EL PRESIDENTE: Muy buenas tardes distinguidos delegados. Señoras y Señores, declaro abierta la décima sesión plenaria del Consejo de la FAO.
Me informan que tenemos el quórum requerido de dos tercios para proceder al tratamiento del Tema 8.2: Elección de siete miembros del Comité de Políticas y Programas de Ayuda Alimentaria del PMA, documento CL 107/17.
Me voy a permitir recordarles que dicha elección está basada en la agrupación de diferentes listas. Hoy procederemos a sustituir las siguientes vacantes: para la Lista A, dos vacantes; para la Lista B-I, una vacante; para la Lista C, una vacante; para la Lista D, dos vacantes; para la Lista E, una vacante.
Los candidatos que al día viernes, a las doce de la mañana se presentaron conforme a los reglamentos, cubren precisamente estas vacantes anunciadas y me voy a permitir leer los nombres de dichos candidatos: para la Lista A, Angola y Zaire; para la Lista B-I, República Islámica de Irán; para la Lista C, Cuba; para la Lista D, Alemania y Francia; para la Lista E, Lituania.
Distinguidos delegados, según el Artículo XII.9A del Reglamento General de la Organización, las elecciones se decidirán por votación secreta, con la salvedad de que "cuando no haya más candidatos que vacantes, el Presidente podrá proponer a la Conferencia o al Consejo que el nombramiento se lleve a cabo por evidente consenso general".
Como ustedes han podido observar, para todas las listas tenemos tantos candidatos como vacantes. Me permito, por tanto, sugerirles a ustedes que por aclamación, elijamos a los siete miembros del Comité de Políticas y Programas de Ayuda Alimentaria del PMA.
Approved by acclamation Adopté par acclamation Aprobado por aclamación
Me permito felicitar a Angola, Zaire, República Islámica de Irán, Cuba, Alemania, Francia y Lituania por su elección al CPA.
Si no hay ningún otro asunto sobre el Tema 8.2, me permitiré pasar, como les había anunciado hoy en la mañana, al Tema 20.1: Derechos, procedimientos y prácticas de voto, documento CL 107/4.
EL PRESIDENTE: Como ustedes saben este tema estaba programado originalmente para el día de mañana, pero en virtud del tiempo disponible y del interés manifestado por muchos de ustedes durante el tratamiento de los Temas 14 y 15 hoy en la mañana, hemos considerado oportuno pasarlo a nuestros trabajos de esta décima sesión plenaria.
Les recuerdo que, según la presentación del Sr. Vicepresidente del Comité de Finanzas, en los Informes de los Comités del Programa y de Finanzas, los párrafos 3.56 a 3.64, se refieren a este tema.
En el 27° Período de Sesiones de la Conferencia, en noviembre del año pasado, se solicitaba al Comité de Finanzas y al Consejo que examinasen esta cuestión de procedimientos y prácticas seguidos en la actualidad por la Organización para el restablecimiento de los derechos de voto de los Estados Miembros que tienen cuotas atrasadas y que comunicasen sus resultados a la Conferencia en su siguiente período de sesiones del próximo año.
Como ustedes pueden observar, el Comité de Finanzas examinó este tema en su 79° Período de Sesiones. Me voy a permitir pedirle al Sr. Asesor Legal, el Dr. Moore, que nos presente las conclusiones principales a las que llegó el Comité de Finanzas.
LEGAL COUNSEL: As you have mentioned, Mr Chairman, the issue of the voting rights, procedures and practices, at Conference Sessions arose out of a request by the 27th Session of the Conference last November, that the Finance Committee and the Council address the issue of the procedures and practices currently followed by the Organization for restoring the voting rights of Member Nations in arrears of assessed contributions. The Conference expressed particular concern over the practice of restoring voting rights on the basis of agreed plans for the payment of arrears by instalments and the need to review the application of Article III.4 of the Constitution, both in general and with a view to defining the criteria to be applied in assessing and determining the conditions deemed to be "beyond the control" of Member Nations.
The Finance Committee considered the matter at its 79th Session and came to a number of conclusions. I will enumerate each of those conclusions one by one. First of all, the Finance Committee concluded that voting rights should continue to be restored where default in the payment of arrears was due to "conditions beyond the control of the Member Nation concerned". As a matter of principle, they felt that this practice as set out in the Basic Texts and the Constitution of FAO should be maintained.
