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A. Election of the chairman and vice-chairmen of the conference
B. Appointment of the general committee and the credentials committee
C. Adoption of the agenda
D. Arrangements for the session and allocation of agenda items
E. Admission of observers

7. The Council had nominated, and the Conference elected Jaime Lamo de Espinosa (Spain) as Chairman of the Twentieth Session of the Conference.

8. The Nominations Committee recommended, and the Conference approved the following appointments:

9. The Nominations Committee recommended, and the Conference approved the following appointments:

10. The Conference adopted its Agenda as amended by the General Committee, and as given in Appendix A to this report.

Establishment commissions and appointment of their chairmen and vice-chairmen
Résolutions committee of the conference
Right of reply
Verbatim records
Verification of credentials
Voting rights
Informal meeting of international non-governmental organizations

11. The Conference adopted the arrangements and timetable proposed by the Seventy-fifth Session of the Council, as amended by the General Committee.

Establishment commissions and appointment of their chairmen and vice-chairmen

12. The Conference concurred with the Council's recommendation to establish three Commissions to consider and report upon Parts I, II and III of the Agenda.

13. In accordance with Rules VII-1 and XXIV-5(b) of the General Rules of the Organization (GRO), the Seventy-sixth Session of the Council had nominated the following Chairmen of the Commissions:

14. The Conference appointed the foregoing officers and, taking into consideration the proposals of the General Committee, in accordance with Rule XIII-2 GRO, also appointed:

15. The Conference agreed with the recommendation of the Seventy-sixth Session of the Council that it appoint a Rapporteur from Plenary to Commission I to inform the Commission of the salient points made by Ministers and Heads of delegations in their general statements. On the recommendation of the General Committee it appointed Mr. H. Mends (Ghana) to this post.

Résolutions committee of the conference

16. The Conference endorsed the recommendation of the Seventy-fifth Council Session to establish a Resolutions Committee composed of seven members, one from each FAO region, and appointed the following:

17. The Conference agreed to the recommendation of the General Committee that the Resolutions Committee be chaired by the current Chairman of the Programme Committee, in order to have the full benefit of his experience.

18. The Conference approved the functions of the Resolutions Committee and the criteria for the formulation of resolutions, as set out in document C 79/12-Rev. 2, Appendix D.

Right of reply

19. The Conference confirmed the decision taken at its previous six sessions to the effect that, when a delegate wishes to reply to criticism of his Government's policy, he should preferably do so on the afternoon of the day on which such criticism had been voiced, after all those wishing to participate in the discussion had had an opportunity to do so.

Verbatim records

20. According to Rule XVIII GRO, verbatim records were kept of all Conference Plenary and Commission meetings. The Conference endorsed the recommendation of the General Committee that statements might be inserted in the verbatim records when time did not permit them to be delivered, taking however into consideration the conditions laid down by the General Committee.

Verification of credentials

21. The credentials of delegations of 142 Member Nations were found valid. Five Member Nations did not send a delegation to the Conference.

22. The credentials of the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to FAO and those of the Palestine Liberation Organization were found valid.

23. The names of the representatives of the international organizations attending the Conference, including the United Nations and Specialized Agencies were duly deposited as prescribed by Rule III-2 GRO.

Voting rights

24. The Conference noted that, in accordance with Article III.4 of the Constitution, six Member Nations had no vote in the Conference as the amount of their arrears of contributions to the Organization equalled or exceeded the amount of the contributions due from them for the two preceding calendar years. The Conference having been informed that five of these Member Nations had initiated steps to regularize their position, decided to permit them to vote as provided for in that Article of the Constitution.

Informal meeting of international non-governmental organizations

25. The Seventy-sixth Council Session had nominated V. Harnaj, President of the International Federation of Bee-Keepers' Associations, to chair the informal meeting of representatives of international non-governmental organizations admitted as observers to the Twentieth Session of the Conference. The meeting was convened on Tuesday 13 November.

Applicants for membership
Liberation movements
Intergovernmental and international non-governmental organizations

Applicants for membership

26. As was customary, the Director-General had provisionally invited the applicants for membership (Dominica, Saint Lucia and Samoa) to be represented by observers until their admission to the Organization had been decided upon. The Conference approved the Director-General's action.

Liberation movements

27. The Conference approved the invitations issued by the Director-General to the Palestine Liberation Organization and those African Liberation Movements recognized by OAU to attend the session in an observer capacity.

Intergovernmental and international non-governmental organizations

28. The Conference approved the list of international organizations to which the Director-General had extended a provisional invitation to the Conference session, and invited the representatives of these organizations to participate in the activities of the Conference in an observer capacity.

29. The Conference concurred with the recommendation of the General Committee that, in accordance with Rule XVII-3 GRO, the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) and the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) address Plenary.

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