K. MEHBOOB (Assistant Director-General, Administration and Finance Department): Since items 20 and 20.1 are related, with your permission we will take them together. I will begin with item 20, the audited accounts.
The Conference has before it C 93/5, C 93/6 and C 93/7. These are the final Audited Accounts for the biennium 1990-91 for the Regular Programme, the activities funded by the United Nations Development Programme and the World Food Programme.
In accordance with General Rule XXVII.7, the Finance Committee examined the Audited Accounts at its 74th Session. The Council reviewed the Financial Report of the Regular Programme and UNDP at its 102nd Session. It endorsed the recommendations of the External Auditor and recommended a Draft Resolution for adoption by the Conference. The audited accounts of the World Food Programme were approved by the CFA at its 36th Session in accordance with Paragraph 30 of the General Regulations of the World Food Programme. The Draft Resolution for the adoption of these financial reports is contained in document C 93/LIM/15.
I will now turn to the report on the Implementation of the External Audit Recommendations. This report is contained in document C 93/27. This is the first report to the Conference following its request at its last session that we provide information on actions taken to implement the recommendations made by the External Auditor. As you will note, the document provides separately actions taken in respect to the recommendations made in the report on the Regular Programme and the UNDP. For easy reference, we have quoted the recommendations in detail, together with our responses. You will note that actions have been taken in respect of most of the recommendations. Where the recommendations relate to the future, we have also taken appropriate note to ensure that they will be taken into account. As I believe the paper is self-explanatory, I do not
propose to address any of the recommendations in detail, but I will rather respond to any further information the members of the Commission may wish to have. Since the audited accounts in the report cover various areas, we have here my colleagues and myself who will be prepared to answer any questions which may be asked.
D.P.D. VAN RAPPARD (Netherlands): The report on the Implementation of the External Auditor Recommendations gives a positive picture. As such, we are pleased with that. However, reading paragraph 156 of the Financial Report and Statements Volume I gives a rather reserved picture of the financial reporting. This brings us to a number of questions. First of all, what are the criteria for the common auditing standards? Secondly, what tolerances have been applied? document C 93/5 mentions frequently the problems arising with FINSYS. These take a lot of the capacity of the Organization. This brings us to the question of how to continue with FINSYS. The document gives the impression that the internal control can be improved, reading paragraphs 157 and 158. A lot of control activities are being applied later on. The document report on the implementation of external audit recommendations should, although not too critically, be supported, particularly regarding the following recommendations : measures to improve the cash flow liquidity with all its effects for interest costs and the cut-down of the number of banking accounts; improve financial reporting, more timely improvement of the transparency. The third point is measures to improve the automatization system, FINSYS.
Ms Teresa D. HOBGOOD (United States of America): As one of several Member Nations that previously called for a report on follow-up measures implemented by FAO to respond to recommendations of the External Auditor, my delegation takes great pleasure in commenting on this important issue. The United States strongly supports financial management practices that improve FAO's accountability to Member Nations. In this respect, we are pleased to see that FAO is taking corrective action recommended by the External Auditor in his report on the 1990-91 Audited Accounts. Member States need a mechanism in place in FAO to ensure that recommendations of the External Auditor are implemented fully. Otherwise, mistakes will be repeated, internal control systems will no longer function, and Member Nations' limited resources will be wasted. The report before us clearly represents a step forward. It is a testament to the vitally important role performed by the External Auditor in assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of FAO's operations. As the only external oversight mechanism focusing on FAO, we rely heavily on the External Auditor's independence, his or her judgement and assessment of the strength and weaknesses of financial management operations. We would like to pay tribute to the Controller and Auditor General of the United Kingdom, Sir Boyd Orr and his excellent team for their many years of sustained effort to improve FAO and Member Nations' oversight role. The United States would expect the United Kingdom's External Auditor to continue to play an important role in improving the accountability of the UN system to Member States, particularly as we week to establish an independent oversight mechanism such as an Inspector General at the United Nations.
Turning to the issues addressed in C 93/27, we have several comments to make. First, we recall that the External Auditor recommended the recruitment of systems accountants in the Finance Division. We endorsed this recommendation since we believe that FAO must exploit advanced computer technology to enable Member Nations to get the highest returns on
their investment. In this respect, we would hope that the three positions for systems accountants will be filled at the earliest opportunity.
Second, with respect to enhanced controls for receivables and payables, we are concerned that it has not been possible to correct all of the errors. Mistakes in accounting transactions of this nature can lead to an overstatement or understatement of resources. This in turn makes it difficult to determine FAO's true cash position. Are there mechanisms in place to ensure that these problems will not recur?
Third, turning to the External Auditor's recommendation to disclose interest charges in the financial statement, we strongly favour this approach, irrespective of the material or immaterial amount of these charges. Sueh a practice is consistent with generally accepted accounting principles and enhances the transparency of FAO's financial data.
Finally, we are pleased to note that the standard basic executing agency agreement with UNDP was signed by FAO in April 1993. This is indeed welcome news. We look forward to examining future progress reports which could perhaps include the External Auditor's reactions to FAO's responses. Again, we are aiming for enhanced efficiencies, greater transparency and economies.
Ray ALLEN (United Kingdom): My delegation welcomes the issue of this report as a contribution toward transparency in the expenditure reporting process. Like the delegation of the United States, my delegation was one of those that called for the production of this document. I can fully support the statement just made by the delegate of the United States. We are particularly pleased to note that for the Regular Programme, appropriate follow-up action has been taken on the recommendations of the Auditor, particularly in the areas of improved management and related procedures for the development and enhancement of major computerized systems. On specific areas of the report, I would like to make the following comments, beginning with FINSYS/PERSYS. We are pleased to note that the functional review of FINSYS/PERSYS was completed earlier this year. In the context of this review, we would be grateful to hear what progress is being made on the requests for amendments to the system. Concerning the quality of systems documentation, we hope that the exercise is still on course, ready to be substantially completed by the end of the year. With regard to the disaster recovery plan, we would like to know if it was finalized by the end of October and whether arrangements have been made for it to be tested. On staffing issues, we are pleased to note the strengthened Finance Division and would be interested to hear whether the three new posts have now been filled, and also when it is envisaged that the permanent programmers will be engaged.