Secondly, they went into the whole question of how to define "conditions beyond the control of the Member Nation concerned". They came to the conclusion that it was extremely difficult to define formally what is meant by "conditions beyond the control" of the Member Nation concerned; it was difficult and perhaps dangerous to do it and the Committee concluded that it should not be so defined in the Basic Texts. That was their second conclusion.
Their third conclusion was that, in the future, restoration of voting rights should be resorted to only very sparingly and on the basis of a formal request by the nation concerned specifying the circumstances that, in its view, constituted conditions beyond its control.
The fourth point of the conclusions of the Finance Committee was that the practice of requiring agreed instalment plans for the payment of arrears should be continued. Agreed instalment plans should be required as part of the application for restoration of voting rights and, most importantly, voting rights should be taken away again if the Member Nation defaulted on two instalments under the instalment plan.
The fifth point was that the Finance Committee did not recommend expansion of the scope of the methodology for the calculation of arrears to include payments to the Working Capital Fund, Special Reserve Account or Tax Equalization Fund or the period over which the arrears should be calculated. In other words, the Finance Committee wished to restrict the conditions in which voting rights would be lost to non-payment of the regular contribution to the budget.
Sixth, the Committee urged the Director-General to continue to search for sustainable schemes that would respond to the particular problems of developing countries, such as the scheme to allow payments in local currency, so long as these did not endanger the financial viability of the Organization.
Mr Chairman, those are the six findings of the Finance Committee which I have attempted to summarize and an which you may wish to ask for the views of the Council.
EL PRESIDENTE: Han sido ustedes informados de los distintos aspectos que componen este punto. Abro la lista de oradores dando la palabra al representante de Francia.
Jacques LAURE AU (France): La délégation française tient à réaffirmer son attachement au respect des Textes Fondamentaux de l'Organisation et de l'obligation juridique pour chaque membre de verser sa contribution dans les conditions définies par ces textes. Or, le nombre des Etats Membres passibles des sanctions prévues à l'article 111-4° de l'Acte constitutif et aux paragraphes 5 et 7 de l'Article 22 du Règlement général de l'Organisation est en augmentation régulière comme le précise le paragraphe 3.58 du document CL 107/4. Ces Etats Membres étaient au nombre de 36 à la mi-94, contre 14 à la mi-90. C'est souligner assez la dégradation des conditions financières de cette organisation.
Dans ces conditions, la délégation française approuve les observations et recommandations formulées par le Comité financier, en particulier aux paragraphes 3.61 et 3.62.
Les dérogations devraient n'être admises que de manière extrêmement mesurée par la Conférence et sur la base d'une demande spécifique de l'Etat Membre concerné expliquant les raisons de ces retards de paiement et accompagnée d'un plan de rattrapage des arriérés.
Remarquons que ces dérogations ne sont envisagées par les Textes Fondamentaux que pour le droit de vote à la conférence tandis que les dispositions des paragraphes 5 et 7 de l'Article 12 du règlement général - c'est-à-dire tout ce qui concerne l'éligibilité ou la participation au Conseil - sont quant à elles, assorties de clauses dérogatoires.
En ce qui concerne l'idée du paiement des contributions en monnaie locale évoquée au paragraphe 3.64, la délégation française invite à une approche très prudente de cette éventualité. Une étude détaillée présentant, notamment, la situation des autres organisations des Nations Unies et les expériences menées dans ce domaine, nous semblerait, en tout état de cause, nécessaire pour examiner valablement la possibilité d'une telle évolution.
Harald HILDEBRAND (Germany): The Agenda item under consideration is of special interest also to my country. In the view of my delegation, in order to strengthen discipline in this regard, with regard to the payment of financial obligations, effective and well considered measures need to be taken. It is in this sense that my delegation endorses and welcomes the report by the Finance Committee. Among other measures, like the incentive scheme or the one just mentioned regarding the possibility for certain countries to pay their contributions in national currency, others would include the loss of voting rights or other sanctions which could restrict the full involvement of the Member Nation concerned in the Organization's work.
Artide III of the Constitution is, as we know, quite unequivocal in this respect. Unfortunately, this Article has often not been applied consistently in the past. The sanction had often to be suspended because the circumstances that caused the arrears were seen to be beyond the control of the Member Nation concerned. So far the Finance Committee has not been able to recommend a consistent procedure for the future although in document CL 107/4 in paragraph 3.56 and following helpful considerations of this issue can be found.
