CFS 2005/1 |
COMMITTEE ON WORLD FOOD SECURITY |
Thirty-first Session |
Rome, 23-26 May 2005 |
PROVISIONAL AGENDA AND AGENDA NOTES |
1. The Thirty-first Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) will open at FAO Headquarters in Rome at 10.00 hours on Monday 23 May 2005. Provision has been made for the Session to continue until Thursday 26 May 2005.
2. The Provisional Agenda for the Thirty-first Session has been prepared in consultation with the Chairperson, taking into account the Committee's Terms of Reference, the Committee's recommendations at the previous Sessions and the views of member countries.
3. The Session will be addressed by the Director-General or his Representative.
4. The Session will be addressed by a Head of State.
5. The Committee is open to all Member Nations of the Organization and all states which are members of the United Nations. It is composed of those states which notify the Director-General in writing of their desire to become members of the Committee and of their intention to participate in its work. Membership is for the biennium. The Secretariat will circulate a list of members of the Committee for the biennium 2004-2005 at the opening of the Session.
6. Under this item the Committee will consider the current world food security situation, including trends and prospects.
7. The Committee at its last Session decided to convene a regionally balanced working group of experts to review various options for reporting on the follow-up of the implementation of the WFS Plan of Action. The outcome and recommendations of the meeting will be discussed by the Committee.
8. At its Thirtieth Session the Committee decided to undertake, within available resources, during the Thirty-first Session of the CFS (2005), a multi-stakeholder dialogue on the Agenda item dealing with the preparatory process of the 2006 Special Forum, following the precedent of the UN Committee on Sustainable Development (CSD), involving active participation from governments, relevant international organizations and actors of civil society relevant to the mandate of the Committee in the implementation of the WFS Plan of Action. It was also decided that this dialogue should include the discussion of future actions to improve dialogue, consultation and understanding. The Committee will examine the modalities for the conduct of the Special Forum in 2006.
9. The Declaration of the World Food Summit: five years later entitled “International Alliance Against Hunger” recognized “the urgent need to reinforce the efforts of all concerned partners as an international alliance against hunger, for the fulfilment of the objectives of the 1996 Summit”. Under this agenda item, the Committee will consider a Secretariat update on actions taken and actions proposed with regard to the International Alliance against Hunger, as well as activities at the national level.
10. Under this item, the Committee will consider any matters that require decision regarding the date and agenda for its next Session, bearing in mind that it had decided to monitor the WFS Plan of Action in even years of each biennium and hold its meetings in these years after all Regional Conference Sessions finished their work, so that contributions from regional debates could be incorporated in the CFS monitoring process. According to its Terms of Reference, the Committee should normally hold two Sessions during each biennium, and if required may hold additional Sessions during the biennium on the call of the Director-General in consultation with its Chairman, or on requests submitted in writing to the Director-General by the majority of the members of the Committee.
11. The Committee, in line with its Terms of Reference, will submit a Report, including its recommendations, to the Council.
Several special events that highlight critical issues impacting on global food security will be organized by the Secretariat.