Turning to the Financial and Other Matters section of the paper, we are pleased to note that the costs of borrowing will be shown separately on the income and expenditures statement. We will be debating the issue of nonpayment of contributions tomorrow and will be pleased to hear how far the discount scheme has encouraged early payment of contributions. It would appear to us that it has had very little effect so far. We look forward to receiving future financial reports, including the separate statements showing changes in financial resources. We would be interested to hear how the work of the Task Force has progressed on analysis and clearing the receivable and payable accounts.
We are pleased that the financial reporting, including that to meet the Trust Fund donors' specific needs, has improved. Mr Chairman, we consider that the use of independent evaluation studies is an important tool to assess project impact, value for money, feedback on lessons learned, and recommendations for future projects and programmes. Without this effective feedback system the benefits of evaluation are not achieved. The cost-effectiveness of such projects needs to be assessed to see if the value of the product at delivery point exceeds the total cost of the delivery of the product.
On the UNDP we note the comments of the External Auditor and the Secretariat responses. I just add that we are pleased to note that new procedures and reports have been introduced and reported in paragraph 27(a).
K. MEHBOOB (Assistant Director-General, Administration and Finance Department): There were a few questions. There was one by the distinguished delegate from the Netherlands about the common auditing standards. Mr Chairman, the auditing standards used by the External Auditor are as stated in his introduction to the report. These are the auditing standards agreed to by the panel of the External Auditors of the UN system, and they are based on the internationally accepted, generally accepted, auditing standards and they basically are standards which cover reporting standards, i.e., relevance of reports, reliability of reports. They are field standards; in other words, planning of audit work, audit work procedures, supervision of work, the independence of the External Auditor, the qualifications of the Auditor; so these are basically the standards which the Auditor is talking about, but they are ones which have been agreed and applied in the whole UN system by the different External Auditors of the various UN agencies.
There was a question on the system's accountants' posts being filled, or what is the status of these posts. Mr Chairman, these posts were authorized to have been filled. On the third one the recommendation is just being drafted. The candidate has been identified; so the third post should be filled soon as well.
There was another question, or a suggestion, that the External Auditor's reaction perhaps should be included in our report on the implementation of the Auditor's recommendation for future sessions.
The process is the External Auditor each biennium, when he produces his report, he revisits his recommendations; so he will be commenting on our implementation of his recommendations in his own report. So our report is a separate report to the Conference which they had requested, but the External Auditor in his report will include comments on the progress we have achieved on the implementation of his recommendations. So in his next audit report you would find, probably, comments on the progress we have achieved.
There was a question on the system's documentation. We made quite a bit of progress on this. The system documentation consists of 120 overview and unit-level sections organized in eighteen volumes. While most of the critical components of the system documentation are completed, the total sign-off on this documentation will be completed in the first half of 1994.
The drafts would be ready by the end of the year.
There was a question on the Disaster Recovery Plan. The Disaster Recovery Plan has been finalized as planned including completion of the outstanding phases, i.e., detailed requirement analysis, alternative analysis, and Disaster Recovery Plan preparation. At the moment we are in the process of preparing a tender for the provision of off-site facilities and that probably would take us into early next year, the tender process and evaluation process, but there has been good progress in that area.
For the functional review, Mr Chairman, there is a request for information on the progress in regard to the Functional Review. Mr Chairman, the Functional Review recommended that for certain modules we should migrate to packaged solutions, the reason being that since this was designed about in the early 1980's - that is, nearly ten years - and in the meantime technology has moved along, and the recommendation is that gradually we would move to back a solution for certain modules. Certain of the modules we should retain, like PERSYS or the payroll module, but before going in for such a process, one of the recommendations of the Consultants was that we should review all our administrative and financial procedures, in other words, streamline these procedures before evaluating the various packages on the market; and that is the process we have started, Mr Chairman. We are, in fact, in the process. We have started the process of reviewing and streamlining our procedures, and once that is completed - and the forecast is that we should be completing this review in about six months' time - and then we would start evaluating the various packages to migrate to package solutions, that is, for certain modules only.
There was a question on the receivables and the payables. There, also, we have - like we had reported, there were task forces established to clear some of this work. In fact, there has been progress. Some of the biggest accounts have been cleared. In fact, there are four large general ledger accounts which have been cleared, and work is progressing on the other accounts, and we hope to make progress and complete the work with the financial statements of this biennium.
This is the list of questions I have had. If I have missed any, I will be happy to come back to them.
LE PRESIDENT: S'il n'y a pas d'autres interventions, je pense que nous pouvons considérer qu'un consensus s'est dégagé sur le point 20 de l'ordre du jour, qui traite des comptes vérifiés de 1990-91, pour recommander l'adoption du projet de résolution par la Conférence qui est inclus dans le document C 93/LIM/15.
Par ailleurs, nous avons pris note du rapport sur la mise en oeuvre des recommandations du commissaire aux comptes. S'il n'y a pas d'observations, nous pouvons donc passer au point suivant de l'ordre du jour qui concerne le barème des contributions, et je passe à nouveau la parole à M. Mehboob pour qu'il nous présente ce point 21 de l'ordre du jour.
K. MEHBOOB (Assistant Director-General, Administration and Finance Department): In accordance with past practice, a document containing a
resolution concerning the Scale of Contributions to be adopted for the next biennium, document C 93/LIM/4-Corr. 1, is presented to the Conference in compliance with the recommendations of the Council. The Council noted, at its 103rd Session in June 1993, that in accordance with the decision of the 8th Session of the Conference in 1955, the FAO Scale of Contributions for the years 1994-95 has been derived from the United Nations Scale of Assessments, in this case, the one in force during the calendar year 1993 as established by the General Assembly Resolution 46/221A of 20 December 1991. The Appendix to the document, Mr Chairman, sets out the proposed FAO scale for 1994-95, which had been modified since the recommendation of the Council to take into account the new Members --Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Eritrea, Kyrgyz Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, and the former Yugoslav Republic of-Macedonia -- admitted at the current Session of the Conference. The assessment rates of Member Nations in the UN Scale are lower than those in the FAO Scale since there is a difference in membership which requires a pro rata increase in the UN assessment rates in order to arrive at the FAO Scale of a full one hundred percent.
