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A. Appointment of the chairman, vice-chairmen, general committee and credentials committee
B. Agenda of the session
C. Arrangements for the session
D. Establishment of commissions and provisional timetable for the session
E. Appointment of the chairmen, vice-chairmen and officers of tee commissions and technical committees
F. Resolutions committee of the conference
G. Establishment of a special committee on the arabic version of the constitution
H. Right of reply
I. Verbatim records
J. Verification of credentials
K. Admission of observers
L. Voting rights
M. Informal meeting of non-governmental organizations

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

9. The Conference adopted without change the Provisional Agenda circulated by the Director-General to Member Nations and Associate Members on 6 August 1969, as recommended by the General Committee.

10. The Conference adopted the arrangements and timetable proposed by the Fifty-Second Session of the Council and circulated to Member Nations and Associate Members on 6 August 1969 as document C 69/20. In addition, the Conference concurred in the additional arrangements proposed by the Council at its Fifty-Third Session and set out in the Report of the Fifty-Third Session of the Council. The Conference adopted the arrangements and timetable proposed in these two documents on the understanding that the timetable remained subject to modification in the light of progress made.

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

12. The Conference confirmed the action taken on the recommendation of the Fifty-First Session of the Council that, on a trial basis, only two technical committees be appointed for the Fifteenth Session of the Conference, a Technical Committee on Field Programmes and a Technical Committee on Areas of Concentration.

13. In accordance with Rules VII-1 and XXV-5(b) of the General Rules of the Organization and as indicated in its Report, the Council, at its Fifty-Third Session, 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 of the General Rules of the Organization, appointed:

15. At its Fifty-First Session the Council had recommended that the Conference appoint a rapporteur from Plenary to Commission I, to inform the commission of the salient points made by ministers and heads of delegation in their general statement. The Conference agreed with this recommendation and on the proposal of the General Committee appointed R. C. Bolduan (Australia) as Rapporteur from Plenary to Commission I.

16. The Council had also nominated the following chairmen and rapporteurs of the technical committees, who had taken up their functions when the committees convened on 30 October 1969:

17. The Council at its Fifty-Second Session had recommended the establishment of a Resolutions Committee similar to that which had functioned during the Fourteenth Session of the Conference. The Conference concurred in the recommendation of the Council that this committee comprise the Chairmen of the Programme Committee, Finance Committee and Committee on Constitutional and Legal Matters, together with four members of the General Committee. The following four members were selected by that committee:

18. The Conference agreed to the proposal of the General Committee that the Resolutions Committee should elect a chairman from among its own members, and approved document C 69/20-Sup. 1, setting out the functions and method of operation of the Resolutions Committee, as well as the criteria for the formulation of resolutions.

19. In connexion with Item 21 of the Agenda, the Conference concurred in the recommendation of the Fifty-Third Session of the Council and of the General Committee of the Conference that a Special Committee should be appointed in accordance with Rule XV of the General Rules of the Organization to examine the proposed Arabic version of the Constitution and to make a recommendation thereon to Commission III. The Special Committee would also consider the Arabic version of the other Basic Texts.

20. The Conference concurred in the proposal made by the General Committee that the Special Committee should comprise the following Member Nations:

21. The Conference confirmed the decision taken at its two previous sessions to the effect that, where a delegate wished 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.

22. Under the FAO rules, verbatim records were kept of the Conference plenary and commission meetings, and the right of delegates to suggest corrections to the records was specifically mentioned (Rule XVIII-2).

23. The definition of "corrections" and the procedure for having them inserted in the verbatim records were the same as those adopted by the Fourteenth Conference Session, and spelt out in paragraphs 28 to 31 of its report.

24. The credentials of delegations of 112 Member Nations and of two Associate Members, including those of the two newly admitted Member Nations, were found in order. Six Member Nations did not send a delegation to the Conference. One delegation had not submitted credentials, but had not attended the full period of the Conference.

25. The credentials of the Permanent Observers to FAO of the Holy See were found satisfactory.

26. 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 of the General Rules of the Organization.

27. As was customary, the Director-General had provisionally invited the applicants for membership to be represented by observers until their admission to the Organization had been decided upon. These applicants were the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the People's Republic of Southern Yemen. The Conference confirmed the Director-General's action.

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

29. The Conference recalled that under the terms of Article III-4 of the Constitution, a Member Nation which was in arrears in the payment of its financial contributions to the Organization had no vote in the Conference if the amount of its arrears equaled or exceeded the amount of the contribution due from it for the two preceding calendar years. The Conference might, nevertheless, permit such Member Nations to vote if it was satisfied that the failure to pay was due to conditions beyond the control of such Member Nations.

30. The Conference noted that three Member Nations were in arrears in the amounts referred to above, and had therefore forfeited their right to vote. The majority of the Conference agreed, however, that the voting rights should be exceptionally restored to these Member Nations for the duration of the Fifteenth Session of the Conference.

31. An informal meeting of representatives of international non-governmental organizations admitted as observers to the Fifteenth Session of the Conference was convened on Monday 10 November 1969. The Fifty-Third Session of the Council had nominated Mr. M. Veillet-Lavallée, representing the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, as Chairman.

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