C 2003/I/PV

Conference Conférence Conferencia

Thirty-second Session
Trente-deuxième session
32
o período de sesiones

Rome, 29 November – 9 December 2003
Rome, 29 novembre – 9 décembre 2003
Roma, 29 de noviembre – 9 de diciembre de 2003

SECOND MEETING OF COMMISSION I
DEUXIÈME SÉANCE DE LA COMMISSION I
SEGUNDA SESIÓN DE LA COMISIÓN I

2 December 2003

The Second Meeting was opened at 10.00 hours
Ms H. Wögerbauer
Chairperson of Commission I, presiding

La deuxième séance est ouverte à 10 h 00
sous la présidence de Mme H. Wögerbauer,
Président de la Commission I

Se abre la segunda sesión a las 10.00 horas
bajo la presidencia de la Sra. H. Wögerbauer,
Presidente de la Comisión I

 


CHAIRPERSON

Before coming to the first item of the day, I will again announce that they will start the Meeting of the Friends of the Chair immediately, concerning the Resolution on Illegal Fisheries in the Canada Room on the third floor, Room A-356 and as I have been informed, there will be the following delegations in this Friends of the Chair Meeting. There will be New Zealand as Chair of the Group, there will be the United States of America, Australia, Norway, Japan, the EC, Canada, Angola, Kenya and Mexico. That is the list as it stands.

Ms Jane WILLING (New Zealand)

Could I also add Korea to that list?

CHAIRPERSON

So we now have Korea on the list and if people are interested, they should also join the Friends of the Chair Meeting concerning the Resolution. The Resolution you will find in (C 2003/LIM/11). So the meeting will start immediately and for this reason I would like to propose to come first to the WFP item, then after we have concluded with WFP, we will suspend the meeting in the morning to let the Friends of the Chair work and return in the afternoon at 14.30 hours sharp to have the first item on the International Year of Rice 2004 and then the report of the Friends of the Chair, going on with Fisheries and then coming to the last item, the Follow-up to the World Food Summit. Can we go along with this proposal? I am seeing no flags so this one is concluded, so we will now proceed with the item on WFP. You have just a small document with you, this is (C2003/LIM/3) and I would like to invite Ms Sisulu to introduce the item please.

PART I - SUBSTANTIVE AND POLICY MATTERS (continued)
PREMIÈRE PARTIE – QUESTIONS DE FOND ET DE POLITIQUE
(suite)
PARTE I – CUESTIONES DE FONDO Y DE POLÍTICA
(continuación)

8. United Nations/FAO World Food Programme (C 2003/LIM/3)
8. Programme alimentaire mondial ONU/FAO
(C 2003/LIM/3)
8. Programa Mundial de Alimentos Naciones Unidas/FAO
(C 2003/LIM/3)

Ms Sheila SISULU (Deputy Executive Director of World Food Programme)

A few months ago, at the Hundred and Twenty-fourth Council, I presented the Annual Report of the World Food Programme on its activities in 2002. At that time, many delegations made some very supportive comments about WFP's efforts to help some of the most vulnerable people on earth. I want to thank you, again, for your consistent encouragement and support for WFP and to express our appreciation to the many countries which make material contributions, large and small, to our work.

2003 has been a year of challenges for WFP. Our operations were the largest ever in the Organization's history, at an estimated US$2.71 billion. And this does not take into account the massive Oil-for-Food Programme in Iraq. The sheer size and complexity of these operations has placed unprecedented demands on our staff, many of whom work in situations that are difficult and dangerous. The events of 19 August underlined the harsh reality that the UN flag cannot always protect us.

2003 has been an exceptional year not only because of the Iraq operation, but because our donors have been generous in responding to the humanitarian crises elsewhere as well. We brought much needed help to people in Southern Africa, the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan, Sudan, Western Africa and many other countries. It continues to be much more difficult to gain support for our development activities, however. Many of you drew attention to this at the Council in June. For millions of people, hunger is ever present. They are caught in a hunger trap which is a cause of poverty as well as its symptom. Their suffering does not make the headlines. They live in the shadow of more dramatic crises, and it sometimes seems that the world does not see them.

Hungry people do not work their way out of poverty. They need direct and immediate help, often in the form of food. At the same time they need to share in the benefits of programmes which can bring productivity and prosperity to rural areas in the longer term. This is why, FAO, IFAD and WFP adopted the twin-track approach at the Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development. Emergencies are a serious threat to development. A drought or flood can wipe out years of hard-won development gains. The new emergency, HIV and AIDS, destroys a family's ability to be productive and to care for its children.

