CHAIRMAN: We shall continue the discussion of the Programme of Work and Budget.
R.S. KAMARA (Sierra Leone): My delegation would like to join others in congratulating the Chairman on his appointment as Chairman of Commission II, and we pledge our cooperation in making his task easier.
My delegation's intention at this stage is primarily intended to express our support for the Director-General's Programme of Work and Budget. Many of the issues raised are already the subject of comment in my delegation's country statement, and I merely wish to make brief reference particularly to his action on agricultural investment, the technical cooperation programme and the measures to reduce post-harvest losses.
We believe these measures will significantly increase the level of agricultural development, particularly in the developing countries where capital is in short supply.
The Director-General's measures to reduce the overburdened Headquarters staff and the establishment of regional representatives at the country level, coupled with the reduction in the volume of documentation, whilst at the same time increasing the training programmes, are most reassuring as to the Director-General's awareness of our needs and aspirations.
Furthermore, my delegation notes with satisfaction the statement on the establishment of the Centre for Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific Region and we do look forward to a similar action being taken for the African region. In this connexion, my delegation wishes to state that the establishment of a Centre for Rural Development for Africa has always been of great interest to my country and would once more like to emphasize this.
Finally, my delegation supports the Programme of Work and Budget at the level proposed.
C.R. BENJAMIN (United States of America): Mr. Chairman, let me add our delegation to the others congratulating you on the assumption of the Chair, and pledge our support.
The United States considers this review of the FAO Programme of Work and Budget to be a key item on the Agenda of the Conference. Secretary Bergland who addressed the Conference today in Plenary has set forth the United States' comments on the future role of FAO. The purpose of my remarks is to elaborate on what activities we believe should be emphasized in the current biennium. My remarks in Commission II should be considered in conjunction with Secretary Bergland's statement and also with our statement on the agenda items on medium-term objectives and field programmes.
In our view, highest priority in the use of FAO's limited resources, whether derived from regular budget or extra-budgetary funds, should be accorded to those activities which best fulfill FAO's central objective of overcoming hunger and malnutrition. The focus of those activities should, of course, be the geographic areas with greatest need. This means a concern for marketing and consumption and for more equitable distribution. It is important not only that more food be produced but that greater incomes be generated; this requires programmes in employment and rural development.
I shall reserve our comments on specific chapters of the Programme of Work and Budget, but I should like to illustrate the types of activities on which we believe FAO should concentrate. We suggest that FAO should seriously examine whether its present attention to planning in the agricultural sector is adequate; substantially increase its programmes designed to identify the nature, causes and extent of malnutrition and to foster its correction in a range of activities in cooperation, where appropriate, with other United Nations agencies; select and evaluate the programmes and activities in
terms of the impact on the hungry and malnourished; further redirect resources and activities, as the Director-General has begun, from other activities which do not directly support FAO's efforts in agricultural development and the elimination of hunger and malnutrition; greatly accelerate activities on field and post-harvest losses with the aim of stimulating adoption of available techniques; and give special attention to the adoption of technology on farms.
Regarding format presentation, we welcome the new format and presentation of the Programme of Work and Budget but feel additional improvements can still be made. We understand that the Director-General has used zero base budgeting methods as he developed this programme document, and we strongly encourage the continued application of this approach. In order to ensure that FAO's central objective is being accorded high priority and being met in a cost-effective manner, we believe FAO should make some modifications in preparing future Programmes of Work and Budget.
We specifically suggest that the next programme document contain an explicit ranking of ongoing and contemplated programmes in terms of their effectiveness in meeting the problems of rural poverty, hunger and malnutrition. This process should be accompanied by improvements in the indicators available to measure progress in carrying out these programmes and should make it possible to receive disaggregated data in a more timely fashion. We would like to see more attention to objectives on what FAO seeks to do and less on global goals. What FAO intends to achieve in each area during the upcoming biennium should be stated as specifically as possible. What we are trying to obtain is a programme document that presents in as much detail as feasible a description of FAO's ongoing and contemplated programme.
The programme document now describes the regular and field programmes without identifying which programmes are field programmes. We would like future documents to identify, insofar as possible, these different but related activities. The objective of this suggestion is to have a clearer picture of FAO's total programme - regular as well as the extra-budgetary programmes - so that governments can evaluate whether the objectives are being addressed. We recognize that the level of extra-budgetary resources are subject to FAO influence.
In conclusion, let me say that we must find a way to receive documents related to the Programme of Work and Budget at an earlier date - in particular the Reports of the Programme and Finance Committees. These documents contain much valuable information which is helpful to our work but the effort and funds to produce them are in large part wasted if governments do not have ample time to review them before Council or Conference discussions.
C. THOMSEN (Denmark): I would also like to express the congratulations of my delegation, Mr. Chairman, to your nomination as chairman to this important task, which we assure you we will strive the best we can to assist you in performing.
My remarks will be in two parts, as I understand, at your suggestion, we will make some general remarks now and revert at a later stage to some more specific remarks on individual chapters.
First, I would like to make a few points about the presentation of the Programme of Work and Budget, the format of the document, as it is called, and among these I will take the positive ones first.
We have noted with satisfaction that the document now provides a more complete picture of the total efforts of FAO as proposed for the coming biennium, 1978/79, that is, including the extra-budgetary funds, even if these have to be estimated. We consider this to be a movement in the right direction, and we would hope that further progress in the details of this could be made.
The second positive point is about the tabular presentation of the major programmes as we have them both by regions, funds and administrative units, which we consider to be a very informative statement. Also, the presentation of the proposed programme changes by department and regional offices we welcome very much. In both cases this helps us to get a better picture of the proposed activities not. only from the point of view of programme elements but also inside administrative structure of the Organization.
The third positive one is the inclusion of the medium-term outlook as sections under the major programmes. We welcome this, and particularly the part about the objectives of the FAO, but as it has just been stated by the United States of America we would like these, if possible, to become more specific in the future.
We will have some additional remarks about the medium-term outlook when we come to this item in the agenda.
Then I have one critical remark. That is this movement towards a total picture and a full and integrated programming should in our view also lead to the inclusion of activities under the heading of post-harvest losses. Whereas we support the activities and understand the special situations which arise when this is started, it is our considered opinion that these activities should become part and parcel of the total Programme, that is, include the Regular Programme and the extra-budgetary fund activities, also from the point of view of presentation. I will come back to this point later on.
Then I have a few remarks about the introduction and the explanatory remarks. First I would like to say that we very much welcome the declared intention to consolidate the policies and programmes which we adopted last year, and we would also like to emphasize our concurrence with the desire to reach the poor parts of the population and the small farmers.
I have a comment on the Technical Cooperation Programme, which we support as it was originally intended to be for urgent small-scale technical assistance activities, but with reference to the progress report we received on this programme, we share the view that has been expressed, I believe, in the Programme Committee, that the grouping which has been called miscellaneous should be reduced in future presentations so as to give a better picture of this considerable part of the total activities under this Programme. We very much welcome the proposed evaluation of this Programme, and we shall look forward to seeing the results of it.
Then on decentralization to the country level, we have some concern for the need for continuity in the functions of the country representative as there is now this considerable change not only in persons but to some extent also in status, that this should as far as possible not have any negative effect on the functions of these country representatives.
We have in this connection been somewhat surprised at the proposed expansion under the Programme of the Regional Offices as we understand it to be decentralization to the country level which is the prime objective, and we are concerned about the risk of overlapping with Headquarters if there was to be a trend towards several small FAO's, as it has sometimes been expressed.
About the practical actions at grassroots level we very much support this as part of the priority activities, and particularly among these the need for training at the lower levels. I could in this connection refer to the COAG special support which was given to training, education and extension. We realize that this is an activity which cuts across major programmes but we would like to be able to see better from these programmes how this priority is reflected in the coming programmes.
About organizational changes I just want to say we welcome the fact that these have been as proposed, limited mainly to consolidation of related activities. We support the transfer of the evaluation service as it is indicated, as well as the proposed consolidation of fertilizer activities and, if I can term it this way, research activities.
With regard to the changes in the number of posts at Headquarters and regional offices, which is to some extent linked up, we welcome the reduction in the numbers at Headquarters, although we have some concern with regard to the increase of the higher grades. If you look at the table in the document you will notice there is a considerable reduction in the lower grades, but when you come to the higher grades the picture is different. Also in line with what I have just said a moment ago about the regional offices we would like to express some concern about the increase in the number of posts at the regional offices.
Then I come to a few remarks about the budget level at this stage. We would have liked, in fact we would have preferred to see the post-harvest loss activities, as I have already stated, considered part of the Regular Programme extra budgetary fund activities, and if we consider these 20 million dollar activities as part of the net real increase proposed, well then the proposed percentage increase will, of course, be considerably higher than the 7 percent which was indicated earlier. We would support, or we could support the proposed level of the budget at 208 million dollars on a lira rate of 900, but we feel the latest proposal for 211 million dollars on a lira rate of 879 should be considered in connection with the outcome with regard to the suspense account of the present biennium, because if you look in isolation at this it is evident it was set up to form a sort of buffer to meet the contigencies on these exchange rate variations, and until something has been decided about that we find it a little difficult to have a final attitude towards the proposed rate of lira which is expressed in a total sum of 211 million dollars. We would like to be informed, if possible, about the outcome in this regard.
Also I feel that it is propor to express concern about the cost increases although these are beyond the powers, outside the discretion of the Organization, it does call for even more exercise of attempts to improve efficiency, and it is not made easier when you have such important rises in costs.
As I said earlier we would like to come back to some more specific remarks in a second intervention.
CHAIRMAN: Before giving the floor to the delegate of Afghanistan I would like to inform you that the Plenary lacks a quorum and cannot begin. Delegates who are able to leave should please go to the Plenary in order to enable them to start their discussions there.
A. MAJID (Afghanistan): First of all I would like to congratulate you as the Chairman of this important Commission. I would like also to congratulate the Director-General and the Secretariat for presenting this excellent document.
We are happy that the Directors-General has not only conceived but would be executing the re-organization of the FAO with great understanding and objectivity. The Afghan delegation supports this re-organization as it aims at cutting the dead wood and tuning up the overall performance of the Organization. Under the re-organization duplication of activities is avoided, emphasis is laid on decentralization from the Headquarters to the country level to forge closer and more fruitful contacts, theoretical and long-term studies are substituted by practical and short-term actions. Efforts are directed to obtain financial resources for investment in food and agricultural production. It is heartening to learn that a technical cooperation programme would give the FAO a new immediacy and flexibility and stimulate greater investment in development.
We congratulate the Director-General on the Programme outlined to continue the process of reducing the non-effective activities and also cut down the meetings and doocumentation to make them more purposeful. The emphasis on concrete activities at the field and country level is most welcome. We would, however, like that this new approach is reflected in the proposed allocation which needs to be given a tilt in favour of the technical cooperation programme.
We consider the present policy of according priority to developing nations to be continued but we would like to emphasize the need for giving greater preference to least developed and landlocked countries.
