LIST OF DECISIONS, DIRECTIVES AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COUNCIL |
| Future Functions and Activities of the Committee on Commodity Problems (CCP) and its Subsidiary Bodies |
| Agreed that the CCP, while maintaining most of its current programme of work, should also develop more problem-oriented approaches in the field of agricultural commodities (para 7). |
| Recommended that, after paragraph 6 of Rule XXIX of the General Rules of the Organization, which specifies the Committee's present terms of reference, an additional paragraph should be inserted (para 8). |
| Recommended that CCP should normally hold two sessions in every biennium, but that its work programme should be flexible enough to allow for the holding of an additional session if necessary (para 9). |
| International Agricultural Adjustment |
| Agreed that the monitoring of progress in relation to the policy guidelines and general objectives would be a crucial part of the follow-up activities (para 15). |
| Strongly supported the suggestion of the CCP that monitoring should initially be based on a relatively small number of key indicators and that the monitoring and analysis of results should be kept as concise as possible and presented in a condensed form (para 15). |
| Review of Field Programmes |
| Approved the Programme Committee's choice of five major topics as a basis for discussion in Commission II of the Conference (para 18). |
| Felt that the Governing Bodies should examine the Field Programme more closely in the future (para 22). |
| Freedom from Hunger Campaign/Action for Development |
| Agreed with the Programme Committee's view that FFHC/AD be action-oriented and complementary to, rather than overlapping with, other units' work in rural development and with small farmers and landless workers (para 26). |
| Endorsed the transfer of FFHC/AD to be a programme in the Development Department and the reintegration of the FFHC/AD Projects Unit (para 27). |
| Proposed World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development - Progress Report |
| Recommended the convening of the Conference in mid-1978 and that agrarian reform and rural development be included in the Agenda of the FAO Regional Conferences in 1976 (para 29). |
| Requested the Director-General to report on all preparations for the Conference in detail to the November 1976 Council Session (para 31). |
| FAO Programme of Meetings for 1976–77 and its Consequences |
| Agreed with the measures proposed by the Director-General and endorsed by the Programme Committee (paras 33 – 34). |
| Agreed that five measures which would also contribute to better management of the meeting programme should be applied (para 35). |
| Stressed in particular the need for short and concise documentation and in this connexion considered the possibility of imposing a limit on the number of pages of preparatory documents (para 36). |
| Recommended that meetings should be clearly identified by reference to the three categories defined by the Programme Committee and the Council (para. 36). |
| Agreed that the programme of meetings of Council Committees should be kept at its present level until the results of Council review of the whole structure of these bodies were available (para 37). |
| Preparations for the Eighteenth Session of the FAO Conference |
| Nominated the Chairman of the Conference, the Chairman of the Commissions of the Conference and the Rapporteur of the Plenary to Commission I (paras 39 – 40). |
| Elected the Nominations Committee (para 41). |
| Nominated the Chairman of the Informal Meeting of Observers of Non-Governmental Organizations (para 42). |
| Agreed with the suggestions of the Programme Committee that the discussions in Commission II might be concentrated on the major issues raised in the three main documents: Programme of Work and Budget 1976–77, Review of Field Programmes 1974–75 and Medium-Term Objectives and listed in the paragraph (para 45). |
| Recommended that the Director-General invite SELA to attend the Conference in an observer capacity (para 47). |
| World Food Programme: Work of the IGC and Target for WFP Pledges for the period 1977–78 |
| Recommended a draft resolution on target for WFP pledges for the period 1977–78 for adoption by the Conference (para 52). |
| Inter-Agency Relations and Consultations on Matters of Common Interest |
| Recommended that the Conference approve the proposal of the Director-General that he undertake a study of the support which FAO could, if requested, make available to the proposed International Fund for Agricultural Development, and authorize him to make any appropriate arrangements that might be required to facilitate the start of the Fund's work (para 54). |
