CHAIRMAN: The Fifth Plenary meeting of the 75th session of the Council is hereby called to order. Due to unforeseen urgent commitments of the Chairman, I have the honour of chairing the Plenary meeting.
Delegates of the Council, it has been conveyed to the Chair by the Secretariat that a number of delegates have expressed sentiments about possibly moving or disposing at an earlier time of a certain item on the Agenda nominated as Item 10.3 originally scheduled for 20 June. This item particularly refers to the date for nomination of the Independent Chairman of the Council, document CL 75/12.
It is therefore requested by the Chair that unless there be vehement objections to considering this item at this Plenary meeting, we will proceed discussing this item.
The Chair seeing no objection, may we now come to the consideration of Item 10.3.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): La delegación de Colombia no tiene objeciones a que se discuta ahora este punto, pero solo, al menos por curiosidad, nos gustaría saber las razones que justifican esta propuesta.
LE SECRETAIRE GENERAL: Les raisons qui nous ont été données sont très simples: il s'agissait de permettre à certaines délégations de se consulter et, éventuellement, arrêter leur position à l'égard de ce problème.
Au demeurant, comme vous l'avez indiqué, il s'agit, ni plus ni moins, que de fixer les dates auxquelles les candidatures doivent être reçues, à la date limite de notification desdites propositions au Secrétariat général de la Conférence.
Il est tout simplement question de fixer les dates, à moins que le Conseil ait d'autres alternatives à examiner.
Je répète donc que la raison est simple: certaines délégations souhaiteraient commencer dès maintenant à se consulter mutuellement.
CHAIRMAN: We trust that Colombia was duly satisfied with the explanation of the Secretary-General. It seems I received no obvious disagreement. May we again consider that the Council is ready to take the matter up? Therefore, in brief, I feel that what is up for discussion by the Council is the proposal mentioned in paragraph 2 of CL 75/12, that "Having regard to past practice in this matter, it is proposed for the Council's consideration that Friday 7 September 1979 at 17.00 hours be set as the closing date for submission of nominations, and that Friday 14 September 1979 be set as the date by which such nominations will be circulated by the Secretary -General". Other paragraphs in said document refer to certain rules of the Organization and the Council.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Como dije antes, la delegación de Colombia no tiene objeción a que se discuta ahora este tema; sólo queremos dejar constancia de que no es procedente, sobre todo para el futuro, que al iniciar una sesión del Consejo se nos distribuya por la mañana un Orden del Día y luego cuando ya entramos a esta sala se coloque sobre nuestras mesas un documento que, aunque sea simple, debemos discutir inmediatamente. Creo que esto no ha sucedido en el pasado y sería funesto que continuara sucediendo en el futuro.
CHAIRMAN: We take due note of the comments of Colombia, but the Chair has informed the Secretariat and would like to re-state that the documents actually being considered have been previously circu lated, and considering the consent of the Council, still, we do take note of the reservations or the objections of Colombia.
With regard to the proposait contained in CL 75/12, do we have any objections or any reservations to the recommendations herein contained? There being none, therefore, the recommendations therein contained in CL 75/12 are approved by the Council.
We now come to Item 8 on the World Food Programme, 8.1, the Fourth Annual Report of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes, documents CL 75/7,CL 75/7-Corr.l,CL 75/4,paragraphs 3.115 to 3.121.
May we now call on the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Mr Vogel, to introduce the report.
G. N. VOGEL (Executive Director, World Food Programme): Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Members of Council, it is a pleasure for me to be present here with you again today. This, as you understand, is not my report nor is it the report of the World Food Programme. It is the Fourth Annual Report of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes, which I have the honour to present on behalf of the Committee. It covers the period from April 1978 to May 1979. In so doing, it also covered, therefore, the Sixth and Seventh Sessions of the Committee, and it also covered an extremely busy year for the Committee as well as the Programme.
During that period, the Chairman of the Committee, Mr Gamo-Kuba of the Congo, finished his term as Chairman, and the Committee elected Mr. Griffin of Ireland for 1979. I must pay tribute to Mr. Gamo-Kuba and say how much we appreciated his work and how fortunate we were to find someone as capable and experienced as Mr. Griffin to replace him.
During the same period there was also the retirement of Mr. Ustün as Deputy Executive Director of the Programme and his replacement by one of your former colleagues, Mr. Brito of Brazil. Mr. Brito unfortunately is away on travel and could not meet with the Council this time.
Mr. Chairman, I do not want to take a great deal of your time, but I would just like to point out some of the highlights of this Fourth Annual Report which goes to you, to ECOSOC and to the World Food Council.
First of all, paragraph 3, the Pledges to the Programme, the Resources of the Programme, you will note that at the time the report was prepared, pledges for the current biennum 1979-1980 have reached about 738 million. You can look at that in two ways, Mr. Chairman; you can say that it is 28 million more than what we effectively achieved in the entire biennium. That is the optimistic way to look at it. A more realistic way to look at it, however, I think, is to look at the shortfall between 738 million and the target of 950 million, leaving a great gap which has yet to be filled in the remaining 18 months or so of the biennium.
I am disturbed by this. We are doing our utmost to achieve the target, but I must point out to you that at the moment we have achieved only 78 per cent of it.
As I stated in my opening statement to the Seventh Session of the CFA, I am keenly aware of projects that cannot be undertaken unless we get the resources. As I have already said to this Council before, getting resources means not only additional pledges, additional commitment by donor countries, it also means a willingness on the part of donor countries to allocate a higher percentage of their food aid into the multilateral channels, particularly the World Food Programme, instead of bilateral. That percentage has been slipping. It was as high as 17 per cent; now it is down to about 14 per cent. This I find particularly frustrating because of the number of resolutions that are passed in so many different fora exactly to the contrary but when it comes to realizing results, as I said to the CFA, there seems to be less enthusiasm.
On the subject of resources I would also like to draw the attention of Council to a special problem in this respect and that is the cash position. I have said this to you before, that as the programme has increased - and it has increased considerably - the increase has taken place largely in commodities, and the amount of cash has not kept up. At the moment I cannot and do not say we are short of cash, but I must draw this to your attention, that this is a situation that will worsen unless it is corrected. It cannot go on indefinitely, obviously, and in this connexion I would draw the attention of the Council to the report of the Finance Committee, which is document CL 75/4 in paragraph 3.119, where you will find reference to this problem which was noted by the Finance Committee with concern, and this Council may wish to include it in its report.
The Fourth Annual Report then goes on to deal with other matters. Still under resources, there is the Food Aid Convention. Yesterday there was a considerable debate on what happens under the International Food Grains Convention and the International Food Aid Committee, and that of course has an effect on us. You will see in paragraphs 7, 8 and 9 the substantial additional quantities of resources that the Programme has received from the Food Aid Convention over the years. For the moment for the credit year 1979-1980 we have a firm commitment to the Programme of 70 000 tonnes and potentially expected commitments of perhaps another 200 000 tonnes which I hope may be achieved, but it is, as you understand, a rather hard thing to predict in view of the status of the international negotiations.
You will not note also in the Fourth Annual Report the emergency operations carried out by the Programme and the relevance of the International Emergency Food Reserve to that. As you know, it is intended that the international food reserves should be 500 000 tonnes and replenished to that level. We have never yet achieved that level in a year, as you know.
At the present time the totals contributed to the IEFR, both bilateral and multilateral, is a total of 306 000 tonnes, of which about 50 000 tonnes has already been used. The World Food Programme used about 31 000 of that 50 000, so that there is a quantity unutilized in the IEFR at the moment of 256 000 tonnes for use multilaterally or bilaterally.
In development projects the programme has made good progress. By the close of the Seventh Session a month ago we had 225 operational projects. The committee approved 70 new projects during the year under review, representing commitments of 506 million. The trend in the concentration of our resources in the LDC and the MSA countries has continued. In the total of WFP commitments, 76 percent want to those countries in 1978 compared with 66 percent in 1977. In fact, about 90 percent of the projects approved at the last session of the CFA were to those priority countries, but I did warn the Committee that this was mere coincidence and this would not be maintained for the year, it was unusually high, but it does show our desire to do as much as possible in the priority countries.
To go to policy papers now, which the CFA discussed at its last session. One is the Guidelines and Criteria for Food Aid referred to in paragraphs 10 and 11 of the report. You will be happy to hear that the Committee unanimously agreed on a set of Guidelines and Criteria. The squared brackets have been removed and you will find as Annex I to the Report those Guidelines and Criteria, and I appreciate very much the speedy action and cooperation of the Programme of the Committee in finalizing that.
Another policy paper was a general review of food aid policies and programmes which we do annually. I will not take your time on that, but you will find the highlights set out fully in paragraph 13 of the report. You will note also that in response to requests made to the CFA by the United Nations Committee of the Whole and the Committee on World Food Security the Committee agreed to include the following items on its agenda for the 8th session in October: food aid requirements and food aid targets in the 1980s and the role of food aid in strengthening food security in developing countries.
Finally there is the very important matter of the pledging target for 1981-1982. The complete section of the Report of the Seventh Session of the CFA dealing with the subject is quoted in paragraph 17 of the Annual Report before you. You will see that I have proposed a pledging target of 1000 million dollars to the CFA with the concurrence and endorsement of the United Nations and the Director-General of the FAO. There were discussions on this target during the Seventh Session, during which a wide range of views was expressed. In the spirit of cooperation, however, the Committee eventually decided to recommend the proposed target of 1000 million dollars for this present biennium to this Council session for approval on the understanding that - and here I quote from the Report - "Such a target should be seen as a minimum and that if major increases in the cost of commodities and transportation of food aid requirements occurred before or during the biennium 1981-1982, donors would make every effort to provide additional contributions to ensure the target is appropriately surpassed in order to maintain a reasonable and real growth rate in the deliveries of WFP."
The Committee urged that once finally endorsed, all countries should endeavour to ensure it is fully met. In proposing the target, the Committee recommended it did not preclude the possibility of exercising its right to review the target again. With these considerations in mind, the CFA has asked you to adopt the draft resolution set out in Annex II of the report before you. You will see that in a sense it is a double resolution. It is a resolution of this Council as it will be a resolution of the Economic and Social Council, which includes a draft resolution for the FAO Conference, or appropriately for the United Nations General Assembly.
