrinsèque. A cet égara le plan à moyen terme proposé est un excellent document prospectif dont il faut féliciter le Directeur général. Je considère que cette tâche devra s'organiser en fonction des trois principales missions suivantes:

1) l'information; celle-ci doit être objective car la banalisation des problèmes de la faim créée par des chiffres exagérément alarmistes engender la lassitude et l'indifférence de l'opinion publique.

2) donner des conseils notre Organisation doit pouvoir jouer le rôle d'une société de conseil en matière de politique de développement agricole, et il est évident que pour le remplir, elle doit continuer à compter sur un personnel de grande qualité, assuré de perspectives d'avenir.

3) l'assistance technique c'est une mission-clé de l'Organisation à laquelle mon pays est profondément attaché. Depuis de nombreuses années, nous disposons auprès de la FAO d'un Fonds fiduciaire, modeste certes, mais qui a permis de lancer et de poursuivre un certain nombre d'excellents projets.

Elle devra aussi s'adapter aux contingences extrinsèques et notamment au système des réformes des Nations Unies en veillant à ce que la direction choisie soit appropriée. C'est ainsi qu'il est indubitable que la mise en oeuvre, sous tous ses aspects, de la Résolution 44/211 de l'Assemblée générale, sur les activités opérationnelles des agences spécialisées, aura des conséquences directes pour la FAO.

Au cours de ses trente-septième et trente-huitième sessions, le Conseil d'administration du PNUD a pris des décisions importantes à propos des dépenses d'appui des agences d'exécution.

Nous espérons fermement qu'elles seront suivies d'effets grâce à l'esprit de coopération que se manifesteront mutuellement les agences spécialisées, le PNUD et les gouvernements bénéficiaires.

Je rappelle à ce sujet que la Belgique a toujours insisté sur la nécessité de préserver les compétences intellectuelles et techniques des agences. Ceci n'implique pas que les agences aient un droit de monopole sur l'exécution de projets financés par le PNUD, ni au contraire que le PNUD soit habilité à se substituer aux agences d'exécution traditionnelles. Nous sommes confiants dans la possibilité de créer, grâce aux nouveaux arrangements pour les dépenses d'appui, un nouvel équilibre entre tous les participants à l'exécution de projets y compris, pourquoi pas, le secteur privé.

Enfin pour assurer ses devoirs, notre Organisation doit impérativement sortir de l'ornière financière dans laquelle elle se trouve actuellement. Nous ne pouvons, en effet, imposer des tâches nouvelles et ambitieuses sans simultanément, tous, nous acquitter de nos obligations financières.

Pour conclure, M. le Président, je suis certain que les événements que nous vivons aujourd'hui induiront demain un nouvel état d'équilibre lequel sera, à ne pas en douter, plus fécond pour tous nos pays. Et dans cette métamorphose, je suis certain que la FAO jouera un rôle bénéfique.

Je vous remercie.¹

EL PRESIDENTE: Es para mí un placer y un honor pedir a mi distinguido colega y amigo Embajador de Kenya ante la FAO, Don Nanjira, que por favor haga su declaración.

Daniel D.C. DON NANJIRA (Kenya): I am pleased Mr Chairman, to see you in the Chair. The leader of the Kenya delegation and Minister of Agriculture for the Republic of Kenya, the Honourable Elijah Mwangale, could not travel to Rome to attend this Conference. He has, however, asked me to read the following statement on his behalf.

^{_______________}

¹Texte reçu avec demande d'insertion au procès-verbal.

Mr Chairman, Honourable Ministers and Heads of Delegations, the Director-General of FAO, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen. I have the honour and pleasure to convey to the Twenty-sixth Conference of the FAO greetings and best wishes from the Government and people of Kenya. My delegation congratulates you and the members of your bureau on your election, and is confident that you will steer the deliberations of this Conference to a fruitful conclusion. I assure of my delegation's cooperation and full support.

I would also like to join the other delegations in congratulating and welcoming Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as full Members, and Puerto Rico as an Associate Member of FAO.

Mr Chairman, I would like to commend the Secretariat for the excellent preparation for the Conference, and to note that the agenda and the documentation before us are comprehensive and relevant to our discussions. My delegation welcomes the programmes initiated in an attempt to address issues related to the global threat of hunger and poverty that continue to be of major concern in developing countries.

It is regrettable to note that the general slowdown of the world economy during the years 1990-91, that was aggravated by the Gulf Crisis, has led to the negative impact on the economies of the developing countries. Furthermore, that the high indebtedness and debt servicing in developing countries, the continued depressed international markets for their primary commodities, and the protectionist policies of the developed countries continue to constrain the development of our countries.

We also note with great concern the expected increases in debt liabilities for the developing countries, and in particular, Africa south of the Sahara which is now faced with the highest level of debts that have reached 112 percent of the GDP. It is for this reason therefore that my delegation wishes to appreciate recent measures and programmes aimed at easing the debt burden in several developing countries. We nevertheless feel that a lot more could still be done by way of debt rescheduling, consideration of affordable interest rates and as much as possible, cancellation of some of these debts. My delegation also calls upon all donors to emulate those who have initiated such debt relief measures.

The slow growth in global food production is a source of worry for all of us. We are informed that though overall increases in growth were registered in world cereal production, in Africa the growth was not only well below the population growth but also translated into a decline in per caput terms. As a consequence, a number of countries are now facing severe food deficits, and a certain decline in per capita food consumption. The negative effects of this situation is reflected in other parameters of social and economic development where sub-Saharan Africa has the poorest performance compared to other regions.

Mr Chairman, the main explanation for this is connected with the weather and the political mishaps which have ravaged many countries of the region in the recent times. We however have the more long-term constraints which relate to the social and technological status of the region's population.

Unlike other regions, Africa is still moving from a subsistence agricultural system to a cash economy. This transition is characterized by undeveloped attitudes and social values, low level of agricultural

technology and undeveloped physical and marketing infrastructures, all of which constitute major bottlenecks to agricultural development.

The technology aspect is also very important. Agricultural research has performed quite well in the region particularly in breeding high yielding varieties of food crops and coming up with the appropriate husbandry techniques. If these were practiced or applied, farmers could easily double if not triple the yields they currently achieve. These technologies are however not widely adopted by farmers for a variety of reasons, such as: lack of finance for purchase of inputs and inadequate distribution of inputs; lack of appropriate mechanical means to aid or augment human power in farm operations; and, lack of knowledge on new technology by some farmers.

There is a strong need therefore to find a solution to these constraints. This can be done by the governments of the countries in the region through implementation of sound agricultural policies and strategies. The needed changes have amply been identified and prescribed in our past FAO Conferences and articulated inter alia under the Guidelines and Targets for International Agricultural Adjustment and the Programme of Action of the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (WCARRD). The implementation of these however leaves much to be desired. The main reason in our opinion is the lack of capacities by our governments for formulation of appropriate policies and strategies as well as for their implementation. My delegation feels that this can be alleviated through implementation of a strong programme of human resource development covering planners, agricultural economists and sociologists, extension managers, etc. The whole society has to be sensitized and moblized to move in a well-charted direction. We believe that the basic resources for successful food and agricultural production exist, and that the people of the region can produce major achievements provided that the human resource issues are addressed. It is here that we appeal for greater focus and assistance of FAO and the international community.

My country appreciates the work which the FAO is currently carrying out, an agricultural manpower study which aims at assessing the adequacy, hence needs for technical manpower at all levels of agricultural research and extension. When this exercise is completed I earnestly hope that the Organization will proceed further to address the actions needed to rectify the situation.

In this connection we appreciate, Mr Chairman, efforts the FAO is making to assist LDCS to define, through the Programme of Action in the Second UN Conference on LDCS, an agricultural development strategy for the next ten years. The special emphasis to food security, seed improvement, animal diseases and locust control is relevant and timely. We however, urge for expanded training to support national institutions on policy analysis and agroclimatology for weather and crop monitoring. We reiterate the important role women play in development and the need for continued action to ensure support and enhancement of that role. We call for accelerated implementation of the plan of action on the integration of women in development by the Organization.

Mr Chairman, my delegation notes with regret the continued and unfavourable international markets and market prices for primary commodities from developing countries. For instance, coffee and cocoa which earn foreign exchange for many developing countries - Kenya included - have for the last

decade suffered very low prices. The situation has drastically affected our economies and incomes of our farmers. We would welcome greater initiatives to reverse this state of affairs within the context of GATT or other multilateral negotiations.

Mr Chairman, the proposed budget of US$652 million meets with our approval. My delegation has studied the Programme of Work and Budget and supports the main priority areas being addressed. We would however like to re-emphasize our previous requests for more attention to research and technology development in agriculture for marginal areas, livestock production, aquaculture, forestry and environment. We wish to see more resources allocated to these activities. We on the other hand appreciate the continued attention given to biotechnology, as we believe this will enhance breeding programmes and maintenance of biological diversity. We especially welcome the efforts and proposals for strengthening improved seed technology and supply capacities in developing countries. Priority should be given to the improvement of indigenous food cereals, roots and tubers.

My delegation notes with keen interest the report of the Director-General on the review exercise contained in document C 91/21 and appeals for early implementation of the recommendations. The purpose of which was to enhance the operational efficiency, effectiveness and transparency of the Organization. We are encouraged by the work done so far but urge for continued effort to realize the goals of the review exercise.

Regarding WFP, my delegation is gratified that progress has been made in enhancing efficiency and effectiveness within the programme and that a basis for a more efficient working relationship between FAO and WFP has been achieved. Kenya has made a modest but genuine contribution toward these inter-agency relationships. We shall continue to work for further improvements in these mechanisms of the UN agencies.

Mr Chairman, Kenya has a large land resource and a wide diversity of livestock. Our dairy industry which is fairly well developed could however do a lot more with improvement in livestock feeds, milk collection, cooling and processing facilities. Regarding meat production we face constraints such as insufficient water supply in the rangelands, lack of improved forage particularly during the dry season, and insufficient capacity in livestock breeding and improvement.

Animal health problems and disease control in particular, are chronic constraints in terms of livestock movement to local markets and exports of livestock products. My country has made concerted efforts for many years to control or eradicate prevalent diseases affecting the livestock industry, such as, F & M, CBPP, and lately lumpy skin. These efforts have, however, not produced a permanent solution because of reinfections through livestock movements across our borders. We believe that a lasting solution can be achieved if countries in the region can make appropriate arrangements for a coordinated disease control programme following the very successful example of the rinderpest campaigns of the 1960s and 70s. Joint programmes have already been agreed upon regarding CCP, CBPP and trypanosomiasis under OAU coordination, but implementation has been hampered by shortage of funds and related problems. I appeal to the international community and FAO in particular to come to our aid.

Mr Chairman, fisheries continue to be a contributor towards food security of many Member Nations. It also plays a significant role in the creation of employment opportunities. It is therefore gratifying to note that world fish production remained fairly steady with some encouraging trends particularly in aquaculture with Africa showing notable increases despite the positive trends, fisheries in Kenya continue to face a number of constraints which include high levels of post-harvest losses, poor fishing gear and severe competition between local small-scale fishermen and the deep sea commercial fishing nations, the latter of whom fish within the EEZs of the developing countries. However, my Government appreciates the contribution of FAO through the South-West Indian Ocean Programme (SWIOP) in improving statistical data collection and an on-going programme aimed at introducing improved small-scale fishing technology at the Kenyan coast.

Mr Chairman, my Government wishes to reaffirm its commitment to the conservation of the environment and supports all efforts geared towards its sustainable utilization. In this respect, we share the international concern for the continued destruction of the tropical forests.

Consistent with the Tropical Forestry Action Plan (TFAP), Kenya has launched a long-term national forestry master plan (KFMP) aimed at supporting sustainable agriculture, and providing forestry products to our people on a long-term basis. A major aspect of the Kenyan plan is the involvement of the people in the development, conservation and management of the forestry resource. This is due to the fact that Kenya has a limited forest cover (approximately 3 percent of the overall land area), mainly located at agriculturally high-potential, water catchment areas; and yet 90 percent of our people's energy consumption derives from fuelwood. The plan therefore envisages an extensive agroforestry programme, to cover all farmlands, and to extend forestry into Kenya's vast marginal lands. This is viewed as a realistic approach to improve the forest cover, enhance environmental conservation, and the forest resource sustainability.

Mr Chairman, Kenya greatly appreciates the support it receives from donor countries, and wishes to acknowledge the need for continued assistance, in the areas of forest research, extension, training and in forest resources inventory in order to realize greater institutional capabilities.

Concerning the recent invasion of the cypress aphid disease into our cypress plantations, I wish to thank the FAO, UNDP and the Finnish Government for their timely response to my country's appeal for assistance in combatting the pest. We still need more support since the cypress aphid threatens to wipe out all cypress plantations estimated at 116 000 hectares and the indigenous cedar (Juniperusprocera) natural reserves in the next three years or so.

As these plantations are a major source of our basic industrial wood, their total destruction would reduce Kenya into a net importer of basic industrial wood. Kenya has an estimated 280 000 hectares of indigenous cedar natural reserves which are also valuable to the deadly cypress aphid disease. As the cedar forest reserves are located on important water catchments, their destruction would be a serious environmental catastrophe in Kenya, and the affected sub-region at large.

Without saying much, Mr Chairman, this is an area of grave concern to us, and calls for emergency technical and financial assistance by all friendly and sympathetic donors.

Mr Chairman, we feel that FAO has a major role to play in the development of agriculture, forestry and fisheries resources. Having examined the 1990-91 programme of work (by the FAO) my delegation notes with appreciation that in spite of the prevailing financial constraints, the Organization has achieved commendable results.

In conclusion, acknowledging that food aid requirements will continue to rise in the near future, particularly in the African region, it is a matter of great concern that current food aid levels fall below requirements. In this connection, I would like to draw your attention to the turmoil and suffering of the millions of people in the Horn of Africa, which is the cradle of mankind. In this situation, Kenya has had to host many refugees and has closely co-operated with WFP and UNHCR among others in providing these people with food and shelter. We appeal to the international community to increase their support to the region in order to reduce human suffering and to initiate reconstruction and development in the affected countries. We would also wish to stress the important role food aid can play as a development resource and recommend its utilization to accelerate agricultural recovery and economic development in this area.

Finally, Mr Chairman, the Kenya Government wishes to recognize the excellent role played by the donor countries, the FAO, IFAD, WFP, WFC and other UN agencies, which have generously assisted in our efforts toward accelerating food and agricultural development. We look forward to continued assistance from the donor community, which will supplement our national efforts in this field.

Thank you very much, Mr Chairman.

EL PRESIDENTE: Gracias a nuestro colega y amigo el Embajador Don Nanjira, rogándole que transmita nuestros respetos al señor Ministro de Agricultura de Kenya.

Ruego, ahora, al Excmo. Sr. Luis Gaspar da Silva, Embajador y Representante Permanente de Portugal ante la FAO, que haga uso de la palabra.