| Recommended that the Conference authorize the Director-General to arrange for FAO's full participation in and support to the forthcoming Conference on International Economic Cooperation (para 56). |
| Noted that a provisional agreement had just been reached with the United Nations Secretariat on three simple principles which might be used in apportioning the costs of the World Food Council between the United Nations and FAO (para 58). |
| Recommended that the UN Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) be extended beyond its present expiry date of 31 December 1977 (para 61). |
| Endorsed the suggestion of the Finance Committee that the JIU make greater use of informal notes on matters requiring immediate attention, it being understood that these matters and action taken thereon would later be reported to the governing bodies (para 62). |
| Endorsed the Finance Committee's recommendation that the Secretariat continue to review JIU reports addressed to other organizations and draw to the attention of the governing bodies those findings in them which had a bearing on the work of FAO (para 62). |
| Programme of Work and Budget 1976–77 |
| - Use of National Institutions to Implement Regular Programme Activities |
| Confirmed its earlier recommendation to intensify efforts to use national institutions, especially in developing countries, to achieve FAO's objectives where feasible and suitable (para 65). |
| Agreed that the Director-General should request governments to indicate which national institutions were available to assist FAO in carrying out its programmes (para 68). |
| Requested the Director-General to make a progress report to the Autumn 1976 session of the Programme and Finance Committees and to the Council on efforts to use national institutions in an effective way (para 70). |
| - Decentralization |
| Agreed with the Programme Committee that future efforts should also emphasize decentralization at the country level, including the further use of national institutions (para 72). |
| Felt that it was necessary to strengthen the role and authority of FAO Regional Conferences (para 73). |
| Agreed with the Programme Committee that a time-frame with specific targets should be established for the implementation of decentralization, and that the 1980–81 Programme of Work and Budget should reflect the completion of the process (para 75). |
| Agreed to keep under review the progress made on decentralization and requested the Director-General to submit specific proposals to the Programme and Finance Committees (para 76). |
| - Posts and Upgradings |
| Requested the Director-General to conduct a further review of the need for, and grades of, new posts and to report on the results to the Spring 1976 Sessions of the Programme and Finance Committees (para 80). |
| - Budget Level |
| Agreed to transmit to the Conference the Director-General's proposal on the budget level, subject to such views as the Conference might express on the points raised by the Council (para 85). |
| Recommended that the Director-General submit the draft resolution on Budgetary Appropriations for adoption by the Conference (para 86). |
| Financial Position of the Organization |
| - Progress Report on Currency Fluctuations |
| Recommended that the Conference approve reimbursement of the Working Capital Fund from expected savings coming from favourable currency fluctuations as stated in the paragraph (para 110). |
| Approved the use of the remaining currency savings and the necessary withdrawals, to the extent necessary, from the Suspense Account, under paragraph 2(ii) of Resolution 6/73 of the Seventeenth Session of the Conference, to cover the net deficit remaining at the end of the biennium (para 112). |
| Audited Accounts |
| - United Nations Development Programme 1974 |
| - World Food Programme 1974 |
| Recommended a draft resolution on audited accounts for adoption by the Conference (para 115). |
| Methods of Financing Budgetary Expenditure |
| - Level of Working Capital Fund |
| Recommended to the Conference that to the extent necessary, notwithstanding Financial Regulations 6.1 (b) and 6.2 (b) (v), Member Nations' shares in any 1974–75 cash surplus be applied to raise Member Nations' advances to the Working Capital Fund as of 1 July 1976 to the amounts appropriate to a Working Capital Fund of $6.5 million (para 120). |
| Recommended that the small balance of $90 055 of the 1972–73 cash surplus should continue to be withheld until 1 January 1977 and released as of that date along with any balance of the 1974–75 cash surplus that would remain after funding the increase in the Working Capital Fund and the new Suspense Account (para 121). |
| Recommended two draft resolutions on authority for the Director-General to undertake emergency action for the control of livestock diseases and to carry out initial control activities against the desert locust and other crop pests in emergencies, and on increase in the level of the Working Capital Fund, for adoption by the Conference (para 122). |