You will note that the wording of the resolution incorporates the concern expressed by the CFA.
That is all I can say that will be of help. I draw to your attention the fact that before the conclusion of this debate it is necessary for you to adopt the resolution, to note the report before you and any comments you may wish to make on it which will appear in the Report, and, also, if I may say so again, the reference which I have made to the Report of the Finance Committee which might also be appropriately included in the Council's report under this item.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you Mr. Vogel. The Council commends the clarity with which the report of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes was submitted to the Council. As suggeste-by Mr. Vogel there are a few items that may require action by Council, but in the meantime we see the delegate of Argentina would like to make an intervention.
C. 0. KELLER SARMIENTO (Argentina): En primer lugar, séame permitido agradecer al Dr. Vogel la excelente introducción que ha hecho al documento que se presenta a la consideración del Consejo y que revela, a nuestro juicio, exactamente lo sucedido en el Comité de Políticas y Programas de Ayuda Alimentaria. No obstante, me parece oportuno señalar alguno de los puntos que mi delegación formulo en ocasión de discutirse el temario de este Comité.
En primer lugar, deseamos destacar los resultados brillantes obtenidos durante la gestion del Director Ejecutivo del Programa Mundial de Alimentos, Dr. Vogel, que se revela en una buena situación de recursos y actividades de proyectos. En ese sentido, el párrafo 4 del documento CL 75/7 es una prueba con-cluyente de la intensa y fecunda agilidad efectuada por el Programa Mundial de Alimentos. No obstante que mi delegación reconoce la prioridad que se otorga a los proyectos de países más gravemente afectados y menos desarrollados, nosotros entendemos la necesidad de que el Programa Mundial de Alimentos se concentre también en programas de desarrollo del resto de los países, y que tenga recursos adecuados a su disposición para proyectos que no involucren simplemente situaciones de extrema urgencia o de extrema emergencia.
En este sentido, me complace haber escuchado al Dr. Vogel que si bien el 90% de los proyectos de 1978 han sido destinados a los países más gravemente afectados esto se trata solamente de una situación coyuntural especial, pero que en el futuro se evolucionará.
Quiero expresar el apoyo de mi delegación a los criterios de compras de productos por parte del Programa Mundial de Alimentos en países en desarrollo que me parece es una política sana que ha sido recomendada en diversas oportunidades en nuestro Comité y en otros foros de la FAO. Por lo tanto, nos complace utilizar esta oportunidad para exhortar al Sr. Director del Programa Mundial de Alimentos a continuar esta política y, si es posible, incrementarla.
También hemos señalado la importancia que mi delegación atribuye a la utilización de buques de países en vías de desarrollo para envío de productos del Programa Mundial de Alimentos. Esta es una tendencia también que hay que alentar y que es de extremo beneficio para los países que tienen las posibilidades de competir, no siempre en condiciones iguales, con países industrializados con flotas organizadas, aun con un criterio comercial más eficiente.
Con el objeto de conservar la necesaria coordinación de las actividades de asistencia y evitar duplicación de esfuerzos, la delegación argentina entiende que no deben considerarse temas en el Programa Mundial de Alimentos como la seguridad alimentaria sino exclusivamente para los fines que han sido señalados por el Comité Plenario; efectivamente sólo para informar al Comité Plenario, el problema de la seguridad alimentaria está considerado en el Acuerdo Internacional de Cereales, que es un foro adecuado para ello, y en el Comité de Seguridad Alimentaria cuyo informe hemos tratado en el día de ayer exhaustivamente.
Nosotros apoyamos sin reservas la discrecionalidad otorgada por el Director Ejecutivo, Dr. Vogel, de dar flexibilidad al nivel de compromisos entre 150 millones de dolares; es una discrecionalidad que es necesario otorgarle para manejar con eficiencia y racionalidad el PMA. Esperamos una mayor participación de América Latina en los programas, que ha sido muy reducida en ocasión del último ejer-. cicio, si bien la Secretaria nos ha otorgado explicaciones satisfactorias. Creeemos que debe expresarse particular atención en mantener un adecuado equilibrio geográfico en la adjudicación de proyectos. Queremos destacar la necesidad de una utilización más eficiente y racional de los recursos a través de un control de la adjudicación no excesiva de productos. Esa es una cuestión que el Programa Mundial de Alimentos está activamente considerando y estamos seguros de que efectuará los mayores esfuerzos para no desperdiciar oportunidades ni recursos que pueden ser empleados con mayor eficacia en otra parte.
Por último, apoyamos plenamente los objetivos propuestos por el Director Ejecutivo del Programa Mundial de Alimentos. En el párrafo 17 debemos formular la observación de que en el texto español del documento 7/20, en el apostrofe final del párrafo 27, hay un error, al decir: "Esto no incluye la posibilidad...'' El texto correcto sería: ''Esto no excluye la posibilidad...''. De modo que habría que corregir el texto español, en la página 6 del documento 7/20, párrafo 17.
Por último, una vez más deseo agradecer al Dr. Vogel la presentación de este informe que revela exactamente la naturaleza, función e importancia de las tareas realizadas por el Programa Mundial de Alimentos.
K. CHOUERI (Liban) (interprétation de l'arabe): Ma délégation a écouté avec beaucoup d'intérêt M. Vogel, Directeur exécutif du PAM. Nous le remercions de cette introduction.
Nous avons également lu le rapport annuel présenté au Conseil par le CPA, et sur lequel nous avons quelques remarques à faire.
Si l'on examine les activités du Programme, on constate qu'au cours de l'année écoulée il y a eu 59 opérations d'urgence, 28 opérations de secours d'urgence aux réfugiés, 19 opérations pour l'aide aux victimes de calamités naturelles et 12 opérations d'urgence pour la fourniture d'une aide aux victimes de sécheresse et de mauvaises récoltes.
Si l'on parcourt les rapports sur le Programme depuis 1974, on constate que ce Programme, depuis cette époque, a consacré de 75 à 85 pour cent du total de l'aide alimentaire aux pays gravement atteints.
On sait que l'aide alimentaire est importante bien sur, mais si l'on veut assurer une sécurité alimentaire, souvent précaire, dans les pays en développement, cette sécurité manifeste son importance surtout dans les cas d'urgence. On comprend donc que l'aide alimentaire qu'il faudrait accorder dépasse souvent les ressources disponibles. Si l'on veut que le Programme réponde aux besoins, il faudra voir quel est le volume de ressources disponibles.
Ici, je peux vous renvoyer aux promesses faites pour 1979-80, et l'on constate que ces promesses ne vont certainement pas au-delà de l'objectif. Espérons que des propositions nouvelles soient faites pour combler ce retard. En effet, certains signes avant-coureurs nous laissent entendre qu'on aura besoin d'une aide d'urgence plus importante encore, car dans beaucoup de pays en développement la situation a empiré.
Je voudrais reprendre l'appel adressé par M. Vogel au mois de mai dernier. Il a dit que le Programme ne peut accorder une aide continue que si l'on atteint l'objectif prévu pour 1979-80. Mais il a ajouté que cet objectif n'a pas été atteint.
Il y a bien sûr des résolutions sur ce point. C'est une idée que l'on répète continuellement, mais on a l'impression que lorsqu'il s'agit de passer à la pratique, les enthousiasmes se refroidissent. Il y a là un creux à combler. En attendant d'adopter les directives et les critères de l'aide alimentaire, en attendant que l'on puisse faire face aux besoins en produisant davantage dans les pays en développement, il faudra recourir à cette aide alimentaire dans les cas d'urgence pour lutter contre la faim et la malnutrition, également pour hâter le développement social et économique, et pour atteindre enfin la sécurité alimentaire.
A propos de sécurité alimentaire, il faut répéter ce que le Directeur général nous a dit dans ses remarques d'ouverture, ce renforcement de sécurité alimentaire est un des grands objectifs du PAM. Pour atteindre cet objectif, il faut que la collectivité internationale en prenne conscience.
J'ajouterai que ce Programme est un des plus beaux fleurons des Nations Unies. Plusieurs opérations ont été menées avec succès, en particulier dans mon pays lorsque nous passions un moment difficile. Les responsables du Programme ont su montrer qu'ils ont le sens de l'initiative et nous tenons à remercier le Programme en apportant une contribution, si modeste qu'elle soit, qui a doublé quatre fois consécutives depuis la dernière période biennale.
La délégation du Liban approuve la recommandation proposée par le CPA au Conseil contenue dans le document qui porte sur les objectifs 1981-82. Il nous paraît que ces objectifs sont raisonnables. Espérons que les promesses qui ont été annoncées par le PAM seront à la hauteur de la situation. En 1980 se réunira la Conférence. Espérons que l'on arrive au chiffre fixé parce que nous aurions alors la garantie que le Programme pourrait garder toute son efficacité.
Avant de conclure mon intervention, je voudrais féliciter M. Brito. Nous le connaissons, nous savons à quel point il a été un représentant actif du Brésil lors des réunions de la FAO. Ma délégation lui souhaite le plus grand succès dans ses activités.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): En primer lugar, queremos sumarnos con suma complacencia al merecido reconocimiento que ha hecho el Director Ejecutivo del PMA sobre la excelente labor realizada por nuestro colega y amigo, Gama Kuba, en la Presidencia del CPA. El Sr. Gama Kuba, representante del Congo ante la FAO, es un funcionario activo, dinámico, inteligente y capaz.
Nos honra, como representantes de países en desarrollo, que una figura tan destacada del Tercer Mundo haya ofrecido este importante servicio a la comunidad internacional. Igualmente nos complace la vinculación al PMA del Sr. Brito, del Brasil. Se reforzará así la insuficiente representación latinoamericana en el Programa. Hemos,sido sinceros y convencidos admiradores de las altas elucubraciones filosóficas e intelectuales de que suele hacer gala el Sr. Brito, y esperamos que él convertirá todo ello en actitudes constructivas en favor de la mejor marcha del PMA.
