CHAIRMAN: May I welcome you all to this concluding meeting of the Eighty-third Session of the Council.
PARAGRAPHS 1 to 10
PARAGRAPHES 1 à 10
PARRAFOS 1 a 10
S.A. MAHMOOD (Bangladesh): You may recall that we had made a slight request in the matter of the agenda that we wanted especial mention of the necessity of looking into the aspect of conservation of the coastal and inland fisheries resources. I just wanted to draw your attention to that.
CHAIRMAN: Are you suggesting the inclusion of a sentence somewhere? In which paragraph would you like to do this?
S.A. MAHMOOD (Bangladesh): Paragraph 4. It says: "The Council endorsed the draft agendas for the two phases of the Conference which had been submitted to it in document CL 83/7"o Here we suggest that a sentence may possibly be added, or this sentence may continue with the modification that in agenda 1 the subject of conservation of coastal and inland fisheries resources be also included.
CHAIRMAN: I hope you have got the suggestion made by Bangladesh. I will read it out: "4. The Council endorsed the draft agendas for the two phases of the Conference which had been submitted to it in document CL 83/7 and suggested that the subject of conservation of coastal and inland fisheries resources may be also included". Is this acceptable?
L. ARIZA HIDALGO (Presidente del Comité de Redacción); En la version española que tenemos aparece la frase: incluidas la pesca continental y la acuicultura. Si no aparece en los textos ingles y francés, será por un error.
CHAIRMAN: I think the suggestion of Bangladesh specifically deals with conservation of resources. Thank you. We accept this suggestion.
C. VIDALI CARBAJAL (México): Solamente una breve modificación al final del párrafo 8. Las últimas dos palabras dicen: "resultados previstos". Realmente debería decir: temas previstos.
Pensamos que es difícil que se tengan en cuenta aspectos financieros de los resultados, sino de los temas previstos en ambas fases de la Conferencia.
CHAIRMAN: The Mexican suggestion is that the last sentence in paragraph 8 should read: "A suggestion was also made that the financial aspects of the expected subjects of the Conference should be given due consideration at both its phases".
L. ARIZA HIDALGO (Presidente del Comité de Redacción): Me parece, señor Presidente, que podemos decir a México que entendemos aquí que son los resultados de la Conferencia. Lo que quiere decir el párrafo es, los resultados de la Conferencia. Los resultados de la Conferencia, que eso sí puede ser previsto.
G. VIDALI CARBAJAL (México): No lo entendemos así, Señor Presidente. Dice: "también se sugirió que en ambas fases de la Conferencia se tuviesen debidamente en cuenta los aspectos financieros de los resultados previstos". ¿Cómo se puede estar previendo resultados, y además de prever resultados, prever los aspectos financieros?
El lenguaje no está claro; si lo que dice el Presidente del Comité de Redacción es tal, que se aclare el lenguaje pues a nosotros no nos resulta claro. No sé si será nada más nuestra impresión y si alguien la comparte. Si a todo el mundo le parece claro, por nuestra parte no insistiríamos.
R. SALLERY (Canada): Perhaps we could use the words "expected recommendations or action programmes" - I think I understand what the delegate is referring to - to give us some financial parameter, so we would have no objection to the word "recommendation".
CHAIRMAN: Are the recommendations satisfactory, Mexico? Change "outcome" to "expected recommendations of the Conference".
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Vacilamos mucho Señor Presidente en intervenir sobre este proyecto de Informe, porque consideramos que ha sido uno de los mejores proyectos de Informe que se han presentado al Consejo de los últimos tiempos. Sin embargo, naturalmente, tenemos algunas observaciones que, ojalá, no sean contradictorias en el párrafo 9,
Al final del párrafo 9, donde dice: "productos pesqueros", proponemos que se coloque una coma y se diga: particularmente a la luz de los principios contenidos en la Declaración sobre los Derechos del Mar.
Espero que esto no ofrezca dificultades. Lo dijimos aquí algunos Delegados. Repito, particularmente a la luz de los principios contenidos en la Declaración sobre los Derechos del Mar.
CHAIRMAN: The suggestion of Columbia is to add at the end of paragraph 9, "to expand their participation in international trade in fish and fish products, especially in the light of the principles embodied in the Declaration on the Law of the Sea."