Luiz GASPAR DA SILVA (Portugal): M. le Président, je vous adresse toutes mes félicitations. Malgré ma petite expérience dans le domaine multilatéral, j'estime que votre Organisation est magnifique et je vous en remercie. Ma délégation se réjouit de l'entrée dans cette instance des Pays Baltes en tant que membres. Je vous transmets les excuses du Ministre de l'agriculture du Portugal qui n'a pas pu se rendre à cette Conférence puisque, comme vous le savez tous, nous avons procédé, dans un passé récent, à des élections générales, et mon Ministre est resté sur place pour répondre aux questions des députés dans son secteur.

J'ai l'honneur de vous lire à présent le message du Ministre de l'agriculture de la République portugaise (continues in Portuguese).

I am very honoured to be speaking on behalf of the Portuguese Agriculture Minister. Might I say that my short experience here gives me hope for this Organization. I think this Organization is a magnificent one and congratulations, Mr Chairman. We welcome in our midst the Baltic countries and Puerto Rico, too, as an Associate Member.

I should like to apologize for my Minister's absence and explain the reason for his not being able to be here today. All of you, I imagine, are aware of the fact that we recently in fact, had general elections in Portugal. Today my Minister has to go before Parliament to answer agricultural questions. That is why he is unable to be here today and on his behalf I present his apologies. It is now my honour to read his speech:

The world situation of food and agriculture, in spite of the undeniable progress that has been achieved in some places, continues to present reasons for justifiable concern. Some countries have been achieving a reasonable balance between food consumption and food production while in others there are surpluses that jeopardize the proper functioning of national and international markets. For the majority of them they are still far removed from what we call self-sufficient.

In some countries the policies that have been adopted have not been very effective in containing surpluses but, after all, it is not an easy thing to do bearing in mind the legitimacy of farmers' interest, whereas in other countries, technical and financial investment, scientific insufficiency, the situation of war and instability and in some other countries very high taxes and increasing population have not facilitated the increase in production per capita that should have occurred. Africa is one country where this kind of situation presents itself in a more intensive way, where problems that are common to more or less all developing countries are particularly acute.

It is not desirable to maintain or indeed increase the distance between developed and developing countries. The principle of common interest and solidarity and equity militate against that.

However, efforts to bring two blocks closer to each other achieving appropriate levels of progress and welfare is something which requires the twofold effort of everyone. Some must increase aid in every possible way. Others must use the aid to promote development and stability. It is because of all this that my country takes the view that it is very important to apply very intensive efforts for cooperation, efforts to promote common interest between rich countries and the developing world. These must be intensified and extended in different systems and adapted on a case-by-case basis from the bilateral or multilateral cooperation to reach the objectives of all around development. We cannot dispense with either of the systems.

Within this multiple array of cooperation and help FAO occupies a very high profile situation in view of the work that has already been done to promote development and to resolve some of the very serious problems among the hungry of the world and fight human, animal and plant diseases.

The Member Nations of FAO continue to place a great deal of trust in it and desire its work to be ever more efficacious. Portugal is very happy to have complied with all its commitments in a spirit of dignity and efficiency, its commitments vis-à-vis the Organization. Of all donor countries Portugal satisfies with the highest regularity its commitments as to amounts pledged and Portugal participates according to its possibilities in other activities making contributions in favour of the needy as they are required by FAO.

More than that, however, Portugal has offered its best efforts to FAO by way of making available highly-skilled technical experts and internationally-recognized staff. These technicians have been professionally trained in the tropics over a period of many years where FAO has a majority of its development projects.

Besides this, there is a bilateral and multilateral cooperation providing for those technicians from the countries concerned who wish to finish their studies in Portugal to do so in such a way that they become the prime workers of development in their own countries which is their proper destiny, we believe.

Portugal wishes to intensify these activities ever more and to continue to be available to examine new forms of cooperation, including tripartite cooperation so that developing countries may reap the best possible benefit from their own acknowledged potential.

In missions of variable duration there have been more than one hundred Portuguese technical experts serving FAO, vying with others on the international scene, in work that does great honour to us in their field activities over the last ten years. However, my country does not believe that it can fulfil completely all of the needs of FAO. That is still far from being achieved. That is the situation, though, which the Portuguese Government would like to see achieved as soon as possible.

Mr Chairman, the Conference programme is vast and diversified, representing the multiple aspects of FAO's work, and also shows how much attention the Organization pays to the development and the progress of agriculture, sylviculture, fisheries and the welfare of the people involved.

However, I do not intend, nor could I, given the short time available, to speak exhaustively about the various topics with which the Conference is exercised. The Portuguese delegation will be putting forward the position of Portugal as and when it falls to be discussed in the various Commissions.

Nevertheless, I should like to refer to some points that will surely dominate the attention of working groups at Commission level. One of these is the International Conference on Nutrition to contribute to the better understanding of nutritional problems and the better management of food resources. It will obviously have a very important part to play. We hope that in the Conference the problems of food and nutrition will be approached in a general way since the Conference will involve not only nutritionists, but also food producers, economists, sociologists, and other persons involved and interested.

Portugal is working carefully and with very great attention for the preparation of the Conference as required by FAO and it has done its best to provide technical and financial aid to Portuguese-speaking African countries.

The second point which I should like to raise is a brief reference to the International Conference on the Environment scheduled for next year in Rio de Janeiro. As one faces the dangers of more or less profound changes as they affect natural resources, one realizes that the topic is of indisputable importance. We hope that the idea of sustainable agriculture as it has been defined by the FAO Council will have immediate application

in the world threatened by the agents of its own destruction. We have been witnessing intense pollution of the environment, the ground, the air, the water, contamination of the water and the air in an irresponsible way.

We have witnessed natural vegetation being destroyed by improper use of soil. We have seen rain forests being destroyed in an unbelievable way: an area equivalent to one football ground disappearing every two seconds. We have seen the degradation of the soil and the looming desertification that follows. Eventually, we end up destroying our very potential. We will not be able to sustain production in a lasting way. The problem is already serious now, but its importance increases ever more when this sort of situation occurs in areas in which food production is the overriding priority. More than one third of Portuguese territory is under forest. Forest production produces important export earnings from cork, resins, tannins, essence, wood and paper, for example. But the forest's potential has been strongly adversely affected by forest fires raging in dry seasons. These are very difficult to control, as indeed is the case in other Mediterranean countries. In 1985, forest fires ravaged 146 000 hectares in Portugal. This year, the provisional figure is 160 000 hectares. This is a very unfortunate record figure, one that must give us concern when one bears in mind the amount of wood burned and the indirect effect on soil in neighbouring agricultural areas. Europe is witnessing the destruction of its forest patrimony by acid rain and fire. We are not sufficiently exercised by the forest fires, although we do understand the difficulty of those countries where these matters are important. We hope that they understand our problems, conversely, and those of other countries in a similar ecological situation. Thus, it will become possible to study and carry out a plan for protecting the forests throughout Europe, a plan of interest to everyone. For that reason, my country took an active part in the World Forest Congress where forest-related problems were discussed with great expertise and in very great depth.

Similarly, we celebrated World Food Day with its motto of “Trees for Life”. We also maintain the regular campaigns that we carry out to encourage people of Portugal to eat sensibly in the light of the most up-to-date nutritional science. We have alerted young people to this problem through schools where nutrition issues have been studied. On the other hand, the Portuguese people in general are very aware of the problem of hunger in the world. That is probably easy to understand if one bears in mind our links with areas where hunger is ravaging most seriously, which go back some 500 years.

Portuguese is a language spoken by more than 200 million people in the world today, covering seven FAO Member Nations, and by an immense number of people in the Portuguese diaspora. We believe that we have the right to express ourselves in our own language in international organizations, a language in which it is easiest for us to convey our points of view, which is not the case when we are forced to use another language. In some UN organizations, Portuguese is already a working language. At some FAO meetings we have already been authorized to use our language. For more than ten years now, we have been drawing the attention of FAO to this. We have asked FAO to study and resolve this problem with the support of all other Portuguese-speaking countries. We are sure we are not asking for the impossible. But we believe that this matter has not been given sufficient attention to date.

Forty-six years ago, a group of men with an open vision of the future and open minds, desirous of working together for the community, created the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. As a Portuguese poet said God wants man to work and dream. As we look back on the years behind, we see reasons to congratulate ourselves on the work that has been done, but we also see tremendous challenges ahead. More and more, we must unite our work and our resources to make into reality that dream which our ancestors had of a more human world.

Datuk Seri SANUSI JUNID (Malaysia): Mr Chairman, fellow delegates, on behalf of my delegation and on my own behalf I would like to join other delegates that have spoken before me congratulating you for your unanimous election as Chairman of this august assembly. Let me also convey my greetings and best wishes to all delegates and to others present here.

Mr Chairman, 1991 is a special year for Malaysia. It is the year in which three programmes were announced by the Malaysian Government, namely: the Sixth Malaysia Plan; the National Development Policy; and, Vision 2020.

While the Sixth Malaysia Plan underlines the programmes for Malaysia's development for the next five years, the National Development Policy provides a guideline of development for the next ten years and Vision 2020, which is a perfect vision, is hoped to enlist Malaysia among the list of developed countries in thirty years' time.

Nineteen ninety-one is also a special figure which reads the same, that is - one nine nine one - whether it is read from the front or from the back. It is nineteen and nineteen in reverse. And nineteen is a very special number for it combines two special numbers, one and nine. One, when multiplied by any number, gives the same number as its answer, while nine when multiplied by any number gives a number or numbers which, when added, and added, totals nine. Looking into the Quran, one finds a sentence which reads Alaiha Tis Ata Ashara which means above everything is nineteen. A computer scientist has inserted the whole verses of the Quran into a computer, and when he calls the number nineteen, then the sentence “Bismillah His Rahma Nir Rahim” appears on the computer screen. This sentence, which has 19 Arabic letters, means “in the name of God, the Beneficent and the Merciful. It is in the name of God, the Beneficent and the Merciful”. that Malaysia has launched a Jihad, not against man but against the enemy of all man, and that enemy is called poverty.

Nineteen ninety-one is also a special year for the world. It is in 1991 that all the ungodly ideologies of the world begin to crumble.

I have dwelt at length on the subject of poverty in this same assembly on 12 November 1987 and on 20 November 1989. I had also discussed the same subject in other international fora.

Being an important subject, poverty was secularized by the politicians in Britain after the industrial revolution. Since then, poverty has become a subject for politicians and academicians. Malaysia has decided to give a religious commitment to poverty in order that the interest in poverty does not end with the election victory or upon completion of an academic thesis.

Eradication of poverty should therefore be a divine mission.

The elimination of poverty is almost synonymous with the elimination of bondage, bondage of men and bondage of nations. There can be no real freedom with poverty, either freedom of men or freedom of nations.

Alexander Fraser Tytler, a Scottish economist wrote in 1876 as follows:

Man moves from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back again into bondage.

We would like to congratulate the Director-General and his staff for presenting document C 91/23, on poverty, setting out the programme priorities for FAO activities during the period 1992-97.

Malaysia will continue its efforts at eradication of poverty, as it was undertaken, under the earlier, twenty-year New Economic Policy. With the reduction in the incidence of poverty achieved under Malaysia's previous policy, we are now paying attention to relative poverty and the remaining hardcore poverty.

Based on our experience in reducing the incidence of poverty and the experiences of other nations, we are now planning the establishment of WIPER which is the acronym for “World Institute for Poverty Eradication”.

I have mentioned WIPER at the FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific, in Beijing, China between 23 and 27 April 1990. In order to accommodate for differences in ideology, culture and democratic practices, WIPER, in each country, should be an independent, private, national training institution, the idea for which can be shared internationally.

We will institutionalize all our experiences, and that of others, in poverty eradication, in the hope that WIPER will eventually Wipe Out Poverty. When WIPER exists in more than one country there can be exchange of experiences, technique, and methodology.

WIPER may seek funding from private, national and international organizations.

WIPER does not need an international bureaucracy; it should each be an independent national organization.

In view of the obvious benefits of sharing experiences, and to highlight the continuing need to address the poverty issue, Malaysia, together with the Afro-Asian Rural Reconstruction Organization, will be holding a Regional Workshop on Poverty in January 1992. You are all invited.

Malaysia welcomes “Trees for Life” as a theme for this year's World Food Day. We take note that the developed nations of the world have suffered as a result of not taking note of, and ignoring, Plato's warning as far back as 2 400 years ago on the danger of deforestation and soil erosion.

We noted that the Den Bosch Conference on Agriculture and the Environment held in April 1991 dealt only with Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (SARD) in the developing world. Taking heed of Plato, SARD in the developed world should also be addressed, when we are talking of Our Common Future.

Malaysia is committed to the current negotiation on a 'Non-Legally Binding, Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development' of all types of forest, held by the preparatory committee for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, which will be finalized at its next session on 2 March in New York.

Malaysia has also taken note of the report by the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change which attributed only 9 percent of the total carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere to deforestation, as compared to 75 percent emission through other uses and applications in the developed countries.

Malaysia is also looking forward to the successful conclusion of the negotiations by the Inter-Governmental Negotiating Committee for the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Despite all this, despite Malaysia having 56.8 percent of its total land area under natural forest cover, while this land under agriculture is mainly under rubber and oil palm forests, we are subjected to campaigns by the NGOs to boycott our timber. These people, who are supposed to be concerned on damage caused by logging, were timid, silent, indifferent and didn't even squeak when raging fires were recently destroying tens of thousands of hectares of forests in ASEAN, causing hazy conditions.

The Asian consciousness in the importance of oxygen for life is symbolized by the record of a Chinese farmer who died in 1933 at the age of 254. When he was 200 years old the University Medical Journal recorded an interview with him whereby he narrated that for around 190 years he had been doing three things every day, that is: Walked three miles a day; drank Chinese tea every day, and drank ginseng daily.

While the relationship of walking and health is well known, it appears that Chinese tea will help to drain the fatty elements in food down the stomach, where fat absorption into the system is minimal. It was only after the Second World War that a Japanese expert, in collaboration with a German, discovered the compound which the Japanese named, in honour of his then-deceased German friend, Germanium. Germanium is said to be an oxygen-generating compound and ginseng appears to be the plant with the most germanium, i.e., about 3 000 parts per million.

If this long life is in any way proof of the importance of oxygen, the lack of it is certainly a threat to a long and comfortable life. Such is the importance of Trees for Life. But a long life in poverty is also a long life in bondage. And this is certainly not what the FAO is fighting for.

As it is, I am informed that the FAO, which is a technical organization, whose membership is limited to nations, and has not yet succeeded in recruiting all nations as its members, is intending to consider the inclusion of a regional economic integrated association as its member. While this act might not help to improve the food and agriculture welfare of Member Nations, it might be noted that it might help to consolidate the unsettled unity of the association of nations.

But this is not the function of the FAO.

When even matters of environment and development are brought to the United Nations, we should at least be polite to know the limit of our responsibilities.

Reason and justice do not know the boundaries between developed and developing nations. The future of the FAO depends on its ability to look after the welfare of the people of its Member Nations. Member Nations, whether free or not from economic bondage, should be free to decide on the programmes and welfare of nations and leave politics to each individual nation and to the United Nations. Thank you.