Development is the only antidote to these emergencies. In many countries, droughts or floods are not once in a lifetime events. They happen again and again. It is essential, but not enough, to be there with food, seeds, and other help during the worst days of a crisis. People need help to rebuild their lives when the worst is over. And they need help to gain the resilience to cope with the next crop failure, the next threat to their livelihood. Until governments and International Organizations commit themselves to being there between crises, the crises will undermine development progress.

WFP's Executive Board has recently decided that protecting livelihoods in crisis situations and enhancing resilience to shocks will be a strategic priority for the Organization in the coming years. But this is a challenge that requires far more than food aid. The twin-track approach will be essential. WFP will look for partners, the FAO and IFAD first and foremost, which are ready to make investments to protect poor people from the devastation of recurring emergencies.

HIV and AIDS is a new emergency, one which is both a cause and a consequence of food insecurity. This is a crisis which will face the world community for years to come. In Southern Africa, it has challenged WFP to seek new approaches to needs assessment, to targeting, to working with communities, and to making the linkages between short-term assistance and long-term development. We are working with new partners, and all of the players are working without traditional guideposts and learning as we go. WFP has been using food assistance to lessen the burden caused by HIV and AIDS by targeting those whose food security has been compromised by the pandemic, in particular vulnerable children and women. Adequate nutrition can help HIV positive individuals lead longer and more productive lives. It can help parents spend more time with their children and enable children to learn and grow in a healthy environment.

Of course, it is not only people affected by HIV and AIDS who need to be well nourished. Hunger undermines productivity and health, and the opportunity for children to grow and learn. In the absence of food security and good nutrition, the Millennium Development Goals will simply not be achieved. Nutrition is the basis for health and productivity in every country. And WFP should make its contribution to good nutrition not only in situations called "emergencies" but wherever our help is needed. But this, too, requires greater support for our development activities.

The same is true of school feeding. Every year, WFP provides nutritious meals for millions of poor children, to encourage them to attend school. In this too, WFP works with others including FAO. An FAO-WFP initiative to develop school gardens in conjunction with school feeding is in an initial stage, the gardens will not only supplement the food provided by WFP but also act as an educational tool in the field of nutrition.

At the June Council, many of you not only highlighted the need for more resources for development but also called on WFP to widen its donor base. This will be a key priority for us during the coming years. WFP will review current policies and practices to develop a resourcing framework that helps emerging donors to give and that encourages new or sporadic donors to become regular donors. The "twinning" of cash from some donors with commodity contributions from emerging donors is a promising approach to be explored. With support, commitment and flexibility from both traditional and emerging donors we are confident that WFP can diversify its funding base and provide more help to those caught in the hunger trap.

At the FAO Council in June a number of delegations urged WFP to purchase more of the food it uses either in-country or regionally. I am pleased to say that WFP is doing this more and more. In year 2000, 44 percent of the total food purchased by WFP was purchased on local or regional markets, which means over 700 thousand tons at the value of US$ 135 million. In 2001 the percentage increased to 56, or approximately 800 thousand tons, at the value of US$ 165 million. And last year in 2002, 67 percent of the purchased WFP food was procured in countries or in regions benefiting from World Food Programme food aid; this amounted to more than one million tons of food worth US$ 204 million. This trend continues in 2003. In East Africa, for example, more than half the food used in WFP activities was purchased in local markets. WFP bought more than US$ 54 million of food commodities in Uganda, Ethiopia, United Republic of Tanzania, Sudan, Kenya, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. But WFP is a voluntarily funded organization, its ability to purchase food depends on the amount of cash contributions provided for this purpose.

In short, 2003 has been an exceptional year. WFP has geared up to handle operations of a record scale, sometimes in the face of unprecedented threats to the personal security of our staff and our beneficiaries. Future years will, no doubt, bring their new challenges. But we will continue the struggle against hunger and poverty, working closely with FAO and others who share this goal.

