1. The Eighty-seventh Session of the Council of FAO was held in Rome from 17 to 28 June 1985 under the Chairmanship of M.S. Swaminathan, Independent Chairman of the Council.
2. The agenda and timetable of the session, with amendments, were adopted unanimously. The agenda as adopted is given in Appendix A to this report.
3. The Council elected three Vice-Chairmen for its session: Marco Francisci di Baschi (Italy); Atif Y. Bukhari (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and Leopoldo Ariza Hidalgo (Cuba).
4. The Council elected Joseph Tchicaya (Congo) as Chairman of the Drafting Committee with the following membership: Argentina, Australia, Colombia, Congo, Egypt, India, Italy, Lebanon, Malawi, Philippines, Spain and United States of America.
5. In a break with tradition, the Director-General did not begin by discussing the world food situation; rather, he drew attention to the several recent natural disasters which had occurred and expressed his and the Secretariat's profound sympathy to the governments and peoples concerned, but in particular to the Government and people of Bangladesh.
6. He reviewed the on-going Africa food crisis and paid tribute to the massive aid efforts by developed and some developing countries. He noted that although prospects were good in those sub-regions where rains had come, more aid would be needed to avert further disasters.
7. The Director-General referred to the African Rehabilitation Programme which he had proposed and stressed that it should go hand in hand with emergency food aid. He indicated that some projects had already been taken up by donors. He expressed satisfaction with the decision of the Finance Committee, with strong endorsement from the Programme Committee, to use up to US$15 million in savings from the Regular Programme to finance rehabilitation projects.
8. Turning to the Summary Programme of Work and Budget, the Director-General recognized that his proposals for a minimal programme increase were put forward at a time of great needs on one side and great constraints on the other. He stressed that the shift of resources from non-technical areas to technical programmes resulted in an overall real programme increase of less than 1.5 percent and that his proposals, subject to the U.S. dollar/lira rate to be decided by the Conference, would result in the same or an even lower level of contributions in dollar terms compared to the current biennium.
9. As to the substance of the Programme, the Director-General singled out for special mention the draft Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides. The version presented was the eighth draft which he hoped could go forward to the Conference for adoption in full consensus and support. The other unique issue was the draft Compact on World Food Security. The Director-General stressed that in the current world food situation the concept of the Compact was timely and imperative and appealed to all to withdraw reservations so that the Conference on the Fortieth Anniversary of FAO could adopt the Compact in a tranquil and constructive atmosphere.
10. The Director-General alluded to other important Agenda items which flowed from the various Commissions and Council Committees which had met since the Council's last Session, as well as relations with the Host Government and with the World Food Programme (WFP).
11. In concluding, the Director-General dwelt on arrangements for the celebration of the Fortieth Anniversary of the founding of FAO during the Twenty-third Session of the FAO Conference. These would include, in particular, a Pontifical Mass and addresses from two Heads of State at a special ceremony. Finally, he exhorted the Council to keep the ideals of the Organization alive and strong and on FAO's Fortieth Anniversary aim to set the highest example of cooperative consensus, true fraternal collaboration and international accord.
12. The full text of the Director-General's statement is given in Appendix D to this Report.
1 CL 87/1; CL 87/INF/l; CL 87/PV/l; CL 87/PV/18.
2 CL 87/PV/l; CL 87/PV/2; CL 87/PV/3; CL 87/PV/18.
3 CL 87/PV/l; CL 87/PV/18.