EL PRESIDENTE: Gracias Excmo. Sr. Ministro de Agricultura de Malasia por su interesante declaración. Tomaremos ging-seng, caminaremos mucho y el 1992 nos traerá larga vida.

The delegation of Burkina Faso has handed in its statement for inclusion in the record of the proceedings of the Conference.

T. KONATE (Burkina Faso): La vingt-sixième session de notre Organisation est l'occasion, une fois encore, de faire la situation de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture dans le monde.

A cette importante circonstance, je voudrais au nom de la délégation burkinabé apporter notre contribution aux débats à l'ordre du jour et vous témoigner, M. le Président, M. le Directeur général de la FAO, la gratitude du peuple burkinabé pour l'audience toujours grandissante de notre organisation qui vient d'enregistrer avec joie l'adhésion des républiques d'Estonie, de Lettonie et de Lituanie en qualité de Membres à part entière, et de Porto Rico comme Membre Associé.

Qu'il me soit permis de souhaiter la bienvenue à ces nouveaux membres et de leur exprimer la disponibilité du Burkina Faso à collaborer avec eux pour le triomphe des nobles objectifs de la FAO.

L'agriculture au Burkina Faso est le secteur clé, le plus important, le moteur de l'économie nationale. Elle contribue à plus de 40 pour cent au PIB et occupe 80 à 90 pour cent de la population active.

Cependant la forte dégradation des ressources naturelles, aggravée par la persistance de la sécheresse et l'inadaptation des systèmes d'exploitation agricole, caractérise l'environnement dans lequel notre agriculture doit faire face aux besoins alimentaires et nutritionnels toujours croissants.

Concernant la présente campagne, la pluviométrie a été en volume, meilleure à l'année passée, même si on déplore quelques insuffisances dans la répartition spatio-temporelle. La période pluviale a connu un étalement exceptionnel et les abondantes pluies intervenues en phase de maturité totale des cultures vont entraîner des pertes par dégradation de la production.

Les premières estimations de production céréalière confirment des résultats meilleurs à ceux de la campagne dernière. Pour toutes céréales confondues, la production nationale est évaluée à 2 200 000 tonnes.

Cependant, cette production n'étant pas répartie de manière homogène sur le territoire, des actions de régulation sont indispensables pour combler le déficit céréalier constaté dans 12 provinces sur les 30 que compte le pays.

Aussi le niveau de fiabilité de nos statistiques, qui dépendent surtout des moyens dont dispose la structure de collecte, demande que nous voyions à travers ces résultats de sondage des ordres de grandeur.

Dans le domaine des statistiques, beaucoup de choses restent à faire au Burkina qui n'a pas encore réalisé un recensement général de l'agriculture (RGA). C'est pourquoi nous avons soumis à l'appréciation de nos partenaires de la communauté internationale l'Enquête nationale sur les statistiques agricoles que nous espérons conduire et qui nous fournira sans doute des données de base.

A cet effet, les progrès du projet du Centre mondial de l'information agricole (CMIA) qui ont abouti à la matérialisation d'une base de données informatisées, nous permettront de faire un pas dans l'amélioration des statistiques agricoles.

L'ordre du jour de la vingt-sixième session de notre Organisation, judicieusement établi, nous permettra d'aborder des sujets aussi importants que: l'ajustement agricole international; l'aide aux pays les moins avancés en vue de définir une stratégie du développement agricole; le problème de l'intégration des femmes au processus de développement; les activités et programmes de l'Organisation; le programme de coopération technique de la FAO; l'accession des Organisations d'intégration économique régionales à la FAO; les activités de l'Organisation en matière d'environnement et de développement. Somme toute, des sujets d'une grande importance pour le Burkina.

Concernant l'environnement, le Burkina a approfondi son approche sur le déséquilibre de son écosystème. Le Plan d'action national pour l'environnement (PANE) a fait suite au Plan national de lutte contre la désertification en vigueur depuis 1986, afin de prendre en compte tous les aspects environnementaux.

Avec cette approche, notre ambition est d'amener chaque communauté de base à une autogestion efficace de son terroir. Notre pays figure parmi les premiers Etats sahéliens à prendre de grandes options en matière d'environnement. L'adoption, depuis plusieurs années déjà (1985) d'un Plan national de lutte contre la désertification, la promulgation d'un décret portant réorganisation agraire et foncière (RAF), l'engagement des trois luttes (contre les feux de brousses, la coupe anarchique du bois, la divagation des animaux) et la création du Comité National de lutte contre la désertification sont autant de preuves de l'intention arrêtée par le Burkina de s'attaquer résolument et à tous les niveaux aux problèmes qui gênent le développement économique et social du pays.

Pour ce faire, le Burkina a entrepris des réformes de son économie et de son agriculture à travers l'élaboration d'un programme d'ajustement du secteur agricole (PASA).

En effet, dans le cadre de l'engagement de notre pays dans une politique de restructuration de l'économie, les priorités au niveau du secteur agricole ont été placées autour de trois objectifs: la modernisation de la

diversification de la production; le renforcement de la sécurité alimentaire; et l'amélioration de la gestion des ressources naturelles.

Dans ce cadre une Lettre de politique de développement agricole (LPDA) et une matrice de mesures en cours de rédaction font déjà l'objet de concertation avec nos partenaires de la communauté internationale.

Les femmes, qui représentent un peu plus de la moitié de la population du Burkina (environ 52 pour cent), sont largement prises en compte dans ces activités de restructuration de notre économie.

Cela est particulièrement vrai dans le secteur agricole car leur proportion dans la population active est plus importante en milieu rural du fait que la population masculine est plus touchée par l'émigration et par l'exode rural.

Les efforts d'intégration de la femme burkinabé au processus de réformes en cours se traduisent par des actions telles que: l'adoption d'un nouveau code des personnes et de la famille; la promotion du mouvement coopératif féminin qui a permis la création de plusieurs centaines de groupements villageois; les programmes nationaux d'alphabétisation de masse; le développement du crédit en faveur des femmes organisées en groupements; l'accès des femmes à plus de postes de responsabilité dans les administrations, les unités de production et les organisations politiques; l'allégement - par le développement des garderies d'enfants, la vulgarisation des moulins à grains, des foyers améliorés et des forages d'eau équipés de pompes - de certaines corvées traditionnellement dévolues aux femmes, de sorte que celles-ci peuvent se consacrer à d'autres activités de développement.

En matière d'information sur la sécurité alimentaire, nous ne pouvons passer sous silence l'effort louable que la FAO réalise toujours dans le fonctionnement du Système mondial d'information et d'alerte rapide sur l'alimentation et l'agriculture (SMIAR).

Les informations que nous recevons périodiquement, nous permettent d'avoir une vue d'ensemble sur la situation alimentaire et nutritionnelle et la physionomie de la Campagne agricole de la grande zone agroclimatique dans laquelle se trouve le Burkina. Le SMIAR nous aide à dégager des perspectives dans nos analyses sur la situation nationale.

Notre souhait est qu'un tel système d'information puisse être mis en oeuvre à l'échelle nationale. Des mesures dans ce sens sont en train d'être envisagées et nous solliciterons le moment venu l'appui de la FAO.

La présente session aura à se pencher sur les modifications des Textes fondamentaux de notre Organisation dans le but de donner la possibilité aux Organisations d'intégration économique régionales (OIER) d'être membre de la FAO.

Avant d'aborder ce sujet, nous voulons préalablement présenter nos félicitations au Groupe de travail et au CQCJ pour leur compétence et pour le travail de qualité qu'ils ont réalisé.

C'est une première dans la vie de notre institution d'ouvrir ses portes aux organisations d'intégration économique régionales. Cela demande un engagement politique certain de la part des Etats Membres, pour donner une autre dimension à la FAO.

Sur ce point, le Burkina réaffirme sa volonté d'oeuvrer de concert avec toutes les organisations dans la lutte contre la faim et la malnutrition dans le monde. C'est pourquoi il est favorable à la prise des dispositions statutaires permettant l'adhésion de toute OIER dont les compétences rendront plus performante la FAO.

Le Burkina Faso souligne cependant que les prérogatives d'une organisation-membre doivent être différentes de celles des Etats Membres.

Le Programme de travail et budget de l'Organisation est le reflet de la récession économique mondiale actuelle. Il est caractérisé entre autres par: un maintien de la croissance zéro; une compression de certains programmes prioritaires; et une stagnation du budget du Programme de coopération technique (PCT).

Ce budget d'austérité et de rigueur qui est soumis pour adoption à la vingt-sixième session de la Conférence nous interpelle sur la persistance des grands problèmes mondiaux que sont la faim et la pauvreté.

Nous regrettons profondément que certaines activités de terrain de la FAO, essentielles pour nous, aient été supprimées ou réduites à leur plus simple expression.

C'est le cas des programmes engrais et d'aménagements hydro-agricoles qui enregistrent une diminution des ressources au moment même où les pays africains en particulier ont adopté massivement des mesures de protection de leur environnement.

A cet égard, la Journée mondiale de l'alimentation, placée cette année sous le thème arbre source de vie a été largement célébrée au Burkina Faso, pays sahélien confronté au déséquilibre écologique sol-végétation-climat.

Concernant plus particulièrement le Programme de coopération technique, le Burkina Faso tient à rendre hommage à la FAO pour les efforts consentis dans ce domaine.

Le PCT demeure à nos yeux l'un des moyens les plus efficaces dont dispose notre Organisation pour réaliser les objectifs qui lui sont assignés et mérite par conséquent d'être poursuivi.

Le Burkina Faso regrette cependant que, malgré les efforts déployés par le Directeur général, le budget du PCT ne représente qu'une infime partie (11,9 pour cent) du budget total.

Nous en appelons ici au respect de la Résolution 9/89 de la dernière Conférence qui invitait le Directeur général à tout mettre en oeuvre pour porter le budget de ce programme au niveau de 14 à 17 pour cent du budget de la FAO.

Près d'un demi-siècle après la création de l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture, le problème de la malnutrition reste toujours d'actualité. Le Burkina Faso est d'avis que seule des actions concertées au plan régional et international permettront de juguler ce fléau.

Aussi le Burkina Faso prépare-t-il activement la prochaine Conférence Internationale sur la Nutrition qui aura lieu en 1992. Un Comité mis en place par le Gouvernement est à pieds d'oeuvre pour préparer un atelier national sur ce thème et finaliser le rapport national avant la fin de l'année 1991.

Je vous remercie.¹

EL PRESIDENTE: Quedan aún tres oradores pendientes para el debate general que vamos a suspender ahora de acuerdo con lo que habíamos convenido. Me excuso con los representantes de esas tres Organizaciones, pero les ruego que permanezcan en esta sala porque después de la adopción del Informe de la Comisión III sobre el tema 24, continuará el debate general que de todos modos deberá concluir hoy.

Quisiera ahora pedirles a todos ustedes que se preparen para participar en el debate del tema siguiente, para lo cual, ruego a mi distinguido colega y amigo, Sr. Samuel Fernández (Chile), Presidente de la Comisión III, que venga al podium. El Consejero Legal está listo también.

Espero que se mantendrá una adecuada permanencia de los delegados en esta sala, porque luego, como todos saben, procederemos a votar, por dos tercios, un importante proyecto de Resolución.

Espero que todos ustedes tengan el documento C 91/REP/I, proyecto de informe de la Plenaria - Parte I.

En primer lugar, voy a conceder la palabra a mi distinguido colega y amigo el Dr Samuel Fernández, Representante de Chile, distinguido y competente Presidente de la Comisión III, quien va a presentar este documento.

ADOPTION OF REPORT
ADOPTION DU RAPPORT
APROBACION DEL INFORME

CONSTITUTIONAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS
QUESTIONS CONSTITUTIONNELLES ET ADMINISTRATIVES

ASUNTOS CONSTITUCIONALES Y ADMINISTRATIVOS

A. Constitutional and Legal Matters
A. Questions constitutionnelles et juridiques
A. Asuntos constitucionales y jurídicos

______________

¹Texte reçu avec demande d'insertion au procès-verbal.

24. Membership of Regional Economic Integration Organizations in FAO
24. Accession d'organisations d'intégration économique régionale à la qualité de membre de la FAO
24. Adhesión como miembros de la FAO de las organizaciones regionales de integración económica

-	Amendments to the Basic Texts of the Organization (including Resolution.../91)
-	Amendements aux Textes fondamentaux de l'Organisation (y compris la Résolution.../91)
-	Enmiendas de los Textos Fundamentales de la Organización (incluida la Resolución.../91)

Samuel FERNANDEZ ILLANES (Presidente de la Comisión III): Muchísimas gracias Sr. Presidente, muy gentil. Tengo el honor de presentar ante la Plenaria de la Conferencia el informe de los trabajos de la Comisión III que me honro en presidir, relativos al tema 24 de nuestra Agenda titulado Adhesión como miembros de la FAO de las organizaciones regionales de integración económica y Enmiendas de los Textos Fundamentales de la Organización.

La Comisión analizó en profundidad este tema en sus sesiones del martes 12 y viernes 15 recién pasados. Su informe, elaborado por los relatores, los distinguidos representantes de Marruecos, Sr. Sinaceur, y Senegal, Sr. Aidara está contenido en el documento C 91/III/REP/1, que la Conferencia tiene a la vista.

Sr. Presidente, señores delegados, el documento citado contiene el proyecto de Resolución que la Comisión III adoptó en votación, sin votos en contra el cual propone las enmiendas necesarias a la Constitución y al Reglamento General de la FAO. Si la Plenaria de la Conferencia lo aprueba, las Organizaciones Regionales de Integración Económica podrán ingresar como miembros, dentro de las normas y características que dichas enmiendas contemplan.

Culmina así un largo proceso de casi tres años, en el que han participado diversos órganos de la FAO, numerosas delegaciones y personas que es justo reconocer.

El Consejo estudió la materia en su 99º período de sesiones en junio pasado, y propuso proyectos de enmienda. Sus deliberaciones fueron sustanciales como le consta a su Presidente, el Embajador de Bélgica, quien en todo momento siguió muy de cerca estas deliberaciones desde el Consejo como en otras instancias. Correspondió asimismo una destacada labor al Comité de Asuntos Constitucionales y Jurídicos, presidido por el Embajador de Chipre. Ello permitió dar el marco legal adecuado a las distintas posiciones de enmiendas a nuestros Textos Fundamentales. Luego, en su última etapa y tal vez la más decisiva, un Comité de Estados Miembros, nombrado por el Director General, previa consulta con los grupos regionales, tuvo la tarea de conciliar las diversas posturas y de avanzar en un texto de compromiso, de intensas negociaciones que luego ha adoptado la Comisión.

Desempeñó un papel destacado y de capital importancia el Presidente del Comité, precisamente Usted, Sr. Presidente, distinguido Embajador Bula Hoyos (Colombia).

En todo momento, se ha contado además con la eficiente asesoría y colaboración del Consejero Jurídico Dr. Moore y de su equipo, una tarea por momentos abrumadora que me honro en resaltar.