Víctor Hugo MORALES MELÉNDEZ (México)

En primer lugar agradezco la excelente presentación que acaba de realizar la señora Sisulu, Directora Ejecutiva Adjunta del Programa Mundial de Alimentos (PMA). Mi Gobierno reconoce también la encomiable labor que ha venido realizando el señor James Morris como director ejecutivo de este importante programa de la Naciones Unidas. En el prólogo del informe anual 2002 del PMA, el Secretario General de la Naciones Unidas y el Director General de la FAO afirman que las personas que sufren de hambre requieren de asistencia alimentaria, pero agregan, ambos funcionarios internacionales, que también requieren de inversiones sostenidas y a largo plazo en desarrollo agrícola y rural. Esta es una afirmación compatible con el doble mandato del PMA. Por ello mi delegación expresa su preocupación por la recurrente caída, en el 2002, de los recursos destinados a la cartera de proyectos de desarrollo. Se requiere un mayor esfuerzo del PMA y de la comunidad internacional para revertir esta tendencia y fortalecer las operaciones de desarrollo, que pueden constituir un aporte significativo del programa para alcanzar los objetivos del milenio sobre el desarrollo.

Sería conveniente, señora Presidenta, que esta conferencia se pronuncie en ese sentido. Fortalecer las operaciones de desarrollo permitiría al PMA cumplir con su doble mandato. Pero lo más importante es que este fortalecimiento haría más eficiente el uso de los recursos que la comunidad de donantes pone a disposición del Programa. Fue muy aleccionador el relato hecho recientemente por el señor Morris, en la junta ejecutiva del PMA, sobre la inversión para el desarrollo hecha en una pequeña aldea del corazón de África. En él indicó que, cuando de manera inesperada aconteció un desastre natural en la región, el PMA tuvo que gastar una gran cantidad de recursos para apoyar a las poblaciones vecinas de dicha aldea. Pero las necesidades de intervenir en la aldea, en la que había invertido previamente, fue mínima. En consecuencia, si el objetivo es combatir de manera estructural la vulnerabilidad de las personas pobres, el camino está en las operaciones vinculadas al desarrollo. Señora Presidenta, los estudios más recientes indican que, lamentablemente, hay un incremento constante en la incidencia de catástrofes naturales. En este sentido, los desafíos de los que hace frente el PMA también aumentarán en el futuro, en la medida en que no haya un compromiso universal para combatir las causas que provocan, entre otros, el calentamiento global, el PMA deberá atender un número mayor de personas en estado de emergencia.

El Programa daría una enorme contribución a su propia labor y el bienestar de la humanidad, si realizara acciones más puntuales para fortalecer una conciencia universal de las causas que están provocando el incremento de las catástrofes naturales, e impulsara al mismo tiempo actividades más firmes a favor del desarrollo. Hace cinco semanas concluyó un proceso largo de negociación sobre la planificación estratégica para los próximos años del PMA. Esta fue una oportunidad propicia para afrontar de manera amplia los desafíos en materia alimentaria y para pensar el papel que debe desempeñar el programa como agente internacional para mitigar situaciones desesperadas de hambre en el mundo y colaborar en la reducción de las causas que las provocan. Es indispensable consolidar en la práctica el plan estratégico para que el PMA mantenga su apoyo a todas las regiones de países en desarrollo y, al mismo tiempo que atiende las emergencias, impulse acciones en favor del desarrollo. Finalmente, señora Presidenta, mi país reafirma los principios sobre los que debe basarse la asistencia humanitaria que brindan todos los organismos y los programas de las Naciones Unidas: neutralidad, imparcialidad y humanidad. En este sentido destaco la importancia que mantienen la multirateralidad y la incondicionalidad en las acciones de ayuda humanitaria.

Eugenio CAMPO (Italy)

I am speaking on behalf of the European Community and its 15 Member States. The ten acceding countries to the European Union associate themselves to this statement. I would like to refer to the Annual Report of the World Food Programme Executive Board on its activities in 2002. The European Union endorses the support expressed by the Council to the World Food Programme and looks forward to increased cooperation efforts with FAO.

Roger CORNFORTH (New Zealand)

New Zealand supports the World Food Programme and we continue to increase support to this important programme. We are most appreciative of the good work being undertaken. We note in the Report supplied, support for the universal character of the World Food Programme. While it is not clear to us exactly what this means, New Zealand believes that the World Food Programme should continue to maintain its focus on emergency relief and transition from relief to development situations. We do not believe that the World Food Programme should look to expand into broader development work as this is already the focus of other multilateral and bilateral agencies. It should focus on what it does best and we believe does very well.