La delegación de Colombia ha estudiado con atención este Cuarto Informe del CPA, que abarca el período de abril de 1978 a mayo de 1979. Nos complace que el PMA continúe con buen éxito sus labores, y así lo confirma el párrafo 4 que se refiere al número de proyectos terminados, a los 70 nuevos proyectos, y a los 225 en curso de ejecución.
Los párrafos 6, 7 y 8 del documento confirman la confianza de que goza el PMA en la Comunidad Internacional. En efecto, además de administrar sus propios recursos de urgencia ha prestado servicios para la aplicación de donaciones y alimentos procedentes de otras Organizaciones de las Naciones Unidas y donantes bilaterales, así como ha canalizado otras contribuciones en virtud del Convenio de Ayuda Alimentaria de 1977. Esa confianza que se ha ganado el PMA ha sido ratificada recientemente al alto nivel del Comité Plenario de las Naciones Unidas, que ha instado a que se sigan canalizando esas ayudas a través del Programa.
En el párrafo (f), del punto 13, creemos que el Consejo debería expresar en su Informe el apoyo a la tendencia de que la ayuda alimentaria se utilice cada vez más en apoyo de proyectos de fomento de la producción agrícola y el mayor empleo en el campo.
En el párrafo 14, como ya lo dijo el Director Ejecutivo, nos parece muy bien que el CPA haya acogido la sugerencia del Comité Plenario de las Naciones Unidas y que en su 8o período de sesiones, haya incluido en su programa los dos puntos instados en ese párrafo, que tienen relación muy directa con la seguridad alimentaria mundial.
La delegación de Colombia piensa que el Consejo debe compartir las preocupaciones expresadas por el CPA en el párrafo 17 sobre el hecho de que todavía no se haya alcanzado el objetivo de 950 millones de dólares para el período 79-80. Como de costumbre haremos un llamado en este sentido.
En el párrafo 27, seguimos la tendencia manifestada sobre los objetivos mínimos para 1981-82. El gobierno de Colombia habría preferido la cifra de 1 200 millones de dólares. Sin embargo, y sobre todo ante el hecho de que la decisión del CPA no excluye la posibilidad de que se revise ese objetivo, tal como se dice en la nota a pié del párrafo 28, por el momento apoyamos el proyecto de Resolución que aparece en el Anexo 2.
Sobre el Anexo 1, en relación con las Orientaciones y Criterios para la Ayuda Alimentaria, creemos que se hizo un buen trabajo y estamos de acuerdo en que la única solución a largo plazo para suplir la escasez de alimentos, es el aumento de la producción en los países en desarrollo. Ese es el meollo, el crecimiento de la producción en los países en desarrollo. El consenso general que ahora se dice que goza nuestra Organización entre los gobiernos de los Estados Miembros, el prestigio internacional de que se nos ha hablado, los recursos, las experiencias y los conocimientos de la FAO, todo ello debe ser canalizado hacia el objetivo básico y fundamental de dotar a los países en desarrollo de bases solidas y estables sobre las cuales se pueda asegurar un crecimiento permanente y continuo en la producción.
Esas serían realizaciones concretas, positivas, tangibles y realistas, lejos de utopías, demagogias y de idealismos excesivos.
En el Anexo 1, la delegación de Colombia apoya con decision el apartado (a), y esperamos que se dé cuenta en nuestro informe sobre la necesidad de que la ayuda alimentaria se conceda en forma compatible con los objetivos de los países beneficiarios.
Apoyamos el apartado (d), del Anexo 1, acerca de que los países donantes deben dar prioridad a países de ingresos bajos y deficitarios de alimentos y ha de prestarse también ayuda alimentaria a otros países en desarrollo, para apoyar proyectos que beneficien a los sectores más pobres de la población.
La delegación de Colombia apoya la declaración que hizo nuestro colega de Argentina sobre la necesidad de que se mantenga un adecuado equilibrio geográfico en la distribución de los proyectos.
Aprovechamos esta ocasión para expresar nuestro apoyo decidido al CPA y esperamos seguir contando con su asistencia y valioso apoyo.
L.V. BORGES DA FONSECA (Brazil): I would like first of all to express my appreciation for the precisé manner in which Mr. Vogel presented the document we have before us.
The intervention of my delegation on this item of the agenda will be a very brief one, especially because it will only reflect the position already adopted by my country in the discussions during the Seventh Session of the Committee on Food Aid and during which we approved the Report of that Committee which is now presented for our consideration.
First of all my delegation would like to endorse once more the proposed target of $1 000 million for voluntary contributions to the World Food Programme for the biennium 1981/82. Although.as the Brazilian delegation has already stated during the last session of the Committee on Food Aid.'that sum may not be the most appropriate for the satisfaction of the needs of developing countries in the matter of food aid, my delegation trusts that the Directors of the Programme will know how to make the best use of it in the interests of developing countries as a whole. Accordingly, my delegation strongly supports the recommendation for approval of the draft resolution in Annex 2 of the document CL 75/7.
Beyond that my delegation would also like to avail itself of this opportunity to express the gratitude of my Government to the World Food Programme for the approval of the emergency food aid recently accorded to flood victims in Brazil.
I could not end my brief statement without expressing my country's wishes that the target of $950 million for the biennium 1979/80 be quickly reached by commitments from traditional donors.
Finally, I would like once more to support warmly the recommendations for approval of the draft resolution on next biennium's target.
P. HALIMI (France): Il m'est particulièrement agréable d'intervenir sur ce point de l'ordre du jour et ceci pour deux raisons d'importance inégale. La première est que j'ai suivi pendant de nombreuses années les activités du Programme alimentaire mondial et que j'ai pu apprécier la qualité, la compétence, l'efficacité et le dévouement des fonctionnaires du Programme qui, sous l'autorité de M. Vogel, font face aux nombreux problèmes auxquels ils sont confrontés.
Je me réjouis, à cet égard, de voir M. Brito, actif délégué du Brésil, rejoindre les cadres du PAM.
La seconde, c'est que j'ai eu la semaine dernière la possibilité de me rendre sur le terrain et de présenter aux élèves de l'Ecole nationale d'administration de Tunis, à qui je prodigue un enseignement, un excellent projet de développement du PAM en Tunisie et que j'ai pu constater combien l'aide du PAM est appréciée par les agriculteurs des régions défavorisées. J'en viens au document soumis à notre examen. Les documents préparés par le Secrétariat du Programme sont toujours clairs, concrets et sincères, et ils permettent un débat franc, ouvert et constructif. Pour ce qui concerne le débat qui se déroule au cours des réunions du CPA, du PAM, j'ajoute que les Présidents du CPA que j'ai connus, qu'il s'agisse de M. Sheffrin, de M. Gamo-Kuba ou de M. Griffin (dont j'ai apprécie toutes les qualités en tant que délégué de l'Irlande), ont su maintenir aux débats un caractère sérieux, sans passion et ont déployé avec talent tous leurs efforts pour parvenir au consensus souhaité de part et d'autre.
C'est pourquoi la délégation française se réjouit de l'accord intervenu, du consensus enregistré au CPA sur le texte des recommandations et critères de l'aide alimentaire. Il s'agit là d'un résultat important pour les pays en développement et dont nous nous félicitons. Nous appuyons la proposition du Directeur exécutif de porter à un milliard de dollars l'objectif des contributions pour le prochain biennium et nous souhaitons que, grâce à l'effort de tous, donateurs traditionnels et nouveaux donateurs, l'objectif de l'actuel biennium sera atteint.
J'en viens à l'aide d'urgence. La position constante de la délégation française est de relever le montant du pourcentage de l'aide d'urgence pour tenir compte de l'accroissement des besoins en la matière. Pour ce qui concerne l'aide apportée aux réfugiés par le canal du Haut Commissariat pour les réfugiés, nous sommes d'accord pour que la durée de cette aide soit supérieure à six mois si nécessaire.
Ces points seront revus par le prochain CPA et nous ne pouvons que souhaiter qu'une attention suffisante sera accordée à cette forme d'aide, rendue nécessaire par la situation difficile constatée dans de nombreuses régions.
D. WARE (Canada): Canada has always strongly supported the work of the World Food Programme channelling up to 45 percent of our food aid through this agency and being the second largest donor to it over the different past years. We believe that the World Food Programme is an effective means of utilizing food aid, not only for development purposes but also as a way of meeting emergency needs. We have found the sessions of the CFA to be marked by a great spirit of cooperation on the part of all and this has been noted by other delegates.
We strongly support the $1 000 million target for 1981/82 but as the Executive Director has noted in the final analysis of course, it is the level of pledges which are the most important factor and we trust that the current level of 78 percent so far achieved for the 1979/80 target will be exceeded during the next few months.
The Canadian delegation supports the draft resolution as outlined in Annex 2 of this document on the WFP CFA/7/20 and we fully accept the guidelines which were outlined in Annex 1.
I should also note that as a member of the Finance Committee we would also support the suggestion that paragraph 3.119 relating to cash resources of the World Food Programme be duly noted by the Council.
Finally, we wish to congratulate Mr. Vogel and his staff for the effective and efficient manner in which they carry out their most heavy duties.
K.F. KENEALLY (Australia): There are three major aspects of the report of the CFA to this Council which we feel are worthy of comment.
My delegation is very satisfied to note, firstly, the successful conclusion of a set of Guidelines and Criteria for Food Aid. Australia participated actively in the evolution of this standard framework approach to food aid practices over several sessions of the CFA; we draw satisfaction from the knowledge that these were agreed in the CFA by consensus; and we feel they will serve the international community well as a comprehensive set of principles guiding all the major elements of the food aid scene. My government will be happy to report progressively on its implementation of these criteria.
Next, Mr. Chairman, the agreed points flowing out of the Fourth General Review of Food Aid Policies and Programmes have our full endorsement. We will relate our food aid policies and practices as far as possible towards the agreed conclusions of the review although we feel that as traditional suppliers to the WFP we already enjoy a high correlation with the objectives spelled out in that review.
Finally, but of the greatest importance, we are happy to reaffirm our association with the WFP Pledging Target for the biennium 1981-82 of $1 000 million. This level of food aid surely is a significant milestone. We commend the adoption by the FAO Council of the CFA's draft resolution on the Pledging Target.
