III. Actions
by the conference
A.
Admission of New Members
B.
Assessment of Contributions of New Members
C.
Appointment of the New Director-General
Turkey
An application for membership was received from the Government of the Turkish Republic on 27 January 1948. The General Committee reported to the Conference on 6 April as follows:
"In conformity with Article II of the Constitution, the Turkish Republic may be admitted to the Organization by a vote concurred in by a two-thirds majority of all the members of the Conference. The General Committee suggests that this vote should take place this afternoon in order that Turkey may become a full member without delay. It is the understanding of the General Committee that there is a quorum."
The Conference accepted this report, and proceeded to vote on the admission of the Turkish Republic. The Conference admitted the Turkish Republic to membership in FAO by a vote of 49 for, and none against. The Government of the Turkish Republic accepted the Constitution of FAD and all obligations incurred by membership in FAO.
Ceylon
The report of the General Committee contained the following proposals concerning the application by the Government of Ceylon:
"The application for membership from the Government of Ceylon, having been received on 31 March 1948, does not fall within the provisions of Rule XX, paragraph 2, which requires 30 days' notice before the application can be considered by the Conference. However, Rule XX, paragraph 2, can be suspended under the provisions of Rule XXXIII subject to 24 hours' notice being given to the Conference that such action is intended."
"Notice of the intention to propose the suspension of that rule was given in the plenary meeting of this Session in the morning of 6 April 1948 by the delegate of the Union of South Africa. Therefore, the vote on the motion of the South African delegate cannot in any case take place before the afternoon of 7 April. The General Committee agreed that it would be preferable to proceed to this vote in the early part of next week in order to allow time for representatives to seek instructions from their Governments if desirable.
"The General Committee suggests that immediately following the vote on the suspension of the rule and provided that the decision is an affirmative one the Conference should proceed to vote on the admission of Ceylon."
This report was adopted by the Conference. At the plenary meeting on 14 April, the Conference agreed, by a vote of 41 for and none against, to suspend in the case of Ceylon paragraph 2 of Rule XX requiring 30 days' notice of application for membership in FAO. Following this, the Conference admitted Ceylon to membership in FAO by 50 votes for, and none against.
B. Assessment of Contributions of New Members
In accordance with Financial Regulation VII, the Council had considered the appropriate contributions to be paid by the Governments which had made application for membership, and presented the following report to the Conference:
"In the case of the recent application of the Turkish Republic, the Council has the honor to propose, after consultation with the Committee on Financial Control, that the assessment be set at 1.5 percent ($75,000 on the basis of the present Budget)."
"Regarding Ceylon's application, the Council is of the opinion that the circumstances of the case are similar to those of Burma and Pakistan, which were admitted to membership at the Third Session of the Conference. It was then agreed that the contributions of Burma and Pakistan should be determined by negotiations between them and the United Kingdom and India respectively. A similar arrangement in the present case would imply that Ceylon and the United Kingdom would agree directly on their proportionate shares of the present assessment of the United Kingdom, the arrangement being reported promptly to the Director-General.
"The above proposals of the Council would, in any case, apply only for 1948, since an over-all revision of the scale of contributions is now being prepared for submission to the next regular Session of the Conference." This report of the Council was adopted by the Conference at its plenary meeting on 14 April.
C. Appointment of the New Director-General
In accordance with the resolution of the Third Session of the Conference, the Council of FAO prepared a report on the appointment of the new Director-General. This report, containing a panel of three -names, was referred to the General Committee which reported to the Conference as follows:
"The General Committee has the honor to report that:
(b) Two of the three persons proposed by the Council have withdrawn their names;
(c) Only one candidate remains, namely, the Honorable Norris E. Dodd (United States of America), who appears to command an overwhelming majority among the delegations."
Terms of Appointment of the Director-General
The General Committee reported as follows to the third plenary meeting of the Conference:
"In accordance with Rule XXVIII, paragraph 1(b), the General Committee has considered the terms and conditions of appointment of the new Director-General and submits the following recommendations for the consideration of the Conference:
"2. The Director-General shall receive the same annual salary and representation allowance as the present Director-General, which salary and allowance shall be free of taxation in the same manner as applies to those members of the FAO secretariat holding permanent contracts with the Organization.
"3. If the question of interpretation or dispute arises on the terms of his contract, an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice shall be obtained by the usual procedure and adopted, or, alternatively, the matter shall be submitted for determination to such arbitral tribunal as the Conference shall appoint."
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