| - Authority to Establish a New Suspense Account |
| Recommended a draft resolution on giving authority to the Director-General to establish a new Suspense Account for adoption by the Conference (para 129). |
| Financial Questions |
| - Use of Travel Funds |
| Agreed that the Director-General should report in due course on the computerization of the travel schedule (para 130). |
| Requested the Finance Committee to carry on with a continuing review of the use of travel funds (para 131). |
| - Time Recording |
| Concurred with the Finance Committee that there was a need to make the time recording system meaningful and useful to various levels of Management and to overcome by training, as well as improvements, resistance to the accurate implementation of the system (para 133). |
| - Trust Funds |
| Concurred with the Finance Committee that rather than revise upwards the rates of Project Servicing Costs levied on Trust Funds, the better approach would be to inculcate a greater sense of cost consciousness in those who are responsible for the negotiation of Trust Funds so that such funds are accepted in the future on a more selective basis (para 135). |
| Agreed with the Finance Committee that the Director-General should be authorized to continue using his discretion in accepting Trust Funds and that support costs incurred in excess of Project Servicing Cost earnings should continue to be paid from the Regular Programme subject to review by the Finance Committee on an annual basis of the results of the Cost Measurement System (para 136). |
| - Accommodation: Building G Lease |
| Endorsed the request of the Finance Committee for a further detailed report on the costs incurred in renting the additional premises together with the cost of moving (para 138). |
| Personnel Questions |
| Requested the Director-General to give increased attention to the question of geographic distribution of staff at different levels, in particular at the decision-making level and to submit concrete solutions (para 142). |
| Establishment of a Committee on World Food Security |
| Recommended a draft resolution on the establishment of a Committee on World Food Security for adoption by the Conference (para 146). |
| Recommended a draft resolution on the functions of the CCP in relation to the Committee on World Food Security and the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes for adoption by the Conference (para 149). |
| Amendments to the Basic Texts (Summary Programme of Work and Budget and Procedure for the Convening of Sessions of Standing Committees of the Council) |
| Recommended a draft resolution on Amendments to the Basic Texts for adoption by the Conference (para 155). |
| Establishment of Joint FAO/ECE Working Parties |
| Recommended that the Director-General should continue his policy of closer cooperation between FAO and ECE and that the possibility of joint activities between the ECA Working Party on Water Resources and Irrigation and the ECE Committee on Water Problems be considered at an appropriate time in the general framework of the review of FAO Statutory Bodies (para 159). |
| Endorsed the comments of the Finance Committee that in all cases cost-sharing between ECE and FAO should be implemented, and that an attempt be made to achieve 50 percent cost-sharing as far as possible (para 160). |
| Adopted a resolution on the Establishment of Joint FAO/ECE Working Party on Mechanization of Agriculture and Joint FAO/ECE Working Party on Agrarian Structure and Farm Rationalization (Res. 1/67) (para 161). |
| Integration of the Credit Union in FAO |
| Confirmed the recommendation of its Sixty-Sixth Session that a draft resolution on the integration of the Credit Union be submitted for adoption by the Conference (para 163). |
| Invitations to Non-Member Nations to attend FAO Sessions |
| Approved the invitation extended by the Director-General to the U.S.S.R. on request to attend the First Session of the Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC), Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (para 165). |
| Membership of the Committee on Commodity Problems and the Committee on Fisheries |
| Recommended to the Conference that the “open” membership of CCP and COFI be made permanent, and that these Committees remain within the scope of the draft Conference resolution of the Sixty-Sixth Council Session on the procedure for acquisition of membership in “open” Council Committees (para 171). |
| Date and Place of Sixty-Eighth Session of the Council |
| Decided that its Sixty-Eighth Session would be convened in Rome on Friday 28 November 1975, and also on Thursday 27 November 1975 if the Conference were to conclude its work in time to permit this (para 173). |