I would be pleased to answer any questions that Members may have on this matter.
Ernst ZIMMERL (Austria) (Original language German) : If we compare the scale of contributions for 1994-95 with 1992-93, then for many countries there seems to be substantial differences. These are due to economic developments in some cases or due to the fact that new Members have come in. This has worked out at 1.65 percent. If we analyse this together with C 93/LIM/17, Status of the Contributions, then we have to note that the sum of the percentages'Of the countries which have no arrears have gone down; whereas 5 percent of the 1994-95 budgetary income, more than US$30 million, should come from countries that have considerable arrears, up to 200 percent. So more than US$10 million should be here due by the new Member Nations; and with many of them, because of their extremely difficult economic situation or because of a conflict situation it is unlikely that timely payments can be made.
My delegation does not wish to call in question the readiness to pay of these two groups, but I think that we are required to consider the ability to pay of all Members of the Association on purely business grounds. From the business point of view, when we come to the conclusion of the 1994-95 Agenda, 5 to 6 percent of the income would appear to be in doubt and, therefore, we should consider where economies might be made.
Two further points : you and many of us might have noted that the interest of the Member Nations under the country statements have been somewhat limited. My delegation takes the view that one cannot expect Ministers to speak in a room where there are about 70 percent of the seats empty and many of those remaining do not seem to be following the speaker very intently.
My experience here illustrates that this situation has not occurred this year for the first time.
Secondly, in our Organization there are Commissions dealing with items that have aroused very little interest. I am thinking of sessions of the Intergovernmental Group on Rice, Oils, Oilseeds and so on.
If we look at the participant list, we can see that representatives of 50 countries have taken part, but if we consider the Members actually in the hall, we find that the numbers are considerably smaller. Only a part of the delegations come from capitals and are really concerned with the topics.
It must be observed that the interest in the topics debated has fallen off both on the developing country-side and also the developed. Mr Chairman, when there is an activity of our Organization that arouses only limited interest, then I think that we have to draw conclusions from that. Otherwise, we shall simply be here wasting our money and, of course, the poorest among our Members will be suffering thereby.
Yong-Shik HWANG (Korea, Republic of): As a member of OCONTUR, my country paid in full the annual contribution to the budget early this year. As you are well aware, the percentage of the contributions assessed to the country of Korea will increase from 0.26 percent to 0.81 percent, that is, more than a 200 percent increase for the 1994-95 biennium. Despite the budget restraint, my Government has decided wholeheartedly to accept the significant increase in the spirit of international cooperation and for the development of the work of FAO.
With regard to the financial situation and the status of contributions to the budget, my delegation takes note of the Director-General's suggestion that the Member Nations with limited resources in hard currency should be allowed to pay contributions in local currency, subject to the strict application of certain conditions, so as to facilitate the payment of assessed contributions. My delegation is of the view that the Director-General's suggestion deserves due consideration and could be studied further by the Financial Committee.
Alhaji MAI M. JIR (Nigeria): Looking at C 93/LIM/4 and C 93/LIM/4 Corr.l, on page G.3 of C 93/LIM/4, the proposed scale for Nigeria for 1994-95 was 0.24 percent and for 1992-93, 0.23 percent. I thought that we paid 0.24 percent in 1992-93. In C 93/LIM/4 Corr.l both 1992-93 and 1994-95 are recorded as 0.23 percent. I think we paid 0.24 percent against 1992-93. Nigeria has outstanding only about 0.75 percent.
I also wish to support the previous speaker in relation to considering the possibility of countries having difficulty in the foreign exchange paying in their own currencies. We have also written to the UN to reconsider our assessed scale, but unfortunately we are still paying 0.24 percent.
Abdul Rahman AL-MAHMOUD (Qatar) (Original language Arabic): I would like to comment on what my colleague from Austria was saying about the new Member Nations of the Organization. I think that these new countries have taken into consideration the need to make contributions and to cover the arrears. That is another matter, and I do not think we ought to link arrears with the Scale of Contributions, which is what we are looking at now.
K. MEHBOOB (Assistant Director-General, Administration and Finance Department): Mr Chairman, with your permission, I would like to ask the Director of Finance to answer this question.
E.S. OWENS (Director, Financial Services Division): I believe that the only question I noted for the Secretariat was the one from the delegate from Nigeria concerning the Scale of Contributions for 1992-93. It was 0.23 percent for 1992-93 for Nigeria. In 1990-91, it was 0.24 percent for Nigeria. I believe that is the only question the Secretariat need answer.
LE PRESIDENT: Merci Monsieur le Directeur des services financiers. J'espère que les réponses fournies ont satisfait ceux qui avaient posé des questions. Monsieur Mehboob a-t-il d'autres commentaires à faire? Puisque ce n'est pas le cas je pense, en conclusion de ce bref débat, que nous pouvons recommander l'adoption par la Conférence du projet de résolution qui figure donc au document C 93/LIM/4 - Corr. 1 intégrant les corrections par rapport"aux nouveaux Etats Membres.
Ne voyant pas d'autres prises de parole, nous pouvons donc maintenant passer au point 24. Et je passe la parole à M. Mehboob qui va introduire la question du point 24.2 "Questions de personnel".
K. MEHBOOB, Assistant Director-General (Administration and Finance Department): Information on this agenda item is contained in document C 93/LIM/19. It refers to the recent activities of the International Civil Service Commission and the UN Joint Staff Pension Board: "Changes in Salary Scales and Allowances and Statistics of Personnel Services".