My delegation would like to propose that the following option be examined. In the future, the suspension of sanctions, as I said, should be less frequently applied than in the past and in any case the Member Nation, which is in danger of losing its voting right, should state in a formal note the circumstances which would justify the suspension of sanctions. Simultaneously, the Member Nation, concerned should accept an agreed instalment plan. As soon as the Member Nation falls into default on the agreed instalment payments, it should automatically lose its voting rights. The voting rights could be restored if the respective country abides again by the terms of the instalment plan.
Christophe KIEMTORE (Burkina Faso): Ma délégation voudrait féliciter M. Moore pour le résumé du rapport et des conclusions du Comité financier. Elle voudrait aussi saisir cette occasion pour féliciter le Comité financier de la qualité du travail réalisé concernant ce point important de l'ordre du jour.
Notre délégation a donc examiné les recommandations du Comité financier qui vont du paragraphe 3.56 au paragraphe 3.64 et elle se déclare satisfaite de toutes les mesures proposées. Elle se félicite également de cet examen approfondi qui couvre tous les aspects de la question. Elle approuve les recommandations notamment ce qui est indiqué au paragraphe 3.64.
A ce propos, nous voudrions attirer Γ attention du Conseil sur le contenu de ce paragraphe qui montre l'examen formel de la question. Le Comité financier reconnaît entre autres qu'au-delà des sanctions, il fallait envisager des mesures palliatives pour permettre aux Etats Membres de dépasser les problèmes posés en les aidant à mieux s'acquitter de leurs devoirs.
Ma délégation pense que le Conseil pourrait éventuellement confier au Comité financier d'une part, le soin de poursuivre l'examen de cette question notamment en ce qui concerne les sanctions ou les mesures incitatives pour aider les Etats Membres à payer leur contribution et, d'autre part, le soin d'analyser et d'approfondir la question pour lui trouver une solution acceptable et satisfaisant tous les Etats.
Chrysanthos LOIZBDES (Cyprus): I wish to associate my delegation's position with the conclusions of the Finance Committee regarding the voting rights and the procedures and practices. Therefore, we are in agreement with the recommendations of this Committee, urging the Director-General to continue to search for suitable skills that would respond to the particular problems of developing countries without endangering the viability of this Organization.
Inge NORDANG (Norway): I have the honour of making this statement on behalf of the Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway. The Nordic countries welcome the actions taken by the Director-General in response to the request of the 27th Session of the FAO Conference to address the issue of procedures and practices currently following with regard to restoring Member Nations' voting rights at Council and Conference sessions. The increasing number of Member Nations with delayed payments or with arrears in assessed contributions over the prescribed limit is worrying, both for the general trust in and the financial situation of the Organization. We understand that Member Nations under special circumstances might face difficulties in fulfilling their obligations for a period of time. It should, however, in most cases be possible to restore the payment record within the two year period envisaged in the rules. The existing rules are made to assist and protect Member Nations facing serious financial constraints and should not be misused by others as an excuse to delay payments. We have on previous occasions expressed our doubt regarding the discount scheme for early payment and note that it has not had the expected effect on the payment record. We fully endorse the recommendation of the Finance Committee in document CL 107/4 to adhere to the sanctions envisaged in the FAO constitution with respect to loss of voting rights. This is a means to restore discipline with regard to fulfilment of financial obligations. We note that these sanctions are basically the same as in other UN organizations. We realise the difficulty of defining exact formal criteria for the
definition of force majeure. Therefore, we fully support the Finance Committee in recommending that countries facing loss of voting rights shall apply in writing explaining the reason for the delay and agreeing to a payments scheme.
In concluding, I would like to mention that a number of developing countries, despite financial problems at home, have paid their contributions in full. We would like to express our appreciation for their efforts to do so. Finally, we appeal to all Member Nations of FAO to pay their assessed contributions in full and on time in order not to hamper the work of the Organization.