New Zealand does consider, however, that the World Food Programme and FAO should seek to develop better harmonized and coherent approaches with long-term development agencies so that there is a smooth transition from World Food Programme to longer term development activities.

JONG SUN WON (Democratic People's Republic of Korea)

I recognize that the Report of the meeting to the Conference by the Executive Board of the World Food Programme, covers well the WFP work over the past two years.

In the last two years the WFP is making great success in its work to eliminate poverty and hunger worldwide and attain food security true to its humanitarian mission and goals. The WFP has come forward in its full assistance to work through the enhanced effectiveness of its operations. Thus, in the past one year alone, it has provided more than three million tons of food to 43 million people in need in more than 50 countries in the world by enforcing its emergency operations. In addition, the World Food Programme has paid due attention to the mid-term projects for the rehabilitation, development and assistance such as food-for-work and the school feeding project in developing countries.

Thus, the World Food Programme is fulfilling its responsible role in the assistance projects designed for economic and social development in developing countries together with its emergency food aid for countries affected by the various kinds of rapidly increased natural disasters, wars and the conflict in the world.

WFP gave a large amount of food assistance to the DPRK which undergoes temporary food shortages due to the consecutive natural disasters over the last several years.

Last October, during his visit to our country, Mr James T. Morris, the Executive Director, personally confirmed on the spot the need of food assistance for the DPRK and discussed with the DPRK side on how to continue to strengthen and develop the assistance work for the DPRK.

This inspires our people greatly who are beating their efforts to solve the food problem under all difficult circumstances.

On behalf of my delegation, I take this opportunity to highly appreciate the success achieved by the World Food Programme in its undertakings to reduce hunger and poverty worldwide in the past periods and express heartfelt thanks to the Executive Director and other World Food Programme people and other donor governments for their painstaking efforts to realize assistance for our country.

I expect that the World Food Programme and other donor nations will offer food assistance to our country next year, too, which will be a reflection of active support to the Korean people in their efforts to solve the food problem. We will make all possible efforts to develop the working partnerships with the WFP in the future.

Latsukabé FALL (Sénégal)

Je suis heureux de pouvoir remercier le PAM et son Conseil d'administration qui ont visité notre pays en début d'année sous la conduite de Son Excellence l'Ambassadeur de la République du Mali. Sur place, ils ont vu comment les aides du PAM ont été réceptionnées et bien gardées, et nous sommes heureux de dire qu'au Sénégal, le PAM contribue à l'amélioration de la fréquentation de l'école des filles et des garçons. En contribuant aussi à l'équilibre alimentaire des enfants et des femmes enceintes, le PAM aide ainsi à augmenter dans notre pays la résistance à différentes maladies et achète aussi au niveau local. Je voudrais signaler que la production de maïs au Sénégal, grâce au programme du Président de la République, a fait un bond de 700 pour cent. C'est pourquoi, compte tenu des problèmes de commercialisation connus par les producteurs, il serait souhaitable que le PAM envisage l'achat, au niveau local pour des régions plus ou moins enclavées et soumises à l'onchocercose, d'une bonne partie de ce maïs pour pouvoir subvenir aux différentes aides. Encore une fois, nous remercions le PAM d'avoir apporté son aide dans des régions qui ont connu des sinistres et où la paix vient à peine de s'installer.

Moungui MÉDI (Cameroun)

Nous voudrions tout d'abord exprimer notre appréciation pour la présentation faite par Mme Sisulu qui a essayé de brosser la situation concernant les activités du PAM sur un plan général et nous avons noté, dans son intervention, que le PAM fait déjà beaucoup pour les pays dans lesquels il intervient. Cette action, nous avons pu également la constater au cours des sessions du Conseil d'administration. A cet effet, nous voulons encourager les entreprises à agir, notamment à effectuer les achats locaux, car, comme c'est le cas de mon pays, cela peut permettre de créer des couloirs de distribution entre zones fortement productives et zones à déficits. Nous souhaitons encourager le PAM à entreprendre toutes les actions complémentaires dans cette direction, mais nous reconnaissons l'effort déjà fait pour faire les achats locaux.