Is there any objection to adding this? If there is none, we accept your suggestion.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Señor Presidente, proponemos que en el párrafo 10 se agregue la siguiente frase: "El Consejo consideró importante que se obtengan recursos de Organizaciones y Gobiernos para financiar la asistencia a la Conferencia de Representantes de Países en Desarrollo".
Esto lo dijimos algunas delegaciones y espero que no ofrezca dificultades en ser aceptado.
CHAIRMAN: I hope you have listened to the suggestion of Colombia. If it is accepted, my own suggestion would be that it go as 11, because the earlier one, 10, deals with the early distribution of working documents. One could insert the sentence suggested by Colombia as 11, "The Council considered that it is important to obtain resources from organizations and governments to finance attendance at this Conference by representatives from developing countries." If it is acceptable to you, we will add it at 11.
Paragraphs 1 to 10, as amended, approved
Les paragraphes 1 à 10, ainsi amendés, sont approuvés
Los párrafos 1 a 10, así enmendados, son aprobados
PARAGRAPHS 11 TO 18, INCLUDING DRAFT RESOLUTION
PARAGRAPHES 11 à 18, Y COMPRIS LE PROJET DE RESOLUTION
PARRAFOS 11 a 18. INCLUIDO EL PROYECTO DE RESOLUCION
H. CARANDANG (Philippines): On paragraph 13, Mr. Chairman. In order to reflect what I believe really happened in the debate, we should put as the subject of the first sentence not just "Some members", but also "some Observers", because I remember very well that not only some Members were opposed to the proposed scale but there were also a few Observers who did make some observations regarding the Scale. I would therefore propose that we say "Some Members and some Observers of the Council were opposed to the proposed Scale."
DIRECTOR-GENERAL: I think what I am about to say was going to be said by others. It is never the practice to record the opinion of the Observers in the Report of the Council.
CHAIRMAN: I was about to say the same thing; it has not been a convention to record, but what happens is you have the document, the verbatim record. The cross-reference is there in the verbatim record. You will find the Observers' statements are there and that is supplemented by this, because it is the Council's Report and hence the observations by the Observers appears in the verbatim record and you will find that they have reference to it at the end of the document here.
KWANG-HEE KIM (Observer for Korea, Republic of): I am very grateful for your giving me the floor at this stage. We are here in the capacity of Observer, and I am also grateful for the efforts made by the Philippines, because the Philippines is one of the Council Members which represented the Asian Region, so I think the Philippines has been trying to reflect or represent the non-Council Members in the region. In that sense I am very grateful. We are one of the few countries, whether Members of the Council or Observers of this Organization, but we also were opposed to the proposed scale of budget in the same vein as the reasons of the other delegations of the Council, based on our official position on this matter which was sent to the Secretariat of the United Nations. I did not use the same language, but we are opposed to the new proposed scale of budget, and I hope that even the Observers' views should reflect it, since the Observers are here, not just spectators.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you. This is not the convention, it is the Council's Report, but your views are fully reflected in the verbatim report.
DIRECTOR-GENERAL: I don't think it is for the Observers to participate in the approval of the report of the Council. Thank you.
T. AHMAD (Pakistan): Mr. Chairman, there is very little to say after your own explanation and the Director-General's, but I do wish to remind that of course we have great respect for the opinion of Observers, but the full membership of the Council is actually representing all the Members of the FAO Conference, because they have been elected by the Conference and it is the normal practice that it is only the membership which is reflected in the debate and at the adoption of the reports.
CHAIRMAN: Are there any comments about paragraphs 14-18?
Paragraphs 11 to 18, including draft resolution, approved
Les paragraphes 11 à 18, y compris le projet de resolution, sont approuves
Los párrafos 11 a 18, incluido el proyecto de resolución, son aprobados
PARAGRAPHS 19 to 25
PARAGRAPHES 19 à 25
PARRAFOS 19 a 25
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Es indudable que en el ánimo de los miembros del Consejo durante los últimos períodos de sesiones en los cuales se ha discutido la situación de los locales ha habido cierta inquietud por las frases de promesas y las pocas realizaciones logradas. Por eso tal vez, con la esperanza de que esto corresponda a lo que pensamos nosotros, podríamos agregar después del párrafo 23, en el cual aparecen las promesas del distinguido colega de Italia, lo siguiente: "El Consejo expreso la esperanza de que esta vez se cumplan las promesas del Gobierno Italiano".
M. FRANCISCI DI BASCHI (Italie): Je considère que cette adjonction est l!expression de manque de confiance, mais je n'ai pas d'objection fondamentale.
