160th FAO Council - Closing
In my opening remarks to this Council Session, I mentioned the importance of keeping the positive atmosphere of the last governing bodies meetings.
I think it was achieved. Members discussed all topics in a very respectful and constructive way.
Even more important, this time, the discussions were more focused on substantive issues rather than on micro-management. And once more we took all decisions by consensus. I most welcome that consensus and I would like to congratulate all of you for this achievement.
I am happy to highlight that Council endorsed all conclusions and recommendations contained in the reports of the Technical Committees (COAG, COFO, COFI and CCP). These reports highlighted that countries will not achieve the SDGs on the basis of traditional agricultural approaches.
We need innovation. We need to explore all approaches, practices and techniques that can contribute to making food systems more efficient and sustainable.
The international community is facing huge challenges that call for coordinated and joint responses. The Agenda 2030 is a fundamental tool for that. We need to work together. No country alone will be able to overcome these challenges that we are facing nowadays.
We must act globally. No one can be left behind.
Let me also thank the Council for endorsing the adjustments in the structure under the Deputy Director‑General for Programmes. As I said, these adjustments will allow DDP to strengthen FAO’s capacity in relation to programme delivery and monitoring.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I would also like to express my concern of the fact that countries continue to ask FAO to do more and more with less and less resources coming from our assessed contributions.
Let me give you some examples of this.
We will present you a list of new activities that have been requested during this Council and which we estimated at a preliminary base could have an impact on our budget of over USD 20 million.
This is not a good start to our discussions that will come after this Council about the Programme of Work and Budget 2020-21. Members will also have to agree on a list of activities to be discontinued or to decide to fund most of those proposals from voluntary contributions.
I have a preliminary copy of a list that was just given to me and I will not go through everything – there are 32 items listed here with a total amount of USD 23 million. USD 10 million impacting our technical capacity, USD 2.2 million on studies and reviews and USD 7.3 million on operations. I will just give you those above USD 2 million that we estimate.
Of course, the UN Resident Coordinator System that will have an impact of more than USD 5.1 million biennium. Second, the sustainable funding for IPCC that are estimated to be something like USD 3 million biennium and the sustainable funding for scientific advice including Codex, COAG and others that is above USD 2 million.
We will revise the list with some comments and upload it to your website for you to consider funding them or at least some of them through voluntary contributions. We cannot absorb all of these demands through our assessed contributions.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Allow me to refer to a specific concern coming in the last minutes from New York. It’s about the new report of the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) which contains decisions and implications on HR matters that will most likely have additional financial implications for our Organization.
This report is to be approved by the Fifth Committee under the Presidency of Australia. I had the opportunity to meet with all country members that are part of the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the Fifth Committee and I expressed in details our concerns. I also asked for their support for action to stop any approval of the report to allow us time to have a better analysis.
I would like to at least inform you of the three main points of our concerns contained in the report. The first one is the introduction of a new entitlement called “End of Service Grant”, which is to be paid as a lump sum to staff members who separate from the Organization and the expiration of their appointment after five or more years.
Second, the review of the early children and secondary dependent allowance.
Third, a review of the benefits to staff serving in the field with hardship conditions.
The Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, known as the ACABQ, reviewed those proposals and noted that the change will represent a significant increase in costs for the whole UN System. Aside from that, the ACABQ noted that the increased costs estimated by the ICSC is higher than the calculation made by the UN Secretariat in New York. This is due to the fact that the calculation of the UN Secretariat does not consider programmes and funds outside New York nor the specialized agencies. In view of that, the ACABQ requested further explanation at the time of the consideration of the report.
The point for FAO and for the specialized agencies in general and also for programmes and funds outside New York, in particular, is that ACABQ has recorded has provided a discrepancy for the costs only for the UN Secretary and not for the whole system. FAO will send a letter to the Chair of the Fifth Commission asking to postpone final deliberations on this report until we could have time to estimate the costs impacts on our budget.
I have to say that our preliminary estimates is that this will have a significant impact on our costs and would like to remind that we have already committed 75 percent of our assessed contributions to staff costs. I would like to ask all of you to pay attention to this matter and also raise awareness of this issue with your capitals. As you are in a privileged position to have representatives in New York.
As Members are aware, management is committed to identifying areas for further efficiency savings. However, our staff costs are putting additional pressure every biennial on our assessed contribution and we have little capacity to intervene on those costs.
Ladies and gentlemen,
To conclude, I am very satisfied that we have managed to keep the search for consensus as the basis for our decision-making process.
The consensus among Members, and between Members and Management, has been one of the hallmarks of my tenure as FAO Director-General.
Let’s preserve the trust we have built together over the last seven years, and keep the focus on the substantive aspects of our common agenda to fight poverty, hunger and all forms of malnutrition and promote sustainable food systems and development.
I wish you all happy holidays. For those that came from abroad, I wish you safe travels back home.
Thank you for your attention.