Nous déplorons la chute des ressources allouées aux activités de développement. Il est peut-être tacitement reconnu que le PAM devrait moins s'occuper du développement, mais nous pensons au contraire qu'il faudrait qu'il s'associe aux activités d'autres institutions, notamment la FAO, pour encourager les actions de développement. Nous tenons à ce que les projets du PAM ne soient pas seulement des projets qui arrivent et qui partent et qui prennent fin une fois que l'action est terminée. C'est pour ça que le rôle binaire du PAM, à savoir s'occuper des urgences et s'occuper du développement, doit être maintenu. Nous voulons également marquer notre intérêt à voir toute la "machine PAM" car nous reconnaissons qu'il est vraiment une grosse machine de terrain et nous voulons que cette machine soit mise à contribution non seulement pour les problèmes d'urgence mais également pour aider à lutter contre d'autres fléaux, notamment le VIH-SIDA en collaboration avec les organisations compétentes et particulièrement UN/SIDA et l'OMS (Organisation mondiale de la santé). Nous sommes certains que le PAM contribue à cette lutte et nous souhaitons l'encourager vivement.

S'agissant du problème de la diversification de l'origine géographique du personnel, nous ne pouvons qu'encourager le PAM dans cette direction, mais nous attendons un rapport circonstancié des efforts du PAM dans ce sens lors de prochaines rencontres, que ce soit au niveau du Conseil d'administration ou au niveau du Conseil du PAM.

Voilà les éléments généraux de la délégation du Cameroun et nous vous remercions sincèrement de nous avoir donné la parole.

Ms Sharon KOTOK (United States of America)

First of all we would like to thank the Deputy Executive-Director Sheila Sisulu for her excellent presentation.

The United States is a strong supporter of the World Food Programme and we welcome the collaboration among the three Rome-based food agencies. We recognize that the World Food Programme is primarily a humanitarian response agency and most of its budget is devoted to humanitarian relief, but we welcome the cooperation among WFP's emergency response and FAO's agricultural reconstruction efforts so we think this is a really good marriage in cooperation. We also welcome the cooperation between the school feeding programmes and school gardens and we think there is a great way for it to bridge the humanitarian relief and the agricultural reconstruction and development.

The G-8 Summit that took place in Evian last spring emphasized the importance of both humanitarian relief and investments in increasing agricultural productivity and in world development and we actually appreciate WFP's contributions to the G-8 discussion on this issue. Once again we thank Ambassador Sisulu and we look forward to increasing cooperation and collaboration among the three Rome-based food agencies.

Robert J. THWALA (Swaziland)

Let me thank Ms Sisulu for a well-elaborated presentation on the work of the World Food Programme in this last biennium.

Swaziland appreciates the hard work of the WFP in its efforts to meet the endless emergency appeals that come to it. Swaziland has found itself in this fold in recent times due to the persistent drought in Southern Africa which is now going on to its fourth year.

We therefore applaud the efforts and particularly, the innovative approach that WFP has embarked on which is also impressive of local and regional purchases of staple foods. As this is an incentive to local food production efforts.

We also wish to align ourselves with the Council report presented to us this morning and call for an increased international response to support WFP's global emergency and humanitarian efforts.

José Pablo MORÁN VAL (Perú)

Mi delegación se une a las palabras de elogio a la presentación de la señora Sisulu, y en la misma medida nosotros también apreciamos mucho el documento que tenemos sobre la mesa que es el fragmento al informe del 124° período de sesiones del Consejo y le damos nuestro total respaldo. Mi delegación sigue muy de cerca el trabajo que realiza el Programa Mundial de Alimentos (PMA), específicamente durante este año el PMA ha tenido un arduo trabajo y ha entregado casi ocho millones de toneladas métricas de alimentos lo cual constituye un récord a nivel mundial, a un valor aproximado cuatro mil millones de dólares EE.UU. entonces estamos en un año récord del PMA, nosotros aspiramos a que este incremento de la responsabilidad del PMA no afecte las actividades previstas en otros lugares. De la misma forma nos asociamos a la declaración que ha realizado la delegación de México, en el sentido de que apoyamos la universalidad del programa. Creemos firmemente en el doble mandato en cuyo marco, para la delegación del Perú, el tema de la transición del socorro al desarrollo es clave para entender el verdadero rol futuro del Programa Mundial de Alimentos.