As regards the cash contribution position of the Pledging Programme we think the inclusion of the thoughts in paragraph 3.119 of the Finance Committee's report, as suggested by the Executive Director, would be a useful reminder to countries not contributing by way of food, services or non-food items but who could, and we would like to see them do so, participate more actively in the World Food Programme to make it more truly a World Food Programme. Their assistance is urgently needed to help us reach the present biennium target.
P. MASUD (Pakistan): I would like to join the others in thanking the Executive Director for his extremely lucid introduction to this Fourth Annual Report of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes to the FAO Council. As always we have read the annual report of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes with great pleasure, because we look forward so keenly to the progress that we are almost certain the programme must have made during the year under review. We are never disappointed. The Fourth Annual Report is no exception.
We note with satisfaction the increase in the number of development projects. We are particularly impressed with the performance under Emergency Food Operations. It is a recognition of the World Food Programme's excellent work in this area of activity that even bilateral donors have started channeling food aid through the World Food Programme.
The adoption of the Guidelines and Criteria for Food Aid is another step in the right direction. Since these guidelines were adopted unanimously, and not by consensus as was stated by the delegate of Australia, we expect and hope that they will have the full backing of the international community in their implementation.
There has been some mention of the fact that there should be more equitable distribution in granting project aid. We support this idea, but at the same time would like to stress that the maximum number of people should benefit from World Food Programme assistance and population therefore must remain an important factor.
Insofar as the general review on food aid policies and programmes is concerned we would like in particular to express our disappointment about the decrease in the share of multilateral food aid. This is all the more disappointing since it has been agreed in almost all fora to increase the share of multilateral food aid, but in actual practice it has declined.
We note with satisfaction the increased purchases in third world countries by bilateral donors but would urge that the volume of triangular transactions designed to promote the participation of developing countries in food aid programmes should be enhanced.
We would also like to touch on the replenishment of the International Emergency Food Reserve. We fully support the views of the Executive Director on this.
We would also like to say a word about the cash resources. It has been my delegation's constant position that we should adhere strictly to the regulations on the subject, which said about one-third of the contributions should be in cash. It is only then that we can expect an improvement in the cash resources of the programme. We look forward with keen interest to seeing the two items relating to food aid on the agenda of the Eighth Session.
Coming to the Pledging Target for 1979-80, we can only express our disappointment at the shortfall in pledges for this biennium. We do not think this is the right moment to go into details but we would like to take this opportunity of urging the traditional donors and those in a position to do so to meet the target of $950 million. This is most important, as we feel that the target for 1981-82 would have more relevance if the target for the previous biennium were to be fully achieved.
The statement by the delegate of Canada is most heartening and we will be looking forward keenly to greater support from his country to the World Food Programme.
Regarding the Pledging Target for the period 1981-82, we agreed somewhat reluctantly to the proposed target of $1 000 million in a spirit of compromise and accommodation. We feel that a higher target would have been in order. But, Mr. Chairman, we can do a lot with pledges but precious little with a target which does not have the support of major donors. This is a recognition of the fact that during the previous biennium there was some reluctance on the part of the maior donors to accept a figure of $950 million. This time we have gone along with the figure of $1 000 million and we expect that this will have the fullest support of the donors and the target will not only be achieved but surpassed.
Lastly, we fully support the adoption of both resolutions in Annex II.
P. VANDOR (Hungary): As we can see from the Fourth Annual Report of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes, the World Food Programme accomplished commendable work in 1978.
Hungary, as a member of the CFA and a contributor to the World Food Programme, fully shares the view of the Executive Director that it is vital for the programme that donor countries should make every possible effort to achieve the target of $950 million for 1979-80.
We note with satisfaction the record level of $17 million for commodity purchases in 1978, most of which was made in the developing countries. These commodity purchases provide export opportunities for a number of developing countries and thus stimulate agricultural production there.
The food aid needs and import requirements of the developing countries will further increase in the forthcoming years. This trend was clearly pointed out in the opening statement of the Director-General. Requests from the LDCs and MSA countries alone would exceed the current level of the World Food Programme resources. Recognizing the fact that a balance must be maintained between the need of the developing countries and the capacity of the donor countries, my delegation would suggest that in setting up the 1981-82 Pledging Target these trends and the upward movement of commodity prices and increased need of the developing countries should be taken into account and the resources of the World Food Programme in real terms should be increased.
With these remarks the Hungarian delegation proposes to adopt the draft resolutions in Annex I and Annex II of this report.
M. KRIESBERG (United States of America): The United States delegation wishes to note that in the Report submitted to the FAO Council by the Committee on Food Aid there are three important food aid targets: the $950 million target for the World Food Programme for the biennium 1979-80; the target of 500 000 tonnes of grain for the International Emergency Food Reserve, and the 10 million tonnes objective for the new draft Food Aid Convention. Regrettably none of these targets have thus far been attained. In each case we feel that the United States has contributed substantially - $260 million to the World Food Programme, 125 000 tonnes to the International Emergency Food Reserve, and we have announced that despite the adjournment of negotiations for a new International Grains Agreement we would implement a new higher commitment of almost 4.5 million tonnes to a new Food Aid Convention, a commitment we made provisionally during the negotiations. We invite other participants in the Food Aid Convention to honour the provisional pledges that were made at that time.
We would also like to encourage other traditional donors and other countries in a position to do so to review their position with respect to the important food aid problems and targets and if possible, to make increased commitments and thereby close the gap in those targets.
The United States delegation would like to join other delegations in support of the adoption of the Report of the Committee on Food Aid, including the Food Aid Guidelines and the draft resolution concerning the target pledges for the next biennium.
CHAIRMAN: The Chair notes the anxiety of the United States concerning the reaching of the target, and also notes the full support which is expressed to the adoption of the report and the draft resolutions.
Q.H. HAQUE (Bangladesh): Not long before, we had had a very detailed discussion on the WFP performance, the targets and so on in the CFA. We commented in the CEA, as we do today, on the competence of Mr. Vogel and the performance of the WFP in 1978. There have been a number of new record achievements in 1978 by the Programme in terms of total delivery, in terms of focus on the deserving MSA's and LDC's, in terms of the purchases of developing countries, in terms of emphasis on the right type of project for agricultural development, and we again renew our support 'for the right direction the Programme is moving forward in.
We have a few brief comments today on the Report to the Council; first on the target for the current biennium. A word about the past bygone on the previous biennium where there was a dramatic change towards the end and the target was almost fully accomplished. For the current biennium we are still lagging behind. May this Council renew its appeal to the traditional donors for additional contribution «ad also to the potential donors to join in to enable the Programme to fulfil the target of $950 million.
Secondly, on the guidelines for criteria of food aid, we have been grappling with this issue for quite some time now. I think the Programme as well as the CFA needs to be complimented for having succeeded in unanimously adopting the guidelines and criteria for food aid, which we fully support.
Thirdly, on the emergency operations, the number was 50 percent higher in 1978 than in the previous year, and the total delivery has also been a record figure, including the delivery from the Emergency Food Reserve.
I noted with satisfaction the observation by France that emergency operations of the EFR is a major item which needs our support and if need be, reserves both for the emergency international reserves and also its cash reserves should be augmented. This issue may come before the CFA in its next session.
A word about the focus of projects by the WFP: an observation was made about the geographical distribution, followed by another observation of taking into account the population, but the main point is that this Programme is primarily expected to direct its focus on the LDC's and MSA's wherever they may be, irrespective of their geographical situation. The focus is not on the population and not on the geographical situation but on the criteria of LDC's and MSA's. I remember that we complimented the Programme of the CFA for having.approved about 80 percent of its projects to the MSA's and LDC's, and we very strongly feel that that is the right direction and that is what the Programme is meant for, and that is where the success of the Programme lies. When we say this, we do not undermine in any any way the claim of other developing countries. We also have a claim which should not be forgotten, but the focus primarily should be first on the LDC's and MSA's, and that is what the Programme is doing, and we compliment the Programme for that.
On the target for the 1980-81 biennium, there was a very detailed discussion on this in the CFA. We very actively participated. It has to be noted that this 1 000 million or 950 million is not an assessment, it is a target which is to be voluntarily contributed by the donors. It is a target, it is an indicated figure. In the past we have seen that the targets were more than over-subscribed and there have also been occasions when there has been a major shortfall in the target. What I feel is that this largely depends on the will of the donors. When adopted, as rightly stated by Pakistan, the target of $950 million for the current biennium, I recall, did not have the wholehearted blessings of the donors. This time with the 1 000 million, my feeling is it has the wholehearted blessings of the donors, and that is the most important element which has to be taken note of. With this happy omen, we may expect that not only will the target be achieved, but it will be surpassed. We would have been happier to see a higher target to ensure substantial real growth in the Programme deliveries, but we note that while approving the target for 1 000 million, the CFA has made a number of observations: one, that this does not preclude the CFA from reviewing the target at any time should there be a necessity; two, this target of 1 000 million is a minimum, so it is expected that this minimum would be achieved, and if need be it will be surpassed; and thirdly, if there be a major change in the cost of commodities and transportation and need of food aid, the donors would make additional contributions appropriate to the need.
These comments of the CFA take care of any eventuality when one might feel that the target of 1 000 million will not ensure a real growth of the Programme.
With these observations, we endorse the resolutions in the Annex and pledge our full support to the activities of the Programme.
H. BAEYENS (Belgique): Je voudrais tout d'abord remercier le Directeur exécutif du Programme alimentaire mondial pour son introduction, et en même temps le féliciter pour sa gestion du Programme. Dans ces félicitations, je voudrais inclure tout le personnel qui sert le Programme.
Le gouvernement de mon pays tient le PAM en haute estime, et j'espère fermement que mon gouvernement parviendra très prochainement à augmenter sensiblement le niveau de ses contributions au Programme. Dans ce contexte, j'ai beaucoup d'espoir que M. Vogel, qui visitera bientôt mon pays, produira sur le ministre compétent qu'il rencontrera l'impression qu'il désire faire, parce qu'il trouvera en face de lui un ministre très ouvert et très sensible aux encouragements des activités du Programme. Je fais moi-même des efforts constants pour documenter convenablement les autorités, et pour susciter un appui croissant des autorités belges aux activités du Programme.