This information is provided for the Council on a routine basis at each session. The document under consideration, however, also includes information on the latest developments regarding Staff Post Adjustment problems arising from the devaluation of the Italian lira. My introduction will concentrate on this issue, Mr Chairman.
You will recall that the attention of the FAO Governing Bodies was on several occasions drawn to the negative impact of the devaluation of the Italian lira on staff remuneration as well as on the Organization's ability to recruit and retain high quality staff. Accordingly, at the ICSC Session held in March of this year FAO presented a paper explaining the situation and proposing remedies to mitigate the problems which arose from the instability of the local currency. The ICSC recognized that this situation merited special consideration and approved the implementation of a special measure.
However, at its 103rd Session, the Council noted that the special measure had done little to improve the situation and agreed to mandate the Secretariat to pursue the issue with the ICSC. The Council also suggested that it would be useful to have a new, in-depth survey as the latest cost-of-living comparison Rome/New York was undertaken in April 1990.
At its 38th Session in July 1993, at FAO's request, the ICSC considered an item concerning the quantification of the special measure applied to the Rome Post Adjustment. Following considerable discussion, the ICSC concluded that its previous decision provided suitable arrangements to alleviate the situation and that sufficient new elements had not been presented which would warrant a revision of that decision. The ICSC did, however, confirm the arrangements necessary for the conduct of the place-to-place cost-of-living survey in Rome in early 1994. The ICSC special measure is considered inadequate to improve the reduced value of pay in US dollar terms which seriously jeopardizes the Organization's ability to attract and retain high quality staff. As the Commission has now decided not to reconsider the special measure, the Organization is left in a situation where it is at a loss to consider what further measures it may take to redress these problems other than to await the results of the cost-of-living survey. As it is anticipated that the Rome/New York cost-of-living comparison would contribute to clarifying the questions raised in connection with the level of the Rome Post Adjustment, I can only conclude with the hope that the results of the survey will have a positive and significant impact on the problems described.
Mr Chairman, if there are any questions, my staff and I will be happy to answer them.
LE PRESIDENT: Avant d'ouvrir la discussion aux représentants des Etats Membres, le Directeur général a demandé que l'on autorise un représentant des trois associations de personnel à faire une déclaration relative à ce point 24.2 "Questions de personnel". En conséquence, je propose de donner la parole à M. Clive Elliott, Président en exercice de l'Association du personnel de terrain qui a été désigné par les trois associations pour s'exprimer en leur nom.
Clive ELLIOTT (Acting Chairman, Field Staff Association): I first would like to thank the Director-General for his permission to address you today. It is an honour for me to be given this opportunity and to speak to you on behalf of the three staff associations, the Field Staff Association, which covers all the long-term international professionals scattered around the world in field duty stations, the Association of Professional Staff covering all the professionals at Headquarters and, thirdly, the Union of General Service Staff covering the General Service staff here in Rome.
Yesterday the three staff associations took part in a celebration of the 18 years of service of the outgoing Director-General. We looked back with deep gratitude at the brighter aspects of the past, but today we want to look forward to the future and to share with you some of the concerns of our three associations. We also wish to take this opportunity to give our warmest welcome to the new Director-General, Mr Diouf, with whom we look forward to continuing the efforts to build a stronger and more efficient Organization to meet the changing needs of the Member Nations over the next six years. It is a daunting task in these difficult times, but he can count on the support of the staff, the great majority of whom are dedicated to fulfilling the ideals for which FAO stands.
This dedication and enthusiasm is nowhere clearer than amongst the field staff who often have to work under difficult conditions concerning their personal security and health. But it is very satisfying work, helping to build sustainable institutions in the countries that they serve and seeing
the end results of improved agriculture and nutrition, especially for the poorest sectors of the community. For these staff it is therefore of the utmost concern to see the way in which the resources for FAO field projects, particularly under UNDP funding, have begun seriously to shrink over the last two years. The signs of decline are alarming, and if the decline is not halted, the staff wonder whether FAO will have much of a field programme left within four or five years. There are many staff members both in the field and in the Headquarters who feel that FAO, without a strong field programme, would be insignificant on the world stage. The complementarity between the field programme and the Regular Programme is obvious, but the field programme has been described as the life-blood of the Organization. If that is so, then the field staff are its arteries and its capillaries delivering the blood to where it is needed, and it is of course the Member Nations amongst the developing countries that can directly benefit from the accumulated expertise and advice of FAO, and who stand to lose the most if the decline goes on.
There are many reasons for the current trend which are beyond FAO's control like the economic recession, leading to a decline in overall resources for technical cooperation activities, but there are others about which both Member States, FAO and its staff can do something. FAO staff and management, supported by Member States, represented by you, have to work harder at developing confidence, in both donors and recipient countries, that what FAO does in the field is done well, done efficiently, done sustainably by building national capacity and is good value for the money.
Some say that the day of long-term international professional project staff is over, and the future of technical assistance lies with national execution and short-term expert inputs. Field staff support national execution an the reality of the day. We recognize the increasingly important role for national colleagues as experts working on FAO projects, and we are fully involved in supporting the considerable growth of projects directly executed by governments.
At the same time we think that the necessity or not of longer-term international expertise depends on which disciplines you are talking about and what manpower resources are available locally. The best approach to successful national execution is probably a gradual one adapted to the realities of the local situation. We believe that the need for long-term expertise, albeit much reduced compared with ten years ago, may still be there in many countries, and that even under national execution there is plenty of scope for expert services to be provided by FAO on a longer-term basis.
We also feel that there is tremendous benefit, for example, to be gained by a national expert with two years' experience working shoulder-to-shoulder with an international expert with 20 years' experience, for a year or two.
Long-term problems need long-term solutions, and sustainable capacity building takes time. We believe that if these questions are not examined dispassionately and objectively, the rate of development of poor countries could well be slowed down.
The changing nature of the field programme has resulted in a decline of job security for field staff. In the last few months we have seen a steady flow of separations of very experienced colleagues whose services have been highly valued by their host countries but to whom no follow-up posts could be offered. At the same time, the prospects for the future and the
declining remuneration levels for professional staff is making it increasingly difficult to retain or find the best qualified personnel for the few jobs on offer.