Estamos en una etapa importante del proceso de gobierno del PMA, hemos trabajado juntos los documentos básicos, el plan estratégico y el plan de gestión bienal que están destinados a orientar las labores de este organismo internacional en el marco de los objetivos de desarrollo del milenio que han sido aprobados por todos nosotros, y en ese sentido, queremos reiterar nuestro apoyo a estos documentos y la importancia que tienen los documentos que vienen a continuación del documento sobre procesos operativos actualmente en debate y el informe anual de realizaciones. En síntesis el Perú considera que éste es un año clave para el nuevo sistema de trabajo que se está implementando en el marco del PMA y reafirmamos nuestro firme compromiso de fortalecer esa institución, y en ese marco instamos a una mayor cooperación entre la FAO y el PMA, especialmente en el campo.

Mi país desea agradecer el apoyo que recibe del PMA y desea también hacer especial énfasis en el compromiso personal de todos los integrantes del PMA y de su propio director ejecutivo, que lo ha convertido en la organización humanitaria más grande que existe, con un sistema logístico muy importante, como todos nosotros sabemos es el brazo logístico de las Naciones Unidas lo cual es un ejemplo de la eficiencia del multilateralismo, y en ese sentido mi delegación renueva su compromiso con las operaciones humanitarias del sistema de las Naciones Unidas y en particular con el PMA.

Kiala Kia MATEVA (Angola)

Permettez-moi d'abord d'apprécier à sa juste valeur la présentation du rapport faite par Mme Sisulu.

De par sa propre expérience, la République d'Angola considère que le PAM est l'un des programmes qui a sauvé le plus de vies dans le monde et a été un des principaux moyens ou instruments utilisés par la communauté internationale pour l'appui aux populations les plus vulnérables, en particulier les femmes, les enfants et les personnes âgées.

Mon pays est reconnaissant au PAM pour le travail d'aide humanitaire qu'il a fourni pendant la longue période de guerre. Nous sommes convaincus que nous continuerons à bénéficier de ses appuis pendant cette phase de transition pour consolider la paix retrouvée. C'est pourquoi mon pays tient à féliciter le Directeur exécutif du PAM et ses collaborateurs pour tous les efforts consentis.

En ce qui concerne le document à l'étude, ma délégation est en accord avec les préoccupations et les suggestions exprimées par le Conseil d'administration. Il est nécessaire que l'on donne une priorité à l'aide d'urgence. Il est également important que le PAM appuie les pays qui s'acheminent vers leur développement pour éviter qu'ils ne retournent à une situation d'urgence et vers le chaos, particulièrement ceux qui ont connu et vécu des conflits et pour éviter que ceux-ci ne se ravivent. Les initiatives pour conquérir l'appui du secteur privé doivent continuer tout en maintenant le pragmatisme, les principaux soutiens doivent continuer de venir des États et le caractère multilatéral de l'aide.

Comme il n'a cessé de le dire, mon pays recommande le renforcement de l'alliance FAO/PAM/FIDA sur le terrain, pour réduire les coûts et profiter de façon rationnelle des capacités de ces trois organisations.

Enfin quant au paragraphe 53, ma délégation est en accord avec l'avis exprimé par le Conseil pour des solutions adaptées dans ces trois agences pour diversifier l'origine géopolitique de son personnel, selon les critères équitables.

Patrick SAINT-HILAIRE (Haïti)

Je voudrais tout d'abord féliciter Madame Sisulu pour l'excellente qualité de l'exposé introductif de ce point. Je m'associe également aux vœux exprimés par d'autres délégations du groupe Amérique latine et Caraïbes en ce qui concerne le document à l'étude. Il n'est pas question pour moi d'évoquer ici l'intérêt des activités du PAM ni son caractère universel, cela va de soi. Pays donateurs et pays bénéficiaires de l'aide s'accordent à reconnaître la grande utilité des activités du PAM. Nous ne pouvons donc que supporter l'action de l'organisation.

Le prestige du PAM vient de son double mandat. Le PAM a maintes fois démontré sa capacité à intervenir dans des situations d'urgence quelle qu'en soit l'envergure. Les pays récipiendaires de l'aide n'ont jamais cessé de souligner que le PAM doit accorder davantage d'importance aux activités de développement. Le travail accompli par le PAM est considérable, nous ne pouvons que le féliciter. Mais beaucoup de défis se posent encore et l'organisation a besoin de l'appui renouvelé de tous.

En conclusion, je voudrais réitérer l'importance que mon pays accorde à la coopération avec le PAM. Haïti connaît beaucoup de difficultés; l'aide du PAM est précieuse. Nous espérons que le PAM ne va ménager aucun effort pour renforcer cette coopération et nous aider à venir en aide à des millions d'hommes et de femmes pauvres qui souffrent de la faim.