The Afghanistan delegation would like to support the Programme of Work and Budget at the level of 211,350,000 dollars for 1978/1979.
S.M. RICHARDS (Liberia): First of all I would like to congratulate you on behalf of my delegation on your succession to the Chairmanship of this Commission.
On our first intervention we would like to make a few points and reserve the option of coming back to specifics.
First of all we have studied with care and interest the Programme of Work and Budget of the Director-General and we comment on his efforts in this line. We have noticed with keen interest the Director-General's interest in the re-organization of the Organization, and we welcome this move. As I have indicated we will make a few points and come back at a later stage.
We welcome the Technical Cooperation Programme and above all support, I repeat, we support the budget level of 211 million dollars.
We feel that the Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development is of importance, and this should claim the attention of all Member Nations as we move towards our agricultural production. We also have to think about the rural area because that is where our porblem lies. We would like to see that in our good faith support be given to the Director General's present budget level.
We welcome his proposal for the prevention of food losses and we hope that this matter will be given keen attention in terms of the Director-General's request for the suspense fund of 10 million dollars be used for this purpose.
M. TRKULJA (Yugoslavia): I spend part of the first minute out of 27 given to each of us, of course, in joining others in expressing to you and your Vice-Chairman to be elected yet our congratulations on the high post you have been elected to.
I would largely obey the comment of the Committee that we must avoid discussing those themes which are designated to the Commission I for detailed discussion and only say a few words on the format and structure of the Programme. We completely share the views expressed here that the new format and structure as presented by Dr. Janha marks substantial improvement over the past efforts. We are especially enthusiastic that for the first time the Programme of Work and Budget contains both Regular Programme activities and at this stage, of course, a tentative assessment of the extra-budgetary activities of the Organization but, anyhow, gives a clear picture of the integral part of all activities of FAO.
Our Plenary speech delivered by Mr. Kustrak this morning clearly indicated our general position of Yugoslavia Government and Yugoslavia delegation vis-a-vis all main features of the Programme of Work and Budget, so I am in a position only to reiterate at least a few points.
The best way of expressing our general position would be to refer through you, Mr. Chairman, to the distinguished delegates, that the Yugoslavia delegation very actively indeed supported the Director-General's proposals for the new orientation of the Organization in the Council, and only to repeat in a few words we supported substantial reduction of originally proposed new posts and then also reduction in the costs of publications and documentation. Even more we supported, if I may say so, the positive side of the new orientation that means the establishment of the Technical Cooperation Programme which always thought it was necessary for FAO to have a really needed flexibility in responding quickly to the small-scale need of developing countries and which certainly should not be conceived as a kind of substitution for decreased resources of the UNDP.
We also support the gradual establishment of country offices of FAO as a first and very important step towards the de-centralization of the organization's activities.
We are positive that the new orientation as proposed by the Director-General and which met with the full approval of the Council, is fully reflected in the Programme of Work and Budget, and by improving some basic features of the new orientation. I would state our positive attitude as far as the Programme of Work and Budget proposed by the Director General is concerned.
I would like to announce that my delegation, together with a number of other delegations, is preparing a draft resolution, which would of course be submitted first to the Resolutions Committee and then to the Commission. Our intention is to reflect the accord reached by both the Paris Conference on International Economic Cooperation and the Third Session of the World Food Council in Paris and in Manila, with regard to the need for substantial strengthening of the FAO Seed Improvement and Development Programme. After reaching that accord, our intention is, if our resolution is accepted - hopefully today or tomorrow - to appeal to the Member Governments to pledge contributions of at least US$ 20 million to the programme. And of course we would like the Conference to request the Director-General to take the necessary steps in that regard.
Í would like now to only briefly touch upon some programmes, and reserve the right to discuss in detail when we come to consider Chapters, or the appropriate part of the programme and budget.
First, I would like to make known our full support for the FAO Special Fund intended to launch action concerning harvest and post-harvest losses. In that regard we would very much appreciate a full consensus reached here in this Commission, and then by the Conference itself.
As well as specially stressing the problem of strengthening the FAO Seed Improvement and Development Programme, I would like to indicate the support we give to the importance of the programme of agriculture towards the year 2000, which was very specifically mentioned in the introduction by the Director-General. We feel that such an endeavour is a real necessity for the Organization, not only to respond actively to the system-wide activities with the means to support actively the preparation of the third development decade, but also a necessity for the Organization itself.
I would like to say a few words to indicate the substantial importance that my delegation attaches to technical cooperation among developing countries - and of course speak in more detail later on.
To conclude, a few words about the level of budget. It seems to us rational to accept the existing dollar/lira rate, as it was the practice of previous Conferences. That means, in the light of what I have said so far, that my delegation is fully prepared to support the budget level as presented by the Director-General. Within that context, we would also like to render our full support to the establishment of a Reserve Account intended to cover two purposes: currency fluctuation and unbudgeted cost increases.
S.H. PRAKOSO (Indonesia): My delegation would also like to congratulate you, Sir, on your appointment as Chairman of this Commission and we are confident that with your able and wise guidance this Commission's deliberations will come to a fruitful end.
We wish to confine ourselves at this stage to general comments.
First, we wish to reiterate our support for the integrated set of policies of the Director-General, which has been endorsed by the Council at its Sixty-Ninth Session in July 1976, and which he has further explained in his introduction to the Programme of Work and Budget, and which he proposes for the next biennium.
We also fully agree with the new approach launched by the Director-General, which focusses on action at country and grassroot levels, as it is there where actual work has to be done. We gratefully welcome the decentralization from Headquarters to regional and country level, as the Director-General has re-emphasized in his introductory statement this morning, and we would welcome further reduction of Headquarter's posts and strengthening of the regional and country offices. This new decentralization should also mean decentralization of authority and initiative. Particularly Member Nations are expected to take more initiative rather than passively accept whatever the FAO Secretariat puts before them.
This means that the member countries should participate more actively in FAO's work, so that FAO is really a living symbol of active cooperation among all Member Nations rather than an organization steered by a few.
We are glad to note that our Director-General is determined to pursue his policies and his new approach. We fully realise however that it will take some time for the Director-General to completely implement his policies, as it is not only a matter of administrative and organizational reforms and indeed de-bureaucratization of procedures. It also requires - this is much more difficult - a change of mental attitude of the FAO apparatus.
Turning to the Programme of Work and Budget which the Director-General proposes for 1978/79, we are glad to see that it is now organized in such a manner that it shows in a single volume not only the programme budget proper, but also programmes by region as well as the budget by organizational unit.
We are indeed happy that programmes by region have been separately shown in sufficient detail as Annex I. This means that the Director-General fully recognized and sincerely respected the decisions and recommendations made by the Regional Conferences, which are the ministerial level fora of FAO in the regions.
Otherwise ministers of agriculture and top-ranking government officials would be wasting their valuable time in attending Regional Conferences.
However, there is still much room for improving the programming exercise of the Organization so as to ensure that all Member Nations, big and small, have the full opportunity and chance to actively participate in it.
This can only be materialised if the programmes are systematically built up from lower geographical levels up to the global level.
We all know that it is not possible to discuss thoroughly the Programme of Work and Budget in this Commission in view of the limited time available. And perhaps it is not intended to either. One may argue that the building materials for this Programme have been prepared and discussed at the sessions of the Council's Committees such as COAG, COFO, COFI, etc. But not all Member Nations can afford to send adequate representation to those global meetings. Besides it is practically not possible to reach satisfactory agreement on priorities at these global level meetings, since ecological, economic, social and political conditions and situations differ widely from region to region. We are therefore strongly of the opinion that - as we said earlier - the priorities should be systematically built up from lower geographical levels. They are, however, to be synchronized and consolidated at higher levels, and to be complemented by priorities programmes covering problems, the scope of which goes beyond each individual region, which are namely of inter-regional or global nature.
In this context we consider the FAO Regional Technical bodies dealing with the main sectors of agriculture, such as the Regional Forestry Commissions, Regional Fisheries Commissions, Regional Livestock Commissions and the like, constitute the most appropriate mechanisms at sufficiently low geographical levels to determine the regional or sub-regional priorities in their respective sectors.
These Commissions are usually well attended by the heads or top-ranking officials of corresponding sectoral agencies of Member Governments, and together these representatives are therefore the most competent authorities to jointly review and determine the sectoral priorities in their respective regions or sub-regions.
Subsequently, these regional or sub-regional sectoral priorities are to be reviewed, synchronized and consolidated into overall regional agricultural development priorities by the respective Regional Conferences as these conferences are meant to be attended by agriculture ministers and/or high level representatives of the ministries to which the sectoral agencies who are represented at the Regional Technical Commissions belong. These consolidated overall regional agricultural development priorities can be complemented or supplemented by the Regional Conferences with priorities in important aspects of agricultural development - not covered by the regional technical bodies and with whatever important policy matters the regional conferences may wish to bring to the attention of the Director-General or the governing bodies through him. Naturally and logically there should be a close linkage between these regional technical bodies and the respective regional conferences, not only functionally but also organically.
I am not dealing with the question “What should be the functions of the Regional Conferences?” as such, but I just wish to point out that the Regional Conferences should be an indispensible and integral link in the priority programming exercise of the Organization.
The Council's committees will then deal with the consolidated overall regional priorities as far as their respective sectoral responsibilities are concerned.
It is the task of the Council's committees to review and synchronize the respective regional sectoral priorities and to complement them when and where necessary with inter-regional and global priorities which cannot be dealt with by individual regions. We believe strongly that in this matter there will be a systematic and stagewise build-up from lower geographical levels to the global level, and by doing so confusion of discussions on priorities at the global level meetings will be avoided. We wish to point out that by this stagewise programming exercise we do not mean the biennial programming exercise, but it only deals with priority problem areas which are of medium or longer-term nature, although they have to be reviewed biennially in view of possible changing situations. Since these priorities are of medium or longer-term nature, they also constitute valuable source material for the Director-General to formulate the Medium-Term Objectives.
In addition to the important role which the Regional Technical Commissions can play in the priority programming exercise, they also constitute excellent formula for promoting inter-country cooperation; in other words for promoting technical cooperation within the developing countries programmes. Countries can jointly discuss and agree upon inter-country cooperative projects for external as well as domestic funding.
I may mention a good example in this respect in the Asian Region, namely the inter-country projects developed under the framework of the Regional Animal and Health Commission for Asia and the Far East and the South West Pacific which are financed by national funds of the Member Countries themselves.
In summing up, Mr. Chairman, while we fully recognize that it is and it should remain the prerogative of the Director-General to formulate his biennial Programme of Work and Budget, we strongly believe that the Director-General should be provided with a set of priority areas upon which he can draw up his biennial Programme of Work and Budget with sufficient flexibility. These priorities should be systematically built up from lower geographical levels, where all Member Nations, particularly developing countries, are in a better position to participate fully and more actively.
