JM 02.1/2

Joint Meeting

1. In May and September 2000, the Joint Meeting of the Programme and Finance Committees examined the documents JM 2000/1 "FAO's Presence at Country Level" and JM 2000/2 "FAO's Presence at Country Level - Additional Information". Based on the examination of these documents, the Council decided at it 119^th Session to "enhance FAO's presence at country level through the outposting of Senior Technical Officers¹".

2. For the sake of convenience the salient characteristics of this decision are repeated below:

• In 1987 the Conference fixed the maximum number of FAO Representations at 78².
• The Organization has consistently attempted to increase the extent of country liaison within this established limit and within existing budgetary constraints through multiple accreditations, with and without a stand-alone NPO, and through the establishment of the National Correspondents scheme.
• Over the years, about 20 additional countries have expressed interest in the establishment of an FAO Representation. As the maximum of 78 has been reached, and given budgetary constraints, the Organization could not react positively to these requests.
• This has created a situation of inequity among members that is difficult to justify: a number of Member Nations cannot benefit from the presence of an FAOR as a result of the mere fact that they became members of the Organization after 1987 when the Conference set the maximum at 78, or because they made their request after that year.
• It was therefore proposed that Senior Technical Officers be outposted to particular countries to perform not only their normal technical tasks but also the functions attached to the office of FAO Representative. FAO would continue to cover the staff costs of the officer, including travel and consultancy resources . The host country would be requested to cover the remaining staff and non-staff costs necessary for the smooth handling of the tasks and programmes entrusted to the FAO Representation. This solution was to be budget neutral to FAO's Regular Programme.

3. In examining the above proposals, the Committees suggested that at some future date they should receive a progress report based on an evaluation of the new arrangements³. While it is too early to undertake such an evaluation, the following information is provided to keep the Committees apprised of progress.

• To date, Senior Technical Officers have been outposted to two countries and on-going negotiations are likely to be finalized in the not too distant future for four additional countries. Eight other countries are still under consideration, and three more countries have recently made requests.
• To date, the implementation has been budget neutral since the countries, in which the new offices with an outposted Senior Technical Officer have been created, have accepted to cover all of the costs of each Representation, with the exception of the costs associated with the function of the Representative.
• It has become clear that implementation of the outposted Senior Technical Officer scheme has been greatly delayed by the difficulty of some candidate countries to secure the required facilities and to mobilize the necessary resources.
• It is noted that while eliminating one inequity, the scheme creates a new one; that is the inequity between countries with a fully funded FAOR and those with an Office based on the outposted Senior Technical Officer scheme.

4. In conclusion, this approach is not the ideal answer but in the absence of sufficient budgetary resources, it represents a partial solution to the unsatisfied demand for services at the country level.

____________________________

1 CL 119/REP paragraph 59

2 C 87/REP, paragraph 188

3 CL 119/9, paragraph 27.