Cela dit, ma délégation tient à marquer son approbation au quatrième rapport du CPA à l'ECOSOC. Ce rapport fait apparaître la croissance continue du Programme. Ma délégation s'en réjouit, et elle appuie en particulier les recommandations et critères sur l'aide alimentaire qui ont finalement été approuvés à l'unanimité par les membres du Comité des politiques et programmes d'aide alimentaire. Ces critères et recommandations constitueront un fil conducteur précieux, non seulement pour le Programme, mais pour tous les donateurs d'aide alimentaire tant bilatéraux que multilatéraux.
Ma délégation approuve le projet de résolution qui est soumis à l'ECOSOC, en particulier le niveau de l'objectif des contributions proposé pour un milliard de dollars pour 1981-82. Mon pays était l'un de ceux qui avaient exprimé des doutes lorsque l'objectif avait été fixé pour le biennium en cours. Il espère néanmoins fermement que les engagements continueront à croître et que le total finira par se rapprocher sensiblement du niveau fixé.
Ma délégation pense que l'objectif d'un milliard proposé pour 1981-82 est bien choisi.
D. H. J. ABEYAGOONASEKERA (Sri Lanka): Let me first begin by thanking Mr. Vogel for his brief and lucid introduction to the Report of the Committee on Food Aid. I would be failing in my duty if I do not place on record my country's appreciation of Mr. Vogel's visit to Sri Lanka on the eve of the cyclone we had in December last year.
The World Food Programme has been and continues to be a very important programme to our developing countries and the most seriously affected countries, not only as a source of meeting emergency food requirements but as a method of generating development work in these countries where the resources, both in cash and kind, are limited.
We are sorry, therefore, to note that in the 1977/78 biennium all the pledges made by donor countries have not, been honored.
We also note that the requests for assistance, against which resources are not available, keep increasing each year, and a shortfall of nearly 835 million dollars is anticipated by the end of 1980. We have no doubt, however, that the donor countries would step in to fill this gap.
As far as the document CL 75/7 is concerned, 1 have few comments to make. The Committee at the end of its deliberations has recommended to the Council an increase in the amount of food aid from 950 million US dollars to one billion US dollars. Sri Lanka feels the proposed target is not a realistic increase. Actually the proposed target would result in a decline in the World Food Programme deliveries in real terms and as a proportion of total food aid. I am saying this because according to the World Bank Price Index for the biennium 1979/80, the increase in cereals which form the major component of WFP commodities is foreseen as 25 percent. This brings down the real value of the target to 750 million US dollars because of the heavy purchases by the Soviet Union, and the decline in the production of wheat and coarse grains in 1977 of 5 percent less than last year's record, and 3 percent below the longterm trend.
In addition to this, there is also a tendency for an increase in the shipping and transport costs of food grains to the needy. This has further reduced the amount which is below the pledge that was made for 1979/80. In these circumstances we would strongly endorse the recommendations made in Annex II of the document to adopt the draft resolution which calls for an early summoning of the Pledging Conference and requires an agreement for establishing a minimum target for the 1981/82 biennium of a sum of $US one billion.
Ms L. NAVANI (Thailand): Let me first compliment the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Mr. Vogel, for his concise and comprehensive introduction.
My delegation noted with regret that the targets for 1977/78 and 1979/80 have not yet been achieved. Therefore my delegation would like to appeal to traditional and potential new donors to increase their contributions in order to have the target met immediately to enable the programme to continue its valuable work which has been of benefit to many developing countries, particularly to the neediest countries and for emergency needs.
With regard to the purchasing policy in developing countries as adopted by the Committee of CFA, this is highly appreciated by my country, which is a food developing and exporting country. However, my delegation is concerned about the implementation of this excellent policy should there be a shortage of cash received from donor countries in the Programme.
In this regard, my delegation would like to appeal to all donors to strictly respect the rule of the Programme, which is one-third of cash contribution.
My delegation would like to take the opportunity of expressing our government's appreciation and gratitude to the World Food Programme and the Director-General of FAO for the assistance granted to Thailand. This assistance has been very effective in terms of helping to alleviate the burden Thailand has to bear, especially the problem of the growing inflow of refugees and displaced persons.
Finally, my delegation would like to endorse the recommendations and conclusions of the Annual Report of the Committee of CFA and particularly the draft resolution on target pledges for the World Food Programme for the next biennnium.
RAMADHAR (India): I must compliment the Executive Director, Dr. Vogel, for his excellent introduction.
As several delegates have pointed out, a number of records were established in 1978 in the operations of the World Food Programme. The total delivery during the year was 1.2 million tonnes as against 1.1 during 1977.
My delegation has also noted with satisfaction that the share of the LDC and MSA countries in the overall commitment of the Programme has increased. It has gone up to 76 percent during 1978 as compared to 66 percent during the preceding year.
As Dr. Vogel pointed out in his introductory remarks, there are a number of creditable achievements, and I would like to mention a couple of them. During the last meeting of the CFA we adopted unanimously the Guidelines and Criteria for Food Aid, a matter which had been pending for a long time and which was a subject for discussion in more than one meeting.
There are another two items which were briefly discussed in the last meeting, first the item of food aid requirements and food aid targets in the 1980s and second, relating to the role of food aid in strengthening Food Security in developing countries. My delegation notes with satisfaction that these two items will be the major issues to be discussed in the forthcoming session of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes.
These definitely mark significant improvement and significant advancement in the activities of the World Food Programme.
There are a number of other issues which have been referred to in this document and also mentioned by Dr. Vogel, where the progress had not been satisfactory. These include the non-achievement of the present target for the 1979/80 biennium. The achievement so far is only 78 percent. Out of 950 million dollars the achievement has been only 738 million. There have also been shortfalls in the achievement of the minimum food target of ten million.
We also note with concern that the share of multilateral aid in total food aid had been going down. In 1975 it was 17 percent; in 1977 it came down to 15 percent; and in 1978 it was more or less of the same order. With regard to the International Emergency Food Reserve , again in spite of the commitment of the international community to achieve 500 000 tonnes of international food reserves, the achievement has been only 306 thousand tonnes. Therefore my delegation takes the opportunity of mentioning some of these points just to highlight the urgency of encouraging the International Committee to make efforts to achieve these targets which were unanimously agreed to in other fora.
Coming to the resolution before us and the target for the next biennium, my delegation notes that a number of delegations here have expressed their dissatisfaction with this target of 1 000 million dollars. We had discussed this matter at sufficient length in the CFA meeting and this dissatisfaction which is expressed now is nothing new. There was a large-scale dissatisfaction, and as Sri Lanka has rightly pointed out, if you take into account the effective increase in prices as were worked out by the World Bank, this will come down to 750 million dollars in real terms. We should not think that in going from 950 million tonnes to 1 000 million tonnes we are making an advancement. In real terms it is a decrease.
Taking into account the special circumstances under which this target was agreed in the CFA meeting, and certain conditions attached to this target, my delegation would go along with that and would recommend that this target and resolution is adopted with the clear understanding that if, as mentioned on page 5, paragraph 28, extracted from the report of the CFA, there are major increases in the costs of transportation or food aid requirements before the biennium 1981-82 donors should make every effort to give additional contributions to ensure that the target is surpassed, in order to maintain real growth in the availabilities of resources of WFP. This would also include the right of the Committee to review the target.
Having said this, my delegation would like to reiterate the long and happy association my country had and still has with the World Food Programme. We are of the view that the World Food Programme has been doing excellent work in mitigating the hardship and sufferings of a large part of the Humanity Agriculture Development and it could be a good instrument for accelerating the rural development.
The leader of my delegation spoke yesterday of the Operation Flood which has been assisted by the WFP. Operation Flood has contributed to the dairy development of our country.
J.M. SCOULAR (United Kingdom): I should first of all like to thank Mr. Vogel for his brief and succinct introduction of what we think is a success story. To us the World Food Programme is one of the United Nations' most effective organs and we give it our strongest support. We supported the conclusions reached at the meeting of the CFA and would like to reiterate our support at this time and particularly our support for the pledging target of $1 000 million for 1981-1982.
In listening to the debate round the table, it seems to me we have talked a lot about pledges and perhaps lost sight of the great complexity of the operations of the World Food Programme. Pledges are one thing but turning this mixture of resources into a series of programmes scattered all over the world, in adverse conditions, and making these programmes really work is very much a matter of great skill for which Dr. Vogel and his people deserve our grateful thanks. In this connexion I would also like to draw the attention of the Council once again to the point made by the delegate of Colombia. He drew our attention to Annex 1 paragraph (a), and this seems to us here to be the essence of the problem:
"Food aid should be provided in forms consistent with the development objectives of recipient countries".
This is no easy task and I am sure Mr. Vogel and his staff have done a marvellous job in attaining the success which they undoubtedly have attained. There was some talk about geographical distribution of aid and I think the Council feels as a whole that with the World Food Programme the question is essentially one of need, that is that the aid must go essentially where the needs are greatest, as quickly as possible; and this happens to be very much in line with our own aid strategy in the United Kingdom where we want to concentrate on the poorest people in the poorest countries.
Therefore our support for the World Food Programme is all the stronger. There are one or two new developments also to which I think I would like to draw the attention of the Council.
Firts of all, we welcome the increase in flows from the World Food Programme to the poorest countries, which is a feature of recent years. Secondly, we would like to encourage the trends towards joint programming with other agencies using World Food Programme food as an input to projects sponsored by other institutions. We think this is a very good way of increasing the effectiveness of very large programmes on the ground with minimum input from the World Food Programme resources.
We also support the Executive Director in moves to strengthen project Administration because this is often a great difficulty in the situation in which the World Food Programme works and increasing field staff is one of the ways which will undoubtedly help in this regard.
In general, we are well satisfied with the Programmed activities and we have full confidence in Mr. Vogel and his staff.
H. WETZEL (Germany, Federal Republic of): I will be brief. I only want to point out that the Federal Republic of Germany has from the beginning played an active role in both the World Food Programme and the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes. We fully supported the Fourth Annual Report of the CFA. We fully adopt the draft resolutions in Annex II of the Report. For the period 1979/80, we pledged to the World Food Programme 75 million DM and contributed to the International Emergency Food Reserve 35 000 tons of wheat.