Sr. Presidente, señores delegados, tal como lo expresaba hace pocos días el Director General, le correspondió a la FAO el privilegio, pero al mismo tiempo, la responsabilidad de ser los pioneros en enmendar sus textos para permitir el ingreso de las ORIE. Es una materia sumamente compleja y de vastas proyecciones para el sistema de los organismos internacionales, una labor en suma novedosa por sus alcances jurídicos para el desarrollo progresivo del derecho internacional y de enormes perspectivas para el robustecimiento de la trascendental acción que vienen realizando los organismos, para el progreso de las naciones.

Ustedes, distinguidos delegados, podrán encontrar en las enmiendas propuestas conceptos como la transferencia de competencia, el ejercicio alternativo de los derechos de miembros, la cláusula de asimilación, la declaración de competencia, el ejercicio por competencias del derecho a voto y otros que son particulares y en gran medida nuevos para los organismos del sistema.

Este es un gran logro pero al mismo tiempo un desafío para la FAO y para esta Conferencia en particular. No ha sido una tarea fácil, por el contrario, se debieron sortear grandes dificultades y a veces apasionadas discusiones. Todos, y me permito resaltarlo, todos han contribuido y dado pruebas de un profundo sentido de buena voluntad y de conciliación.

El texto que tenemos ante nosotros así lo demuestra, sin embargo lleva implícito no sólo el gran esfuerzo de unidad, sino también las interrogantes y legítimas preocupaciones de quienes han accedido a posponerlas en aras de un acuerdo general; este es su mérito, y al mismo tiempo, su mensaje.

Sr. Presidente, de adoptarse estas enmiendas a los Textos básicos, como lo esperamos, la FAO podría haber enriquecido y robustecido su acción de sus múltiples competencias.

Las organizaciones internacionales de integración económica que ingresen en el futuro cercano o más adelante podrán contribuir decisivamente a ello y a redoblar nuestra atención en pro de quienes más lo necesiten.

Así, contaremos con su aporte indispensable y sus inmensos avances y capacidades; así, también podremos vanagloriarnos de haber sido los primeros en hacer realidad las esperanzas que, por encima de legítimas divergencias, les abren sudorosamente las puertas de nuestra Organización.

EL PRESIDENTE: Gracias a usted distinguido Presidente de la Comisión III por su excelente presentación; gracias también a los colegas y amigos, Sinaceur, de Marruecos y Aidara, de Senegal, quienes realizaron un valioso trabajo para la preparación de este documento.

Señores delegados, después de que concluyó la discusión de este tema en la Comisión III, con el resultado que muchos de ustedes conocen, siguieron las consultas entre los distintos representates de Gobiernos, con el objeto sincero por parte de quienes han participado en todas estas negociaciones

de lograr un consenso en torno a este asunto que es realmente muy importante.

Es así que, antes de someter a ustedes este documento, quiero asumir una responsabilidad más en todo este largo proceso al transmitirles una enmiendo o un agregado que ha sido el fruto de las consultas celebradas entre algunos de los que han participado en esos contactos.

Les ruego que tomen el documento C 91/REP/1. En el proyecto de Resolución, al final del segundo párrafo de los considerandos que empiezan por las palabras recordando asimismo... y que termina...Artículo XX de la Constitución de la FAO, - espero que sea claro -, se agregaría lo siguiente:... y teniendo en cuenta en particular el contenido del párrafo 260 del Informe del Consejo, documento C 91/LIM/23. Repito: se agregaría al final del segundo considerando del proyecto de Resolución las siguientes palabras:... y teniendo en particular en cuenta el contenido del párrafo 260 del Informe del Consejo, documento C 91/LIM/23.

El citado párrafo 260 del Informe de la Reunión del Consejo celebrado en junio pasado en su 99^o período de sesiones dice lo siguiente: El Consejo reiteró que la forma de admisión como miembro para las Organizaciones Regionales de Integración Económica debe ser sui generis. Repito: El Consejo reiteró que la forma de admisión como miembro para las Organizaciones Regionales de Integración Económica debe ser sui generis.

A fin de que todos seamos conscientes de qué es lo que exactamente vamos a votar, quiero también pedirle al Consejero Legal que lea y explique en inglés algunas diferencias de traducción que parecen afectar sobre todo al texto castellano en relación con el párrafo 2 del Artículo XLI del Reglamento General.

LEGAL COUNSEL: I would like to draw the attention of the Conference to an error in the Spanish translation in the third line of paragraph 2 of General Rule XLI.2. The words here in the third line should in fact read Organization Member and its Member States has competence in respect of any specific question. Therefore the word in Spanish which is ejercerá should in fact read tiene. If I can now read that paragraph again in its entirety, it is as follows - and I am reading the English text and I hope the interpreters can change the word ejercerá to “tiene” in this paragraph as I read it. “Before any meeting of the Organization the Member Organization or its Member States shall indicate which, as between the Member Organization and its Member States, has competence in respect of any specific question to be considered in the meeting and which, as between the Member Organization and its Member States, shall exercise the right to vote in respect of each particular agenda item”.

I would like to stress once more this affects only the Spanish version. It does not affect the English and French versions which are correct. Thank you very much.

EL PRESIDENTE: Sinceramente espero que la adición que me he permitido proponer y la aclaración que nuestro Consejero Legal ha hecho podrán contribuir a crear un ambiente de serenidad y de entendimiento, dentro del cual este importante tema habrá de merecer la mejor atención de esta Conferencia.

Ha sido otra vez un largo ejercicio del cual se han hecho concesiones de una y otra parte, y ahora tengo la impresión fundada de que podríamos avanzar de manera muy satisfactoria.

Podemos entonces ahora considerar en el documento C 91/REP/1, los párrafos 1 a 10.

PARAGRAPHS 1 TO 10
PARAGRAPHES 1 A 10
PARRAFOS 1 A 10

EL PRESIDENTE ¿Ningún comentario sobre los párrafos 1 a 10?

Paragraphs 1 to 10 approved
Les paragraphes 1 à 10 sont approuvés
Los párrafos 1 a 10 son aprobados

PARAGRAPH 11, INCLUDING DRAFT RESOLUTION
PARAGRAPHE 11, Y COMPRIS LE PROJET DE RESOLUTION
PARRAFO 11, INCLUIDO EL PROYECTO DE RESOLUCION

EL PRESIDENTE: Pasamos ahora al párrafo 11 que contiene el proyecto de Resolución sobre cuyo texto total es necesario adelantar una votación nominal, o sea, llamar a los países por sus nombres, y para la cual se requieren dos tercios de los votos.

Voy a pasar la palabra al Secretario para que explique la modalidad de esa votación.

LE SECRETAIRE GENERAL: Nous arrivons donc au vote sur l'amendement de l'Acte constitutif et le Règlement général.

L'Article XX-1 de l'Acte constitutif stipule que la Conférence peut à la majorité des deux tiers des suffrages exprimés amender le présent Acte. Cette majorité doit néanmoins être supérieure à la moitié du nombre total des Etats Membres de l'Organisation.

Selon l'Article XII-7(a) du Règlement général, un vote par appel nominal a lieu si une majorité des deux tiers est requise en vertu d'un Acte constitutif.

L'Article XII-3(c) du Règlement général stipule que lorsque, en vertu de l'Acte constitutif, une décision doit être prise par la Conférence à la majorité des deux tiers, le nombre total des suffrages exprimés pour ou contre doit être supérieur à la moitié du nombre des Etats Membres de l'Organisation.

Il faut donc en l'occurrence que le nombre de voix pour et contre qui vont être émises soit d'au moins 81. Le Secrétariat doit maintenant informer le Président du nombre de délégués présents dans la salle.

J'informe le Président que mes collègues me signalent qu'il y a au moins 102 délégations dans la salle.

Selon l'Article XII-7(a) du Règlement général, le vote par appel nominal se fait de la manière suivante: le vote par appel nominal se fait en appelant dans l'ordre alphabétique anglais les noms de tous les pays des Etats Membres ayant le droit de prendre part au vote en commençant par un Etat, tiré au sort par le Président. L'Etat qui a le privilège d'être le premier votant est donc la Turquie. Le vote doit commencer par la Turquie. Je précise que le représentant de chaque Etat Membre, à l'appel de son nom devra répondre par oui, non ou abstention. A l'issue du vote, il sera procédé à un nouvel appel de tous les Etats Membres dont les délégués ou représentants n'auraient pas répondu au premier appel. Le vote de chaque Etat Membre prenant part à un vote par appel nominal est consigné au procès-verbal.

EL PRESIDENTE: Ruego a la Secretaría que proceda a llamar a los países a partir del Estado que ha sido sorteado como primero.

Vote
Vote
Votación

RESULT SHEET / RESULTATS / RESULTATES

ROLL CALL VOTING

APEEL NOMINAL

VOTACION NOMINAL

Vote on

1st Vote sur

Votación para Amendment to the Basic Texts - Membership of Regional Economic Integration Organizations in FAO

Votes for Voix pour Votos favorables	107
Votes against Voix contre Votos en contra	0
Abstentions Abstentions Abstenciones	3
No reply Aucune réponse Ninquna respuesta	44

Number of votes cast

Nombre de suffrages exprimés

Número de votos emitidos

107

Majority required

Majorité requise

Mayoría requerida

ADOPTED
ADOPTEE

ACEPTADA

Date: 18 November 1991 Elections Officer B. Linley

Fonctionnaire electoral

El oficial de elecciones

RULE XII – 13(a) GRO

If a vote is equally divided on a matter other than an election, a second vote shall be taken at a subsequent meeting to be held not less than one hour after the conclusion of the meeting at which the equally divided vote occurred. If the second vote is also equally divided the proposal shall be regarded as rejected.

En cas de partage égal des voix lors d'un vote ne portant pas sur ime élection, on procède à un deuxième vote en cours d'une séance ultérieure, qui ne peut avoir lieu moins d'une heure après la fin de celle à laquelle s'est produit le partage égal de voix. Si les voix restent également partagées lors de ce second vote, la proposition est considérée comment repoussée.

Si hubiera empate en un asunto que no sea una elección, se repetirá la votación en una sesión subsiguiente la cual no deberá celebrarse hasta que haya transcurrido una hora, por lo menos, desde la conclusión de aquella en que se produjo el empate. Si en la segunda votación hubiera también empate se considerará rechazada la propuesta.

Session of the Conference ROLL CALL VOTING AND ISSUE OF BALLOT PAPER REPORT

26 Session de la Conférence APPEL NOMINAL ET DISTRIBUTION DE BULLETIN

Período de sesiones de la Conferencia VOTACION NOMINAL Y DISTRIBUCION DE PAPELETAS

Vote on

1st Vote sur Amendment to the Basic Texts - Membership of Regional Economic Integration Organizations in FAO

Votación para

MEMBERS

YES

ABS

MEMBERS

YES

ABS

MEMBERS

YES

ABS

Afghanistan

China

Germany

Albania

Colombia

Ghana

Algeria

Comoros

Greece

Angola

Congo

Grenada

Argentina

Cook Islands

Guatemala

Australia

Costa Rica

Guinea

Austria

Côte d'Ivoire

Guinea-Bissau

Bahamas

Cuba

Guyana

Bahrain

Cyprus

Haiti

Bangladesh

Czechoslovakia

Honduras

Barbados

D.P. Republic of Korea

Hungary

Belgium

Denmark

Iceland

Benin

Djibouti

India

Bhutan

Dominica

Indonesia

Bolivia

Dominican Republic

Iran (Islamic Rep. of)

Botswana

Ecuador

Iraq

Brazil

Egypt

Ireland

Bulgaria

El Salvador

Israel

Burkina Faso

Equatorial Guinea

Italy

Burundi

Estonia

Jamaica

Cameroon

Ethiopia

Japan

Canada

Fiji

Jordan

Cape Verde

Finland

Kenya

Central African Republic

France

Korea (Rep. of)

Chad

Gabon

Kuwait

Chile

Gambia

Laos

Session of the Conference ROLL CALL VOTING AND ISSUE OF BALLOT PAPER REPORT

26 Session de la Conférence APPEL NOMINAL ET DISTRIBUTION DE BULLETIN

Período de sesiones de la Conferencia VOTACION NOMINAL Y DISTRIBUCION DE PAPELETAS

Vote on

1st Vote sur Amendment to the Basic Texts - Membership of Regional Economic Integration Organizations in FAO

Votación para

MEMBERS

YES

ABS

MEMBERS

YES

ABS

MEMBERS

YES

ABS

Latvia

Nigeria

Swaziland

Lebanon

Norway

Sweden

Lesotho

Oman

Switzerland

Liberia

Pakistan

Syria

Libya

Panama

Tanzania

Lithuania

Papua New Guinea

Thailand

Luxembourg

Paraguay

Togo

Madagascar

Peru

Tonga

Malawi

Philippines

Trinidad and Tobago

Malaysia

Poland

Tunisia

Maldives

Portugal

Turkey

Mali

Qatar

Uganda

Malta

Romania

United Arab Emirates

Mauritania

Rwanda

United Kingdom

Mauritius

St. Kitts & Nevis

USA

Mexico

Saint Lucia

Uruguay

Mongolia

St. Vincent & Grenadines

Vanuatu

Morocco

Samoa

Venezuela

Mozambique

Saudi Arabia

Viet Nam

Myanmar

Senegal

Yemen

Namibia

Sierra Leone

Yugoslavia

Nepal

Solomon Islands

Zaire

Netherlands

Somalia

Zambia

New Zealand

Spain

Zimbabwe

Nicaragua

Sri Lanka

Niger

Sudan

Paragraph 11, including Draft Resolution, approved
Le paragraphe 11, y compris le projet de Résolution, est approuvé

El párrafo 11, incluido el proyecto de Resolución, es aprobado
EL PRESIDENTE: En mi lista tengo cuatro oradores que quieren intervenir: Brasil, México, Estados Unidos y Argentina.

Eduardo HERMANNY (Brazil): The Brazilian delegation would like to register the views of its Government concerning this Resolution.

First of all, let me stress once again that the Brazilian Government firmly supports the admission of the EEC in FAO, in the belief that its participation will surely contribute to strengthen FAO activities and initiatives. It was this positive attitude that led the Brazilian government to support this Resolution.

However, the understanding of my Government is that the form of this admission will have political implications for the whole multilateral system. As such, some technical and juridical aspects of the modifications in FAO Basic Texts must be deeply examined and clarified. The Brazilian delegation has participated in the working group led by the Honourable Ambassador Bula Hoyos, from Colombia, and expressed on several opportunities the points of views of the Brazilian Government.

Regarding Article II.3 as it was in the last text adopted by Commission III, the Brazilian Government thinks that the admission of Regional Economic Integration Organizations as a member in the same juridical category as countries is not the appropriate solution. The establishment of a juridical similarity, within FAO membership between REIOs and states, entities that are juridically so distant, may create an important precedent in the United Nations multilateral system that may have serious and unforeseen consequences.

The Brazilian Government fully agrees with the CCLM that, from a juridical point of view it would be more appropriate to admit REIOs in FAO as Member Organizations, as opposed to Member States, in order to reflect more precisely the sui generis kind of membership of REIOs.