We are aware that this has been done to some extent, incidentally or particularly, but we consider it more appropriate if the Conference structure of the Organization be reviewed and reshaped, and procedures adjusted and streamlined to that effect in order to ensure that FAO is a real cooperative endeavour of all its Member Nations, and not only a world Organization steered by a few.
As to the budget proposals for 1978-79 we can go along with the Director-General, with regard to the level as well as to the appropriations to various items as indicated by him in his introductory statement this morning,
Mr. Chairman, we would be most grateful if you would allow us to intervene again if the Commission will be discussing the Technical and Economic Programmes and other Chapters in more detail in the course of our deliberations.
H. EL-AKHRASS (Syria) (interpretation from Arabic): Mr. Chairman, I do not wish to repeat what has already been said by those who spoke before me in respect of the improvement in the working and budgeting programme, and the very efficient manner in which this was put forward. We shall, all of us, be giving our views at the appropriate time. Nevertheless I wish to stress one matter which was raised by the Honorable Delegate from Sudan. I refer to the Assistant Secretary, Regional Office of FAO. We are happy with the initiative that has been taken in order to decentralize and create a national bureau, and there again support must be given to the regional offices. We must survive in funds. These regional offices must derive greater and more extensive competence. As representatives of a Middle Eastern country we believe that the recent office at Cairo must bear the responsibility for directing and implementing national and regional projects which are being financed under the cooperation programme of the Near East countries, and of course Headquarters may supervise these activities. The Regional Representative should really be responsible to the Director-General for the implementation of the projects. Mr. Chairman, such a procedure will allow us to benefit from this programme and to make the best of it.
There is just another matter I wish to raise if I may, and I would like the Secretariat to advise the requirements secretary. The item I raise relates to the duplication of efforts by various international organizations. Some activities are already being implemented by the FAO Regional Office, by FAO Headquarters and by the Joint FAO and the Economic Community for Western Asia itself. This is just by way of example and I shall say no more. Such a procedure, Mr. Chairman, merely depletes the funds that have been allocated and will lead to chaos.
To end, I wish to express the support of my delegation to the Programme on Technical Cooperation. This Programme has shown that it is efficient during the fairly brief time in which it was set up.
B.P. DHITAL (Nepal): May I join with other colleagues to congratulate you on being directed Chairman of this Commission,
Since this is our first intervention I shall be brief in my general comments while reserving our rights to come back on the subjects we shall be discussing later. We have gone through the proposal and the review of the Director-General's Programme of Work and Budget for the biennium of 1978-79. We have noted with satisfaction the emphasis placed on the Technical and Economic Programmes. We support the new format of Programme and Budget presentation while, of course, recognizing the scope for further improvement, particularly in areas related to the regional and field programmes. The explanatory notes presented in the document provide a clear picture, although further details would have made more clear some of the specific objectives we have. We do realise that this might not have been possible at this stage.
The organizational changes as proposed are welcome. The reduction of posts proposed at Headquarters is reasonable. At the same time we would like to see that the regional and country offices are further strengthened, and also that there is proper decentralization of authorities to make the regional and country offices more effective. We are happy, that Nepal has been one of the first few countries to have the new FAO Country Representative offices.
Coming to the level of budget, we fully support the proposal. We also support the proposal for the creation and the utilization of Suspense Account and particularly the proposal for creating funds for the prevention of post-harvest losses. We strongly feel that this should be given high priority.
The establishment of Technical Cooperation Programme, we believe, will go a long way to meet the needs of the developing countries. We do hope that this approach will be further strengthened.
Before I close I would like to repeat what the distinguished delegate from Indonesia mentioned in this Commission, that the regional and sub-regional sectional priorities should be fully reflected in the Programme of Work and Budget. We would also like to emphasize that the regional conferences should play a major role in the shaping up of the Programme of Work and Budget so that we can have proper representation of views and needs of small and big nations together.
F. MOUNDOUNGA (Gabon): La delegation gabonaise est heureuse de se joindre aux orateurs qui l'ont prcédée pour vous féliciter de votre désignation à la présidence de cette importante commission; vous pouvez être assuré qu'elle vous appportera toute la collaboration nécessaire pour le plein succès de nos travaux. Elle tient également à féliciter le Directeur général pour l'oeuvre qu'il accomplit, ainsi que le Secrétariat pour les documents qui nous sont soumis. La présentation claire et concise de ceux-ci aidera sans conteste la Commission II à aboutir aux solutions indispensables à l'amélioration de la situation alimentaire dans toutes les parties du globe.
Il importe à notre avis de féliciter les différents comités qui ont aidé le Conseil dans l'examen des divers points du Programme qui nous est proposé pour le biennium 1978-79.
Dans le contexte général, les propositions présentées ont tenu compte des différents problèmes importants que connaît notre monde. Il est particulièrement réconfortant de constater que ces propositions essaient de mettre en relief les efforts de la FAO en vue de l'instauration d'un nouvel ordre économique international. L'importance accordée aux opérations sur le terrain marque une nouvelle dimension qui rencontre notre approbation. Dans le même ordre d'idées, le programme de coopération technique est un élément d'assistance technique appréciable parce qu'il permet de répondre plus directement aux besoins urgents et à court terme des Etats Membres.
Les restrictions budgétaires importantes opérées, la décentralisation des services du Siège, toutes ces mesures traduisent le souci du Directeur général d'avoir un Programme de travail et budget cohérent, souple et peu coûteux.
Ces quelques considérations nous amènent à appuyer sans réserve le niveau du budget tel qu'il nous a été présenté par le Directeur général. La délégation gabonaise souhaite seulement que ce Programme de travail et budget soit exécuté par un personnel compétent.
La délégation gabonaise se réserve d'intervenir le cas échéant, au cours des débats qui suivront.
A.J. PECKHAM (United Kingdom): If I may introduce a note of dissent into this Committee, it is that I am not sure whether I should congratulate the Chairman or commiserate with him. It is very early in the work of the Commission, but I am not sure that the role of Chairman is all that fun, but I hope he has a very successful and favourable tenure of office.
On that note, may I say that on the United Kingdom's behalf I have eight points or general observations to make.
In the first case, we would like to welcome the presentation of this document. It is clear, easy to comprehend and the division into three main sections showing the programmes themselves, the programmes by region and the spread of budgetary resources among organizational units within FAO, points up FAO's main activities and priorities.
If I may say so, the Director-General's introduction is particularly helpful. We give wholehearted support to the recurrent theme that efforts to increase agricultural production and food security must include greater investment, increased and better use of inputs and agricultural training, supported by the appropriate pricing policy, marketing and the greater availability of credit.
Secondly, we have no disagreement with the programme outlined in document C 77/3, and applaud the emphasis placed throughout the document on the training of skilled manpower. As investment funds are made available for development, we believe that the shortage of skilled personnel is the major constraint on progress. Hence, the United Kingdom places special importance on the training programme.
Thirdly, the Programme of Work and Budget has been subject clearly to close scrutiny at all stages of its development. We have all been conscious that under the new Director-General, FAO is undergoing a major reorientation of policy. We ourselves have been concerned to establish firstly that the new policies do not conflict with our own development priorities, and secondly that the Organization did not move too far too quickly and thus overstretch its resources.
In the light of both those considerations, we believe that the document which emerged merits our full support. The diversion of resources from work of a theoretical nature to practical work in the field further reflects the new policies endorsed by the Sixty-Ninth session of the Council. As the Director-General reminded us in his introduction, these placed emphasis on assisting Member Nations to obtain financial resources for food and agricultural development. It emphasized the Technical Cooperation Programme, the decentralization from headquarters to country level and the more practical short-term action at country level.
Fourthly, we note that significant steps have already been taken in the transfer of staff from headquarters to posts in the field. The estimates on page 36 of document C 77/3, which illustrate the organizational changes between the budget for the current biennium and that proposed for 1978/79, show in the first place, that there have been a marked increase - as has already been noted - in support at the country level; secondly, a sharp increase in the programme support for investment, a move to country level activities, particularly through the Technical Cooperation Programme and cuts in administrative costs. All this we see as clear evidence that the new policies for which we have already expressed our support are to be put firmly into effect.
Fifthly, we note that it is proposed to establish the 54 FAO Country Representatives by the end of 1979. This now accounts for a large percentage of the overall programme increase, and we have slight reservations here. We would want to be satisfied that this time-table is achievable and that resources are not being unduly optimistically allocated. It is, in our view, of particular importance that the establishment of independent country representatives should be carried out in close consultation with the United Nations Development Programme and should not conflict with the role of the existing UNDP Resident Representatives, who continue to have a primary role at the country level.
Point six is on the Technical Cooperation Programme. We note with approval the plans to consolidate rather than to expand TCP. The carry-over of uncommitted funds is expected to be between $2 and $3 million (slightly less than the figure shown on page 154 of the main document) giving a probably lower figure than the proposed $26.5 million for the next biennium.
We are pleased to note that an evaluation exercise on TCP is to be carried out and a report presented to the Council in the autumn of next year. We would, however, have welcomed a more detailed breakdown of projects financed than the four “category” summaries which are given on page 154. There is a slight mystery about a miscellaneous item which accounts for about a quarter of the allocated funds.
Point seven: the proposal to combat post-harvest losses will, we know, be discussed in detail in Commission I. I would just like to say that the programme has our complete support. We attach considerable importance to its success.
Finally, point eight: since the main document was finalized several additional programme requirements have arisen and have been reported to the joint meeting of the Programme and Finance Committees. This as we know resulted in the recommendation for the budget level to be increased by at least $ 1.2 million, to meet administrative costs for the Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Production.
The Director-General originally anticipated that all costs for this Conference could be absorbed within the regular budget. I do not want now to discuss the merit or otherwise of establishing a self-contained secretariat for the Conference or the need for making provision for preparatory meetings and documentation and all that stuff. This, no doubt, will be given close scrutiny when the subject is discussed under item 16. I must say that we are, however, concerned with the escalation of costs and the rather late decision to exclude these items from the budgetary level agreed at the Seventy-First Council.
G. ERICSSON (Sweden): Mr. Chairman, may I first congratulate you on your election as Chairman of this Commission. You can rest assured of the support from our side in your fulfillment of this important task.
On behalf of the Swedish delegation I would like to start with a few words on the presentation and format of the Programme. There has been a considerable change for the better since the last Conference, and we are grateful for the efforts in the Secretariat to make it easier for us as Member Countries to analyse the substance of the FAO activities in the Programmes and sub-programmes as well as the resource allocation for these activities in the different Departments and Divisions. It will help us to put greater emphasis on the content of the Programme and priorities within it and less on matters of administration and formalities.
In this respect we appreciate the clear intention by the Director-General to relate in the presentation field activities as well as other extra-budgetary activities of the regular Programme. This is something we have advocated for a long time. Sweden has gradually increased its extra-budgetary support to regional and interregional activities of the FAO. Our concern has been that we have not always seen a distinct relation to the normal work of FAO and those projects supported by other countries within the Government Cooperative Programme.