As far as the guidelines and criteria for bilateral and multilateral food aid programmes are concerned, we feel that under the very efficient and helpful guidance of the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, the CFA has completed one of its important tasks. I am glad to say that my country follows already many of its recommendations: by means of our bilateral food security projects in Bangladesh and in the Sahel we give assistance in establishing national reserve stocks, storage and marketing. Our Food-for-Work projects in Central America involve the construction of storage facilities, access roads and similar infrastructures. We combine in these projects food aid delivered under the Food Aid Convention, and food security assistance measures, by using counterpart funds for the establishment of revolving funds used for the purpose of local products such as rice, sorghum and other grains. This has proved to be very successful: from 1979 all revolving funds - with the exception of two - run by themselves, that is, without the need of being replenished.
F. REDA (Interpretation from Arabic) (Egypt): I should like to associate myself with the previous speaker in extending our thanks to the Secretariat of the World Food Programme, to its Executive Director and to the donor countries that make contributions to the Programme with a view to assisting developing countries in consolidating their agricultural development. In particular we would like to thank the Programme for the record figures reached in 1978 which have been submitted to the Committee in its previous meeting, both in regard to the volume of delivery and the increase in the purchases of the Programme in developing countries and also as regards the increase in the percentage of assistance given by the Programme to the MSAs and the LDCs.
We would also like to note with particular appréciation the emergency operations undertaken by the Programme which no doubt represent one of the channels pursued by the international community in order to alleviate the sufferings of some countries facing calamities and disasters.
However, we would like to sound a note of caution that the pledges for 1979/80 have not yet reached the target of $950 million and also concerning the pledge for the International Emergency Reserve which is 500 million tons. We would like to express our appreciation to the CSA for having, after lengthy and tedious negotiations and discussions during the two previous sessions, set criteria and guidelines for food aid in its final form. There is no doubt that such guidelines and criteria would be the guidelines for the Programme and for the countries so that they can benefit from food aid.
I would like afterwards to take up the pledging target for the period 1981/82. It was our opinion during the last session that this target should be more than $1 000 million in view of the increase in prices which is closely linked with inflation and since there has been mentioned in other fora the figure of 16 million tons of food that should be achieved by the international community in 1985. However, in view of the discussions and deliberations during that session and during this meeting, and in view of the unanimous agreement, we would like to joint also in this agreement and we accept this target as a minimum for food aid.
In conclusion, we would like to stress our agreement to Annex I concerning guidelines and Annex II .related to the draft resolution.
Srta. C. DOMINGUEZ D. (Panamá): Nuestra delegación desea felicitar al Dr. Vogel por la presentación del documento CL 75/7. Con claridad y precisión nos informó sobre lo ocurrido durante el 72 período de sesiones del Comité en mayo pasado, así como también la magnitud e importancia del Programa.
Expresó el Director Ejecutivo que a pesar de haber un aumento de 128 millones más que lo logrado en el bienio precedente, todavía no hemos llegado a la meta fijada.
Estamos conscientes, señor Presidente, de la necesidad de incrementar los recursos del Programa para poder implementar los proyectos.
En cuanto a orientaciones y criterios para la ayuda alimentaria, que se nos presenta como Anexo I del documento,deseamos manifestar que estamos de acuerdo que en la designación de recursos de ayuda alimentaria se debe dar prioridad a los países de ingresos más bajos y deficitarios de alimentos.
Apoyamos decididamente lo expresado en el párrafo d), cuando se dice que debe prestarse debida atención a las necesidades de ayuda alimentaria en otros países en desarrollo, con el fin de beneficiar a las poblaciones necesitadas aumentando la producción de alimentos de los mismos.
Estamos de acuerdo con lo expresado por el delegado de Argentina sobre la consideración de un-equilibrio geográfico en la adjudicación de proyectos. Damos nuestro apoyo a la meta establecida de 1 000 millones de dólares para el bienio 1981-82.
En fin, señor Presidente, damos nuestro apoyo a los proyectos de Resolución que se nos presentan en el documento.
Antes de finalizar queremos felicitar, una vez más, al señor Brito como Director Ejecutivo Adjunto del Programa. Tuvimos el placer de trabajar juntos como delegados de nuestros países y conocemos la capacidad, responsabilidad y dinamismo que lo caracterizan y que se verán plasmados en el Programa.
J. IÑURRIETA RIGORES (Cuba): La delegación de mi país ha escuchado con interés el informe presentado por el señor Vogel. Le damos las gracias por su magnífica presentación y felicitamos a todos aquellos integrantes del PMA que han hecho posible la fructífera labor desarrollada por el Programa.
Realmente preferiríamos que se aumentara el volumen de ayuda alimentaria para el proximo bienio, pero viendo que aún na se han cumplido las promesas hechas, nos inclinamos a que se mantenga el monto ya indicado de 1 000 millones. Esperamos que se puedan cumplir las promesas hechas, pues cada día se requiere una mayor utilización de la ayuda alimentaria.
Al igual que otros colegas que me han precedido en el uso de la palabra, somos del criterio de que los programas del PMA, deben vincularse cada vez más a los objetivos de desarrollo agropecuario de los países en desarrollo.
También opinamos que los países de la región deben seguir recibiendo los beneficios del PMA.
Apoyamos el proyecto de Resolución que se anexa en el Informe y las actividades que figuran en el Programa.
Para mi país, el PMA tiene una gran importancia; mi país se ha beneficiado de sus programas y lo agradece eternamente.
Por contradicciones de la vida, mi país es el mayor contribuyente al PMA'de los países de América Latina. Gustosamente nos agradaría ceder este puesto a otro país de la region no disminuyendo nuestra contribución, sino que otro país de la región supere nuestra contribución.
J.A. LEIVA (El Salvador): Nuestra delegación desea felicitar al Dr. Vogel por la magnífica introducción del Tema y por la dinámica que le ha imprimido al Programa. Nos complace, igualmente, que el Sr. Brito haya asumido el cargo de Director Ejecutivo Adjunto desde donde aportará su valiosa experiencia y conocimientos al servicio de la Comunidad Internacional, en especial hacia la gestión de proyectos destinados expresamente a beneficiar a los sectores más pobres de los países en desarrollo.
Nuestra delegación sostiene el criterio de que el PMA cumple una función muy importante con la aprobación de proyectos de desarrollo, en este caso 70 nuevos proyectos para el período mayo 1978-mayo 1979; es una clara definición de que existe el convencimiento de que la ayuda aportada se traduzca en acciones de efectos multiplicadores, que en ningún momento resten iniciativa a los países.
Respecto a las operaciones de urgencia, es obvio, que la ayuda debe acudir con prontitud en las áreas afectadas por desastres; pero la tónica predominante debe estar dirigida a la disponibilidad de recursos adecuados, que no sean exclusivamente para operaciones de emergencia.
La situación de Latinoamérica como área beneficiaria del Programa no es satisfactoria. Sin duda existen áreas deprimidas en la mayoría de los países que no pueden ser evaluadas únicamente por indicadores económicos, cuyos índices fríos no revelan la gravedad de la situación.
Consideramos muy positiva la iniciativa de comprar alimentos en los países en desarrollo, que se traducirá en una respuesta más positiva de parte de los productores, a la vez que contribuye a mejorar la comercialización de los productos.
En cuanto al objetivo de promesas, compartimos la preocupación manifestada por otras delegaciones ante el hecho de que todavía no se hubiera alcanzado el objetivo de 950 millones de dólares, por lo que instamos a los países donantes para que su aporte se haga en efectivo.
En el Anexo I se destaca lo acordado por la Conferencia Mundial de la Alimentación y ratificado por la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas, esto es "que la solución a largo plazo del problema de la escasez de alimentos en los países en desarrollo, estriba en aumentar la producción en esos mismos países". Compartimos plenamente este concepto, así como lo sustentado en el literal a) del Anexo I, de que la ayuda alimentaria no debe actuar como factor disuasivo de la producción local de productos alimenticios.
Señor Presidente, le damos nuestro más decidido apoyo al Proyecto de Resolución cuyo texto aparece en el Anexo II, del documento 7/20.
M. NGA - MA (Zaïre): Tout d'abord je voudrais, au nom de ma délégation, féliciter et remercier le Dr. Vogel pour l'effort qu'il ne cesse de déployer afin de sensibiliser les pays donateurs de sorte que les moyens nécessaires soient mis à la disposition du Programme alimentaire mondial. Nous avons participé à la septième session du CPA, ainsi qu'aux précédentes, et nous approuvons ce rapport ainsi que les recommandations et critères de l'aide alimentaire. Nous approuvons de même le projet de résolution figurant aux Annexes I et II. Nous appuyons en outre le point de vue exprimé par la délégation française, et repris par d'autre délégués, selon lequel le niveau de l'allocation d'urgence du PAM devrait être relevé à juste titre.
Pour terminer je voudrais exprimer notre point de vue en ce qui concerne l'affectation de l'aide du PAM. Ma délégation pense que l'on ne devrait pas être guidé Dar des critères tels que "répartition géographique" ou "densité de population", ainsi que l'ont prooosé certains déléeués. Nous pensons plutôt que le point b) des critères-figurant à l'Annexe I traite bien de la question et que l'on doit plutôt garder à l'esprit les besoins des pays nécessiteux.
J. LEVISTE Jr. (Philippines): We wish to commend Dr. Vogel and the secretariat for the Executive-Director's excellent presentation this morning. We in the Philippines know the effectiveness of the World Food Programme in Manila headed by Vincent Gondme a son of Africa who is now a brother of the Philippinos.
Food aid is something which we Philippinos wish we could do without but it is something which we cannot do without at this time since we as a nation have more than the normal per capita share of national calamities and the emergencies which go with them. Food aid is an issue which requires the joint endeavour of both developed and developing countries, the former for more commitments for food consumption and the stress situations in the short term and the latter for greater capability for food production in the long term.
The donor community we feel should be more committed to the world to help people in greatest need wherever they are. The nations in need in turn must be committed to helping their own people feed themselves. For in the final analysis the problem of food is in the developing countries and therefore the solution to the food problem must also be in our hands.