The declining remuneration for professional staff is nowhere more keenly felt than in this expensive city of Rome. The professional staff at Headquarters received a body blow from the application of the outdated methodologies of the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) when, last October, the Italian lira was significantly devalued. Some staff with heavy commitments outside Italy lost 20 percent of their salaries in dollar terms almost overnight. Efforts to persuade the ICSC to institute measures to restore the situation to what it was before the devaluation have produced only too little too late. We note that our sister organization, the World Food Programme, that rotates its field and headquarters staff, they are experiencing difficulty in persuading their staff to come to Rome because of the high cost of living, and our own Director-General has repeatedly expressed concern over the difficulties of attracting and retaining qualified staff for Headquarters posts.
The quality of the field programme and its ability to respond to the needs of member countries depends, to a large extent, on the quality of the technical and administrative support given by Headquarters. The field and Headquarters are inextricably interlinked. A reduced field programme has direct consequences on Headquarters; a weakened Headquarters will have direct consequences on the field programme.
Within this structure we should not lose sight of those who perform their tasks far removed from the limelight, and whose efforts may therefore go unnoticed and undervalued. I am speaking of the General Service staff who in the last~12 months have seen significant negative changes to their conditions of employment. At the Common System level the ICSC made changes to the GS Salary Survey Methodology, not so much to strengthen its technical validity as to effect savings on the remuneration of General Service staff. Three important points are missing from the discussion on GS remuneration. Firstly that the conditions of employment of the General Service category automatically reflect the local conditions in Rome and consequently any economic recession that prevails. There was no methodology change to curb General Service salaries; the economic recession itself will have this effect. Secondly, statistics of constructive maxima salaries, as opposed to actual paid salaries, gave an unrealistic picture of GS remuneration. For example, there is no General Service Staff member in Headquarters who receives the maximum salaries listed in the Programme of Work and Budget because there is no one at the top step and few, if any, who will reach this level which now requires at least 30 years of service.
Thirdly, in Rome, the General Service category is increasingly composed of staff members who come from a home country different from that of the duty station but very few have international entitlements since the category is, by definition, local. Unlike other international staff, the General Service meet a cost of high rents, home travel and children's education out of their take-home pay, not out of additional allowances set by the Common System and paid by the Organization. In discussions of staff remuneration, these points should not be ignored.
With regard to General Service pensions, the staff representatives in a spirit of compromise in the UN Joint Staff Pension Board, have agreed to changes to the methodology for the calculation of GS pensionable remuneration which, at the time they take effect in April 1994, will result
in a freeze of pensionable remuneration for many General Service staff members who are already suffering from such a freeze due to last year's implementation of a new significantly reduced scale of staff assessment rates. This freeze will be further prolonged when salary surveys conducted under the new methodology yield negative results. If this trend continues, GS pensions in the future may not be sufficient to maintain an adequate standard of living in the country in which the staff retire.
At the local level, as the Programme of Work and Budget for 1994-95 testifies, many savings are having to be made to GS posts. This is being done partly by abolishing or freezing posts vacated and no longer required, and partly by reviewing the existing job descriptions of to-be-filled posts and establishing them at a lower grade where feasible. The staff fear that a result of "this process will ruin career development opportunities and staff motivation unless it is part of an Organization-wide plan which ensures a vertical career ladder for General Service staff and sufficient training to permit lateral transfers. This still needs to be developed and must be developed if the dedication and commitment of the GS staff is to be sustained. The General Service wants to be made to feel members of a team and not to see their best efforts go unnoticed and unrewarded.
The Programme of Work and Budget in its Medium-Term Plan for 1994-99 lists several initiatives that could alleviate the problem of staff motivation and the Organization's need to attract and maintain adequately qualified personnel at all levels, and here I speak of all staff, both professional and General Service.
With regard to the conditions of service, in accordance with the Council Resolution of November 1992, measures which might be taken within the framework oif the Common System will be actively considered. With regard to career development, attention will be given to training, performance appraisal and awards, better selection procedures, and job classification will be given attention.
In this framework staff consultation plays a crucial role. The UN General Assembly Resolution of December 1992 states that dialogue is of fundamental importance for the goals of the Common System. We must all work together to face the challenges that lie ahead, and the changes must be made in conjunction with the staff.
In conclusion, I think it will be clear to you that significant problems exist for FAO staff. I have highlighted to you the changes in the nature and scope of the field programme, the recent falls in professional remuneration, and the difficulties with the conditions of service of our General Service staff. Much remains to be done to turn these problems around, to boost staff morale so that the best possible service can be given to all member countries. We count on your support and understanding.
PRESIDENT: Je crois que viennent d'être évoquées les questions qui intéressent tous les Etats Membres de la FAO puisqu'il y va de la santé, du dynamisme de notre Organisation et aussi, peut-on dire, de sa capacité à s'adapter aux besoins nouveaux.
Je vais maintenant passer la parole aux délégués qui souhaitent intervenir sur ce point de l'ordre du jour, Questions de personnel. Si je vois bien, il n'y a pas d'intervention?... Très bien, merci au représentant du personnel.
Nous allons donc pouvoir maintenant passer au point suivant de l'ordre du jour, le point 24.3, Comptes du Groupement d'achats du personnel. Cette question va être présentée par M. Alhéritière.
D. ALHERITIERE (Directeur, Division des Services administratifs): Parmi les dernières recommandations du Conseil figure un projet de résolution concernant les comptes du Groupement d'achats du personnel, plus connu sous son vocable-anglais de Commissary. S'agissant d'une modification du système actuel de transfert des profits du Groupement d'achats au Fonds d'aide sociale, permettez-moi d'expliquer brièvement le sens et la nature du changement proposé.