There is an obvious risk if extra-budgetary resources and activities are allowed to grow out of the control of the decision-making bodies and the top management of FAO. They draw upon staff resources in the different divisions and they may disturb the line of priorities set in the Conference, the Council and the Committees of the FAO.
The Director-General has called for extra-budgetary resources as a means of making FAO more ready to respond to requests from member countries. On these grounds Sweden stands ready to continue its “multibilateral” financing of certain activities, but we welcome the ambition of the Director-General to take a firmer grip on extra-budgetary allocations to secure that they form part and parcel of the regular FAO activities. If programmes and projects for extra-budgetary financing are clearly indicated in the Programme of Work and Budget, the member countries will have an opportunity to discuss them and to express priority. For Sweden it is important, too, that projects and programmes for extra-budgetary financing fall within priorities expressed in the General Assembly of the United Nations and the ECOSOC, and that there is a coordination with UNDP funding.
With reference to the general feature of the present Programme of Work and Budget, we have noted with great satisfaction the strong poverty orientation. The Director General put this forward clearly, both in his introduction to the Programme of Work and Budget and in his inaugural statement to the Conference. This is in line with Resolution II of the World Food Conference and was further developed in the Manila Communique. This must be the basic principle behind all FAO activities, whether they are production-oriented or more socio-economically oriented. Despite all resolutions and declarations and all efforts towards development, we have seen how the gap between rich and poor countries has increased, as well as within many countries the gap between the richer and poorer parts of the population. Sweden has committed itself to the New International Economic Order aiming at an equitable distribution of resources among the countries of the world. As a member of FAO and as will also be stated by our Minister of Agriculture in his Plenary statement, we support the Agency in its efforts to increase activities aimed at the rural poor. We will further elaborate on this subject under item 16, the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, but to the specific issues of the Programme of Work and Budget as presented in Chapter II we will come back in a later intervention.
Let me, Mr. Chairman, end this round of the discussions by stating that we have no problem in accepting the level of the budget. In connexion with specific questions of the budget, we may wish to come back.
K. CHOUERI (Liban) (interprétation de l'arabe): Permettez-moi tout d'abord, Monsieur le Président, de vous féliciter à l'occasion de votre élection à la présidence de notre Commission. Je me contenterai ici de me référer à l'introduction que nous a faite le Directeur général pour le Programme de travail et de budget portant sur le biennium 1978-79.
Je me réserve le droit de reprendre la parole pour exprimer notre position concernant les autres points de ce document.
Je voudrais d'autre part féliciter le Secrétariat pour l'excellent document soumis aux travaux de cette Commission. Le Programme de travail et de budget est en fait un programme réaliste et équilibré, qui reflète la nouvelle stratégie adoptée par la FAO, stratégie qui met l'accent sur les différentes priorités de ce Programme: la coopération technique, la décentralisation, les programmes d'investissement et les activités tendant à l'augmentation de la production agricole et à la limitation des pertes après récoltes. Nous sommes persuadés qu'une telle stratégie permettra à la FAO de jouer un rôle beaucoup plus positif pour le développement de l'agriculture dans le monde.
En ce qui concerne le niveau du budget, ma délégation appuie celui proposé; à notre avis il s'agit là d'un niveau minimum susceptible de répondre aux besoins des pays en développement. Etant donné le taux de change décidé au moment où le budget est adopté au sein de la Conférence générale, nous estimons que ce nouveau niveau du budget est acceptable. Nous pensons également que le Programme de coopération technique a fait ses preuves en raison de sa souplesse et de son élasticité.
Pour ce qui est des investissements dans le secteur agricole, nous appuyons pleinement le Directeur général qui souhaite augmenter ses investissements et trouver le financement nécessaire pour l'accroissement de la production agricole.
Ma délégation se félicite de la décentralisation et de l'allégement bureaucratique, mesures qui iront au bénéfice des programmes de terrain au service des pays en développement, et cela a représenté une augmentation de 76 pour cent par rapport au biennium précédent. Ma délégation est convaincue que la décentralisation déjà entamée au niveau régional a été bénéfique. A ce propos, je voudrais dire que le bureau créé à Beyrouth est excellent et a déjà porté ses fruits. Je suis certain que ces bureaux dans les pays et les bureaux régionaux vont oeuvrer au bénéfice de tous nos pays.
Pour nous résumer, nous appuyons pleinement la politique ici proposée qui se reflète dans le Programme de travail et budget. Nous formulons l'espoir que l'occasion nous soit donnée de commenter les différents points à l'ordre du jour de cette Commission.
G. WEILL (France): Monsieur le Président, je me suis demandé si, en prenant la parole, je ne vous adressais pas les félicitiations de la délégation française, vous y verriez quelque réticence. Pour dissiper cette impression que vous auriez pu avoir, je dirai que je me joins bien volontiers à tous les collègues qui m'ont précédé pour vous adresser nos félicitations.
Monsieur le Président, je me conformerai à l'indication que vous nous avez donnée pour me borner, à ce stade, à présenter quelques observations d'ordre général. Ces observations se référeront à l'exposé qu'a fait le Directeur général en introduction et aux notes explicatives qui précèdent le gros document sur le Programme et Budget.
Je voudrais tout d'abord dire notre satisfaction de constater, ainsi que le rappelle le tableau M des notes explicatives au paragraphe 6.6, que le pourcentage des dépenses consacrées aux postes ouverts, par rapport au budget total, a décru régulièrement depuis son maximum durant le biennium 1974/75 de 77,2 pour cent à 67,8 pour cent pour 1976/77, et dans le budget qui nous est soumis ce pourcentage baisse à 62,2 pour cent.
Le Directeur général lui-même y a fait allusion ce matin. Nous sommes heureux de constater là les résultats des efforts du Directeur général pour une réduction des coûts administratifs au bénéfice des activités de type plus opérationnel.
Le paragraphe précédent 6.5 comporte un tableau: modification totale nette des tableaux d'effectifs en 1978/79. A ce propos, comme la délégation danoise l'a fait remarquer, si nous pouvons marquer notre accord pour la relative stabilité des effectifs, nous devons, avec ceux de nos collègues qui ont en fait la mention, constater que la stabilité des effectifs s'accompagne d'une progression des effectifs vers les grades les plus élevés, aussi bien en ce qui concerne le personnel des services généraux que les services du cadre organique. Il s'agit là de cette fameuse pyramide dont on a déjà dit - et ce n'est pas original de le répéter - qu'elle tendait véritablement à affecter la forme d'une toupie. Nous ne somme plus assez jeunes pour aimer jouer à la toupie, mais je constate qu'il s'agit là d'une évolution qui devrait être contenue.
Un mot maintenant sur la présentation du Programme et Budget dont on a dit avant moi les mérites.
Je dirai qu'un mérite particulier de cette nouvelle présentation est de réduire dans un seul volume les documents se rapportant au Programme et au Budget qui antérieurement ont été présentés en deux volumes. Mais cette relative concision s'accompagne, à nos yeux, à la fois de certains avantages et de certains inconvénients.
Les avantages tiennent essentiellement à une présentation au moins globale de ce qui a trait aux activités de terrain. Ils tiennent aussi au fait que les activités régionales sont mentionnées.
En plus de cette remarque soulignant les avantages de la présentation actuelle du Programme, je dirai qu'il y a le revers de la médaille, c'est une plus grande concision quant à un certain nombre d'indications que nous aimons trouver dans les documents soumis à la Conférence.
J'ai pu faire la comparaison entre le Programme de travail et budget qui nous est soumis et le document qui était le sommaire du Programme qui a été présenté à la 71ème session du Conseil. Ce document porte la cote CL 71/3. Je voudrais me référer à un poste qui nous paraît fort important et que le Directeur général a mentionné dans son introduction. Il s'agit en particulier de la représentation dans les pays et des bureaux régionaux.
Je dois dire, Monsieur le Président, que je n'ai pas trouvé dans le gros document Programme de travail et budget les informations plus détaillées dont nous avons bénéficié dans le sommaire du Programme de travail et budget sur un point qui, je le répète, a retenu l'attention de ma délégation et éveille quelques préoccupations.
Le Conseil, à sa 69ème session, a donné son accord au Directeur général pour affecter progressivement dans les pays des représentants plutôt que de développer les bureaux régionaux.
Effectivement, la situation qui se présente à l'heure actuelle tend à évoluer. Nous avons présentement en poste 62 Conseillers agricoles principaux représentants dans les pays qui sont pris en charge aux deux tiers par le budget du PNUD. Selon les perspectives de notre Organisation, ces 62 postes de représentants conjoints, dirais-je-puisqu'ils sont pris en charge en partie par le PNUD-devraient cesser comme tels d'être en fonction en 1979.
Au lieu de cela, la FAO propose de mettre en place, dans le cadre de son programme ordinaire sur le biennium 1978/79, 47 représentants dans les pays, secondés par 170 agents des services généraux. Je cite ce chiffre de 170 agents des services généraux, car c'est une précision qu'on ne trouve pas dans le gros document sur le Programme de travail et budget qui précise l'infrastructure de la représentation dans les pays que la FAO envisage de mettre en place.
Une autre indication que je ne trouve pas dans le Programme de travail et budget, c'est le coût de cette mise en place des représentants dans les pays. Mais le document que nous avons eu au Conseil indique que le coût de cette mise en place des représentants de la FAO dans les pays est de 9 831 000 dollars, en augmentation de 5 100 000 dollars sur le budget qui lui est actuellement consacré.
Simultanément, on nous a dit, dans les différents documents que nous avons sous les yeux, que l'on renforcerait les bureaux régionaux et que cela se traduirait par une augmentation de près de 1 million de dollars. Cela n'est absolument pas en harmonie, ce renforcement de bureaux régionaux, avec la doctrine qui avait été retenue par le 69ème session du Conseil. D'ailleurs, dans ledocument qui a été soumis antérieurement, on nous dit: “……on reconsidère d'un oeil neuf et encore plus attentif le rôle et les fonctions dans les bureaux régionaux afin de poursuivre la débureaucratisation et la décentralisation à partir du Siège, et de renforcer l'impact des activités au niveau des pays.” C'est effectivement l'objectif qui avait été fixé à l'Organisation par le Conseil à sa 69ème session. C'est un objectif auquel la délégation française continue de souscrire.
Pour conclure sur cette question de la représentation dans les pays et le renforcement simultané des bureaux régionaux, il nous semble que la mise en place de ce nouveau dispositif pourrait sans doute être plus progressive. Cela n'est pas négligeable dans la conjoncture actuelle. Du fait de cette progressivité plus grande, l'augmentation de crédits que j'ai dite pour le prochain biennium, c'est-à-dire 5 100 000 dollars plus 1 million de dollars, pourrait sans doute être plus modérée.