CHAIRMAN: Did you want this addition in paragraph 23, Colombia? Because in paragraph 24 it says: "The Council welcomed the invitations by the delegate of the Host Government", so I think it is contrary to first express a doubt and then say "welcomed".
P.S. McLEAN (United Kingdom): In fact, Mr. Chairman, you have made the remark I was going to make, but I have to say that I am afraid that my delegation could not support the proposal made by Colombia. I would prefer not to go into the reasons, but I do not believe it is appropriate to make such an expression. In fact, I would go further and say I think it is repugnant, Mr. Chairman, to make such a remark, and I think it would be far better to leave the paragraph as it stands, with paragraph 24 following quite logically from the information given by the Host Government, as recorded in paragraph 23.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): La delegación de Colombia piensa que no debe dramatizarse el sentido de una propuesta como la nuestra que creemos en realidad corresponde al estado de ánimo de los miembros del Consejo; pero si el Embajador de Italia considera como una muestra de desconfianza, nosotros no tenemos ninguna dificultad en retirar esta propuesta, señor Presidente.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you.
Paragraphs 19 to 25 approved
Les paragraphes 19 à 25 sont approuvés
Los párrafos 19 a 25 son aprobados
Paragraph 26 approved
Le paragraphe 26 est approuve
El párrafo 26 es aprobado
PARAGRAPHS 27 to 33
PARAGRAPHES 27 à 33
PARRAFOS 27 a 33
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Espero que esta vez tengamos más suerte con nuestra propuesta.
Queremos referirnos al apartado(c) del párrafo 28 en que desearíamos proponer que en la segunda línea se suprimiera la palabra "aparente".
CHAIRMAN: The suggestion is clear. "The Finance Commitee, at its Fifty-first Session had noted a considerable deterioration of the situation and had expressed anxiety at the Government's delay", instead of "apparent delay" - "delay in commencing concrete remedial measures". Of course much depends on what exactly the Finance Committee said because this is supposed to be a reproduction of what the Finance Committee has stated. Are there any comments?
R. SALLERY (Canada): I do not want to spoil the luck of Colombia but I would rather leave "apparent" there. There may be situations in which delays do occur but it may just also take this amount of time. I would rather leave "apparent" in there because I believe this is the wording the Finance Committee used.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Nosotros tenemos mucha confianza en las palabras de nuestros colegas. Canadá es Miembro del Comité de Redacción, por lo tanto retiramos también nuestra propuesta sobre el apartado (c) del párrafo 28.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for your most helpful attitude.
Paragraphs 27 to 33 approved
Les paragraphes 27 à 33 sont approuvés
Los párrafos 27 a 33 son aprobados
PARAGRAPH 34, INCLUDING RESOLUTION
PARAGRAPHE 34, Y COMPRIS LA RESOLUTION
PARRAFO 34, INCLUIDA LA RESOLUCION
CHAIRMAN: Paragraph 34 is the Resolution you may recall which was referred to the Drafting Committee to finalize the wording of the Resolution.
M. FRANCISCI DE BASCHI (Italie): Je voudrais dire quelques mots sur le texte du projet de résolution.
Vous vous souvenez que, dans la discussion générale à ce sujet, j'avais dit que le Gouvernement italien était prêt à accepter une résolution d'un ton énergique et très ferme, mais que pour des raisons d'opportunité, de délicatesse de la situation à l'intérieur du pays, j'aurais préféré un texte qui ne contienne pas des invitations et suggestions spécifiques.
Je vois au contraire que dans la partie operative, c'est-à-dire au paragraphe l.iv, il y a une référence directe à une action que le Gouvernement italien devrait faire auprès du Président du Tribunal de Rome. Je pense, pour les raisons que j'ai expliquées, qu'il est inopportun de descendre à ces détails et je serais prêt, pour surmonter peut-être une objection du Conseil, à proposer un amendement dans l'alinéa ii, dans lequel on parle de l'exhortation à défendre l'inviolabilité de la section 16. Je suggère d'ajouter "et la section 17" pour absorber ce qui est dit dans l'alinéa iv. L'alinéa se lirait donc de la manière suivante: "ii) à défendre l'inviolabilité de la section 16, article viii, et de la section 17, de l'accord relatif au siège...."