Jusqu'à maintenant, le Fonds d'aide sociale recevait 0,5 pour cent du produit des ventes du Groupement d'achats, mois par mois. A la clôture des comptes annuels, il recevait l'ensemble des bénéfices éventuels du Groupement. Bon an, mal an, ceci représentait une somme totale équivalente à 1,2 pour cent des ventes du Groupement. La proposition actuelle ne vise pas à augmenter ce pourcentage global qui devrait rester autour de 1,2 pour cent, mais à rendre les versements du Groupement d'achats au Fonds d'aide sociale à la fois plus réguliers et plus flexibles. Les versements mensuels au Fonds d'aide sociale seront doublés pour passer de 0,5 pour cent à 1 pour cent des ventes. Mais les profits annuels du Groupement d'achats ne seront plus automatiquement versés au Fonds d'aide sociale. Ils pourront, en partie ou en totalité, être retenus, gardés par le Groupement d'achats pour commencer l'année dans un meilleur confort comptable.
La proposition qui vous est faite a reçu l'aval unanime du Comité financier et du Conseil. Elle avait auparavant été soumise au Comité mixte du Groupement d'achats pour consultation.
Ernst ZIMMERL (Austria) (Original language German): There is a Commissary Committee. Representatives of the Staff Association are members. In the Staff Association publication I read that the representatives of the Committee have withdrawn because they have not been sufficiently informed on the use of the money resulting from profits that go to a particular fund. We just heard about that.
It was also noted that commissary costs were covered where there was no good cause.
Perhaps I might ask the following questions of the Secretariat. Does the Commissary make a surplus and how high has that been in the last few years? What happens with the profit? We hear now that it goes to a particular fund, but what does the fund do with the money? Does the commissary pay a rent to FAO for the premises taken up and, if so, how much? Does the Commissary also carry staff costs? Does it pay wages to people who are active in other areas of FAO?
D. ALHERITIERE (Directeur, Division des Services administratifs): Le
distingué délégué de l'Autriche nous a posé trois questions concernant le Groupement d'achats du personnel.
La première, si je l'ai bien comprise, a trait au volume des bénéfices et à leur affectation. Comme vous le savez, le Groupement d'achats ne doit pas en principe faire des bénéfices. Mais comme il est bien entendu très difficile de mener une opération commerciale avec un résultat annuel nul égal à zéro, et comme il n'est certainement pas souhaitable de risquer d'être en déficit, la pratique des trente dernières années a été que le Groupement d'achats a toujours conclu l'année avec un certain bénéfice, toujours modeste. En 1992, ce bénéfice a été légèrement plus important qu'à l'habitude, car nous avons eu un important dédommagement d'assurance au dernier moment avant la clôture des comptes, qui a augmenté le solde positif. Et pour répondre à la question du distingué délégué de l'Autriche, la somme totale des bénéfices a été de 200 millions de dollars environ.
C'est précisément pour éviter en partie un versement trop important au Fonds d'aide sociale que nous avons proposé qu'une certaine flexibilité soit donnée à l'administration de façon qu'une partie de cette somme puisse nous aider à commencer l'exercice financier de l'année suivante dans des conditions favorables. Comme vous le savez, le Groupement d'achats commence l'année avec des coûts qui, généralement, excèdent ses revenus puisqu'il y a certains coûts incompressibles comme les coûts du personnel. Or, le Groupement d'achats fait 25 pour cent de ses affaires dans les deux derniers mois de l'année, en novembre et décembre, et, au mois de janvier-février, évidemment, il y a une certaine tendance à la baisse. Les coûts sont alors généralement plus élevés que les revenus.
Donc, cette'flexibilité permettra à l'administration de transférer en tant que de besoin une partie des bénéfices pour commencer l'année dans des conditions plus favorables d'un point de vue trésorerie et d'un point de vue financier. Cet argent, qui va au Fonds d'aide sociale, était versé de façon très irrégulière puisque un tiers seulement de ces fonds provenaient du prélèvement mensuel sur les ventes du Groupement d'achats et les deux tiers du bénéfice dont la somme exacte n'était connue que quelques mois après la clôture de l'exercice financier.
Pour rendre ces versements plus réguliers sans les augmenter, je précise bien sans les augmenter, la part versée régulièrement mois par mois sera elle doublée, c'est-à-dire que le prélèvement sera de 0,5 à 1 pour cent sur les ventes. Et à la fin de l'année, évidemment, la part qui sera versée d'un bloc sera diminuée en proportion.
Le Fonds d'aide sociale est un fonds qui finance une série d'activités au profit du personnel. Je ne vais pas vous énumérer toutes les activités que ce fonds finance, mais il finance en particulier les activités sociales du personnel, les différentes subventions versées aux clubs.
La seconde question du distingué représentant de l'Autriche avait trait au loyer du Groupement d'achats. Celui-ci, effectivement, paye un loyer à l'Organisation depuis quelques années, pour rester dans la philosophie d'origine, voulue par la Conférence, philosophie d'autosuffisance. Néanmoins, il serait inutile de cacher qu'effectivement pendant de très nombreuses années le Groupement d'achats n'a payé aucun loyer à l'Organisation pour ses activités.
La troisième question avait trait au remboursement des frais éventuels du travail opéré par les vérificateurs des comptes, tant interne qu'externe. Et bien, il y a également remboursement des dépenses pour le travail effectué par les deux vérificateurs, interne et externe. Le Groupement d'achats rembourse les dépenses encourues par ces deux organismes. Là encore, cela n'a pas toujours été le cas, mais c'est une décision qui a été prise, toujours dans la ligne de la philosophie d'ensemble de l'autofinancement du Groupement d'achats et à l'occasion de la crise financière qui avait frappé l'Organisation dans la seconde moitié des années 80.
K. MEHBOOB (Assistant Director-General, Administration and Finance Division): I just wish to supplement something that Mr Alhéritière said, which concerns the surplus.
It is not simply the arithmetic of arriving at zero at the end of the year. The Commissary, being a commercial entity, must have a surplus at the end in order to create certain reserves, etc., and the fact that it is a nonprofit institution does not mean that there will be zero at the end of the year. It still has to have certain reserves to supplement its ongoing situation. Therefore, a surplus is foreseen at the beginning of the year. The effort is not to arrive at zero at the end of the year. A commercial organization run on proper lines must have some surplus at the end. What it means is that no dividends are paid out. The surplus is ploughed back into the Commissary.