With respect to Article II.4, the Brazilian Government believes that the final text and particularly the commentary included by proposal of Colombia after Article II.4 makes it very difficult for REIOs other than the EEC to apply to be admitted in FAO as a member. My Government is of the view that the eligibility criteria should be more flexible. The Brazilian Government also thinks that the text is already too restrictive. Therefore, any REIO that managed to fulfil the necessary requirements should have the right to be admitted in FAO, in the same way I am sure, the EEC will be. We will not accept further discrimination against REIOs.

Concerning paragraph 3 of Rule XLI, the Brazilian Government is of the opinion that its final text is not compatible with the principle of alternative rights of participation of Member Organizations. The most appropriate text would be one that gives the right to speak as a member to only one party, either the REIO or its Member States, but never both. Theintervention of the other party, if allowed, could be reflected in the report only in the same quality as interventions of observers. My

Government expects that the present text does not result in the REIO having an additional voice - in the case of the EEC, having 13 interventions of members reflected in the report. If this happens, the Brazilian Government reserves its position to reconsider this issue again the coming Conferences.

The Brazilian delegation requests that this declaration be included in extenso in the report of this Conference and taken into account in future discussions of this issue in FAO or other fora.

EL PRESIDENTE: Gracias al distinguido representante de Brasil por su explicación de voto que, como todas las demás, constará en la actas de esta Conferencia.

Ricardo VELAZQUEZ HUERTA (México): Agradezco el que usted me conceda el uso de la palabra para explicar el voto de mi delegación sobre este tema que, a nuestro juicio, es de enorme importancia.

Es nuestro pensamiento que los Textos Fundamentales fueron elaborados por los miembros fundadores con esmero y cuidado, de manera tal que recogieran con precisión los motivos de la constitución de la FAO, la manera de organizarse conforme a las exigencias de entonces y las reglas de comportamiento de sus miembros.

Sabemos que ahora estamos sujetos a una actividad dinámica en el ámbito de la economía y la política internacional y que ello obliga a la Organización a adecuarse a esos cambios. Mi país, en este contexto, ha propuesto a la Plenaria de la Conferencia, en la intervención que hiciera el jefe de mi delegación la semana pasada, que la Conferencia dé un mandato expreso al Comité del Programa para que elabore un documento propositivo, a la brevedad del caso, en donde precise opciones para definir el perfil que nuestra Organización habrá de tener en el futuro.

La admisión de las ORIE a la FAO mereció nuestro voto favorable, toda vez que sabemos con certeza que estas organizaciones enriquecen las actividades de la FAO.

Sin embargo, nos hubiera gustado ver en el documento de Resolución cuestiones que estimamos jurídicamente indispensables y que hemos planteado ya, lamentablemente sin éxito, en el seno de la Comisión III. La enmienda a que hiciera alusión el Presidente del Grupo ad hoc, Embajador Bula Hoyos, sirvió de texto conciliatorio que de alguna manera contiene lo que mi delegación ha planteado, pero que abre otras dudas que requerirán planteamientos nuevos que en su oportunidad mi delegación sacará a la luz en futuras deliberaciones.

Baste ahora señalar que la naturaleza jurídica de las ORIE y aquélla de Estado Miembro y de Miembro Asociado, es distinta y, por ende, requiere de un señalamiento en los Textos Fundamentales. Hubiera sido correcto que en el proyecto de Resolución, se expresara categóricamente el status de Miembro sui generis de las ORIE, y que, por cierto, no marcan ninguna distinción peyorativa, sino una afirmación de naturaleza legal. Nadie nos dio razones jurídicamente válidas para no incluir este concepto en la Resolución. Por otro lado, la segunda parte del inciso 260 del Informe de la Secretaría, contenido en el documento C 91/LIM/23, señala que: El

Consejo reiteró que la forma de admisión como Miembro para las organizaciones regionales de integración económica debe ser sui generis: convino en que esto requeriría precisar más la Constitución de la FAO en toda su extensión.

También era indispensable, a nuestro juicio, expresar con mayor claridad el contenido del inciso 2 del artículo XLI. Si bien el error de traducción señalado por el Consejero Legal trata de mejorar el texto, aún nos sigue preocupando profundamente el que antes de cada sesión, se aclare quién tendrá competencias específicas y quien ejercerá el derecho de voto, con respecto a los temas del orden del día. Es por ello que aprobamos la Resolución con reserva en estos dos puntos.

Es menester aclarar con todo énfasis que el propósito de mi delegación solamente es, en la tradición jurídica de mi país, precisar conceptos que pueden confundir a las generaciones futuras y no reflejar correctamente la voluntad de los países. Lo que hemos planteado lo hemos hecho buscando el mejor beneficio y la mayor claridad de ingreso de las ORIE a la FAO.

John KNOX (United States of America): By deciding to amend the Basic Texts to open membership in the FAO to regional economic integration organizations, we have taken an extremely important step in the life of this Organization.

We were asked to take this step because of the unique far-reaching nature of the economic integration taking place within the European Community. That integration has focused on the areas of food and agriculture. It is understandable that as the nations of the EC transfer more and more of their competence over food and agricultural matters to the EC, they would consider it desirable to have the EC take a more active role in the Food and Agriculture Organization.

At the June Council meeting, all delegations made clear that we had no objection to some sort of membership status for the EC, or for other regional economic integration organizations that might in the future demonstrate the same need for an increased role in the FAO. But it was also clear that the precise form of that status could not be easily determined. This point was graphically demonstrated by the Council's decision to pass on to this Conference draft amendments to the Basic Texts that contained as many as five variants for some provisions.

It is not surprising that the Council proposed so many variants. In determining how regional economic integration organizations might participate in the FAO, we were faced with many difficult questions, such as: What should the criteria for admission of REIOs be? How could an REIO and its members both exercise rights of membership in the FAO? How would other FAO Members know which, as between the REIO and its members, had competence on any given issue? And what effect would REIO membership in the FAO have on other organizations and agreements, such as the World Food Programme Committee on Food Aid?

The Council created a working group to resolve these questions. As the group began to address them, it became clear that the problems were even more complex than they first appeared. Indeed, it seemed at times that for every question we could answer, two more appeared, like the mythical hydra that Hercules had to kill as one of his seven labours.

Under these circumstances, my delegation believes that the amendments we have just adopted are remarkably successful. They solve the problems associated with REIO membership in logical and creative ways. My delegation feels that we all owe a debt of gratitude, in particular, to the distinguished Ambassador of Colombia, who played a truly Herculean role in the negotiations.

My delegation would like to take a few moments to discuss some of the most important provisions in the amendments.

At the outset, the amendments established the criteria an REIO must meet in order to apply. Article II.4 states that the REIO must be one to which its members had transferred competence over a range of matters within the purview of the [FAO]. The commentary makes clear that transfer of competence means that complete power with respect to that subject is transferred, and that no residual power remains with the Member States. As we have already noted, it is precisely this type of transfer of competence that has led to the EC to initiate their request for increased status. Only when an REIO has been given a part of its members' sovereignty over matters within the FAO's purview, so that its members are no longer able to act with respect to those matters, is there any real need for the REIO to have an increased status in the FAO.

Of course, as we all recognize, the EC is at the moment unique in having such competence. Nevertheless, the amendments wisely are not limited to the EC per se. On the contrary, by their terms they apply to all REIOs that are able to meet the criteria they set. At the moment, the EC is the only REIO that can meet the criteria; but in the future it is possible that other regional organizations will follow the EC down the road toward greater economic integration.

My delegation would also like to note that the amendments clearly state what an REIO's competence has to include: that is, the ability to take decisions binding on its member states, which includes the ability to enter into treaties. Again, this requirement is completely logical; indeed, it is difficult to see what competence might mean if not the ability to take binding decisions, including the ability to enter into treaties.

Perhaps the most fundamental provision in the amendments is Article II.8, which establishes the principle of alternative exercise of membership rights. That principle provides that a member organization shall only exercise the rights of membership within its competence, and only when its members do not exercise their rights. My delegation continues to believe that, as we stated at the June Council, this principle is the only possible basis for REIO membership in the FAO, since it ensures that such membership does not increase the rights possessed by the REIO and its members.

There are many specific applications of the principle throughout the amendments. For example, Article II.9 states that member organizations may participate in any meeting in which their members are entitled to participate, but that they cannot be elected or designated to any FAO body in their own right. Article 11.10 makes clear that either the REIO or its members, but never both, shall have the right to vote on a specific issue.

Another crucial group of amendments concerns the distribution of competence between the REIO and its members. The amendments make clear that, with respect to any specific issue, either the REIO or its members will have

competence. My delegation strongly believes that the other members of the FAO should always be able to know where competence lies on a particular issue.

We are therefore pleased to see that Rule XLI.l allows any member of the FAO to ask at any time a member organization and its members to state which of the two has competence with respect to any specific issue. We are also pleased that Rule XLI.2 requires the member organization or its members to state before any FAO meeting which, as between them, has competence with respect to the specific questions to be discussed at the meeting. Nor are FAO members left at a loss until they receive an answer, since Article II.6 establishes that until it is clear that the member organization has competence over a specific issue, FAO members are entitled to presume that the REIO's Member States continue to have competence over it.

These provisions are subordinate, however, to the most important way in which the FAO membership will know how competence is distributed between the EC and its members. Article II.5 requires the REIO, at the time of application, to submit a declaration specifying the matters in respect of which competence has been transferred to it by its Member States.

This requirement is critical in two ways. First, for the FAO to decide to admit the REIO, it is necessary to establish that it has competence over matters within the FAO's purview. Second, FAO members will rely chiefly on this declaration, rather than on the provisions cited above, to know where responsibility lies on particular issues.

For that reason, we await with great anticipation the declaration of competence to be submitted by the EC. We hope that it will be sufficiently detailed and clear to allow us to take affirmative action on their application at this Conference.

My delegation would like to note briefly that the step we have just taken, while important in the life of the FAO, will have limited effect on other organizations. As the FAO Legal Counsel made clear at the June Council meeting, membership by an REIO in the FAO will not entitle it to join other international organizations or agreements, even those that are open to accession to all Member States of UN specialized agencies.

Membership by an REIO in the FAO will, of course, open the door for it to participate in bodies, such as the World Food Programme Committee on Food Aid, run jointly by the FAO and other international organizations. But its participation will be necessarily limited to acting on behalf of its members. Article II.9 makes clear that it will not be eligible for election or designation to such bodies in its own right. In addition, we understand that the basic texts of those organizations will have to be appropriately amended to provide for participation by member organizations.

And, needless to say, member organizations will be eligible to participate in Article XIV agreements when those agreements provide for such participation.

Finally, my delegation would like to say something about the nature of the membership status of REIOs in the FAO. As many delegations have noted, member organizations will have a sui generis status in the FAO. The unique nature of their membership, clearly different from that of states, is made clear throughout the amendments we have just adopted.

We are sympathetic to the suggestion made by some delegations that the sui generis status should be made even clearer, perhaps by stating that REIOs join as member organizations, rather than members. We note that the CCLM stated that such a formulation would be legally clearer. But we share the view of the distinguished representative of the Philippines that the amendments already establish the unique status of member organizations, and make clear that they will participate on different terms than do Member States.

Carlos KELLER SARMIENTO (Argentina): Los países que viven o han vivido intensamente los procesos de modificar su Constitución, saben las enormes dificultades que entrañan cambiar un texto básico en su estructura institucional y democrática y los profundos debates internos que ello ocasiona en los que viven y tienen que vivir con un proyecto de vida en común como se llama a la Constitución, que orientó y protegió en sus derechos durante muchos años y aún muchos siglos.

Es realmente notable, que los países miembros de la FAO hayan logrado en menos de seis meses de conocidas las propuestas, modificar una Constitución que afecta, no solamente al pueblo de un país, sino a 151 Estados Miembros de la FAO. El haber logrado aunar tantas voluntades en tan poco tiempo, tiene un enorme mérito para esta institución y los Estados patrocinantes de estas enmiendas, pero dejan algunas dudas si esta decisión fue debida y exhaustivamente evaluada en todos sus alcances y consecuencias para el sistema de las Naciones Unidas.

La República Argentina hubiera deseado que, al producirse una modificación de tanta significación en los Textos Fundamentales de esta Organización, se hubiera podido contar con el consenso de todos los países miembros sobre el modo de enfocar las cuestiones principales involucradas en la reforma, a saber:

-	el estatuto de miembros que debía asignarse a las ORIE;
-	los criterios para su admisibilidad; y
-	la regulación del ejercicio rigurosamente alternativo de los derechos entre las ORIE y sus miembros.

Los textos aprobados, Sr. Presidente, no satisfacen plenamente los criterios que mi Gobierno cree que deberían gobernar la legislación aplicable al ingreso y a la participación de las ORIE en la vida de la FAO.

En primer lugar, no se crea en forma clara y precisa una nueva categoría, específica, de miembro, distinta de las de los Estados Miembros, sino que se asimila las ORIE a los Estados.

La República Argentina estima que ello se aleja de lo acordado por el Consejo de esta Organización en sus 98^o y 99^o períodos de sesiones y sienta un precedente de particular inquietud en todo el sistema de las Naciones Unidas.

En segundo lugar, la República Argentina estima inadecuado que el elemento justificatorio de esta reforma no haya sido incluido en el texto de la Constitución. Me refiero al hecho de que los Estados Miembros de las ORIE no posean más la facultad para actuar en determinadas áreas, como consecuencia de las transferencias de competencias. Irónicamente, dicho elemento, que debería constituir el fiel de la balanza, tanto para hacer

necesario el ingreso de una ORIE en nuestra Organización cuanto para establecer los parámetros y límites de su actuación en ella, ha quedado reducido a un comentario en el texto de una Resolución.

Debido tal vez a modificaciones de última hora de los textos, mi delegación observa que algunos de ellos pueden prestarse a interpretaciones ambiguas. En efecto, no escapará a usted ni a mis distinguidos colegas, que en algunas partes del texto se hable de transferencia de competencias mientras que en otras simplemente se menciona competencia o asuntos de su competencia. Estimamos que estas últimas expresiones quedan supeditadas a la interpretación que se da del Artículo II, párrafo 4, de la Constitución en el comentario incluido en la Resolución que acabamos de adoptar.

Permítame usted para finalizar, Sr. Presidente, augurar que la reforma constitucional que hoy se concreta traiga innumerables beneficios a esta, nuestra Organización, para un mejor y más eficiente cumplimiento de sus tareas en pos de los altos objetivos para los que fuera creada. No dudamos que el ingreso de las ORIE a la FAO contribuirá decisivamente a ello. Tenemos la esperanza que en el caso especifico de la CE, ésta responderá a las expectativas de todos los Miembros de la FAO, entre ellos la República Argentina, profundamente ligada a los países integrantes de la misma, no sólo por razones étnicas y culturales, sino también por intereses y proyectos comunes en el campo económico y de la cooperación.