Monsieur le Président, je suis en train d'empiéter sérieusement sur les 27 minutes que vous avez données à chaque délégation. Je voudrais cependant, puisque vous avez mentionné ce matin les deux documents importants qui vont avec le Programme de travail et budget, à savoir la liste des réunions et la liste des publications, dire que nous apprécions l'effort de compréhension qui est poursuivi par le Directeur général. Mais je vous demanderai la permission, probablement en fin de débat, de revenir sur cette question lorsque l'on considérera et que l'on adoptera, je pense, les listes d'ensemble.
Un dernier mot pour me joindre une fois encore au délégué du Danemark et pour regretter d'avoir eu si tardivement les rapports du Comité du programme et du Comité des finances auxquels nous attachons beaucoup d'importance.
H.L. CLAVERIE RODRIGUEZ (Venezuela): Trataré de ser tan concreto como es mi estilo y tal como ustedes esperan. Me referiré antes que nada a su elección a la Presidencia de esta Mesa que con gran alegría nuestra delegación aceptó y por ello lo felicita a usted muy sinceramente.
En segundo lugar, quisiera referirme al Informe del Director General que fue presentado en esta sala esta mañana el cuál goza de las simpatías de nuestra delegación pues él mismo refleja en forma concreta la seriedad con que el Director General ha tomado el mandato que le dio el Consejo, el histórico Consejo, que se celebró en esta casa en junio del año pasado. Quiero también por su intermedio felicitar a la Secretaría por la excelente documentación y el excelente formato que en esta oportunidad se nos ha presentado a consideración, especialmente el Programa General de Labores y Presupuestos para 1978-79. Es un formato que a nuestra delegación le complace enormemente pues simplifica muchísimo el trabajo en relación con las anteriores conferencias.
Entre los puntos concretos que nuestra delegación quisiera resaltar de la intervención del Señor Director y del Programa que se nos presenta a consideración - sin menoscabo de que posteriormente nos permita usted referirnos a ello concretamente cuando la ocasión se presente - quisiéramos en líneas generales apoyar la propuesta del Director General de sus políticas que fueron diseñadas en esta mañana ligeramente, y las cuales en mayor profundidad encontramos en el Programa de Labores y Presupuesto. Participamos de la idea, por supuesto, de que para incrementar dichas políticas es necesario requerir de mayores fondos. En esta medida, apoyamos el aumento de presupuesto a los niveles que fueron presentados por el Director General; consideramos que son cifras cuyo nivel no rebasa la aspiración del Director General y que por lo demás son necesarias para atacar las políticas que él mismo ha diseñado. Entre esas políticas merecen nuestro especial apoyo la de descentralización y la reducción de la planta a partir de la Sede. Igualmente, queremos reiterar de nuevo en esta casa el apoyo de la delegación de Venezuela a los programas de representantes de la FAO en los países, ligeramente. Hay un punto al que nuestra delegación quisiera darle un especial apoyo y reiterar la simpatía con que la delegación de Venezuela lo ve, y es el Fondo de Prevención a las Pérdidas de Alimentos. Reiteramos, sin entrar en profundidades, el apoyo que dicho Fondo goza de la delegación de Venezuela, pues considera que él mismo va dirigido a subsanar una necesidad dramática y real que vive en los países en desarrollo.
El programa de la agricultura para el año 2 000 es también proclive a la simpatía de nuestra delegación y así se lo otorgamos. Por ultimo, señor Presidente, nuestra delegación desea apoyar muy sinceramente el nivel de presupuestos otorgado para la Conferencia de Reforma Agraria proyectada por el Director General para 1979, pues considera que este evento es de una real importancia para el mundo en desarrollo de hoy, y que sin los fondos necesarios no lograrían cumplir con la cabalidad irreal que el Director General ha estimado, y nosotros lo concedemos.
M. SALEY (Niger): Comme les délégations qui m'ont précédé l'ont fait, ma délégation vous félicite, Monsieur le Président, de votre nomination à la présidence de nos travaux.
La décentralisation, la coopération technique et celle des pays en voie de développement, la Conférence mondiale pour la réforme agraire et le développement rural constituent un important pas en avant et des innovations de grande portée pour notre Organisation, et nous ne devons pas manquer de souligner les mérites du Directeur général et du Secrétariat.
Cependant, les autres points, à savoir: le Programme de travail et budget, la suppression de vingt-neuf postes au niveau du Siège et la réduction de la documentation et de certaines réunions, ne sont pas moins importants.
C'est donc une satisfaction que ressent la Délégation du Niger en attendant de pouvoir étudier paragraphe par paragraphe le document dont nous sommes saisis.
Le Directeur général, lors de la présentation très claire et concise de nos travaux, voulait donner à notre Organisation, une nouvelle dimension, une dynamique pour qu'elle puisse répondre pleinement aux besoins des Etats Membres.
Enfin, le montant du budget fixé à 211 millions de dollars atteint un niveau que la délégation nigérienne considère comme le niveau minimum, et ne soulève donc aucune objection de notre part.
B.F. DADA (Nigeria): My delegation would like to join with previous speakers in congratulating you, Sir, on your election as Chairman of this Commission. We pledge our full cooperation for the success of these deliberations.
Nigeria generally endorses the Programme of Work and Budget for 1978/79 proposed by the Director-General. In particular, we support the re-orientation of the FAO activities towards the achievement of practical results in the field.
It is in this light that we would like to consider the proposals put before this Commission, Specifically, the Technical Cooperation Programme, the Action Programme for Prevention of Food Losses, encouragement of investment in agriculture and food production, and decentralization of FAO's activities, are considered as major steps, among others, towards achieving the new policy objectives approved by the Council in 1976. We are therefore pleased to note the useful coverage of the budget in the fields of agriculture, fisheries and forestry.
I would like to make observations on two specific issues at this juncture.
On the proposed Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, the position of my delegation has been clearly explained in statements presented by the honourable Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development of Nigeria yesterday. I only need to stress that we advocate that expenditure on this item should be limited to the barest possible minimum compatible with the new priorities.
On decentralization, we note the steps taken to appoint FAO Consultative Representatives. My delegation would like to see the Representative for Nigeria appointed as soon as possible.
With these preliminary remarks, I would like to express the support of my delegation to the level of the budget proposals for 1978/79.
G. ESCARDO PEINADOR (España): Ante todo quiero unir mi felicitación a las ya dadas por los delegados que me han precedido. Estoy seguro del éxito en su misión en esta ardua tarea que le hemos encomendado y por mi parte y por mi delegación haremos todo lo posible por hacerla llevadera. La delegación española ha manifestado ya diversas veces la gran satisfacción que le ha producido el planteamiento y orientación que el Director General ha dado al Programa de Labores que nos presenta para el próximo bienio, y nos es especialmente grato ya que esas ideas coinciden plenamente con las opiniones expresadas por nosotors en diversas ocasiones. No necesito, por tanto, repetir cuanto ya hemos dicho anteriormente en relación a este tema y me limitaré unicamente a decir unas breves palabras referentes al documento que estamos estudiando.
En primer lugar, quisiera dar las gracias al Director General por habernos liberado ya en esta su primera Conferencia de la enorme carga de la documentación en peso y volumen, que habitualmente caía sobre nosotros, los delegados, al discutir este importante tema del Programa y Presupuesto. Es muy de agradecer que el Director General haya sido capaz de darnos cuanta información necesitamos sobre este tema de una manera tan concisa. No podemos por menos de decir aquí “it is small, it is beautiful”. Nos complace, además, ver en la presentación del Programa la tendencia a seguir las líneas tradicionales de la estructura organica de FAO.
Para nosotros, funcionarios tradicionales que estamos acostumbrados a nuestros Presupuestos estatales, un presupuesto cuanto más se ajusta a la estructura administrativa de la Organización es mucho más comprensible y manejable.
En cuanto al Programa quisiera felicitar también al Director General, no sólo por lo que contiene, sino también por lo que no contiene. Según mi opinión, la nota más notable de este Programa - y que quiero destacar especialmente - es que no sólo están incluidas en él las medidas esenciales que la FAO debe llevar a cabo para enfrentarse con los problemas que tiene planteados el mundo agrícola actual, y muy especialmente en los países en vías de desarrollo, sino sobre todo que estas medidas las encontramos bastante equilibradas, sin que se sacrifiquen unos en beneficio de los otros. Y esto lo digo como delegado veterano en estas Conferencias, ya que en programas anteriores se nos daban unos llamados grandes proyectos que rompían la armonía y el equilibrio de todo programa compuesto de múltiples actividades.
Por ello nos congratulamos que el Director General haya sabido contenerse y no nos presente esta vez un gran proyecto desproporcionado con el resto del Programa. Aunque quizá sea un tanto difícil que el programa de la agricultura española hacia el año 2000, si bien quiero dejar bien claro que mi delegación, no sólo está en contra de esta idea, sino que la apoyamos con tal que se sepa mantener dentro de las justas proporciones y que no sea a costa de la buena marcha del resto de la Organización, como ha ocurrido en ocasiones anteriores.
Apoyamos en líneas generales la gran importancia que se dá a todo lo largo del Programa a una cuestión que es primordial y acuciante para los países en desarrollo: La cuestión de las inversiones en agricultura. Aunque esta organización no tiene fondos para financiación, creemos que debe poner todos sus medios
y recursos para ayudar a mejorar la situación. Por ello estamos de acuerdo con la propuesta de dar una mayor envergadura al Centro de Inversiones para que este Servicio sea capaz de proporcionar asistencia en todas las fases de los proyectos. No sólo en su identificación y preparación, como viene haciendo ahora, sino también en su evolución y supervisión. Esperamos que estas funciones del Centro de Inversiones sean llevadas a cabo, como lo promete el Director General, en estrecha colaboración con otras dependencias de FAO y que la ampliación del Centro no sea para aislarse más de los restantes servicios técnicos y económicos de la Organización, mucho más ahora que el nuevo Programa de Cooperación Técnica tiene entre sus funciones la preparación y orientación de los mismos.
La importancia y urgencia de las inversiones ha hecho que todos los organismos internacionales estén interesados en esta cuestión. De ahí la proliferación de Organismos y departamentos que de una manera u otra tienen como función primordial las inversiones en el mundo en desarrollo. Esta proliferación de organismos nos trae a colación una preocupación que ya hemos expresado repetidamente y que mi Jefe de delegación quizá en estos momentos esté repitiéndolo en el debate general. Las relaciones, la coordinación entre todos estos Organismos y el papel fundamental que la FAO debe desempeñar en todo desarrollo agrícola.
Creemos que, a pesar de los proyectos de acuerdos con algunos de estos Organismos, aún queda mucho que aclarar en la práctica sobre las respectivas funciones de los mismos.
Hay una cuestión en el Programa de Labores y Presupuesto, que no sólo como delegado de España, sino también como Presidente de la Comisión Europea de Agricultura, me interesan implantar: y me refiero al desequilibrio que veo en el programa europeo. Ahora bien, después de oír las intervenciones de algunos Jefes de Delegación, le anuncio que hemos presentado un Proyecto de Resolución y espero que en el momento oportuno las aclaraciones que pueda dar permitan que sean tomadas en consideración por esta Comisión.
