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A. Visit by his holiness Pope John-Paul II
B. Eleventh McDougall memorial lecture
C. Presentation of the B.R. Sen awards for 1978 and 1979
D. Presentation of the A.H. Boerma. award for 1978-79
E. In memoriam

1. His Holiness Pope John-Paul II accepted the Director-General's invitation to address the Plenary of the Twentieth Session of the Conference on Monday morning, 12 November 1979. The text of this address is given in document C 79/LIM/26, as well as in the verbatim records of the Plenary (C 79/PV/3).

2. The eleventh in the series of lectures at regular Conference sessions in memory of Frank Lidgett McDougall, a founding father of the Organization, was delivered by H.E. Kenneth D. Kaunda, President of the Republic of Zambia.

3. The B.R. Sen Award for 1978 was presented jointly to H. Perten (Sweden) and P. Abert (France) for their work on the development of sorghum and millet products for industrial application in Senegal and Sudan. Mr Perten and Mr Abert were recruited in 1970 to participate in a FAO/UNDP project at the Institute of Food Technology in Dakar to develop the use of sorghum and millet flour in bread and other products. As a result of the project's initiatives, millet flour and bread sales in Dakar continue to increase, and the Government has planned the creation of four commercial millet mills. A decree was adopted in July 1979 by which all bread sold in the Dakar and Cape Verde regions was to contain 15 percent of industrially produced millet flour. For 1979/80 20 000 tons of millet grains would thus be used. Given the successful results obtained in Senegal, the Government of the Sudan requested, in 1974, FAO assistance to set up a similar project for wheat and sorghum products. This was done, and the results of the project have received international attention among cereal scientists, thus stimulating the setting up of research programmes for further use of millet and sorghum flour in human nutrition.

4. The B.R. Sen Award for 1979 was presented to G.H. Berg (USA) for his work in organizing and operating specialised plant protection programmes in Africa and Latin America. In 1956 Mr Berg was appointed as the first FAO Regional Plant Quarantine Officer to be stationed in Central America. Thanks to the efforts directed by Mr Berg to training activities for nearly 25 years, the majority of plant quarantine personnel in Central American countries and many countries in Africa has received direct training from Mr Berg. Quarantine laws now in effect in many Central American countries are the result of a model basic plant quarantine law prepared by Mr Berg. In November 1975 Mr Berg was transferred to El Salvador to execute the new project "Strengthening Plant Quarantine and Related Programmes in Central America". Among other disciplines the project dealt with plant pest and diseases control programmes of great importance for the region, such as the eradication campaign of coffee rust, the control of coffee berry borer and the Mediterranean fruit fly, on which Mr Berg is a recognized world authority. Mr Berg's technical achievements are well-documented in his 31 publications which represent authoritative working guides for plant quarantine inspectors all over the world.

5. The A.H. Boerma Award was presented for the first time this year. The award is to be presented biennially to a journalist or journalists who help to focus public attention on important aspects of the world food problem, particularly related to agricultural and rural development in developing countries, with a view to increasing public support of measures leading to its solution. The Award for 1978-79 was shared between A. Agarwal (India) and the Swedish husband-and-wife team, Mr Lasse and Ms Lisa Berg.

6. The Conference paid tribute to the staff members who had died in the service of the Organization since its Nineteenth Session.

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