LE DIRECTEUR GENERAL: Comme vous le savez, c'est le secrétariat qui a été invité à. proposer un projet de résolution, lequel d'ailleurs a été approuvé par le Comité de rédaction composé de plus de dix pays.
Je crois que ce paragraphe l.(iv) est très important, et je me demande si le Conseil peut prendre la responsabilité de le supprimer entièrement en ajoutant simplement au paragraphe l.ii "et la section 17".
D'abord, c'est un fait que la section 16 a été violée. On nous a dit: il faut négocier. Cela fait dix ans que nous négocions avec le Gouvernement italien. Je ne vois pas comment avec le paragraphe l.ii on peut défendre la section 17 qui est très importante. Si on n'attire pas l'attention du Président du Tribunal, si le Gouvernement italien ne dit pas: "la FAO bénéficie de l'immunité d'exécution sur la base de la loi italienne de 1951" - et c'est la section 17 - qui va le dire? La FAO n'est pas placée pour attirer l'attention du Tribunal. Il faut que le Gouvernement italien prenne ses responsabilités puisqu'il a signé l'accord de siège, dans la loi italienne de 1951.
Si on rejette ce paragraphe qui défend cette loi en attirant l'attention du Président du Tribunal, on risque que les biens de la FAO, comme M. West l'a expliqué, soient saisis. Si l'attention du Tribunal est appelée sur ce problème, il y a une chance que le Tribunal refuse d'accepter une demande des propriétaires pour saisir les biens de la FAO, soit 1 ou 2 millions de dollars. Je ne peux pas dire plus sur ce sujet, mais nous avons voulu vous alerter, et nous avons des raisons de croire que certaines dispositions sont examinées par les propriétaires pour faire une saisie conservatoire sur les biens de la FAO. Mais ils doivent s'adresser au Tribunal et il faut que le Gouvernement du pays hôte, qui a fait paraître la loi en 1951, alerte ce Tribunal. Je sais qu'on ne peut pas intervenir auprès des instances juridiques, mais il s'agit simplement d'attirer l'attention sur une loi qui existe. C'est le but de ce paragraphe l.iv.
Si ce paragraphe était supprimé, il y aurait donc le risque que la chose ne soit pas faite. Depuis que vous avez voté la résolution 1/82 sur les immunités de juridiction de la FAO, le Gouvernement italien n'a rien fait de concret.
On dit ici dans les attendus que "considérant qu'aucune mesure concrète" et sur ce point tout le monde est d'accord "n'a encore été prise pour donner effet à la résolution 1/82", nous ajoutons dans notre résolution de cette année le paragraphe l.iv qui est nouveau, parce que j'ai peur que les biens de la FAO ne soient saisis. Je vais d'ailleurs parler avec le Directeur de la banque où nous avons nos dépôts pour attirer son attention à ce sujet. Il faut éviter que le Tribunal n'émette un ordre de saisie. Si nous demandons au Gouvernement italien d'attirer l'attention du Tribunal, il y a peut-être une chance que le Tribunal n'émette pas cet ordre.
C'est une question de texte. S'il y avait un autre texte qui puisse être accepté par l'Ambassadeur d'Italie, nous sommes prêts à l'accepter également. Mais ce que vous proposez, Monsieur l'Ambassadeur, est trop court. Ajouter "la section 17" à "la section 16" n'est pas suffisant. Il faudrait quelque chose de plus concret.
M. FRANCISCI DI BASCHI (Italie): Je pense qu'avec ma suggestion le sens de la phrase du projet de résolution ne change pas parce que si j'accepte d'enffeindre l'inviolabilité des sections 16 et 17, cela veut dire que le Gouvernement italien s'engage, qu'il est très conscient des obligations découlant du fait que l'Organisation est protégée de toute mesure d'exécution. Que je sache, ces mesures d'exécution n'ont pas été prises jusqu'à aujourd'hui, donc pourquoi dire que le Gouvernement italien n'a pas bougé, n'a rien fait? Je pense qu'avec ma suggestion on éviterait l'exécution de mesures précises. Je ne dis pas que le Gouvernement italien n'ait pas de contact avec le Tribunal de Rome, qu'il ne soit pas prêt à attirer l'attention de l'ordre judiciaire sur certaines circonstances; je dis qu'il n'est pas opportun de le spécifier dans la résolution. Avec mon projet de modification de l'alinéa 1.2 le sens de la résolution ne change pas.