With this preamble, on behalf of the leader of our delegation the Philippines would like to express our satisfaction on the completion of the guidelines and criteria for food aid.
We trust the pledging target for 1978/79 will be reached. We would nevertheless like to register our own apprehension, as previously pointed out by our colleagues from Sri Lanka and India about the fact that the pledging target for 1980/81 may be lower in real terms than the 1978/79 biennium for the following reasons; first, the handling expenses which represent roughly a third of the resources of the Programme according to the FAO .secretariat itself increased in the past biennium at the rate of 12 percent per annum, or 24 percent for the biennium. If the present trend continues, therefore, it will mean an overall increase in relation to the overall budget of 8 percent for handling expenses alone.
Secondly, if we consider that the World Bank predicts a 20 percent increase in the next biennium for the prices of cereals it will be difficult to see how the 1980/81 target will not mean a reduction in real terms in relation to the previous one.
While we rightly want to register our apprehension the Philippines nevertheless will not question the consensus reached at the CFA.
On behalf of the leader of our delegation, therefore, the Philippines endorses Annex 2, page 8 of document CL 75/7 on the target for WFP pledges for the period 1981.
J. TAKI (Japan): My country highly appreciates the activities carried out by the Programme under the excellent leadership of Dr. Vogel.
My country will continue to give its support to the maximum extent possible to the Programme and cooperate with it.
We would like to congratulate heartily the results of the Sixth and Seventh sessions of the Committee on Food Aid Policies. My delegation associates itself with other delegations in agreeing to the proposed pledged target for 1981/82 of $1 000 million and supports the adoption of the draft resolution at this Council. I hope the target will be obtained at an early stage to meet the urgent requirements of the developing countries battling hunger and malnutrition.
S. MADEMBA SY (Sénégal): Je voudrais joindre ma voix à toutes celles qui m'ont précédé pour exprimer l'appui de ma délégation au rapport et au projet de résolution. Le Programme alimentaire mondial depuis qu'il a été lancé en 1961 et qu'il est entré en fonction à titre expérimental en 1963, a acquis aujourd'hui ses lettres de noblesse et est devenu un programme pour le développement, un programme absolument indispensable pour amoindrir la crise alimentaire mondiale qui sévit toujours. Je renouvelle donc l'appui de ma délégation au rapport et au projet de résolution qui nous sont présentés et aux opinions qui ont été exprimées ici par les précédents orateurs.
Toutefois, en ce qui concerne le projet de résolution de l'Annexe I, que nous approuvons bien sûr, il est question dans le paragraphe d) de la prise en charge des frais de transport et il est dit notamment à la première ligne (page 8): "les pays donateurs devraient (là, je souligne les mots) sans doute dans toute la mesure du possible, prendre eux-mêmes en charge, etc.". Je pense que les mots "sans doute, dans toute la mesure du possible" apportent une certaine restriction concernant l'aspect extrêmement important de l'aide alimentaire acheminée vers les pays les plus pauvres, surtout les plus enclavés, et c'est un problème auquel ils sont actuellement sensibles.
Dans ces conditions, je me demande si on ne pourrait pas, purement et simplement, barrer les mots "sans doute, dans toute la mesure du possible". Je sais bien qu'on peut faire confiance au Directeur exécutif, M. Vogel, pour, éventuellement en examinant cas par cas, négocier individuellement avec les donateurs pour une prise en charge totale.
A. MARTOSUWIRYD (Indonesia): First of all my delegation would like to thank Dr. Vogel for his outstanding introduction and congratulate him on his able leadership.
My delegation shares the views of the Executive Director that the Programme is succeeding. This is, of course, subject to the fact that the pledges for 1977/78 and 1979/80 have not been reached so far whereas the requirement to assist developing countries to cope with food problems tends to increase further.
On the question of the target for 1980/81 in the spirit of cooperation my delegation accepts the target of minimum $1 000 million. I would like to underline and express "minimum" since the Programme needs more resources. Therefore, my delegation hopes that traditional donors could increase their contribution and anticipates the donations of new donors.
Coming to the Guidelines and Criteria for Food Aid and the draft resolutions my delegation endorses these, since they are very important and necessary for the more fruitful operation and the success of the programme.
A.N. FASLA (Algérie): Mes premiers mots seront pour rendre hommage et féliciter le Programme ainsi que son Directeur exécutif pour la contribution importante et appreciable qu'ils apportent sax efforts de la communauté internationale en faveur da développement et de l'aide aux pays du tiers monde. La compétence et le dévouement des fonctionnaires du PAN et le sérieux aveo lequel le Programme est géré, les oriteres objectifs qui déterminent le choix des projets et le caractère de développement que ces derniers acquièrent sont autant d'éléments qui militent pour qu'une attention particulière soit acoordée par la communauté internationale au PAM, et pour que les ressources de ce dernier soient relevées et accrues conformément aux objectifs qui ont été tracés. ,
Vous voulons exprimer nos préoccupations du fait que les promesses de l'objectif de 950 millions de dollars n'aient pas enoore été atteintes, mais nous ne voulons pas perdre l'espoir que d'ici à la fin de l'année 1980 la communauté internationale pourra répondre positivement à ces promesses.
L'objectif d'un milliard qui nous est proposé est un objectif modeste. Nous nous rallions au consensus oeneernant son acceptation, mais si nous prenons en considération la dépréciation du dollar, cet objectif risque d'être en dessous de l'objectif de 950 millions de dollars pour la période 1979-I98O. Le document qui nous est présenté (CL 75/7) cet un document excellent et notre délégation partage les critères qui ont été définis pour l'aide alimentaire. Je voudrais toutefois faire certains commentaires et apporter quelques observations*.
S'il est nécessaire que l'aide aille d'abord á ceux qui souffrent le plus, aux pays les plus gravement affectés, nous estimons qu'il faut également tenir compte d'une nécessaire répartition géographique équitable; de plus, il ne faudrait pas pénaliser pour autant les pays qui déploient des efforts pour le développement; ensuite, nous estimons que l'aide d'urgence doit être accrue; enfin, nous estimons que l'assistance aux réfugiés doit être reconduite au-delà des six mois préconisés*
Pour conclure, je voudrais dire que notre délégation appuie les projets de résolution qui nous sont soumis et nous ne manquerons pas de les défendre au Conseil économique et social.
X. VEROINIS (Greece): Speaking on behalf of my delegation, I would like to express my congratulations to the Secretariat for the preparation of their excellent document. I would also like to express my satisfaction to Dr. Vogel for his very clear and excellent presentation of the document.
To begin with, we fully support the minimum of $1000 million as the proposed budget for a reasonable and realistic food aid programme. It is certain that we all look forward to an increased sense of humanity in the world. According to this belief food aid would and must continue to provide emergency relief to combat hunger and malnutrition. Food aid should be provided essentially on a grant basis to developing countries, in particular to the least developed and the most seriously affected by bad weather and lack of resources, but all of us, the developing and the less developed countries, should be agreed that the solution to their food needs all over the world must be found not in short-term measures but in long-term measures. In this connexion donors must help recipients in a more effective way, on the one hand offering commodities for meeting the short-term emergency needs and requirements, but on the other hand offering more valuable assistance, helping the recipients to apply a more constructive, effective and economioal plan for increasing their ability to supply food. Also recipients, through their governments, must make good and effective use of the assistance received. The recipient countries should apply more effective policies for achieving self-reliance, reducing poverty and improving nutrition standards. It goes without saying that the long-term solution to the problem of food shortages in the developing countries lies in increasing their production to make them self-sufficient.
I would also like to underline the importance of the data and information concerning food aid and especially its allocation and use for different objectives. This data is necessary for more effective cooperation among the donor countries and between the donors and the recipients.
I agree with the inclusion of the items on page 4 in paragraph 14 in the Agenda for the Eighth Session of the Committee. Probably another item could be included also as important, and that is the effectiveness and the results during the last decade of the World Food Programme. The examination of such a question should contribute effectively to the preparation and application of the future plan of the World Food Programme. It should give us the weaknesses of the applied system and ways to find new directions and priorities for the allocation of food resources particularly. Also it could show how to fulfil the target which is needed to ensure real growth in the programme in the coming years.
Z. RIZVT (UN High Commissioner for Refugees): I have asked for the floor mainly in order to place on record the appreciation and the gratitude of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for the speedy and effective action taken by FAO/WFP on behalf of refugees and displaced persons.
In our daily work in the field we see the most tangible proof of what the delegate of the United Kingdom called "a success story" in the FAO/WFP, one of the most effective organizations of the United Nations system, a judgment which no one can dispute.
One of the most painful dilemmas is that the countries that can least afford to have problems are the ones which have the greatest number of them, including in particular man-made disasters, of which refugees are perhaps the most tragic manifestation.
This Council has noted in document CL 75/7, WFP/CFA 7/20, paragraph 5, that the highest number of emergency allocations made by the World Food Programme were on behalf of refugees and displaced persons. It shows the way the world is going and it hardly needs a comment from the High Commissioner for Refugees.
Allow me to say, however, that in line with the thoughts expressed by the delegates of France and Algeria, we feel also that in refugee situations more often than not six months is not adequate in terras of emergency aid. I would not wish to labour this, because I recall that at the CFA many governments expressed views on the same lines and it was recognized that greater flexibility was required on the part of the Director-General of FAO and the Executive Director of WFP in connexion with emergency aid to refugees. This is a proposition that we in our experience can only very strongly support.
Finally, we noted with appreciation the appeal that the Director-General of FAO renewed in his opening statement at this Council on behalf of the Boat People and the displaced persons from Lao and Kampuchea. I recall that when the Director-General came back from his trip in Southeast Asia, including your own country, Mr. Chairman, he gave to the Committee on Food Aid a very vivid and moving account of his experience of this ever-growing problem in Southeast Asia. I would not wish to tax your patience with details because we read them in the newspapers every day much more than we would like to. I would only like to say that the discussions that the Director-General had in that part of the world, and in particular the confidence that the governments have shown in him in requesting assistance from FAO/WFP, is for us an extremely important development. Thus we sincerely hope that the Governments in this Council and those outside would heed the appeal launched by the Director-General that the International Community shall rise to the challenge which in its dimensions is tragically increasing every day.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you, the Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
At this point may we call once again on Dr. Vogel to respond to the statements that have heretofore been made.