Como ya lo hicimos patente en el Consejo, mi delegación apoya el nivel de presupuesto que presenta el Director General, así como los medios que se asignan para la proyectada Conferencia de Reforma Agraria. Nos hemos dado perfecta cuenta de que el Presupuesto ha sido preparado cuidadosamente por el competente Secretariado, y estudiado con todo detalle por el Comité de Finanzas y que lo hemos discutido en el Consejo. Quizá nos haya sorprendido un poco las excesivas precauciones y salvaguardias que el Secretariado ha tomado con los posibles cambios de valoración de los costos. Creo que es un poco pesimista el Secretariado ya que ha partido de un supuesto índice global de inflacción que consideramos excesivo y que no concuerda con las previsiones que la Organización ha hecho en el campo económico. Sin embargo, es mejor curarse en salud y pecar por exceso que no por defecto. Esperemos que los cálculos le den al Director General suficiente margen de seguridad en la realización del Programa, Programa que estamos en líneas generales de acuerdo con él, y aunque vayamos a hacer algunos comentarios en el detalle durante su discusión, apoyamos plena e incondicionalmente.
F. GOMES DA SILVA (Portugal): La délégation portugaise, M. le Président, se joint à toutes les autres délégations qui vous ont déjà exprimé leurs félicitations pour votre élection au poste de Président de cette Commission. Nous sommes certains que tous les travaux vont bénéficier de votre grande qualification.
Nous apportons l'appui total de la délégation portugaise au Programme présenté par le Secrétariat, aussi bien sur son contenu que sur la forme dans laquelle il a été établi.
En particulier nous voudrions apporter notre appui sur cinq points que nous considérons vraiment très importants. Tout d'abord nous nous arrêterons sur l'économie envisagée en faveur de l'effort direct fait sur le terrain au véritable bénéfice des pays.
En ce qui concerne la décentralisation régionale et l'installation des représentants dans les pays, cela nous paraît être une mesure importante en vue de l'accomplissement des objectifs que la FAO se propose à l'égard des pays en développement. Nous voudrions en tout cas affirmer que l'activité des représentants de la FAO dans les pays doit être soigneusement coordonnée avec celle des représentants du Programme des Nations Unies pour le développement, de manière que l'on retire tous les avantages de l'activité de ces deux organisations.
Nous voudrions affirmer aussi que nous considérons comme très utile le Programme de coopération technique dont nous avons eu une connaissance directe. Nous avons déjà largement profité de l'efficience de l'action et de sa rapidité, qui permettent de répondre aux demandes formulées par les pays.
Le Programme d'investissements nous paraît être très utile comme document de préparation des programmes d'investissements dans les pays en développement permettant une meilleure répartition des fonds disponibles pour l'investissement dans le secteur agricole.
Enfin, le Programme de réduction des pertes alimentaires après les récoltes nous semble être également très important et permettra certainement d'obtenir des résultats spectaculaires pour une production plus importante des denrées alimentaires disponibles.
Le Portugal donne aussi une très grande importance à tous les programmes et à toutes les actions conduisant directement à l'augmentation de la production, en particulier à une amélioration de la technologie de production par l'exploitation des ressources naturelles actuellement insuffisamment utilisées. Enfin nous considérons comme essentielles la coordination et la planification des services indispensables à l'augmentation de la production, c'est-à-dire le crédit, la commercialisation et la vulgarisation agricole.
Mon pays pense aussi qu'il est très important d'améliorer l'information statistique disponible, soit au niveau national, soit au niveau international, portant sur la production agricole, de manière que l'on puisse améliorer les méthodes et les résultats obtenus par la programmation des objectifs visant à l'approvisionnement en denrées alimentaires, de manière à obtenir d'une façon plus sûre des éléments nous permettant d'aboutir à des chiffres plus précis.
D'autre part, Monsieur le Président, le Portugal considère la Conférence sur la réforme agraire et le développement rural comme très importante alors même que nous développons dans notre propre pays un processus de réforme agraire. Nous sommes donc très intéressés par les résultats et les conclusions de cette Conférence à laquelle, je le répète, nous donnons une très grande importance.
En conclusion, la délégation portugaise apporte tout sont appui au budget présenté s'élevant à la somme de 211 350 000 dollars.
J. RUTKOWSKI (Poland): Mr. Chairman, our delegation would like to congratulate you on election and we also want to congratulate the Programme Committee, the Finance Committee and the Secretariat for the preparation of a very clear and concise document C 77/3 containing proposals for work and budget of our Organization.
I find it a bit difficult to comply with your recommendation to divide our discussion into three parts, because in the statement of the Director-General there is a reference made to all important programmes, but as I do not intend to take the floor again in the future in discussing different parts, I hope you will allow me to refer to some important programmes now.
The Programme presented to us correctly reflects the 69th Session of the Council. In our opinion it is a continuation of the ideas presented by the Director-General last year and is directed towards the same aims. In our opinion the Programme corresponds to the views of most of the Member Countries regarding priorities of action for the coming two years. It also takes into account the most urgent needs of the developing countries which suffer food deficits and need help for the development of their agricultural production.
We especially welcome the concentration of means and efforts on the improvement of crop production which is the most important factor in the food Balance of most developing countries. Specific programmes regarding crop protection, seed production, increase in yields, fertilizer application and reduction of post-harvest losses are well formulated and their implementation could be of real value to many countries.
We consider as very useful the action undertaken by FAO and UNDP concerning the conservation of plant genetic resources. It is a proof that apart from immediate technical problems the Organization is devoting its attention to the future and more general question of great importance to our members.
We also support the Programme concerning research which might have great impact on the future shape of world agriculture. We also hope that FAO will provide a valuable contribution towards the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. We are under the impression that social problems connected with rural development and their impact on the volume of production did not receive enough attention in the past in our Organization. We expect that with the new Programme and the views expressed in some FAO papers that this imbalance will now Be corrected. Coming to the Programme related to the agricultural policies we would like to stress the importance of the work done by the Committee on Commodity Problems and Inter-governmental Commodity Groups.
We note that the Study “Agriculture towards 2000” will include the final stages of commodity projections which might Be very useful. We would like to express the wish and the hope that this Study will also include an analysis of the long-term trends in social structure and social reforms related to agriculture. There is a statement on page 97 that this study will examine the alternative strategies for world agricultural development. However, different strategies are necessary for different countries and regions of the world. We are of the opinion that FAO could undertake more specific studies of alternative strategies to suit the conditions and possibilities of specific groups Of countries. These sorts of studies could be of real help to governments searching for new solutions.
We should devote more attention to the problem of how to attract the small farmers and incorporate them into overall rural development. Questions of the motivation and initiatives of the people concerned are sometimes as important as the money for investment.
The increase of FAO activities in the field of investment by providing the necessary expertise is, in our opinion, of the utmost importance.
There are three aspects of this programme to which we would like to draw the attention of the Conference and the Secretariat, First, that the knowledge and experience of local experts should be used to the maximum possible extent, to avoid the formulation of unrealistic projects. Secondly, that coordination is necessary with other international bodies in order to avoid duplication of the work. Thirdly, that periodic evaluation of the investment should be undertaken in order to take into account the opinions of the countries concerned and to draw the necessary conclusions for the future.
The amount of money allocated to the TCP has grown to US$35.6 million, although the appropriation for the period 1976/77 has not been fully utilized. We understand that the reason for that was the short time which had elapsed since its inception.
In many international fora Polish delegations have represented the view that aid should be financed from voluntary contributions and not from the regular budget. However, as this programme is related to food production, we do not question its necessity. We think that the viability of this programme and its role in the development of agriculture should be carefully analysed and developed in the future.
While understanding the need for FAO Country Representatives in many developing countries, we would like to draw the attention of the Conference to the steep rise in the costs connected with decentralization.
We would therefore like to advise that Before establishing new FAO country offices, careful analyses should be made as to the possible use of this to the host countries and to the Organization. We do not need to stress that we attach: great importance to a reduction in the administrative costs of the Organization,
Finally, I would like to offer a few comments on the regional programme for Europe. This programme is implemented jointly by the FAO and the ECE in the spirit and according to the principles laid down in the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference oh Security and Cooperation.“ We hope that FAO will be able to make an important contribution towards the further development of cooperation between European countries in the field of agriculture.
In our opinion, FAO activities should be concentrated on scientific, cooperation, research networks, land use planning and the facilitation of trade between the countries of the region.
Whilst understanding the priorities set forth in the programme, we have some doubts as to whether financial means in the budget for Europe are sufficient for its successful implementation.
To sum up, we support the Programme of Work and Budget, hoping that our remarks will be taken into account by the Conference and by the Secretariat of the Organization.
K. ITANO (Japan): First of all we would like to associate ourselves with the congratulations to the Chairman on his election. We would also like to congratulate the Secretariat and the Programme and Finance Committees on preparing the documents before us.
As mentioned in the general statement of the head of our delegation, in the plenary session, our delegation appreciates the efforts made by the Director-General in trying to curtail less important expenses as much as possible.
However, my Government is deeply concerned with the general trend of budget increases in the UN Agencies. In particular, we are concerned about the real growth rate of the budget which is higher than that of other UN Agencies. For example, if we are correct, the increased rate for ILO for 1978/79 was 2.74 percent whereas for Unesco for 1977/78 it was 4.2 percent.
In this connexion, our delegation takes it that a detailed examination of each item of the budget should have been done for the discussion by this Commission. Incidentally, as a general comment on the budget, we wish to touch on some of the major items of the budget briefly.
In the first place, with regard to the establishment of Country Representatives, we are inclined to feel that since this item carries the biggest increase in the budget, our concern is that the tempo of the increase in the number of country representatives, it seems to me, should be slowed down. Furthermore, as the delegate of Sudan pointed out this morning, the terms of reference of the Country Representatives should be defined clearly from the viewpoint of keeping a close relationship and cooperation between FAO and UNDP.
Secondly, with regard to the TCP which is now being implemented on an experimental basis, we welcomed the evaluation to be carried out from now on and to be submitted at the autumn session of the Council in 19 78, where an in-depth examination is expected. From this point of view, taking into account the carry-over of the TCP budget in the current biennium to the next biennium we are rather inclined to say that the real increase of the TCP in the next biennium should have been kept as low as possible.
Finally, with regard to the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, we recognize the importance of agrarian reform and rural development. Nevertheless, in regard to the $1.2 million increase for the Conference, we should like a detailed explanation of the information before we make a decision.
We would like to come back to each item in detail in the course of the discussion, at a later stage.
B.E. MATAMOROS HUECK (Nicaragua): Señor Presidente, mi delegación desea expresarle su felicitación por la elección de usted para la Presidencia de esta Comisión, así como a los Vicepresidentes.
Deseamos felicitar a la Secretaría por este importante documento que nos presenta en el cual consta el Programa de Labores y Presupuesto para 19 78-79.