Pornprom CHAIRIDCHAI (Thailand)

Thailand agrees that WFP has an important role to play in providing assistance to people with food insecurity and in emergency situations worldwide, Thailand is pleased that we are able to contribute as a new donor to the world of WFP. We hope that we can continue providing such contribution. Also, on this occasion I would like to take this opportunity to announce that Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand has accepted to take up the role of Goodwill Ambassador of WFP. The major activity of Her Royal Highness will be in school feeding programmes.

Sra. María Eulalia JIMÉNEZ DE MOCHI ONORI (El Salvador)

Las delegaciones de México y Perú, y Haití hace un momento, han hecho excelentes declaraciones que mi delegación quisiera compartir plenamente. Sin embargo, nosotros quisiéramos reiterar ante este consejo lo que ya hemos expresado en diferentes oportunidades en la Junta Ejecutiva del Programa Mundial de Alimentos (PMA), y es la particular importancia que representa para nosotros el mantenimiento del doble mandato del PMA. Para nuestra delegación las actividades que en el campo del desarrollo realiza el PMA revisten particular importancia. Nosotros consideramos que el PMA debe mantener ese equilibrio, ya que si bien es cierto que es tan importante el desarrollo, como lo es la ayuda de emergencia, las dos actividades deben de realizarse sin que una vaya en desmérito de la otra. Tenemos numerosos ejemplos de como el desarrollo puede contribuir a evitar que cuando existen situaciones de emergencia, ello pueda ser atendido más eficientemente si anteriormente hemos realizado actividades en desarrollo. Hace un momento el delegado de México hizo un ejemplo muy concreto que nos fue expresado por el mismo Director Ejecutivo, señor James Morris. En ese sentido recibimos con agrado lo que se expresó hace un momento la delegación de Estados Unidos. Queremos aprovechar esta oportunidad para felicitar al Director Ejecutivo por los esfuerzos que está realizando para incrementar la base de donantes. Como bien dijo hace un momento la señora Sisulu, la contribución del PMA es voluntaria y por ello creemos que el camino emprendido por el Director Ejecutivo para incrementar la base de donantes, para considerar que no existen donantes pequeños, es el más apropiado. En El Salvador estamos seriamente comprometidos y empeñados en coadyuvar con los esfuerzos que realiza el PMA hacia ese camino.

Baba Fada ALKALI (Nigeria)

Nigeria appreciates the cooperation of WFP with the media international agricultural bodies of FAO and IFAD. Nigeria also appreciates the good humanitarian work that the World Food Programme is doing. The report before us talks on the last page, of transiting from these works, to development activities. I think the distinguished delegate of New Zealand founded a caution that the World Food Programme should really concentrate on what it does best, that is providing humanitarian relief. But I am sure that there are enough crises in the world, physical conflicts, droughts, floods etc. The World Food Programme is doing excellent work and if it ventures at this particular time into other development activities it might dilute these basic activities that it is doing so well. So I am with the statement made by the delegate of New Zealand that the World Food Programme should concentrate on what it does best.

David INGHAM (Australia)

Australia wishes to acknowledge the vital role that the World Food Programme plays in meeting important humanitarian needs around the world. The Australian Government also sees the World Food Programme as a key strategic partner in addressing humanitarian emergencies and in recognition of this, Australia has provided significant support to WFP since its establishment in 1963.

Australia was also a strong supporter of WFP's efforts in Iraq contributing to the UN Humanitarian Air Service and the UN Joint Logistic Centre. Indeed Australian wheat was among the first major deliveries of humanitarian goods to Iraq after the conflict.

Australia would like to make particular mention of the work of the Executive Director, Mr James Morris, who in his time at the helm of the World Food Programme has demonstrated commitment to further improving the effectiveness of the World Food Programme in meeting its mandate. The WFP is a leader in reform among the UN Agencies.

Australia would just like to make a few brief comments on the WFP's Strategic Plan. Australia supports the reform process which the WFP has been implementing over the past ten years centred on setting strategic priorities and tools, improving programming systems and policies, implementing results based management and organizational reform. Australia recognises the work WFP is undertaking in strengthening its review and valuation functions in order to ensure continuous improvement of its core business activities and particularly welcomes the setting of performance indicators against which the progress of each strategic priority will be monitored and their integration into the WFP's business planning. While realistically it is unlikely that WFP will be able to present global information about its results or effectiveness for 2004/2005 Australia would urge the WFP to continue in its efforts so that its scarce resources can be applied in the most effective way possible based on needs assessment.