G.N. VOGEL (Executive Director, World Food Programme): It is somewhat embarrassing for me to respond. The statements all morning have been so universally appreciative of what we are doing. I am glad that I heard them and I am glad that in the room, on the podium and otherwise there are very many members of our staff who also heard them, because such appreciation is greatly appreciated. I take it as appreciation not only of the Programme? I also take it as appreciation of the CFA whose Report this was. I think the CFA is a very fine Committee and is doing a very good job.
Some delegates yesterday in the debate took the liberty of being poetic. I will take the liberty of being philosophical. Since I joined the Programme now almost two years ago, I have become more and more interested in what can be done with food aid. It well warrants close study. I think when I came to the Programme I had an idea, which many people do have, that food aid is comparatively restrictive in scope, that there are many things that you can do better with money than you can with food aid. Of course there are. But I am intrigued by the flexibility that is possible in food aid. To describe food aid in its simplistic terms as merely food for work is a great error, because using food as a development tool, using food as a capital itself, it is capable of much more flexible development assistance than merely food for work, and I hope that we are using it that way.
In the discussions this morning, you heard yourselves the various problems with which we all had to cope. There are problems. There is a continuing problem of priority countries, how much priority
they should be given, how much they can be given, how much they can absorb, while still not ignoring the needs of other countries where, as you also heard this morning, there are pockets of poverty and other needs which must be taken into account. There are so many different ways in which these questions can be examined. I think that we have been doing a reasonably good job of taking care of the various conflicting viewpoints. There are some conflicts of interest, obviously, and I think on the whole it works out reasonably well.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman, I thank the Members of Council for the support of the resolution in support of the new target. As many of you, I too would like to see higher targets, but perhaps I am not that much impressed with a target as such. To put it very bluntly, you cannot eat a target, and the only things that count, really, are the resources that come in pursuant to the target, and we have seen great variation in this, as Bangladesh pointed out. If you look at the history of this, you will see the pledge poriods where we have been substantially below the target and other periods where we were substantially above it. I think very roughly you will find we have gone in one biennium to 60 per cent of a target and in another biennium we received l60 per cent of a target, so you see a target is not an inhibiting figure, it is the political will that counts not only on the part of the big donors, the present donors, but all donors, if this is to be a "World Food Programme".
You heard many countries here today who are recipients but who also take the greatest pride in the contributions they make. I have found this every place in my travels - the greatest pride in some of the poorest countries in the world, the fact that they make a contribution, a pledge, as well as being a recipient, and with this kind of spirit and if can be enhanced, enlarged, I hope that we shall achieve results.
I am glad that certain delegates did point out paragraph 6 of the Report that is, the work of the Programme of servicing the number of emergency food donations from other UN organizations and bilateral donors. I think this is an important service. We even had an interesting sideline on it recently where there was a gift of food by one donor country on an FOB basis. They gave the food but the question of ocean freight was beyond them. The recipient country needed the food badly, but the payment of freight was beyond them. The Programme was asked what it could do. We could not use our resources to pay freight on a bilateral contribution, but performing the role almost of an honest broker, we very quickly found another bilateral donor that was very, very cooperative quickly to put up the money for the ocean freight for the movement, so there is a role for an honest broker in this, and it is an interesting development.
Finally, I would just like to refer to the comments made by the Distinguished Ambassador of Senegal with respect to guidelines and criteria. I must point out that these are not the Programme's guidelines and criteria alone; these are guidelines and criteria that were developed by the CRA over a period of about two years of discussion and with many compromises, which are intended to guide all food aid, both bilateral and multilateral.
It is not up to this Council to amend them or for the Secretariat here to agree to such amendment. Any amendment would have to come again from the CFA who are charged with the responsibility for developing these guidelines and criteria. Sub-paragraph (e), therefore, is a general comment applying to all food aid. If we are considering only the World Food Programme, the Programme already now has a policy of assisting internal transportation with respect of LDC countries up to a certain percentage under certain conditions. This was intended as a much more general type of a paragraph to apply to all food aid in the world, I do not think you should regard the guidelines and criteria as something sacred and fixed for all time. I imagine they will change with the times as we go along, and perhaps, Mr. Ambassador, at that time, when they are being re-examined, it would be appropriate to again re-examine this paragraph, but the guidelines and criteria, the way you see them, are the guidelines and criteria as they were formulated.
So, with that, Mr. Chairman, I thank you, I thank the Members of Council. I look forward to the passing of the resolution and the preparation of the Report incorporating the various comments which have been made.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Dr. Vogel.
As we draw this meeting to a close, may we call on Mr. Gamo-Kuba, the outgoing Chairman of the Committee on Food Aid, the Committee which prepared this report.
G. GAMO-KUBA (President sortant du Comité des politiques et programmes d'aide alimentaire): Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président, de l'honneur que vous me faites en me faisant prendre la parole en tant qu'observateur. Je ne veux pas prendre la parole en tant que Président sortant. J'avais d'ailleurs demandé la parole auparavant, mais je crois que cela n'a pas été remarqué par le secrétariat. Je voulais intervenir comme tous les autres délégués,mais après l'intervention de M. Vogel, mon intervention n'est peut-être plus opportune. Mais j'avais des instructions, et en tant qu'observateur, je crois que je peux participer aux débats.
Ce que nous avons à dire a déjà été dit fort bien par d'autres délégués qui m'ont précédé. Je voudrais simplement indiquer la préoccupation de mon gouvernement devant ce rapport. Comme l'ont dit certains délégués, si nous avons pu accepter le compromis lors de la dernière session du Comité des politiques et programmes d'aide alimentaire, quant à l'objectif du prochain biennium, cela ne nous empêche pas de dire ici nos craintes quant à l'avenir.
Comme l'a dit si bien notre excellent ami, le délégué du Bangladesh, nous voudrions être sûrs que l'enthousiasme manifesté par les pays grands donateurs nous conduira à l'objectif qui a été accepté ici.
Mais nos craintes se situent à un autre niveau. Comme les délégués des Philippines, du Sri Lanka et de l' Inde, nous craignons, quand nous serons au terme des promesses, que cet objectif ne soit plus rendu en termes réels.
J'ai eu l'insigne honneur de présider le PAM et je l'ai fait avec fierté parce que nous avons constaté que le PAM a changé de philosophie depuis sa naissance. Je crois que l'on n'apprendra à personne, tout au moins pas aux pays en développement, que le PAM avait comme philosophie de favoriser l'écoulement des excédents des pays développés. Il y a maintenant une nouvelle philosophie et je crois qu'elle est très louable. Mais nous craignons que l'objectif qui nous est fixé nous ramène loin en arrière et finisse par ternir la grande image de marque que s'est tracée le PAM. Le délégué de la France ce matin a parlé de l'impact qu'a le PAM au niveau des jeunes étudiants qu'il a mission d'éduquer, et depuis quelques années, le PAM est de plus en plus apprécié. Le PAM a pu répondre à plusieurs demandes de pays en développement. Nous craignons que si l'élan n'est pas maintenu, cette image se ternisse.
Nous voulons partager l'espoir de M. Vogel. Nous avons tous apprécié sa grande capacité intellectuelle, sa grande capacité de gestion, mais avec cet objectif minimum nous craignons qu'il ne puisse mener à bien sa lourde tâche.
Nous insistons donc, et nous pensona que cela a été accepté par tout le monde, pour que cet objectif minimum soit révisé quand ce point sera proposé et que cela soit accepté par tout le monde.
Nous désirons également insister auprès du secrétariat afin qu'il exhorte d'autres donateurs potentiels à venir s'ajouter aux donateurs traditionnels pour que l'objectif ne soit pas non seulement atteint mais dépassé; nous sommes en effet persuadés que le milliard de dollars qui nous est proposé n'est même pas un minimum vital. Le Directeur exécutif lui-même, dans son introduction lors de la session du PAM, avait reconnu que même avec les disponibilités des sommes dont pourrait disposer le PAM, il ne pourrait pas mener à bien toutes les tâches qui lui incombent.
En tant qu'observateur, je ne voudrais pas abuser de votre temps. Je désire apporter l'appui de mon gouvernement à la déclaration qu'a faite ce matin la délégation de l'Argentine concernant la priorité donnée aux pays les moins avancés et le plus gravement touchés. Cela est reconnu par tout le monde et, ainsi que l'a très bien dit l'Ambassadrice de Panama, il ne faudrait pas pour autant négliger ceux qui font un effort pour essayer de décoller économiquement. Chez nous l'on emploie l'image du moribond et du grand malade. S'il faut axer tous les efforts sur le moribond, au lieu d'un seul mort on risque d'en avoir deux.
Nous espérons que le secrétariat tiendra compte de tout cela dans l'élaboration de ce projet.
CHAIRMAN: To sum up, the quality of the Report has induced the incisiveness and articulation as contained in the statements herein made which has allowed all of us to give due credit where it is due, to - if I may borrow the phrase of the delegate of Algeria - ''efficiency and devotion of the leadership and management of the Programme as herein epitomized by Dr. Vogel."
Secondly, to the donor countries for their continued spirit of oneness with those members of the family of nations which regrettably have to be forced by circumstances to continue as aid-recipient countries.
Throughout all the statements we can detect the following: the understandably deep anxiety that the quality of the reasonable targets that have been previously set have as yet to be achieved; also the obvious uneasiness that targets sought to be established may not be commensurate with the problems sought to be overcome. But here we must note that in both expressions of uneasiness highest commendation must be paid to the donor countries for their sincere understanding of the problem and their willingness to respond commensurate with their capabilities and resources. Yet, too, we have heard the unadulterated expressions of gratitude of the countries who have been the beneficiairies of the Programme.
Therefore we now ask the Council, as has been suggested, that the Report of the Committee on Food Aid be adopted, that the draft resolutions referred to therein be approved, and the reference to the Finance Committee conclusions be included in the Report. If there be no objections all the conclusions recommended are approved by this Council. All of this is approved and noted as requested.
The meeting rose at 12.35 hours
La seance est levee a 12 h 35
Se levanta la sesión a las 12.35 horas