Desde el punto de vista metodológico consideramos muy exitosa la elaboración de este documento, pues ha racionalizado el mismo en muchas maneras. En su presentación considera tres aspectos principales que son: por programas; por regiones, y las dependencias orgánicas. Esto permite establecer un claro cuadro de las relaciones entre el programa ordinario y los fondos extrapresupuestarios, no sólo por fondos, sino también por programas y regiones. Asimismo, nos da una indicación del cambio en la tendencia de las actividades de la Organización dirigidas a obtener resultados prácticos y concretos.
Dentro de estas reflexiones, consideramos que esta presentación de los programas de la Organización obedece ai enfoque constructivo y responde a las necesidades de los países miembros de la Organización, particularmente de los países en desarrollo.
Mi delegación interpreta que muchas de estas iniciativas, tal como la propuesta hecha por el delegado de Japón de crear un sistema de información y de alerta y la implementación de las actividades de la FAO, obedecen también a las necesidades que se van presentando.
Mi delegación apoya los conceptos enumerados en la página 7, párrafo 28, en cuanto se refiere a los nuevos objetivos y programas que la Organización va a iniciar en sus aspectos generales.
Nosotros consideramos que, en relación al programa de cooperación técnica, es muy importante la función que la FAO puede desarrollar en el sentido de mejorar el nivel técnico de las instituciones nacionales y regionales de los países en desarrollo. Así también, creemos que esta asistencia dada por este órgano multilateral puede y debe llegar a coordinar la asistencia bilateral, ya que de esta forma se prevendría la duplicación de funciones y el desperdicio de recursos.
En cuanto a la descentralización, nosotros deseamos brindar todo nuestro apoyo a este concepto, en cuanto consideramos que es uno de los requisitos esenciales para el mejor conocimiento de los problemas, tanto desde el punto de vista regional como a través de la existencia de representantee nacionales de FAO en los países, ya que les permite tener un conocimiento más exacto y más rápido de los problemas que aquejan a los países en desarrollo.
Deseamos también apoyar las actividades a corto plazo referidas a dar una mayor capacitación a las masas en las zonas rurales. Mi delegación desea apoyar lo expresado por la delegación de Pakistán en el sentido de que deben encontrarse métodos de capacitación para aquellos agricultores que no tienen propiedades de tierra. Estos programas deberían ser orientados particularmente en estas áreas que existen en todos los países en desarrollo.
En relación al párrafo 16 de la introducción del Programa, no compartimos totalmente las conclusiones a que se llega en este párrafo en relación a nuestra región y en el cual se da una indicación muy positiva sobre el supuesto balance favorable que existe en esta región en función de nuestras exportaciones agrícolas.
Mi delegación cree, que en las consideraciones generales relativas al comercio agrícola y las exportaciones de los países de mi región, se está aquejando, como dice el párrafo 13 cuando se refiere a otras regiones en desarrollo, de los mismos problemas como son: el acceso a los mercados, la fluctuación de los precios y una cuantía no suficiente de fondos de inversión que nosotros consideramos como factores que influyen negativamente en la balanza comercial de nuestra región.
En cuanto a los párrafos 22 y 23 nosotros deseamos hacer una observación de carácter marginal, en el sentido de que en los programas de fertilizantes, si bien dice el documento que aunque se ha disminuido la relación precio-producto por fertilizantes a una función razonable, consideramos que el mercado de los fertilizantes todavía está aquejado de fluctuación en los precios y también creemos que dentro del marco de este programa se debería incrementar la utilización de fertilizantes orgánicos y desarrollar la capacidad de producción en los países en desarrollo.
En relación al párrafo 23 mi delegación considera también que es muy importante el estudio de los efectos de los pesticidas en el medio ambiente, en la población y en los alimentos de consumo.
En cuanto al nivel del Presupuesto, mi delegación desea apoyar la propuesta hecha por el Director General, por un presupuesto de 211 350 000 dólares de Estados Unidos al tipo de cambio de 879 liras por un dólar. Deseamos también felicitar la estimación del incremento de la inflación hecha por la Secretaría que, a criterio nuestro, quizá no compartido por otras delegaciones, nosotros consideramos que la estimación fue bastante conservadora.
Dentro del marco global del presupuesto nosotros deseamos apoyar los costos que se incluyen en éste para la preparación de la Conferencia de Reforma Agraria y Desarrollo Rural. Creemos que es una conferencia muy importante para todos los países y que todos sus aspectos necesitan e involucran un estudio amplio de todos los factores que influyen en el desarrollo. Deseamos también en relación a la preocupación expresada por una delegación, de que quizá la Secretaría podría actualizar la información pues tiene entendido que la preparación de esta Conferencia es inferior a otras que ya se han realizado dentro del sistema de las Naciones Unidas y lo único que cabría sería congratularse con la Secretaría por el concedimiento de los costos en la preparación de la misma.
En cuanto al superávit en el presupuesto, en cuanto a las cuentas suspendidas del mismo por un total de 15 millones de dólares, nosotros deseamos apoyar también la propuesta del Director General para la creación de un Fondo Especial para la aprobación de pérdidas por cosechas, consideramos sí, que esta cifra permite solamente el inicio de este Programa, pues no creemos que pueda ser entendido en otra forma. Y así mismo, deseamos apoyar la creación del Fondo Especial de Cuentas por el saldo de los 5 millones de dólares de remanente, ya que permitiría cubrir y evitar que el presupuesto sufriera las fluctuaciones en el tipo de cambio y los efectos de la inflación.
S.A. MADALLALI (Tanzania): Mr. Chairman, I would like first of all to congratulate you on your election to the Chair of this important Commission. My delegation is certain that your wisdom and ability to lead our deliberations in this Commission will be further strengthened by the cooperation of my delegation and indeed of all delegations of this Commission.
Without going into details of a specific nature, I would like to indicate my Delegation's support of the major proposals as put forward by the Director-General. Firstly, I would like to congratulate the Director-General for the good presentation of the Programme of Work and Budget for the coming biennium. There is indeed a lot of improvement in method of presentation, and I believe that further Programmes of Work would include more specific information on the major and the most urgently needed outlooks necessary for furthering agricultural development in the developing countries.
My delegation would also like to register its support for the opening and strengthening of regional offices in order to enhance more close technical coordination of projects and their implementation.
This would therefore be carried out through a system which would give sufficent autonomy to these regional country offices and could be an effective way of coordinating FAO, UNDP and other agencies' projects with a view to avoiding possible duplication of projects by the different organizations.
My delegation wishes to support the Technical Cooperation Programme proposal firstly as a readily available tool for solving immediate technical requirements for regional projects, and secondly, as a supporting service to the strengthening of the regional offices.
I would also like to support the proposal for the prevention of post-harvest losses and stress that the importance of this proposal deserves a lot of emphasis and immediate attention, because the current magnitude of such losses should not be underestimated. My delegation strongly supports the cognition of this aspect of the presented Programme of Work.
My delegation supports the proposal for an Agrarian Reform Conference scheduled for 1979. We see the proposed Conference as the best medium for discussing rural development strategies.
My delegation wishes to agree with the level of the budget in general and will make further comments when discussing specific items in detail.
I. OZORAI (Hungary): Mr. Chairman, first of all, I should like to congratulate you as Chairman of Commission II of the Conference, and I am confident that under your Chairmanship this Commission will perform rather well.
I should also like to take the opportunity here to express my appreciation to the Director-General of FAO and his staff for the dedicated and comprehensive work in compiling the documents on the Programme of Work and Budget for 1978/79. The document is a well-balanced analysis of problems and enables us to make constructive suggestions and observations. The primary point of view in studying the Programme of Work and Budget was to what extent its objectives serve the implementation of priorities and tasks proposed by the Director-General. We believe that the paper before us is in line with these ideas, and therefore the budget level envisaged for the forthcoming biennium is acceptable to us.
It can be seen from comparison of the detailed items of estimates - I am referring to page 36 of document C 77/3 - that priority has been given to programmes directly affecting agricultural development in developing countries, like the Technical Cooperation Programme, Development Support Programme and so forth, and these programmes have a larger share than heretofore. We feel this is a proper tendency. The table referred to indicates that within the cost item Technical and Economic Programme, the amounts envisaged for development in fisheries, forestry and agriculture are generally higher, but their weight in the total budget drops from 47.3 percent to 44.8 percent. It is quite clear to us that not only this part of the budget serves progress in agriculture, the food industry, etc., but also the amounts represented by other chapters of the budget. I would raise the question, therefore, if there is any possibility in the Programme of Work and Budget, within or without the present entries, to summarize all expenditures and programmes providing direct support to agriculture, forestry, food and fisheries or assisting the development of infrastructure in these sectors. This would facilitate any judgment of the delegations which may wish to offer any comments or observations regarding this item.
We agree with the fact that in FAO activities, the projects to be implemented with the support of national institutes and institutions have been given high priority. The implementation of these programmes requires definite and firm support.
My delegation gives its support to the idea that the bulk of resources available to FAO should be allocated to assist the developing countries. I should also like to draw your attention to the well-established and successful cooperation in research work among European countries which helps not only these countries but its results are also available to developing countries which require them. At this point, I would like to state that Poland has our full support about the subject he referred to just before. My delegation would therefore welcome the Secretariat paying attention to this programme.
We support the recommendations that the status and subjects in the preparatory work for the World Conference for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development should be investigated and specified as extensively as possible. My delegation attaches rather high importance to this Conference and, if I may add, to the subject. To this end, it would be advisable to strengthen departments and bodies concerned with rural development, agrarian reform and cooperative movment. In our view, savings which may be achieved during the two-year period should also be devoted to further progress of these projects and efforts.
We agree with the idea of the Director-General that no further reorganization seems to be necessary, and we approve of the idea of a partial decentralization of Headquarters in Rome after giving greater authority to Country Representatives and Regional Offices.
I would like to make one observation, however: that the representation of countries with centrally planned organizations in FAO Headquarters is extremely low as compared with their activities and contribution to FAO. My country intends to continue its cooperation with FAO which has proved successful so far and thereby increasing its support to agricultural development in developing countries. Some months ago we sent a proposal to the Director-General in which we specified several possibilities of how Hungary could transfer its expertise and experiences via FAO to developing countries in such areas of agriculture and food as farm cooperative development, animal health, plant protection, inland fisheries, forestry, irrigation, water management, farm engineering, soil science, and so forth.
There is an observation in the Programme of Work and Budget submitted to the Conference, to the effect that the practical content of FAO organized training and the adaption of agricultural experiences in developing countries should be strengthened and made more intensive; this gives a special timeliness to our ideas. We are completely confident that the Director-General and his senior staff will give due attention to our proposals, which can be of benefit, and will be of benefit to developing countries as well.
Finally I would like to state that the Programme of Work and Budget is acceptable to my delegation and we hope that our comments will be given due consideration. I am convinced that this Programme is a good basis for the planned and efficient work of the Organization.