Thomas A. FORBORD (United States of America): The United States would also like to express its support for the recommendations of the Finance Committee and in particular to call attention to the point that Mr Moore described as the third point made by the Committee, contained in paragraph 3.61. The point says, "it is therefore recommended that the Conference, while keeping with the broad parameters for the above criteria" - meaning criteria for a waiver - "should resort to such waivers only sparingly". The criterion for a waiver in the constitution of FAO provides that it can be given only when the failure to pay is due to conditions beyond the control of the member. When we examined this issue during the Finance Committee, we were unable to agree on any economic conditions which were beyond the control of a Member. Economic adjustment policies, crop diversification, were offered as the type of economic changes within the control of a Member that could be taken to counteract sudden changes in commodities prices or other economic difficulties. Whether or not the ability to pay is beyond the control of the member becomes a political or subjective decision that the Conference will have to make in many cases. I think it is particularly constructive, however, to contrast the difference between the Council and the Conference. We were told this morning that only one member of the Council has lost membership and voting rights because they have fallen more than 300 percent behind in their dues to this Organization. If we look at the Financial Situation of FAO report that was distributed this morning, we see that there are a total of 26 countries which are 300 percent or more behind in their obligations. Yet only one Member of the Council, where loss of voting rights is automatic, was unable to meet the dues. I believe it is the sanction that the Council has to apply automatically that has encouraged countries to come below the limit in order to maintain the voting rights. If something more like that automatic sanction implied in the Constitution were also applied by the Conference, I strongly suspect that many more countries would make sure that their voting rights were guaranteed. In forwarding this recommendation from the Finance Committee through the Council to the Conference, I want to emphasize that the Finance Committee is proposing that we move much more toward an automatic system so that the waiver would be granted only in very unusual circumstances.
EL PRESIDENTE: Pregunto a los miembros del Consejo y a los observadores si desean hacer algún otro comentario respecto de este tema antes de dar la palabra al Dr. Moore. Doy la palabra al Dr. Moore para que haga las aclaraciones finales.
LEGAL COUNSEL: I have no particular comments to offer. I think the will of the Council on this point is fairly clear with respect to accepting the recommendations of the Finance Committee. I note the concern of a number of countries to look further at the special problems of developing countries, while still maintaining the financial viability of the Organization.
EL PRESIDENTE: Si no hay ningún otro comentario, podríamos resumir brevemente los debates diciendo que el Consejo expresó su satisfacción por la revisión exhaustiva y las recomendaciones útiles formuladas por el Comité de Finanzas en su 79° Período de Sesiones. Se tomó nota con preocupación de que el número de países en condiciones de perder su derecho al voto había aumentado significativamente en los últimos tiempos. A la luz de las recomendaciones formuladas por el Comité de Finanzas, el Consejo ratificó su recomendación en el sentido de que los derechos de voto deben continuar siendo reestablecidos cuando la falta de pago de las contribuciones atrasadas se deba a condiciones más allá del control de los Estados Miembros concernidos, pero los criterios para determinar tales condiciones no deben ser definidos formalmente en los textos básicos. Y en el futuro, la restauración de los derechos de voto debe adjudicarse a casos esporádicos, sobre la base de una petición formal a los Estados Miembros concernidos, donde se especifiquen las circunstancias por las cuales parecen estar dentro de la categoría de condiciones más allá de su control. La práctica de requerir
acuerdos sobre los planes de pago a plazos, debería continuar como parte de la aplicación para la restauración de los derechos de voto. Tales derechos se perderán, sin embargo, si los Estados Miembros no pagan los últimos dos plazos de esos planes. El propósito de la metodología para el cálculo de atrasos no se debería expandir para abarcar el pago al fondo general o al especial de reservas, etcétera, ni tampoco deberían aceptarse cambios respecto del período sobre el cual se han hecho esos cálculos de atrasos.
Se exhortó al Director General para que siga buscando fórmulas, así como al Comité de Finanzas, para que continúe estudiando esquemas sostenibles que permitan responder a los problemas específicos de países en desarrollo que tengan atrasos. Me refiero a uno en particular que se ha estudiado, como es el del pago en moneda local, sobre lo cual no hay ninguna definición, pero posiblemente es una de las fórmulas que estarían involucradas. No obstante, estas fórmulas no deben poner en riesgo la viabilidad financiera de la Organización.
Hubo, finalmente, un llamado general a todos los Estados Miembros para que, independientemente de su tamaño, hagan el mayor esfuerzo posible a fin de pagar sus contribuciones a tiempo, evitando así poner a la Organización en una situación financiera difícil. Si no hay ningún comentario adicional -yo sé que hay otras observaciones que fueron formuladas que estoy seguro de que el Informe del Consejo las va a rescatar-, me permito dar por concluidos los trabajos de esta décima sesión plenaria del Consejo. Recuerdo a los miembros del Comité de Redacción, y a su Presidente, que el mismo va a comenzar por fin sus trabajos a una hora temprana. Auguro a dicho Comité que terminará con toda la agenda importante que tiene enfrente, y nos reuniremos mañana día 22 a las 9.30 horas. Distinguidos delegados, levantamos la décima sesión plenaria.
The meeting rose at 15.30 hours.
La session est levée à 15 h 30.
Se levanta la sesión a las 15.30 horas.