Ms Sheila SISULU (Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme)

Thank you very much Chairperson and thank you to all the delegates for their words of encouragement, their support for the work of WFP. We appreciate your continued engagement with us and your guidance in our work. Two matters seem to have been repeated in the deliberations, the issue of development and relief and the issue of partnerships. If I may I would like to remind delegations that the mandate of WFP in fact is both to do relief and development. We do have a dual mandate and also to remind delegates that historically we did more development work, and had more resources for development than we had for emergencies. It is both the indicator of the times that we have so many emergencies but also of course, as you have all pointed out, we have improved and learned from all the emergencies we have responded to and our capability has improved and we do that work extremely well as you have all noted. That does not mean that we don't do development well, it just means that the context in which we work demands our time and the responses are greater for development.

We work and support very closely in that regard, the work that is being done by Ms Bellamy of UNICEF, looking at the issue of developing a seamless approach from relief to development, and we look forward to the outcome of her study on these matters.

It is generally, I think, a view that is accepted within the UN Humanitarian Agencies that we should have this seamless progression from relief to development. In so far as the geographical distribution, if I may go to that matter, we, the Secretariat and the Executive Director, are looking at this matter and will report to the Executive Board in the next meeting in 2004. On the issue of partnerships, it is our management and strategic objective to effect working partnerships. The crisis are too large, the demands too big, the onslaught of HIV and AIDS which requires a realistic approach but also as I have mentioned requires intervention with food for those who are infected, and those who are effected, particularly the orphans. We cannot work, but in partnership with others, and we are thankful for the partnership that we have enjoyed in particular with FAO and IFAD in a number of ventures that we have undertaken collectively. I would like to reiterate the announcement by the Delegation from Thailand for Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn to become the Goodwill Ambassador for School Feeding. I don't think there were other comments that I need to respond to. We have noted all those other comments and have tried to respond to them, just briefly what stood out for me and again we should thank you for your support and encouragement and your kind words.

CHAIRPERSON

This brings me to a short summing up. Commission I endorses the support expressed by the Council of WFP and the cooperation between all Rome based agencies. There should also be weight put on the HIV/AIDS emergency, the concern about the drop in funds, the plight of crisis, of global warming and natural disasters, but there should not be a broadening of the mandate of WFP. The work of WFP in the fight against hunger is also important in school feeding programmes and school gardens. Also in the twin-track approach in emergencies and other situations taking care especially of women and children. There should be room for the possibility of purchasing food in neighbouring countries and at last I have picked up that the strategic plan of WFP is very welcome. So this would be the summary of the Chair.

There is Cuba raising its flag, yes you have the floor Cuba.

Marcos NIETO (Cuba)

Sé que es inusual que al final de las conclusiones algún delegado intervenga, pero es que nuestra delegación ha tenido que estar atendiendo diversos asuntos plenarios, y no podemos dejar pasar por alto esta oportunidad para expresar el apoyo de Cuba a la labor del Programa Mundial de Alimentos (PMA). Somos un país durante muchos años beneficiarios del trabajo del PMA y de la acción del PMA, tanto en proyectos de desarrollo como en proyectos de asistencia alimentaria, pero al mismo tiempo Cuba, a pesar de que tiene pocos recursos, es un contribuyente al PMA porque el producto que tenemos nosotros como el azúcar, también lo proporcionamos para el Programa. Por eso mi delegación quiere expresar un sentido agradecimiento y consenso a las conclusiones que se han presentado y ojalá que el PMA pueda incrementar sustantivamente sus recursos para que esa labor que ha venido desplegando durante tantos años, pueda ser incrementada y ser un factor decisivo en la ayuda contra el hambre.

CHAIRPERSON

It brings me now to the end of this point of the Agenda. We shall now suspend our meeting and we will come back at 14.30 hours sharp, starting with the item of the International Year of Rice.

I would like to ask people now to go over to the Red Room so that they can start with their procedures because they also need a quorum. If you would be so kind as to move to the other room.

The meeting rose at 11.05 hours
La séance est levée à 11 h 05
Se levanta la sesión a las 11.05 horas

 


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