T. AHMAD (Pakistan): We appreciate the concern expressed by the distinguished Representative of Italy but also at the same time we are cognizant of the concern of the Council on the matter at issue, so as a matter of compromise and in an effort to go forward, and as the Director-General himself suggested some other phrase may take care of the concern after the Italian Representative at the same time conveyed the whole meaning, may we suggest instead of the words "of the President of the Tribunale di Roma without delay" we substitute the words "of all concerned". That will delete the specific reference to the Tribunale, but would also retain the general reference "of all concerned" who have to act on our behalf. So we are suggesting "Agreement to the attention of all concerned", and then the rest of the sentence in paragraph (iv).
CHAIRMAN: The Pakistan delegation has suggested that we retain sub-paragraph (iv) but saying "and in particular the text of Section 17 of the Headquarters Agreement to the attention of all concerned, lest the landlords of Building F..." Is this acceptable Ambassador?
M. FRANCISCI DI BASCHI (Italie): J'ai entendu l'intervention du délégué du Pakistan, mais je pense que ma proposition est beaucoup plus forte que la sienne, parce que s'adresser en général à tout ie monde, je ne sais pas ce que cela veut dire.
LE DIRECTEUR GENERAL: Vous avez dit qu'il ne s'agissait pas de donner une suite à la résolution 1/82, mais elle est devant moi, ici, et le Conseil a reconnu qu'aucune suite ne lui a été donnée par le Gouvernement italien. Le Gouvernement italien avait proposé de prendre des actions, elles n'ont pas encore été prises; le Gouvernement italien a invité le Conseil à négocier avec le propriétaire du Building F, le procès est en cours; il a été question de traiter à l'amiable avec lui, aucune action n'a été prise, en tout cas nous n'en n'avons pas été informés. Le Gouvernement italien a dit que des contacts étaient pris avec la FAO pour prendre des mesures sous forme d'échange de lettres; je n'ai jamais vu trace de lettre, je n'ai jamais été contacté, et cela fait 16 mois. Aucune mesure n'a été prise en ce qui concerne la résolution 1/82, je peux l'attester ici.
Je crois que ce qui est important ce sont ces mots: "to freeze any of FAO's assets", cela c'est important. Je suis d'accord pour enlever le mot "le Président du Tribunale di Roma" parce qu'il n'est pas question de demander à l'exécutif d'empiéter sur le judiciaire. Ce paragraphe 4 avait pour but d'éviter de bloquer les avoirs de la FAO, alors je pense qu'il faut laisser ces mots "prendre les actions nécessaires pour empêcher de bloquer les avoirs de la FAO". Cela veut dire justement défendre l'intégrité de la section 17.
Ce dont il s'agit ce n'est pas seulement de la FAO, il s'agit aussi de l'IFAD, il s'agit du PAM, du Conseil mondial de l'alimentation, du Bureau international du travail qui a un siège à Turin, du Haut-Commissaire des réfugiés; nous sommes tous concernés et peut-être les missions diplomatiques le sont-elles également. Si une fois on arrive à bloquer les avoirs de la FAO un précédent aura été créé qui peut rejaillir sur tout le monde.
Je crois que l'Ambassadeur d'Italie est d'accord sur la substance de la motion, c'est sur la forme qu'il n'est pas d'accord, Peut-être pourrions-nous tout à l'heure essayer, avec le Conseil juridique de la FAO, de trouver une formule en accord avec l'Ambassadeur, pour ne pas retarder l'adoption du rapport à moins qu'il n'y ait des remarques sur d'autres points de cette résolution; s'il n'y a que ce point-là nous essayerons de trouver quelque chose, je ferai tout mon possible.
M. FRANCISCI DI BASCHI (Italie): Non, il y a seulement cette objection, je pensais la surmonter aisément, en présentant une formule qui est assez énergique. Le Gouvernement italien l'accepte parce que nous sommes conscients des obligations qui découlent de l'Accord de siège sur l'inviolabilité mais je ne vois pas pourquoi le texte général serait affaibli. Je vous prie,M. le Directeur général,de comprendre que c'est une question de forme, je dirais de délicatesse à l'intérieur du système italien. Je pense qu'il ne faut pas dire qu'en Italie le droit n'existe plus, que les comptes courants sont bloqués, que pour la FAO, le PAM, tout est en danger. Jusqu'à présent il s'agit d'une situation avec des risques potentiels. Je voudrais qu'elle soit considérée avec une certaine objectivité et un certain calme.