M.S. ZEHNI (Libya) (interpretation from Arabic): First of all, I wish to congratulate you, Mr. Chairman, on your election as Chairman of this important Committee, and through your wise directions I hope our work will be crowned with success.
In view of the shortage of time, and the nature of the present discussion, the remarks I shall be making at present are within the framework of the general remarks, because the detailed remarks on particular points will have their points when we shall be discussing the various subjects. I hope that we shall then be availed of the opportunity of taking up those points in general.
We notice with satisfaction and an amount of appreciation the efforts of the FAO, and of the Director-General, in preparing the proposed Programme of Work and Budget in substance and in form. We ourselves have no difficulty in accepting the present budget level except for certain particular financial aspects, such as those of post harvest, which we should be convinced of after having conducted the consultations on this subject.
There is a subject which lacks clarity, namely decentralization. At the same time we find action at the level of country representatives is an excellent and a welcome idea, and that decentralization is something to be wished for, yet when we relate this to the role of regional offices then the duties and functions of the regional offices should be clarified because any weakening of the regional offices will cause dispersion of the work and then lack of clarity and responsibility. Therefore, we hope that we should fully and soundly evaluate the proposals in connection with this decentralization as related to the regional offices in the proper manner. Whilst we support decentralization this support on our part should not be taken as an open support, for we want the principle of decentralization to be implemented gradually in order to maintain a balance between the role of country representatives, the regional offices and Headquarters.
There is another point related to the Conference of Agricultural Reform and Rural Development. This is a Conference which we support both in substance and in practice, particularly as my country, Libya, is undertaking considerable efforts in this field, which I could say, very modestly, our experience could be an example to other regions. Yet our eagerness for the success of this Conference makes us request very strongly that the Conference should be at the level of being able to give the results we expect.
We want to see in this Conference two elements, imagination and courage. We want imagination in order not to find another traditional Conference, and courage because we want to move somewhat away from the present prevailing opinions on agricultural reform. We consider this subject both from the human and social point of view, because it is the human aspect that is our main point. Another subsidiary subject is documentation. It is often said that the decrease in documents is welcome. We quite agree with the Director-General when he says he wants to cut down documents which he does not believe are so important, but here it is a question of quality and not quantity. Cutting down publications should not be at the expense of quality and the standard of the documents that are being presented.
Another remark I wanted to put forward - I thought that it would have been my own remark, yet after having listened to the other speakers I see that it is something general - namely the early arrival of these documents to us. I believe if these documents are not sent to us in time then maybe the Director-General's efforts had better be concentrated on deleting these publications altogether, rather than our receiving them late,
M, DESSOUKI (Egypt) (interpretation from Arabic): Mr. Chairman, I wish to congratulate you on your election as Chairman of this important Commission, and would wish you every success in directing our discussions and debates.
With respect to the major point presented by the Director-General in introducing our discussions, first of all I wish to congratulate the Director-General and the Secretariat for the manner in which this document has been presented to us, for it has made it easy for us to follow the activities of the FAO and its programmes, and concentrate on its major objectives without going into too many administrative and financial details with which the Council Committees deal at full length.
We also welcome the efforts of the Director-General for cutting, down costs and the application of the decentralization policy which he has started in FAO, although this word has often been repeated year in and year out at our Conferences, and its materialization has taken a long time. This can only improve the efficiency of FAO and direct its true attention to field activities.
We have attached considerable importance to the agrarian reform and rural development conference and find the budget allocation to this Conference is adequate considering its importance not only technically but also socially.
Likewise we look forward with particular interest to the development of the Technical Cooperation Programme initiated by the Director-General, We expect a great deal from this Programme in order to improve the opportunities of developing countries to go ahead with their agricultural development projects, and we believe that it is fully in line with the objectives of the Organization. This leads us to support this Programme and to provide it with the full flexibility it requires to fulfill its role in the best possible manner.
J, L. SAULT (Australia): Mr. Chairman, on behalf of the Australian delegation I also would like to congratulate you on your election to the Chairmanship of this Commission. We join other delegations in welcoming the new presentation of the Programme of Work and Budget as set out in Document C 77/III.
The two innovations which are perhaps the most significant are the disclosure of the amounts of extra-budgetary funds applying to programmes, etcetera, alongside the Regular Programme funds and the breakdown of expenditure by region and by organizational unit. These innovations, when read with the standard programme presentation enable a fairly detailed analysis of FAO activities, although in a broader programme sense, but still enabling a clearer picture of what is going on than was possible hitherto.
As regards programme priorities we are in basic agreement with the Director-General's proposals. In particular we would wish to see high priority given to the reduction of food losses especially to post harvest losses in rice in Southeast Asia. On the other hand we consider that further explanation is required of the need to increase the provision for the Conference for Agrarian Reform, or that if the increase is unavoidable, offsetting savings cannot be made elsewhere. For example, the problem of finding country representatives of the right calibre is likely to slow down their rate of appointment, and savings in programme 3.4 seem probable.
Those, Mr. Chairman, at this late stage in the day, are some fairly brief general remarks on the Programme of Work and Budget. We would wish to make further comments during subsequent discussion of the various chapters.
D.M. ULNES (Norway): As my Minister expressed already in a statement to the Plenary, my delegation has welcomed the Director-General's set of priority policy lines to be pursued as they appear in the introduction to the Programme of Work and Budget. We would also like to express our great appreciation of the comprehensive way the Director-General has prepared and worked out this Programme of Work and Budget, which stands as an example to be followed. We similarly and particularly are pleased to note
that the Director-General has placed the concern of bringing about a new international economic order as a predominant basis for this proposal, a concept my government feels strongly committed to. The Programme of Work and Budget in general presents a reasonable and balanced programme package which my delegation can adhere to. We are aware that this course of re-orientation above all is meant to reactivate FAO and bring it in closer touch with the problems where they exist.
The emphasis on decentralization from Headquarters level to the country level, working in close relation with the UN Resident Representative, can give FAO a new impact which can work two ways: in adding more immediately, as well as improving contacts between Member Nations and the Organization in bringing about a stronger concrete action at the world level.
A well-balanced Technical Cooperation Programme as part of the regular programme within this context, we realize, can work as a gap-filling, as well as responding quickly to urgent short-term needs in Member Nations - provided that projects to be financed are recommended by the UN Resident Representative.
In the light of the Director-Genral's set of priorities, we feel that there are, within the Work Budget certain activities which we find lacking appropriate attention. Among these is one which I would like to mention at this stage. The efforts to do away with hunger and malnutrition also include a higher priority to nutrition. We find it worth mentioning that we have noted with concern that nutrition is hardly dealt with in the Director-General's introduction to the Programme of Work and Budget. Similarly, we are concerned that the activities of FAO in this field are being given a reduced role in the budget. However, like some other speakers, we feel generally that the proposed level of the budget is somewhat high, especiallly bearing in mind that it was the clear intention of the Director-General from the beginning, in line with his proposal to crystallize a programme of priorities, to limit other activities of the Organisation with a lower priority. The rationale behind this should be to re-allocate the financial resources within the present level of the budget for the financing of fields of priority action. We realise that this has taken place to quite some degree, but we would urge that rationalization of the Organization and re-allocation within the budget should be pursued further toward this end.
Having said this, let me also express that my delegation has sympathy with those delegations which may have difficulty in accepting certain other key issues in the budget. We too have our apprehensions about changes in the budget being brought to us at such a late stage. I would however like to clearly point out that, although we have expressed these apprehensions, that does not mean we are opposing them as such. On the contrary, I strongly give our firm support to the Director-General's proposals for good preparation of the World Conference for Rural Development and Agrarian Reform, and would urge that appropriate financial priority should be given to the preparation of this conference.
In offering these general comments, I would in conclusion say that if the budget is given wide support, my delegation is prepared to accept it as it now stands - although I would like to reserve my right to come back to make specific comments on some of the particular points at a later stage.
O.M. SELΙΚΑΝΕ (Lesotho): My delegation would like to join with other delegations in congratulating you, Sir, on your appointment. My delegation has no difficulty in expressing our sincere appreciation and acceptance of the Programme of Work and Budget as presented by the Secretariat.
To single out a few items: We fully support the Technical Cooperation Programme. I should point out that in Lesotho we have already benefited from this programme, in reduction of sheep scab and other sectors geared to improvement of agricultural development.
We fully associate ourselves with the distinguished delegate of the United States, that there should be increased programmes towards nutrition planning, and a sequence of programmes especially for needy people.
As for decentralization, we need not over-emphasize the importance of this. Previously it was obvious that one office in the region representing this Organization for more than two countries in the sovereign region of Africa could not cope with certain activities, and as a result action and implementation of some programmes could not be taken simultaneously. However, it is our hope that coordination will be maintained throughout. We shall be able to elaborate more on this in the Plenary, if given a chance to do so.
Lastly, I would like to say that we wish to draw attention to careful examination and reinforcemnt of the relative capacities of every recipient country.
Β. INOUSSA (Haute-Volta): Monsieur le Président, à ce stade des débats des points de l'ordre du jour, on ne peut s'empêcher de faire des redites. Malgré tout, la délégation voltaïque ne se déroberait pas à son devoir en prenant la parole pour tout d'abord vous féliciter de votre élection à la présidence de notre importante Commission, et ensuite féliciter le Directeur général et son Secrétariat pour l'excellence des documents. La très bonne présentation du document par programmes, et sous-programmes permet une bonne compréhension et facilite le déroulement des débats. Ma délégation appuie les nouvelles orientations dynamiques proposées par le Directeur général. Je me dois d'assurer au Directeur général le soutien de la délégation de la Haute-Volta pour son idée de décentralisation régionale et de création de représentants FAO auprès des pays. Nous sommes convaincus que ces représentations FAO par pays constitueront des instruments positifs de développement, pour peu que les responsables soient compétent, qualifiés et pleins d'expérience. Nous félicitons le Directeur général pour les mesures de compression tant au niveau du personnel du Siège qu'au niveau du nombre des réunions et des documents, et nous osons espérer que les économies réalisées profiteront davantage aux pays en développement.
Ma délégation appuie sans réserve les programmes de coopération technique qui sont proposés et la Haute-Volta attend beaucoup de ce Programme.
Je voudrais souligner que le niveau de budget proposé mérite un appui vigoureux d'autant plus que nous estimons que c'est le minimum indispensable pour un bon travail de base.1/
CHAIRMAN: That concludes the list of today's speakers. Before I adjourn the meeting, I would like to tell you the names of the four Vice-Presidents who have now been appointed to this Commission. They are Mr. Shefrin from Canada; Mr. Mansuri from Iran; Mr. Machayo from Kenya; and Mr. Laowhaphan from Thailand. I congratulate the vice-presidents on their appointments and look forward to cooperating with them.
The meeting rose at 17.50 hours
La séance est levée à 17h50
Se levanta la sesión a las 17.50 horas
