Ceremony on the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of FAO

Rome, FAO Headquarters, Plenary Hall, 17 October 2005

Distinguished Presidents,
Honourable Prime Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honour and a real pleasure to welcome you to Rome to celebrate with us the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Organization. I should also like to express my deep gratitude to you for having accepted my invitation to attend this important ceremony in spite of your busy timetables.

Allow me to open with a citation that has undeniable historical significance.

"The idea of freedom from want expresses an aspiration as old as mankind ... But in this generation freedom from want has been taken out of the realm of utopian ideas. [...] If this can be done within and among nations by their separate and collective action, some of the world’s worst economic ills, including hunger and extreme poverty, will be on the way to extinction."

These words could have been written today, but were in fact written 60 years ago by Frank McDougall, an Australian farmer, in an extraordinary paper entitled The Work of FAO, prepared for the first FAO Conference, held in Quebec City, Canada. It was there, on 16 October 1945, that FAO was founded and its Constitution approved.

Today, on our Sixtieth Anniversary, let us pay tribute to the wisdom and far-sightedness of all those who contributed to the foundation of FAO.

If, on entering FAO, you look to your right at the top of the steps, you can read the Preamble to our Constitution, etched in marble in various languages. It reminds us that FAO was set up within the United Nations system as a forum in which all nations would "contribute towards an expanding world economy and ensuring humanity’s freedom from hunger".

One of the most remarkable – but largely unsung – achievements of the second half of the twentieth century is that, with the help of scientists and engineers, it has been possible to satisfy the demands for food and forest products of a global population that has tripled in FAO’s lifetime. Since 1960, the proportion of the world’s population that is undernourished has fallen from 35 percent to 13 percent.

As envisaged in its mandate, FAO has contributed to this successful enterprise that has had a profound impact on human welfare in the twentieth century.

But, in spite of this achievement, we have still fallen short of our founders’ expectations, for 852 million people continue to suffer from hunger. The fact that anyone should have to face hunger in this world of abundance and technology defies rational explanation. In addition, some of the intensive agricultural systems that have permitted such growth are not sustainable and have negative environmental, economic, social and cultural consequences.

FAO must therefore address two central issues as the twenty-first century unfolds. First, it must increase the effectiveness of the work accomplished with its Members towards eradicating hunger, as reflected in the first Millennium Development Goal. Second, it must foster the satisfaction of future global needs for food and forest products without compromising the sustainability of the earth’s fragile natural resources or its climate.

Some encouraging progress has been made on both fronts. More and more countries are signalling their determination to formulate and implement large-scale national food security programmes. There is also a growing awareness of issues relating to the environment and natural resources. FAO has succeeded in orchestrating the process of negotiation that led to the approval of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in 2003. The vital role of water for reliable and sustainable agriculture is starting to be acknowledged. The report of the Commission for Africa calls for a doubling of irrigated area in the region by 2015, with an emphasis on the small-scale irrigation of farm holdings.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The need for a neutral global forum in which nations can come together to address food and agricultural issues is quite as great today as it was on 16 October 1945 when its founder Members declared: "If there is any one principle on which FAO is based, it is that the welfare of producers and the welfare of consumers are in the final analysis identical." The Organization must, however, adapt to the changes of the last 60 years if it is to rise to new challenges and profit from emerging opportunities.

That is why I have just proposed a programme of reform that will enable the Organization to play an increasingly effective role in hunger eradication, in the development of sustainable agriculture, in food safety, in the control of transboundary plant and animal pests and diseases, and in the negotiation of a more equitable regime of trade for agricultural commodities.

The reforms that will be put before the Conference in November are far-reaching in scope. They aim to better direct FAO’s technical programmes towards the main priority areas of its Member Nations and to consolidate its functions of exchange of knowledge, policy assistance, transfer of technology, building of capacity and raising of awareness in a context of enhanced synergy with its partners in the United Nations system, especially at country level.

These reforms will translate into a restructuring of the Organization to achieve a better balance between its units and into the adoption of a more streamlined structure. Working methods will be introduced that allow greater flexibility, more appropriate staff redeployment and greater delegation of authority, responsibilities and operating resources. The network of decentralized offices would be re-engineered to provide countries with more effective assistance.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Millennium Summit last month reaffirmed the common interest of the world’s nations in putting an end to poverty and hunger and in conserving the earth’s natural resources for future generations. A new determination was expressed at this year’s G-8 meetings and reiterated by speakers in New York in September to engage in large-scale practical programmes of poverty reduction.

On the occasion of its Sixtieth Anniversary, FAO solemnly restates its commitment, within its mandate, to contribute vigorously to the international effort to give renewed impetus to the fight against poverty, by concentrating in particular on the root causes of hunger in the world.

Thank you for your kind attention.

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