K. HADDAD (Liban): Si je peux coopérer, à supposer que ce soit une question de forme, je propose la formule suivante: le cumul des alinéas ii) et iv) sous cette forme: "à défendre l'inviolabilité de la section 16; à appeler sans retard l'attention des autorités compétentes sur le texte de ladite section 17, de l'article relatif au siège, pour prévenir tout blocage d'un avoir de la FAO".
Je me demandé si ma proposition pourrait aider, et éviter une polémique à ce sujet.
CHAIRMAN: If I can repeat what I consider to be the Lebanon proposal, it is that we omit sub-item (iv) as it is now and integrate (ii) and (iv) together as a new (ii) which will read as follows:
"to uphold the sanctity of Article VIII, Section 16 of the Headquarters Agreement concerning FAO's immunity from every form of legal process and call to the attention of competent authorities the text of Section 17 of the Headquarters Agreement to prevent any attempt to freeze any of FAO's assets."
Is this what you propose?
K. HADDAD (Liban): J'ai dit: "à défendre l'inviolabilité de la section 17 et appeler sans retard l'attention des autorités compétentes sur le texte de la section 17 de l'Accord relatif au siège" afin de prévenir tout blocage des avoirs de la FAO.
CHAIRMAN: Would the Ambassador of Italy care to comment on the proposal of Lebanon?
M. FRANCISCI DI BASCHI (Italie): Oui, j'ai quelque chose à dire. Cela me paraît un peu étrange qu'on s'adresse au Gouvernement italien, c'est-à-dire à l'exécutif, pour intervenir auprès des autorités compétentes.
J'aimerais clarifier le fait que les mesures d'exécution sont adoptées par le Gouvernement. Je ne vois pas quelle différence il y a avec mon texte, qui est synthétique et significatif, et la description de la section 17 dans cet alinéa. Je vous prie de considérer que ma suggestion ne change pas le sens de la résolution, je cherche seulement à éviter les difficultés que nous sommes à même de considérer, nous, à l'intérieur de notre pays. J'insiste.
LE DIRECTEUR GENERAL: Depuis 10 ans, j'ai déjà discuté avec trois ambassadeurs italiens de l'interprétation de l'accord de siège, nous n'avons pas fait un "inch" de progrès. D'ailleurs, quel que soit le texte approuvé, tout dépend de la situation, de la façon dont cela se passe après. Pour moi, il s'agit que le Conseil soit satisfait par un texte qui assure la sauvegarde des intérêts de la FAO. Des décisions du tribunal peuvent autoriser à bloquer les avoirs de la FAO, par exemple 2 millions de dollars à la Banca commerciale italiana, sans que nous ayons été invités à nous présenter devant le tribunal. Le Gouvernement italien est étranger à cela; quelqu'un peut venir notifier à la Banca commerciale italiana la décision du tribunal de bloquer 2 millions de dollars.
Voilà la situation. Maintenant, quant au texte que vous souhaitez avoir dans votre rapport, il vous appartient d'en décider; moi j'ai simplement à attirer votre attention. Encore une fois, l'exécutif ne serait pas impliqué par une décision du Tribunal qui sera communiquée par lui directement à la banque. Les Affaires étrangères n'en sauront rien et la banque sera obligée d'obtempérer.
Pour ma part, j'accepte n'importe quel texte, je suis l'exécutif et je me dois d'attirer votre attention sur la situation dans laquelle je suis. On a dit l'autre jour "on va négocier", mais cela fait 10 ans que nous négocions. Moi je suis prêt à continuer à négocier mais ce n'est pas pour autant que l'affaire sera terminée.
Nous sommes malgré tout reconnaissants envers le pays hôte de tout ce qu'il fait. Mais depuis 10 ans nous sommes dans une situation très difficile; d'ailleurs, depuis plusieurs mois il n'y a plus de négociations et si je vous montrais le nombre de lettres restées sans réponse, vous comprendriez la gravité de la situation où je me trouve.