Daniel D.C. DON NANJIRA (Kenya): Thank you very much Mr Chairman. A very important exercise has just taken place, Mr Chairman, of amending some parts of the Constitution and General Rules of FAO. Right from the beginning of the exercise just concluded I think the delegation made it quite clear that we would support the application of the EEC to the membership of FAO, provided that certain basic requirements were met, namely: one, that such admission would be applicable to any other regional economic integration organization that qualifies for such membership and seeks admission to the FAO; two, that such admission would not give the regional economic integration organization an additional vote to those already enjoyed or exercised by the individual Member States that form that regional organization; and three, that the transfer of competence as described in paragraph 4 of Article II of the FAO Constitution shall be specific and clear and avoid any disagreement in the future.

In talking to my delegations that have been involved in the exercise, Mr Chairman, that we have just concluded I have got the impression, and I hope I am not wrong, that the complexity of this issue would have required that the membership of FAO had more time to discuss and understand the implications of the exercise with a view to giving clear guidelines and instructions and advice to our governments back home.

Finally, Mr Chairman, which is not least, we in this delegation greatly appreciate the assistance that the EEC extends to Kenya, and we look forward Mr Chairman, to benefiting from the experience that the EEC will be bringing to the FAO.

I want to hasten to add my belief, Mr Chairman, that any other qualifying regional economic integration organization will likewise enrich the work of this organization in FAO and when such applications, Mr Chairman, are

received, that they will be treated in a similar manner that has been given to the EEC.

I thank you very much Mr Chairman.

Arpád SZABO (Czechoslovakia): Mr Chairman, thank you for the floor. I shall be very brief.

On behalf of the Government of the Czech and Slovak Republic I have the honour to announce the satisfaction of my government with the results of the vote. Czechoslovakia took a constructive and active part in the activities of the CCLM and the working group established by the FAO Council and headed by you.

The Government of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic firmly believes that this change in membership of regional organizations in FAO will have a significant influence on the activities of the organization and will give a positive example to the other UN organizations working in a rapidly changing world.

Thank you for the floor.

Frederick Ch. PRILLEVITZ (Netherlands): Thank you, Mr Chairman. I will be brief because this is a statement on behalf of the European Community and its Member States, and I have not had a chance to coordinate it, so I will be as brief as possible.

I would like to express that the prevailing feeling among us members of the European Community is one of satisfaction with the vote which has just been taken. We do realize now that there is a sound basis for the European Community to consider the application for membership of these organizations, and that will be done these days in Brussels.

For the successful outcome of the whole process to amend the Basic Texts many players are responsible. In the first place, Mr Chairman, yourself and, in the second place, and I limit myself to the players on the podium, the Legal Counsel and his staff, Mr Moore.

We are especially grateful to them for what they have done in the different meetings, the active ones, the official ones, etc. And above all about what they have undertaken outside meetings in order to reach good results. Certainly, Mr Moore, I don't forget your difficulty and long negotiations with the representatives of the Commission of the European Community.

So, Mr Chairman, it was a long story, but it had a happy end. Thank you.

Eduardo HERMANNY (Brasil): Sr. Presidente, usted indicó que las declaraciones de voto serían reproducidas en las actas de la Conferencia. Mi delegación solicitó que la declaración de voto brasileña fuera incluida en el informe de la Conferencia.

EL PRESIDENTE: Creo que, de acuerdo con las prácticas vigentes, podemos atender la adecuada solicitud del distinguido delegado de Brasil de la siguiente manera: al pie de la Resolución aparecerá una nota en la cual se indicará que después de adoptarse la Resolución, se harían las explicaciones de voto que aparecen en las actas respectivas y en la parte del informe sobre este tema tratarán de recogerse en la medida de lo posible algunos de los aspectos de las explicaciones de voto que se han hecho esta tarde. Espero que esto le satisfaga.

Eduardo HERMANNY (Brasil): Me parece que no quedó muy clara esta cuestión. Usted ha dicho que habrá una nota en el informe mencionando qué países hicieron declaraciones de voto. Yo quería que usted me aclarara dónde se localizarían estas declaraciones de voto porque la de Brasil es importante para su Gobierno al igual del hecho de que quede reflejada en el informe.

EL PRESIDENTE: Creo que todos compartimos con usted, señor representante de Brasil, la importancia de su declaración, pero esperamos que usted igualmente diga que se han hecho otras y numerosas declaraciones de voto. Entonces, lo más indicado es poner una nota al pie de la Resolución señalando que se hagan las declaraciones de voto que aparecen en las actas respectivas. Sin embargo, si los representantes de Brasil y también de otros países que han hecho declaraciones de voto fueren tan gentiles de suministrarnos un resumen - repito, es mejor porque es imposible incluir textos demasiado extensos - podríamos ver la manera de que aparezcan reflejados en el informe sobre esta parte del tema 24.

Eduardo HERMANNY (Brasil): La delegación de Brasil intentará hacer un resumen de su declaración de voto de manera que éste esté incluido en el informe de esta Sesión Plenaria. Sin embargo, Sr. Presidente si la posición del Gobierno brasileño no está bien reflejada en el informe de la Conferencia, se reservará el derecho de hablar de nuevo sobre esta cuestión.

EL PRESIDENTE: Creo que todos reconocemos y respetamos el pleno derecho que tiene el representante de Brasil y todos los Estados Miembros para expresar y reiterar su opinión en este tema tan importante. Agradezco el ofrecimiento constructivo de preparar un resumen, pero tal vez también, como el Consejero Legal me sugiere, para atender la solicitud de Brasil y la posición de otros países que han hecho declaraciones de voto, podrían indicar los números de los párrafos de las actas donde aparezcan esas declaraciones de voto. Espero que esto pueda dar satisfacción a Brasil y a todos los demás.

Sidaty AIDARA (Sénégal): L'heure est tardive et il faut que le débat général se poursuive; je ne vais donc pas être long, je n'ai même pas l'intention de procéder ici à une explication de vote. Je voudrais tout simplement et très sincèrement remercier les membres du Bureau de la Conférence, la Commission III, ainsi que la Conférence générale qui ont bien voulu placer en ma personne et à travers ma personne, le Sénégal, en me confiant les responsabilités de Vice-Président de la Commission III et de Rapporteur de cette même Commission.

Je sais que je ne trahis pas ici le sentiment de mon collègue et ami du Maroc qui, pour des raisons indépendantes de sa volonté n'a pas pu se joindre à nous cet après-midi pour participer à la finalisation de l'exercice qu'ensemble nous avons entrepris en tant que rapporteurs. Je voudrais donc, en son nom comme en mon nom, remercier très sincèrement tous ceux qui de près ou de loin, nous ont apporté leur assistance dans l'élaboration du rapport que la Conférence nous a donné l'occasion de vous présenter. Ces remerciements vont spécialement à vous-même, M. le Président qui avez présidé le Comité des Etats Membres chargé d'examiner les amendements aux textes de base. Ces remerciements vont également au Président indépendant du Conseil qui tout au long de cet exercice nous a apporté son soutien moral et ses conseils. Ces remerciements vont également à M. Moore, le Conseiller juridique de notre Organisation qui depuis trois ans n'a ménagé aucun effort pour ce jour. Il a traversé, je le sais, des périodes difficiles mais ensemble nous avons pu mener ce travail à bon port. Je voudrais donc très sincèrement le remercier pour tout l'appui qu'il a constamment apporté aux organes délibérants de la FAO, au Comité des questions constitutionnelles et juridiques, au Conseil, au Comité que vous-même vous avez présidé à la Conférence elle-même.

S'il y a des louanges à faire aujourd'hui, je crois que M. Moore les mérite fort bien et je voudrais le féliciter très sincèrement pour la compétence dont il a fait preuve tout au long de cet exercice. Je remercie également son équipe qui est restée dynamique, soudée et compétente. Je voudrais aussi me féliciter de l'issue heureuse de cet exercice car, vous le savez, le Sénégal a toujours accordé une importance particulière à cette question. Nous l'avons amplement prouvé par notre participation à tous les niveaux du débat et surtout en nous portant auteurs de cette Résolution quand elle n'était encore qu'un projet au niveau de la troisième Commission.

Je sais que je ne lis pas dans votre pensée, M. le Président, mais je suis persuadé que vous direz quelques mots au nom des auteurs au sujet de cette Résolution quand elle n'était qu'un projet au niveau de la troisième Commission. Vous le savez, le mandat du Sénégal au Comité des questions constitutionnelles et juridiques va se terminer avec cette Conférence. Le Sénégal sera remplacé par un autre pays africain au sein de cette instance importante. Il y a quelques années, c'est un comité qui passait pratiquement inaperçu, mais il a acquis au cours des années une importance fondamentale et je crois que l'exercice auquel nous avons procédé aujourd'hui montre encore une fois la vitalité et le dynamisme de cet organe important de notre Organisation.

Je voudrais aussi saisir cette occasion pour remercier tous mes collègues du Comité des questions constitutionnelles et juridiques qui m'ont apporté tout leur concours, toute leur compréhension pour nous permettre de bien participer aux travaux de cet organe.

Je voudrais enfin former le voeu que l'admission des OUER au sein de notre Organisation, admission qui constitue à n'en pas douter une avancée importante dans le développement du droit international puisse donner une nouvelle occasion à la FAO comme à l'ensemble du système des Nations Unies de renforcer et de consolider la coopération et la solidarité internationales.

Eduardo HERMANNY (Brasil): La delegación de Brasil quería completar su última intervención con relación a la cuestión de reflejar nuestra posición en el informe.

La delegación de Brasil va a trabajar en colaboración con el Secretariado para ver cómo será incluido un resumen de la posición brasileña y una referencia a pie de página.

Yo quería informar solamente, Sr. Presidente, que mi delegación consultará a su Gobierno para saber si de esta manera considera satisfactoriamente refejada la posición del mismo sobre la materia.

EL PRESIDENTE: Gracias distinguido Ministro Eduardo Hermanny, del Brasil. Todos comprendemos y respetamos la posición de su Gobierno y trataremos de darle la mayor satisfacción posible.

Señores delegados, si no hay ningún otro comentario, creo que todos debemos de reconocer que la nutrida participación de ustedes en la votación del proyecto de Resolución y en el debate de esta tarde confirman el alto sentido de responsabilidad con que los representantes de todos los gobiernos se han abocado al estudio de esta cuestión. Pienso que hoy hemos dado un paso realmente histórico y profundamente innovador. La Conferencia, el máximo organismo de la FAO, ha decidido introducir enmiendas a la Constitución y al Reglamento General, en virtud de las cuales, en adelante, las organizaciones regionales de integración económica que reúnan los criterios de elegibilidad establecidos podrán entrar a ser miembros de la FAO. Estoy seguro de que, como lo han dicho muchos de ustedes, somos conscientes de las importantes repercusiones que la decisión de esta tarde tendrá en el futuro de las actividades y de la vida de la FAO y posiblemente en todo el sistema de las Naciones Unidas.

A través de mi intensa participación en todo este proceso, he sido testigo de la manera constante y eficaz con que se ha trabajado, al igual que el Dr Edouard Saouma, Director General de la FAO, que se ha preocupado por que las conclusiones de este tema correspondan a la manera ordenada y seria como debe seguirse cumpliendo la función de nuestra Organización dirigida con acierto por el Director General.

Gracias también a mi vecino de la derecha, Presidente Independiente del Consejo, organismo que se ocupó de manera muy seria y profunda de esta materia.

Mi reconocimiento a nuestro Consejero Legal, Dr. Gerald Moore, y no sabría nunca como expresárselo porque él ha sido realmente artífice fundamental de todo este resultado positivo que hoy celebramos complacidos.

Confiemos en que el ingreso de las organizaciones regionales de integración económica de países desarrollados y en desarrollo como miembros de la FAO contribuirá a promover el diálogo y a estimular el intercambio de experiencias y opiniones, cuyo resultado deberá ser el fortalecimiento de la FAO, a fin de que nuestra Organización siga trabajando cada vez mejor y de manera más eficiente a favor de todos los Estados Miembros, particularmente de aquéllos que están en vías de desarrollo.

Con mi agradecimiento reiterado a mi colega y amigo Samuel Fernández, Presidente de la Comisión III, declaro concluida la discusión sobre el tema 24.

Señores les ruego que permanezcan en la sala como habíamos dicho antes. Es necesario concluir esta tarde el debate general que habíamos suspendido.

GENERAL DISCUSSION (continued)
DEBAT GENERAL (suite)

DEBATE GENERAL (continuación)

-	STATEMENTS BY HEADS OF DELEGATIONS (continued)
-	DECLARATIONS DES CHEFS DE DELEGATION (suite)
-	MANIFESTACIONES POR LOS JEFES DE LAS DELEGACIONES (continuación)

Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP), World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), African National Congress of South Africa (ANC), International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)

MFANASEKAYA GQOBOSE (Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC)): Mr Chairman, allow me on behalf of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) of South Africa to congratulate you, the three Vice-Chairmen and other Member Nations here present which have been elected to serve with you at this Twenty-sixth FAO Session. With your renowned efficiency in dealing with occasions of this kind my delegation is certain that the work of this Conference will be a success.

Mr Chairman, I wish also to pay tribute to the Government and people of Italy for their kind hospitality in providing excellent facilities for us as delegates attending this Conference.

I may also, Mr Chairman, heartily mention the appreciation of my delegation for the manner in which His Holiness, the Pope received the FAO Delegations at the Vatican. It was the most gracious and dignified event indeed. We are extremely grateful for the time His Holiness spent with us.

Mr Chairman the two-yearly conferences of FAO are important and useful occasions for us, the National Liberation Movements, because it is at this time that we can express our appreciation of the technical assistance FAO continues to give to us.

Mr Chairman, as far as PAC is concerned we have benefited a great deal from FAO in different directions especially in self-reliance in food production, livestock development and in agricultural training in general.

At the PAC farm in Tanzania where the Government allocated land to us for self-reliance purposes we have converted 500 acres of bush into farm land where we now cultivate rice, maize, sorghum, cowpeas, pineapples, bananas, palm trees and oranges. In the remaining space from the 1 000 acres of land allocated to us we have introduced livestock development in the form of cattle, goats, pigs and poultry. We are utilizing agricultural scholarships to train our members in various fields of agriculture and veterinary science. In all these undertakings we benefit from the advice of FAO

expertise where at present we have at our farm one expert and also one UNV person. We also have the benefit of FAO personnel from time to time visiting our farm from FAO Headquarters in Rome. PAC is guided in its tasks by its policy of self-reliance in which we derive great encouragement from Tanzania because of its own policy of socialism and self-reliance.

At present we are capable of producing every year about 500 tons of food grains, about 15 000 kilogrammes of poultry meat and about 650 000 units of eggs every season. When fully developped the farm will produce the following quantities of foodstuffs per annum: 1 600 kilogrammes of foodgrains; 56 000 kilogrammes of poultry meat; 14 000 kilogrammes of beef; 25 000 litres of milk; and 1 500 000 units of eggs.

FAO assistance is complemented by other on-going external assistance to the PAC. This assistance is as follows: UNDP/FAO project that provides professional agricultural expertise, training, from inputs and equipment; UNIDO project that provides technical assistance in maintenance and repair of agriculture and vehicle equipment; UNHCR project that provides some agricultural equipment and medicines and medical equipment; Nigerian Government project that provided funds for the construction of the health centre; the Netherlands Government project that provided funds for the construction of the agricultural workshops; Norwegian Government project for the construction and repair of the access road to the PAC settlement; Indonesian Government project for the construction of the recreation and dining hall complex within the settlement; Malaysian Government project for medical equipment and medicines; UNICEF project for medical equipment and medicines; French NGO project for rice harvesting equipment; Tanganyika Christian Refugee Service project for the construction of a water supply system inside the PAC farms settlement; Swiss Aid NGO project for the additional water supply inside the PAC farm settlement.

