Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is a particular pleasure for me to have the privilege of opening the 15th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission on behalf of the Directors-General of FAO and WHO. Dr. Saouma and Dr. Mahler are unable to be present today. They are attending an important session of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations in Geneva. As you know the heads of the UN Agencies normally participate in regular sessions of ECOSOC and on this occasion there are items concerning hazardous substances and consumer protection before ECOSOC which are of interest to your Commission. Dr. Saouma has asked me to convey his best wishes for the success of your session and to extend his personal welcome to you to FAO Headquarters. I would also like to extend the apologies of FAO's Deputy Director-General, Mr. West, who is on duty travel.
On entering FAO this morning I was asked if your Secretariat knew the significance of the 4th of July. How can your Secretariat not know. Today is the 20th Anniversary of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The first session of the Commission was concluded twenty years ago today.
The Anniversary gives me the theme for my opening address. You, Mr. Chairman, will I know say a great deal about what the Commission's Executive Committee and subsidiary bodies have been doing since the last session of the Commission and will also be giving us the benefit of your thoughts for the future. I, on the other hand, would like to dwell a little upon the history of the Commission and remind you why and how it was set up and how it has functioned. I would also like to draw your attention to some quite unique features of its manner of working as an international governmental negotiating body and in fact the only joint commission of its kind within the UN system.
The first session of the Commission was attended by some 120 participants from 30 countries and 16 international organizations. None of these countries were members of the Commission, they met to determine the nature and purpose of the Commission, to develop and adopt rules of procedure, to draw up a programme of work and take steps to initiate its activities. Much of the first session was devoted to establishing the Commission's Rules of Procedure. The discussions were long and detailed but what seemed to be of paramount importance to the “founding fathers”, if I may call them so, was that Rules of Procedure of the Commission should be flexible but precise, democratic but decisive, clear in reflecting the intention of the Member States of FAO and WHO and including authority to permit the Commission to establish Principles and Objectives of the Codex Alimentarius, to lay down working procedures for the elaboration of international standards and codes of practice which would be consistent with fair trading practices and impartial to the interests of all Members of the Commission.
A unique and continuing feature of the Commission's method of working, initiated at its first session, was the concept of Member Governments hosting and chairing subsidiary bodies of the Commission. Working partnerships have grown up between the Commission's Secretariat and the National Secretariats of the Codex Committees. These have obviously been financially very advantageous to the Member States of FAO and WHO. They have brought a wealth of scientific, technical and economic expertise to the work of the Codex Committees and to the Commission. The Host Government system has facilitated the Commission's ability to set up new committees and to adjourn sine dle Committees which have completed their tasks.
The early sessions of the Commission were extremely interesting. The first three or four years in the life of the Commission were spent laying the foundations for much of the Commission's success. They saw the commencement of its work on standardization of foods and on general matters applicable to all foods. Senior officials attended from many different government departments. Some of these had even been at the founding Conference of FAO. A number were Ministers or former Ministers, senior cabinet advisers, permanent heads of ministries and departments. Many of them had seen at first hand problems of hunger and famine. They had witnessed the world slowly recovering from the ravages of world war. They were strongly motivated in the wish to see as a primary objective of the Commission, action to ensure the safety and quality of food for the consumer as well as facilitation of international trade in food by the reduction of non-tariff barriers and the harmonization of basic requirements and definitions of food. Their wish from the outset was that the Commission should be a truly worldwide body with ideals and objectives acceptable to all peoples of the world. Their foresight and hard work has put this Commission in good standing. I do believe it is striving to live up to their aspirations and hopefully will continue to do so. Today we are fortunate to have in our presence a number of people who attended the Commission's first session, our distinguished Coordinator for Europe, Prof. Dr. H. Woidich of Austria and Mr. P.F. Jensen Allen of the United Kingdom, Dr. Richard Wildner from Austria and Mr. P.F. Jensen from Denmark, who have been active participants throughout the life of the Commission.
I have spoken about the worldwide nature of the Commission's activities. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the representatives of the People's Republic of China, who are attending the Commission for the first time in an observer capacity. I am sure I speak on behalf of the Commission that we hope that after attendance at this session China will give consideration to becoming a member. It is certainly the feeling within FAO and WHO that once China is a member of the Commission, it can really claim to be a worldwide body.
I would also like to mention that we have two senior and distinguished persons in our midst this morning. We have the Minister of Standardization of Cuba, Ing. Roman Darias Rodes and also the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture of the United States of America, Mr. C.W. McMillan. Both of these gentlemen are well-acquainted with the activities of the Codex and take a close interest in the activities of this Commission even if it is only infrequently that their other duties permit them to be with us.
I would like to close my remarks by saying how pleased we are to see so many people attending this session. I would also like to express FAO and WHO's appreciation to you Mr. Chairman. Your thirteen years participation in the Executive Committee of the Commission in various capacities has ensured a continuity of purpose and as a lawyer you kept the Commission and its Secretariat on the straight and narrow in respect of its rules of procedures. FAO and WHO would like to record their appreciation to those governments who have so generously supported the programme over the years by hosting Codex and Coordinating Committees. Without that support the FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme would not have achieved its prominent position in international food standardization and certainly would not have been able to publish finally the “Codex Alimentarius”.
I have great pleasure on behalf of the Directors-General of FAO and WHO in declaring open the 15th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission on its Twentieth Anniversary.