P.S. McLEAN (United Kingdom): I hesitate to intervene but I think there is a danger that we are beginning to reopen the whole subject. The more I listen to the discussion the more I think the Council has little alternative but to make a common-sense move which can be an exhorting effect and an encouragement to the Italian Government. I believe the Italian Ambassador is right to wish to have it in very general terms because, on reflection, it does seem to me to be inappropriate for the Council to attempt to specify measures which in the end must clearly only be left to the Italian Government as a sovereign, independent State. I am quite sure that the Italian representative has listened carefully to the debate, that he understands the problems and will take due account of the ideas that have been expressed and the proposals that have been made here. I think that if we continue to try to find texts we may go on for a long time and I would, frankly, see good sense in the proposal by the Italian representative, to delete paragraph (iv) but include a reference in some way to Section 17 in paragraph (ii) would not lose the force of what the Council is attempting to do at this stage faced with this difficult problem.
This is why I would propose that we accept the proposal made by the Italian representative, and I trust the Director-General will not feel that we are in any way lessening the expression of concern that the Council had expressed in the debate.
T. AHMAD (Pakistan): We thought that the Lebanese proposal was couched in fairly general terms to eliminate the concern of the Italian Government because specifically that formulation eliminates the words "building F" and also eliminates "President of the Tribunale di Roma". We therefore thought it was couched in more general terms and could have been accepted.
However, I have another point which made me ask for the floor: while you are attempting to delete sub-paragraph (iv), I would suggest that the views expressed in the first part of sub-paragraph (iv) are very important and should be retained, because here we have two different problems. One is a specific problem of the Headquarters Agreement between FAO and the Italian Government; and the other is a more general problem which is reflected in the first sentence, that is: "FAO's status as a specialized agency of the United Nations system enjoying immunity from legal process". That is an entirely different view being expressed there which is also, in our opinion, very important and should be retained.
However, as far as we are concerned, we find the Lebanese proposal quite acceptable while at the same time we wish that sentence to be retained in sub-paragraph (iv).
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Cuando habíamos intentado en párrafos anteriores expresar algunas inquietudes del Consejo sobre esta prolongada situación, lo estábamos haciendo de muy buena fe porque creemos que para nuestro distinguido colega, el Embajador de Italia, es conveniente, como punto de apoyo para su gestion ante las autoridades de su país, un informe del Consejo que le dé a él pie para insistir en que se lleve a cabo, a buen fin, todo este proceso largo. Este es el sentido con el que hemos intervenido a través del curso de este debate y seguimos queriendo que se refleje claramente nuestra preocupación. Más fácil será para la buena voluntad del distinguido Embajador de Italia intervenir ante sus proprias autoridades. Si aceptáramos el criterio simplista del colega del Reino Unido, pues más bien no valdrá la pena adoptar ningún proyecto de resolución. No queremos decir nada al Gobierno italiano. Nosotros creemos que la propuesta del distinguido Embajador del Líbano es pertinente, y que se podrá agregar donde él dice, al final, "autoridades competentes", agregar el término "judiciales". "Autoridades judiciales competentes", porque corresponde a la promesa reiterada que han hecho aquí los representantes de Italia. Ellos han dicho que en ningún momento van a permitir que se aplique ninguna sanción contra los bienes de la FAO, pues aquí estamos haciendo la recomendación para que ellos cumplan esa promesa.
R. SALLERY (Canada): I do not believe that any government wishes to be dictated to by another government or by another group of governments and although I appreciate and understand what my friend and colleague from Colombia is saying, this is a very moot point as to how governments react to particular statements and I think what the Italian Ambassador has been trying to tell us is that his methodology is one which has a greater probability of success. Our intention in this Council is to try and facilitate a rapid and favourable decision. It is kind of similar to the situation that the Director-General mentioned yesterday when he said the bottle is either half full or half empty. Perhaps we have been lucky that it has only taken this long. It might take longer if we antagonise any sovereign government, and I say that with the response potential of my own government in mind, who are currently reviewing a similar kind of situation.
I would tend to agree with the very wise words which have just been spoken by my friend Mr. McLean from the United Kingdom delegation, that we ought to be careful in attempting to demonstrate our anger and our wrath to another government, a sovereign government, a government which has been very friendly certainly to the FAO and to the United Nations system. I say this appreciating the frustrations which the FAO and Secretariat are going through. The matter does need to be resolved. I would be tempted at this point to go along with the suggestion of the Italian Ambassador once more in good faith and give him the time that he thinks is necessary. I know that our Director-General would say that he has been doing this and doing this. Unfortunately I am not sure that we have many other choices.