Ernst ZIMMERL (Austria) (Original language German) : I would like to have some additional clarification. We have heard what the surplus was for 1992. I would have been happy to hear what it was for 1990-91. On the Social Aid Fund, who controls the money? Is it FAO employees or someone else who has the disposal of the money? And why does the Commissary pay rent to the FAO? I was discussing this with Italian colleagues, and I think that FAO is paying the Government one lire per year, or is it one dollar? So I wondered whether in the Commissary there were people being paid by the Commissary but who are actually active in other areas of the FAO. I think I did not have a reply to that.
Mustapha-Menouar SINACEUR (Maroc): Je vous remercie. Il est bien entendu qu'ayant déjà eu à traiter cette question au Comité financier, nous approuvons le projet de résolution qui nous est soumis et qui sera transmis à la Commission plénière de la Conférence.
Je voudrais passer une petite question à Monsieur Alhéritière étant donné que certaines évolutions se sont produites depuis les discussions que nous avons eues au Comité financier à la session de septembre: il se souviendra parfaitement de la question que j'avais posée relative au local du Commissary qui se trouve au Building F; et je me souviens également parfaitement qu'il nous avait été répondu à l'époque que ce local, ouvert au Building F, coûtait de l'argent au Commissary qui était déficitaire.
Or, nous avons tous entendu parler maintenant de la possibilité que le PAM prenne d'autres locaux et ne soit plus sur la Cristoforo Colombo mais un peu plus haut sur la via Laurentina.
J'aimerais savoir ce qu'il va en advenir. Le local du Building F sera bien naturellement fermé mais qu'adviendra-t-il alors des nouveaux locaux du PAM? Ou, pour les mêmes raisons évoquées par Monsieur Alhéritière au mois de septembre, n'y aura-t-il plus désormais d'annexe du Commissary pour le PAM?
D. ALHERITIERE (Directour, Division des Services administratifs): Dans l'ordre des questions qui ont été posées, l'intervenant de l'Autriche a demandé des précisions sur les loyers. Le loyer a été fixé chaque année à 100 millions de lires. Il n'augmentera pas lors du transfert du Commissary.
Je précise qu'il n'est pas tout à fait exact de dire que l'Organisation ne louait pas de locaux à l'extérieur; elle en louait au contraire quelques-uns. Et, à partir du moment où l'Organisation devait louer des locaux à l'extérieur, il était évidemment normal et naturel de faire payer au Commissary de l'espace qui aurait pu être utilisé par l'Organisation pour des activités logées à l'extérieur. Nous louons par exemple des entrepôts, qui nous coûtent assez cher, pour les publications de la FAO. Nous essayons évidemment de les louer en dehors du centre historique pour diminuer le prix au mètre carré. Nous en avons à Pomezia et nous en avons d'autres en dehors de la ville.
Cette question n'est cependant pas définitivement close car elle fait l'objet en permanence de négociations avec les représentants du personnel et elle est chaque fois évoquée lors des différentes sessions du Comité financier.
Quant au solde créditeur que nous avons eu en 1991, il a été de 98 millions de dollars, et donc plus faible que celui que nous avons eu en 1992.
Le distingué délégué du Royaume du Maroc a eu tout à fait raison d'évoquer la question de l'antenne de l'immeuble F. Il y a plusieurs aspects à cette question. C'est une question que nous examinons en permanence, surtout depuis que le Programme alimentaire mondial a décidé de déplacer son siège encore plus loin de l'endroit où nous nous trouvons actuellement.
Il est bien évident que le personnel du Programme alimentaire mondial, dans la situation juridique actuelle, a le droit d'utiliser le Groupement d'achats de la FAO, mais cela ne signifie nullement que ce droit doit être exercé à l'endroit même où le Programme alimentaire mondial a ses bureaux. Cette question dépend d'une étude de rentabilité d'une éventuelle antenne dans les nouveaux locaux du PAM. Il serait certainement prématuré de fournir une réponse aujourd'hui mais un retour en arrière rapide ne serait peut-être pas inutile pour mieux comprendre la question.
Nous avons disposé, à certains moments, de l'immeuble G qui se trouvait dans un autre quartier que celui de la Cristoforo Colombo; nous avions là-bas des membres du personnel de la FAO (des fonctionnaires) qui avaient bien sûr droit à l'utilisation du Groupement d'achats mais qui n'avaient pas d'antenne du Groupement d'achats à l'endroit même de leurs bureaux. Il est donc fort possible que nous soyons contraints par les événements soit à ne pas ouvrir d'antenne du Groupement d'achats dans les nouveaux locaux du Programme alimentaire mondial, soit d'ouvrir une antenne extrêmement modeste ou d'en ouvrir une plus importante, ceci dépendant également de la disponibilité du Programme alimentaire mondial de couvrir certains frais supplémentaires liés à ce détachement.
Il est certain qu'il y a des coûts fixes dans l'installation d'une antenne du Groupement d'achats et ces coûts fixes, répartis sur 400 fonctionnaires au lieu de 700, peuvent poser des problèmes de rentabilité qu'il faudra examiner ensemble avec nos collègues du Programme alimentaire mondial et en consultation avec les représentants des syndicats à l'intérieur du Comité mixte sur les questions du Groupement d'achats.
Ernst ZIMMERL (Austria) (Original language German): I do apologize for pressing my point, but there were still points that were not responded to. I wanted to know who actually controls the money. Who is entitled to the disposal of the money? We were told that Lire 100 million is called for from the Commissary because FAO has to rent the premises which had been used by the Commissary. I would like to know how much these external premises cost in terms of rent the last two years. I was asking specifically whether the Commissary has wage costs for persons who are partly or wholly active in the FAO elsewhere. I had no reply to that.