At present, a project has been submitted to the EEC for additional farm equipment, construction of additional poultry sheds, piggery sheds and cow sheds. Thus to a very large extent the PAC has benefited from all these international bodies but most of the credit must go to FAO for the assistance and advice which it gave to PAC at a place which was nothing more that bush land. We are hopeful that this assistance and advice will continue so that when we return to our country we shall have acquired a number of qualifications and skills in various fields such as agronomy, livestock development, veterinary science, irrigation and in general agricultural training.

The political situation in our country is still far from certain in spite of the so-called new dispensation under the white minority racist regime. In fact the institutionalization of racist apartheid is still intact. Only very insignificant so-called changes have taken place and these are designed to deceive the international community while racism still remains intact. The only significant change that can take place in racist South Africa is when a new constitution is in place which has been brought about by means of a constituent assembly elected on the basis of one man one vote in a common voters' role in a unitary state. The white minority racist regime which has the monopoly of political, economic and military power refuses to engage in the constituent assembly exercise. Instead it wants to engage in some form of power-sharing exercise in which it is, itself, the referee, the player, the linesman and the scorekeeper. Consequently, it is obvious that the liberation of the oppressed and exploited people of our country is still very far off.

Under these circumstances of uncertainty and even of danger in our country the PAC pleads for the continuation of FAO assistance and encouragement for a period not less than 3-5 years at least while the racist South African situation is being monitored.

Lastly, the PAC is not forgetting our people as a whole inside our country who are under oppression. They need various forms of assistance to alleviate their plight. Now that the two national liberation movements have been unbanned some members of these movements may wish to return to their country and perform some of the activities for which they have been trained. In this way they will not only be of assistance to themselves but to the people as a whole in our country. Furthermore there may also be an occasion when the FAO itself may be allowed to operate inside our country. When such time arrives the PAC would plead with FAO to continue to assist members of these liberation movements in whatever activities they will be engaged in within the country for the benefit of the disadvantaged people of our country as a whole.

EL PRESIDENTE: Gracias. Tres oradores han entregado sus textos a la Secretaría: Director del Centro de Desarrollo Rural Integrado para Asia y el Pacífico, Representante de la Federación Sindical Mundial y Representante del Congreso Nacional Africano.

Entiendo que la Conferencia no tiene inconveniente en que esos textos se incluyan en las actas.

Shamsul A.T.M. HAQUE (Director, Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP)): Honourable Chairman, Mr Director-General, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates and Observers, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my privilege to convey to you on behalf of the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific, commonly known as CIRDAP, greetings, and good wishes for the success of this Conference. I am thankful to the Director-General of FAO for inviting me to attend this Conference as an observer.

CIRDAP was set up in July 1979 as a regional intergovernmental and autonomous organization, by the countries of the Asia-Pacific region at the initiative of FAO and with support from the concerned UN agencies and donors. Its headquarters are in Dhaka, Bangladesh. At present there are 11 member countries of CIRDAP - five from South Asia, namely, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and six from South-East Asia, namely, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. A number of other countries of the Asia-Pacific region such as Bhutan, People's Republic of China, DPR Korea, Maldives, Myanmar, Republic of Korea and some Pacific Island nations like Papua New Guinea, Western Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu, although not yet members of CIRDAP, participate in the activities of the Centre. It is my pleasure to inform you that CIRDAP and AARRO (Afro-Asian Rural Reconstruction Organization) have started implementing rural development projects in some African countries like Kenya.

CIRDAP, whose creation coincided with the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (WCARRD), aims at promoting exchange of experience and know-how in agrarian reform and rural development among its

member countries in line with the programme of action developed by WCARRD. The Centre has been actively participating in the WCARRD follow-up actions in Asia-Pacific region. The main objectives of CIRDAP are to assist national action, promote regional cooperation and act as a servicing institution for its member countries with respect to Integrated Rural Development (IRD).

CIRDAP's programme of work is based on four areas of concern determined by the Centre's Governing Council at the level of the Ministers-in-Charge of the Contact Ministries in the member countries. These are: agrarian development, institutional and infrastructural development, resource including human resource development, and employment. The Centre conducts its activities through a network of link institutions in its member countries.

CIRDAP's activities relate to the fields of research, action research, training, and documentation and information dissemination. The research projects of CIRDAP deal with key issues of rural development in general, and of integrated rural development in particular. Some of the research studies carried out in recent years cover areas such as rural women in development, small-scale farming, cooperatives, agrarian reform, landlessness, impact of technology on the rural poor, small-scale irrigation, rural industries and impact of decentralization.

More and more emphasis is now being given on action-oriented programmes. CIRDAP's action research projects are intended to combine theory with practice in the formulation of innovative experimental projects in rural development for improvement of the conditions of the poor and disadvantaged groups. The major action research projects undertaken in the recent past relate to rural women in fishing communities, community participation in IRD through Community Information and Planning System (CIPS), social forestry in IRD, basic needs and ecology, model villages in rural development and comprehensive population and family planning in IRD.

CIRDAP organizes regional, sub-regional and in-country training programmes, seminars and workshops on different aspects of rural development, mainly in collaboration with the national IRD centres. Since 1986, CIRDAP has been offering regular training courses on Training Methodology, Preparation and Analysis of Rural Development Projects, and Monitoring and Evaluation Methods and Techniques in Rural Development. CIRDAP organized an international workshop on Integrated Approach to Disaster Management and Regional Development Planning with People's Participation in collaboration with UNCRD in the year 1990. It is envisaged that this workshop will be followed by a number of seminars and workshops which will continue up to 1993. A policy seminar on Poverty Alleviation through Agricultural Projects was also organized in collaboration with ADB and EDI of the World Bank in 1990. This seminar was attended by representatives of CIRDAP member countries and many non-member countries of the region.

The documentation and information activities of CIRDAP are geared to developing and maintaining a data base of information on IRD activities to facilitate improved planning and management of IRD projects in the CMCs. CIRDAP has recently initiated a project for video documentation of success stories on rural development. The Centre has started publishing a six-monthly journal entitled Asia-Pacific Journal of Rural Development which

aims at addressing topical issues relating to rural development in the Asia-Pacific region. CIRDAP also arranged an expert consultation on Regional Perspective of IRD in the 1990s: State of the Art Scenario through Selected Indicators in October 1991.

It will not be out of place to mention here that since its inception in 1979, CIRDAP has conducted 126 projects for the benefit of its member and non-member countries. These comprise 46 research, 13 action research, 51 training and 16 documentation projects. Quite a few of these projects relate to some of the major agenda items of this Conference, namely, environment and sustainable development, forestry, integration of women in agricultural and rural development, and people's participation. Bilateral and multilateral donors are reposing more and more confidence in CIRDAP and providing greater support to its programmes and projects. Donor contribution to programmes and projects of CIRDAP has almost doubled in the last five years.

FAO and the Government of Japan have been supporting CIRDAP since its inception. The Centre is undertaking collaborative programmes, among others, with the Commonwealth Secretariat, Economic Development Institute (EDI) of the World Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Asian Development Bank (ADB), IDRC, UNCRD, UNFPA and Government of the Netherlands.

The next meeting of the CIRDAP Governing Council due to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 9-10 January 1992, is going to be attended by a number of Ministers from the member countries. Some observers from non-member countries intending to become members and international organizations are also likely to attend.

In conclusion, let me quote extracts from a letter written by Mr Edouardo Saouma, Director-General, FAO, on 7 March 1990 in reply to a letter from the Chairman of the Governing Council of CIRDAP. The Director-General wrote: FAO has a long-standing interest in the work of CIRDAP, and we are pleased with the appreciation expressed by the recent CIRDAP Governing Council on the technical assistance and support provided by the Organization. I am confident that... the collaboration between CIRDAP and FAO in the field of rural development in Asia and the Pacific will continue to develop effectively to the benefit of member countries in the region.

Thank you all, Ladies and Gentlemen.¹

Mrs. Zdeñka INTRUCHOVA (World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU)): Established in 1945, it has now affiliated organizations (mostly national trade union centres) in 89 countries on all continents.

The WFTU, as an international organization of workers organized in trade unions, maintains its independence from governments, political parties and employers. It focuses its concern and action on the specific and general

^{__________________________}

¹Statement inserted in the Verbatim Records on request.

interests of all categories of wage earners, it intervenes for a solution to the problems facing all humanity with regard to social progress, it acts for the unity of trade unions at all levels.

The main objectives of all WFTU activities are as follows: struggle against all forms of exploitation and for dignified living and working conditions of all workers; for the right to work, adequate social security and education for all; for the establishment of a new, just international economic order; for the defence and development of workers' and trade union rights and freedoms; for the achievement of social, economic and political democracy; for international understanding, disarmament and the establishment of a just and lasting peace.

The WFTU makes every effort to organize, inspire and coordinate international workers' solidarity and seeks cooperation with other international democratic organizations. It has a Consultative Status of the highest category with ECOSOC, ILO, FAO, UNESCO, UNCTAD, UNICEF and UNIDO.

The following WFTU Regional Offices have been established: for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo; for Asia and the Pacific in New Delhi, India; for Latin America and the Caribbean in Havana, Cuba, and for Middle East in Damascus, Syria.

The WFTU closely cooperates with 11 Trade Union Internationals (TUIs) which group together the organizations of workers according to their respective industries.

The Trade Union International of Agricultural, Forestry and Plantation Workers, founded in 1949, is the largest trade union organization in terms of membership within the framework of the WFTU.

Since the last FAO Conference in 1989, we have witnessed tremendous changes of far-reaching importance that have had a serious impact both on the world situation in general and the food and agriculture in particular.

A deep analysis of the current changes and problems which are now at the centre of attention of this Conference, has been made in the reports and documents of the Presidential Council of the WFTU, meeting a month ago in Vienna. We hope that the following points highlighted by our analysis might be of interest to FAO.

The World has to congratulate itself on the opening towards democratic advance, creating possibilities to live without a military confrontation and to reduce, at least, the burden of huge arms expenditures and to transfer these resources to human needs.

At the same time, rapid developments in the recent period have dramatically changed the correlation of forces in the world, opening the door to unstable situations and uncertainties. New sources of confrontation have surfaced, bringing unforeseen hostilities and even bloodshed to unsuspecting and peaceful societies.

The disillusion with the old idols turned into media-induced beliefs in new miracles raise unprecedented hopes which are already being betrayed.

None of these developments could leave us indifferent. Nevertheless, it is too early to embark upon a historical analysis of all these upheavals or to draw conclusions from them. However, we feel that the main criterion to judge the results of the changes occurring throughout the world should be as simple as that: Will the lives of billions improve or deteriorate?

For the time being, there are still some 500 million people malnourished worldwide and 15 million dying each year from malnutrition and related diseases. The global recession and the economic decline in various sectors, countries and regions have severe social consequences - in particular, the very high levels of unemployment and serious decline in living standards of working people. According to World Bank predictions, output per head in Eastern Europe may not recover to 1989 level until 1996. Prospects for a major recovery in the other industrialized countries are still quite feeble. The investment climate continues to be affected by the unstable conditions in capital markets. For most developing countries, the 1980s constituted a lost decade and the global economic problems at the beginning of the 1990s further complicate their development crisis.

The world therefore needs a determined effort to find better ways to deal with the current economic challenges and resume growth. We believe that this need should animate the FAO Conference to put forward a bold programme of action to hasten recovery and to accelerate rural development, on the basis of realistic development strategies and international and regional economic cooperation.

The World Federation of Trade Unions, the Agricultural TUI and their affiliates in all continents reiterate their full support to all efforts to promote such a cooperation.

In this context, the United Nations and all its specialized agencies are increasingly recognized as an irreplaceable forum to review situations, to propose solutions and to help with their implementation. In particular, FAO's vital role in averting potential dangers of the present development and assuring that its human dimensions be taken into consideration, has never been so apparent.

The fact that the Plan of Action on People's Participation has been included into the agenda of this very Conference only illustrates FAO's constant efforts to bring about genuine involvement of the people in the formulation and implementation of rural development plans.

In all its efforts, FAO is assisted by the whole community of nongovernmental organizations, among which the trade unions have, or should have, an exclusive place. This has been confirmed once more in July, during the Twelfth Biennial Consultation between FAO and International Trade Union Organizations. We consider the Consultation as a useful mechanism for dialogue and exchange of views and experience which is beneficiary to millions of our affiliates living and working in rural areas all over the world. We therefore fear that it would be a great loss and waste of all already invested efforts if the Consultation were to be discontinued, especially at a time of the launching of the People's Participation Plan of Action, which foresees a special role for rural people's organizations.

As we attach an utmost importance to this Plan, we have submitted to the Conference a Memorandum dealing specifically with our observations and recommendations concerning the Draft.

We have also presented our position towards the planned International Conference on Nutrition, in the hope that it will contribute to finding final solutions to the problems of hunger and malnutrition.

Our organizations also support the proposals for more effective intervention by FAO on questions of environment and sustainable development. The export of pollution to developing countries and the lack of effective legislation to control are now matters of deep concern, demanding concerted international action.

However, the problem of sustainable development arises not only in relation to the environment. Many structural adjustment measures and the social regression they have induced are now seen as unsustainable and harmful to development. Development policies should take into account the specific situations and problems of the different countries. It would be incorrect to impose, as is being done now, uniform adjustment measures, without taking into account the capacity of countries to implement them. Choice of ownership and management of productive resources should be decided entirely on efficiency and productivity and not on ideological considerations. The trade unions do not believe in the infinite capacity of the market forces to regulate themselves. A certain amount of State regulation is now recognized as legitimate and necessary. This is particularly indispensable to safeguard the interests of the small farmers and rural workers, their organizations and demands, as envisaged in the WCARRD Programme of Action.

At any rate, it has to be ensured that new agrarian policies, introduced in Eastern European countries in their transition from a centrally planned to a market economy, should not allow any departure from the principles contained in the Declaration of Principles and the Programme of Action adopted by WCARRD. It is apprehended that the small farmers and rural workers may become particularly vulnerable if they are not fully protected from unfair exploitation by the highly-organized agro-industrial sectors and particularly those run by the agri-business transnational corporations. The need for a Code of Conduct to regulate the activities of the TNCs becomes particularly important in this context.

As Mr Saouma rightly stressed in his statement to the June FAO Council, it is the solidarity and cooperation which have to govern all our activities in these difficult times.

It was precisely under the very heading of solidarity and cooperation that the WFTU organized, in November 1990, the Twelfth World Trade Union Congress, with the following theme of its discussion: Trade Union Strategies for the 1990s - a democratic alternative in the interests of workers and humankind through trade union dialogue and action.