K. MEHBOOB (Assistant Director-General, Administration and Finance Department): I will attempt to answer the questions on the staff welfare fund, and the second question Mr Alhéritière will take. The Staff Welfare Fund is used on the authorized expenditure by the Director-General but on the recommendation of the Inter-Staff Consultative Committee. In other words, the members of this Committee are the three Staff Associations. They make recommendations on how the monies in the Staff Welfare Fund can be spent, and the actual expenditure takes place with the authority of the Director-General.
D. ALHERITIERE (Directeur, Division des Services administratifs): Ayant à prendre de nouveau la parole, j'en profite pour apporter une précision sur les relations avec le Programme alimentaire mondial concernant le Groupement d'achats. Il est bien évident que dans l'hypothèse où le Programme alimentaire mondial aurait un nouveau siège, avec des quotas et des privilèges séparés de ceux de la FAO, le Programme alimentaire mondial devrait évidemment dans cette hypothèse créer son propre Groupement d'achats, à moins que les quotas et les privilèges ne soient strictement identiques et que nous puissions envisager une opération commune.
Je ne suis malheureusement pas en mesure de donner le détail ni le chiffre global des loyers que nous payons à l'extérieur car cela ne dépend pas entièrement de ma division. Comme je l'ai mentionné tout à l'heure, une partie de l'espace loué à l'extérieur est loué pour l'entreposage de publications de la FAO. Je me ferai un plaisir de rassembler l'ensemble des données pour apporter au délégué de l'Autriche le chiffre global des loyers extérieurs de l'Organisation.
Ernst ZIMMERL (Austria) (Original language German): I am really very sorry, but the last question on wage costs was not touched upon. I would be glad to have a clarification on that.
D. ALHERITIERE (Directeur, Division des Services administratifs): Le distingué délégué de l'Autriche a parfaitement raison de rappeler qu'il avait posé une question supplémentaire sur les salaires versés par le Groupement d'achats. Il y a évidemment l'ensemble des employés du
Groupement d'achats, cet ensemble comprenant les employés affectés aux opérations stricto sensu du Groupement d'achats et quelques employés affectés à des opérations qui font partie du Groupement d'achats mais qui sont comprises dans un sens plus large. Et je pense que le distingué délégué de l'Autriche veut faire référence au poste qui s'occupe de la supervision des installations de restauration. C'est en réalité une fonction qui relève à la fois du chef du Commissary et de son adjoint. Les deux sont censés apporter un certain contrôle des installations de restauration.
Je pense qu'il fait également référence aux personnes qui apportent un service tout à fait gratuit au personnel mais qui n'est pas à proprement parler dans la ligne de ce que l'Organisation devrait financer - je veux parler ici des deux postes des services généraux qui s'occupent de faciliter les formalités pour l'ensemble des fonctionnaires de la FAO, pour l'immatriculation de leurs véhicules ou le changement d'immatriculation, etc. Cette question fait l'objet de négociations permanentes avec les représentants des syndicats.
Deux opinions opposées se dégagent évidemment sur cette question; certains pensent que ces dépenses doivent être en partie supportées par l'Organisation, d'autres pensent au contraire que ces dépenses n'ont pas une relation directe avec le Groupement d'achats et que le Groupement d'achats ne devrait donc pas les supporter.
LE PRESIDENT: Si le représentant de l'Autriche ainsi que l'ensemble des autres délégués sont satisfaits des réponses apportées par le Secrétariat, je vous rappelle l'existence d'un projet de résolution sur ce point de l'ordre du your; et je pense que nous sommes d'accord pour recommander l'adoption de ce projet par la Conférence.
Nous pouvons donc passer au point suivant 24.4 "Contribution de la Tchécoslovaquie". Je passe la parole à M. Mehboob.
K. MEHBOOB (Assistant Director-General, Administration and Finance Department): The document before you is C 93/LIM/25; and, as you know, Mr Chairman, the Czechoslovak Federation was formally dissolved at midnight on 31 December 1992, and Czechoslovakia then ceased to exist. The dissolution gave rise to two new independent states, the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. Both have just been admitted to Membership of FAO at this Conference. A question arose, Mr Chairman, regarding the assessed contribution of Czechoslovakia for 1993; in particular, whether Czechoslovakia was under a legal obligation to pay this contribution to FAO and whether the Czech and Slovak Republics, as legal successors to Czechoslovakia, were liable to pay this contribution. As you will note from the document before you, this question was discussed by both the Finance committee and the CCLM. In short, Mr Chairman, the Council recognized the particular circumstances of this case and agreed this matter would have to be examined on an ad hoc basis. The conclusion reached should not constitute a precedent in respect to future cases. The Council formally recommended to the Conference that Czechoslovakia was not to be considered
under a legal obligation to pay the 1993 contribution to FAO and the Conference should write off this contribution as at 31 December 1992, in advancing the amount, US$192 500 stood to the credit of Czechoslovakia in the Working Capital Fund. The conclusion of the Council, Mr Chairman, and its recommendation to the Conference is that once the Czech and Slovak Republics have been admitted to membership of the Organization, the residual balance of the former Czechoslovakia should be credited to the new Member Nations in proportion to their Assessed Contributions.
In line with the financial recommendations, these amounts should be applied, firstly, to pay their advances due to the Working Capital Fund and, secondly, to be used for the partial payment of their assessed contribution for the last quarter of 1993.
Mr Chairman, we have the Legal Counsel here; and, if there are any questions, he will be happy to answer them.
LE PRESIDENT: Des délégations souhaitent-elles intervenir sur ce point de l'ordre du jour? Puisque je n'en vois pas, nous pouvons donc considérer que nous acceptons cette recommandation du Conseil au sujet de la contribution de la Tchécoslovaquie.
Notre ordre du jour de cet après-midi est épuisé. Je crois que nous avons assez bien travaillé, ce qui va nous permettre de préparer la longue séance de demain qui va donc comporter deux points: 22 et 23 concernant les contributions et la question des coûts d'appui.
The meeting-rose 17.00 hours.
La séance est levée à 17 heures.
Se levanta la sesión a las 17.00 horas.