We are, therefore, satisfied to see that our main goals, determined at the Congress by the representatives of more than 400 million trade union members, coincide with those of FAO, as defined in the major programme areas of the Medium-Term Plan and the Programme of Work and Budget for 1992-93, to be adopted by this Conference.

As international trade union organizations enjoying the highest Consultative Status with FAO, we are convinced that the driving forces behind future success of all development programmes will be the plurality

of thoughts and ideas, and the implementation of genuine democracy to formulate and organize common, concerted and parallel action where every person counts.

In this sense, FAO, whose Conference is now called upon to take decisions of far reaching importance, should play a decisive role within its areas of competence, in ensuring that the new developments encompass justice and equality, that human rights and peace form the basis of the new consensus among nations.

The WFTU and its affiliated organizations will, therefore, spare no effort in strengthening their cooperation with FAO in order to achieve our common priority aim: a world of economic and social progress fit for all to live in.¹

Ms Bonjiwe NJOBE (African National Congress of South Africa): Mr Chairman, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen. On behalf of my organization, the African National Congress of South Africa, I wish to take this opportunity to express our profound gratitude to the FAO for its longstanding support to the South African liberation struggle and in particular for our presence at this Twenty-sixth Session.

The relationship between the African National Congress and FAO dates back several years. In the initial years the relationship was founded and formulated primarily on the basis of joint interest in the eradication of apartheid. It is very important that I make this point, on the light of ongoing political events in South Africa, particularly those leading up to and flowing after the well-recorded speech by President de Klerk on the 2 February 1990.

Mr Chairman, whilst the intent of my input is to focus on land and agricultural policy-related issues in South Africa, it goes without saying that in this particular instance it will be important to put that focus into the current political context. It is in the light of this fact Mr Chairman, that I would like to very briefly outline the current political processes in South Africa for the information of this meeting.

The unbanning of the political organizations in February last year and the signing of the two minutes raised expectations of most of our friend abroad that a speedy resolution was on the way. This has not been so. The South African Government has been trying to stall the process of making irreversible changes, in an attempt to secure the interests of its own constituency. The violence which has been perpetuated has resulted in the loss of many lives. The return of exiles has not been smooth. The signing of the Peace Accord was a significant step taken which now necessitates great effort to ensure it is operative.

The Patriotic Front Conference was not just a historic event, but it confirmed the unity of the patriotic forces on the need for the establishment of an interim goyernment which will steer the process of transition to a democratic non-racial non-sexist South Africa.

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¹ Statement inserted in the Verbatim Records on request.

At the end of this month, the All Party Conference will be held at the initiative of the Patriotic Front. It is envisaged to last no more than 6 months and will address issues like: the climate for free political participation; general Constitutional principles; the constitution making body/process; interim government/transitional arrangements; the future of the TBVC States; the role of the international community, if any; time frames; and any other items which may be decided upon at the Conference.

The initiative is on the side of the democratic organizations. The state can and should no longer play referee and player. The ANC envisages the interim government lasting no more than two years.

Mr Chairman, in the light of the aforesaid it is clear that this implies a change in the nature of the relationship between the ANC and FAO now and in the future. In reexamining how best to transform the nature of the relationship, it becomes crucial to share with you some of the areas of concern facing the African National Congress pertaining specifically to the field of agriculture, rural development and environmental issues.

The history of the struggle of the majority of the people of South Africa is rooted to a very large extent in the history of the wars of conquest and the systematic dispossession of the South African blacks of their land. The enactment of the 1913 Natives Land Act was, but a confirmation in law of the taking away of land from blacks and a means of ensuring that they would not have a right equal to that of whites in terms of ownership of land. As a result Mr Chairman, more than 87 percent of the land surface area in South Africa was protected in law for the benefit, ownership and use by a small number of whites, purely on the basis of racial divisions, whilst the black majority were not only denied the same rights, but, were in subsequent years, turned tenants, and farm labourers in the land of their birth.

At the beginning of this calendar year, the racial terms of land ownership in South Africa were removed from the South African law. Whilst the ANC welcomed the scrapping of the Land Act and the Group Areas Act, we feel it is not enough. We feel that before one can declare a free market in land in South Africa, it is important to address the far-reaching consequences of the apartheid system. As the situation now stands, in South Africa, only those with enough money and a proven ability to farm productively can buy land for agricultural purposes. This clearly does not benefit the millions of men and women who live in abject poverty in the rural areas of the country. The process does not begin to address the legacy of our history, nor does it lay the ground for the development of a non-racial agricultural sector.

The African National Conference at its National Conference in July 1991, adopted as a guiding document a Land Manifesto, which embodies principles established through popular participation which stress the need for a fundamental land reform. I will not go into detail on this document as it is readily available. The ANC, Mr Chairman, sees the creation of access to land for the millions of landless blacks as a first step towards the reconstruction of South African agriculture.

The majority of the people in South Africa, who are blacks, live in extreme poverty, and starvation without access to the most basic of human needs.

South African Agriculture has a dual character. One sector is largely white, about 580 000 farmers covering over 84 percent of the country's surface area. Of this area about 10 percent is held by companies. There has been in the last 20 years a notable decline in the number of individual white farmers. It has been found that the company held farms are relatively more productive.

The other sector is black and mainly subsistence production is carried out here. The areas are characterized by overcrowding, maladministration and land hunger. Over the years the capacity of black rural producers has been destroyed and instead turned them into labourers and tenants.

South African agriculture policy is and has always been formulated and applied along racial lines as demanded by the grand apartheid policies. This skewed nature of production and development has resulted in inefficient production and environmental degradation of enormous proportions. The ANC believes the development of a productive agricultural sector and dynamic rural sector is necessary for the well being of a future South Africa. There is therefore a need for a comprehensive land reform programme which not only creates access to land for the blacks, but also: affords rural development priority within the context of a national development policy; ensures the growth, sustainability and increased productivity of the agricultural sector of the economy; ensures a comprehensive agricultural support structure, as a basis for the development of a viable farming sector, this should be in particular to enable fuller participation by resource-poor farmers, including collectives and cooperatives; ensures that the women of South Africa shall have access in their own right to land, support services and financing for agriculture; and that the environment, is protected for future generations.

Mr Chairman, this is clearly an enormous task facing the new government. More so, in the light of other equally pressing demands which face the country, like the need for housing, education, economic growth - to mention but a few.

The ANC seeks to transform the dual character of agriculture in South Africa. There is therefore a heavy responsibility on the ANC to formulate amongst others, a very clear policy on land and agriculture which will at best put in place sustainable agricultural production which will be self-sustaining.

FAO, in its years of international work has accumulated information and an experience that we would gladly like to take advantage of. Mr Chairman, the problems the ANC will have to deal with in the near future, are those that will entail much research and planning, technical expertise and experience, clear thought and analysis.

We see a primary focus of agricultural policy being to ensure household food security.

In concluding, Mr Chairman, I wish to once again thank you for the opportunity to make these remarks. Through you I wish to thank FAO for its continuing supportive relationship with us. The challenges before us are

enormous and I hope Mr Chairman our relationship will take them on and soon appropriately transform into one between FAO and a government that is truly representative of all the people of South Africa.¹

EL PRESIDENTE: Ahora vamos a cerrar el debate general con una nota agradable, femeninamente delicada, una dama, la Sra. Maria Teresa Guicciardi, representante de la Confederación Internacional de Organizaciones Sindicales Libres.

Mrs Maria Teresa GUICCIARDI (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions): This Conference takes place at a turning point in history. The dramatic developments in Central and Eastern Europe and the winds of change in Africa are at the centre of events which raise global expectations for a new social order and for a new era of international cooperation. At the root of these changes are the people who have had enough of being muzzled and made to bear the brunt of the misgovernment of the ruling few. It is important not to be mistaken about the real aim of change: It is a democratic society in which all forces and potentials it consists of are free to contribute to successful and sustainable development. The aim is not a free-market economy which will not guarantee social and economic security. It needs to be given a social dimension and a democratic framework. Centrally planned economies have failed. Structural adjustment measures from the drawing board and dictated from above do not work. In this context it is worth mentioning that even the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund recognized that social progress must be a central component of restructuring policy, and the people who call for change want the principal political and economic decision-makers to be held democratically accountable.

It is generally agreed here that a number of measures for the promotion of agricultural development, however difficult, have to be taken at the international level. We hope that a new political climate will lead negotiations towards fairer trade and solutions for the debt crisis. At the national level independent organizations of rural workers can provide an important means of increasing sustainable agricultural development, at no extra cost to public resources. Cooperatives, housing schemes, workers' banks, community projects and training centres are some of the benefits which can be provided by such organizations, in some countries operating as rural branches of trade unions. Governments must remove obstacles to the creation of rural worker's organizations, and ratify and commit themselves to respect ILO Convention 141 on Rural Workers' Organizations. Further priorities for rural sector development are infrastructural investments, in roads, railways and ports, storage facilities, environmental protection measures, water pumps, etc. Training, research, agricultural extension schemes and in some countries land reform are also essential.

With the processes of democratization the question of people's participation should get a mew impetus. The Plan of Action for People's Participation in Rural Development, which is before this Conference for adoption, is therefore certainly timely. People's participation in its largest sense should also be seen as basic to other subjects of the FAO

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¹ Statement inserted in the Verbatim Records on request.

agenda, be it environment and sustainable development, an agricultural development strategy for the least developed countries, the implementation of the code of conduct concerning pesticides, or nutrition to which an international conference will be devoted next year.

The ICFTU is an international organization representing a hundred million working people affiliated to autonomous trade union centres; IFPAAW which is associated with the ICFTU, organizes over six million agricultural and plantation workers world-wide. Both are by their vocation and structure an expression of the will of the working people - the largest part of any society - to participate in shaping socially and environmentally sound development. For us in the free trade union movement democracy and development have always been interdependent issues. But as closely interlinked are human and trade union rights with these objectives. None of the three can be attained without the other. A primary condition for participation is freedom of association which must be guaranteed as a fundamental human right by a framework of legislation guided by the Human Rights Bill and the standards set by ILO conventions and recommendations, which - this cannot be stressed enough - are negotiated on a tri-partite basis. Unfortunately, still too few countries have ratified Convention 141, and the conventions dealing with freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are often subject to violations. This is regrettably also true of other conventions relevant to the agricultural sector.

Some hope for progress was however generated by the African Charter for Popular Participation in Development and Transformation which does indeed demand freedom of association in general and the ratification of ILO Convention 141 in particular. The Charter was adopted in 1990 by the International Conference on Popular Participation in the Recovery and Development Process in Africa.

The Plan of Action before this Conference should distinguish more neatly between the two aspects of participation which should both be of concern to the FAO. One is the participation of representative people's organizations such as trade unions, in the overall economic and social development policy of a country, including rural development. The other one is the participation in the definition and in the implementation of projects - for instance at the local level by different groups of the rural population such as women or landless workers who form representative accountable organizations of their own voluntary choice from the local to the national level.

We would further wish to see a clear reference in the Plan of Action to the need for establishing ILO standards in the legal framework of a country and a reference to the experience of the ILO in assisting governments in making legal provisions for freedom of association and for tripartite structures. As a minimum the Plan should request governments to ratify Convention 141 together with Recommendation 149.

With regard to the internal capacities - this is the term used in the Plan of Action - of people's organizations, freedom of association means that they cannot be subject to any government or other third party interference - however well intentioned. The membership fees, for instance, fall solely under the authority of the membership itself and its elected decision-making and controlling bodies. Likewise, the acceptance of external funds for specific projects and not for the regular budget, is the

responsibility of the membership and the representative bodies designated by it and accountable to it. This must also come out clearly in the Plan of Action.

Summed up, the Plan's underlying message, spelled out in the appropriate parts of the text, should be: the exercise of freedom of association and expression is to be guaranteed by freely elected legislative and executive powers as the prerequisite for popular consultation and participation mechanisms; these in turn are essential for accelerated and sustainable rural development.

EL PRESIDENTE: Gracias señora, usted ha concluido así el debate general. Es muy tarde. No se asusten, no voy a hacer uso de todas las notas que había preparado. Sólo quiero decirles que han intervenido en el debate general 131 oradores: 119 representantes de países y 12 representantes de organizaciones. Ese alto número de oradores confirma el interés creciente de los gobiernos por las actividades de la FAO y realmente éste ha sido un buen debate general. Las intervenciones de los señores ministros y jefes de delegaciones han sido la médula de ese debate. Todos han coincidido en expresar su preocupación por la difícil situación que afrontan millones de seres humanos en los países en desarrollo, cuyas condiciones de hambre y malnutrición desgraciadamente se vienen agravando. Han reconocido la función esencial de la FAO y su valiosa contribución a la solución de esos problemas; se ha destacado la vitalidad y fortaleza de nuestra Organización en medio de la grave crisis financiera y la necesidad de que la FAO cuente con recursos suficientes para que pueda seguir cumpliendo sus objetivos en favor del Tercer Mundo.

Creo que ha sido unánime el reconocimiento a la forma pragmática, decidida, consagrada, inteligente y ponderada como el Dr. Saouma, nuestro Director General, ha hecho frente a las circunstancias adversas, especialmente de este bienio que está para concluir y ha logrado paliar los efectos de la crisis y asegurar, en la mayor medida posible, la ejecución del Programa aprobado por la Conferencia, sobre todo aquellas prioridades que como los programas técnicos y económicos, son base fundamental de las actividades de la FAO.

Finalmente, creo que al final del debate general todos podemos sentirnos satisfechos porque a través del ejercicio democrático que ha constituido este debate, los representantes de todos los gobiernos sin distinción, desarrollados y en desarrollo, han reconocido la necesidad imprescindible de seguir colaborando en el seno de la FAO, juntos, unidos, solidarios.

Si no hay ningún comentario por parte de ustedes, vamos ahora a levantar esta sesión. La Plenaria volverá a reunirse el próximo miércoles 20 de noviembre a las nueve y treinta para cumplir un acto muy importante como es la aprobación de la parte del informe de la Comisión II sobre el Programa de Labores y Presupuesto y el voto sobre ese Presupuesto.

Si la Secretaría no tiene ningún anuncio, les agradezco mucho su asistencia y muchas gracias por todo.

The meeting rose at 17.45 hours.
La séance est levée à 17 h 45.
Se levanta la sesión a las 17.45 horas.

GENERAL DISCUSSION (continued) DEBAT GENERAL (suite) DEBATE GENERAL (continuación)

24. Membership of Regional Economic Integration Organizations in FAO 24. Accession d'organisations d'intégration économique régionale à la qualité de membre de la FAO 24. Adhesión como miembros de la FAO de las organizaciones regionales de integración económica

GENERAL DISCUSSION (continued) DEBAT GENERAL (suite)

DEBATE GENERAL (continuación)

GENERAL DISCUSSION (continued)
DEBAT GENERAL (suite)
DEBATE GENERAL (continuación)

24. Membership of Regional Economic Integration Organizations in FAO
24. Accession d'organisations d'intégration économique régionale à la qualité de membre de la FAO
24. Adhesión como miembros de la FAO de las organizaciones regionales de integración económica

GENERAL DISCUSSION (continued)
DEBAT GENERAL (suite)