R.C. GUPTA (India): The modification suggested by the Ambassador of Lebanon, my delegation tends to agree with this but the content of the first part of sub-paragraph (iv) to our minds is very important. It is not a question of trying to find a temporary solution to the problem in respect of Building F. It is the question of a principle. While saying this I must clarify that it is not intended to express our anger to any sovereign state. We have the highest regard for the Ambassador of Italy and the host government. It is a question of principle. It is the question of principle embodied in the Headquarters Agreement. We consider it an honour for any country to be the host country to the FAO and in keeping with the honour which the international community has conferred upon the host government we have certain doubts, we have certain requests. We feel that the host government is obliged to do certain things for us and we feel that the contents of the first part of sub-paragraph (iv) are very important. It is not a question of resolving a temporary problem. It is not a question of finding a solution to Building F. It is not a question of finding a solution to the problem or threat of the assets of the Organization being frozen. It is a larger question of the immunity of the Organization from all legal processes and we would feel that while the amendment suggested by the Ambassador of Lebanon is welcome we. should try to modify it in such a way as to bring in the general principle of the immunity of the Organization and to find a long-term solution to this problem so that small irritants are avoided. Indeed this is one problem, if the general principle is not established or is ratified to legislative processes, another problem may come maybe next year maybe tomorrow. So we have to find a solution which is a lasting solution for the day-to-day irritants which the Organization is suffering.
CHAIRMAN: May I try to summarize the position as I see it. The Ambassador of Italy would like to see sub-item 1 (iv) deleted and reword item 2 in the following way; uphold the sanctity of Article 8, Sections 16 and 17 of the Headquarters Agreement concerning FAO's immunity from every form of legal process.
The other suggestion, initiated by Lebanon and slightly modified and amended by Pakistan and India to uphold the sanctity of Article 8, Section 16 of the Headquarters Agreement concerning FAO's immunity from every form of legal, process and to bring FAO's status as a specialized agency of the United Nations system enjoying immunity from legal process, and in particular the text of Section 17 of the Headquarters Agreement, to the attention'of the appropriate authorities.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Creemos que es un asunto delicado que deberemos resolverlo de la mejor manera posible, asegurándole al distinguido Embajador de Italia todo nuestro respeto y mayor consideración por su Gobierno.
En espera del REP/9, que aún no ha salido, podríamos aplazar la discusión de este punto y pedir a los representantes de Italia, Pakistán, Canadá y Líbano que mientras llega el REP/9 se reúnan y traten de presentarnos un texto de consenso.
CHAIRMAN: This suggestion of the delegate of Colombia, would you like to participate in such a discussion? The suggestion is a small group meets with the Ambassador of Lebanon, Pakistan and Canada with you and tries to develop an acceptable formulation.
M. FRANCISCI DI BASCHI (Italie): Je ne veux pas donner l'impression de compliquer les travaux parce que je pense que ma position n'a pas changé le fond de la question. C'était une suggestion qui venait du pays intéressé et qui a la responsabilité de cette affaire. Je suis prêt à participer à ce groupe de travail pour chercher une solution qui soit acceptable.
LE DIRECTEUR GENERAL: A deux reprises, il a été dit que le Conseil devrait traiter d'une certaine façon avec un gouvernement souverain. Le Conseil est formé de 49 Etats souverains et il s'agit de défendre le droit qui a été accordé par une loi du Gouvernement à l'Organisation. Il ne faut avoir aucun complexe de culpabilité, aucun complexe quand nous traitons des droits de l'Organisation qui est représentée par 49 Etats souverains traitant avec un Etat souverain. Il s'agit de ne demander que ce qui nous est du, ni plus ni moins. Quelle que soit la décision qui sera prise et sa formulation, nous serons respectueusement obligés de l'accepter et nous l'accepterons.
La situation est mauvaise. Il y a eu une détérioration en ce qui concerne l'accord de Siège, l'immunité, les bureaux de la FAO. Pour tout le reste les relations sont excellentes, surtout sur le plan personnel, mais je voudrais que ceux qui s'opposent à ce que l'on parle clairement, qu'on appelle un chat un chat, se rendent compte qu'il s'agit des avoirs de la FAO, et je supplie les membres du Comité qui ont été désignés de ne pas ignorer cela. Ceux qui veulent l'ignorer devraient en prendre la responsabilité.
En novembre nous aurons encore à débattre de cette question. J'ai l'obligation de mettre à l'ordre du jour du Conseil cette question, comme la question du Siège. C'est une question permanente et elle ne changera pas seulement sous l'effet d'une résolution; elle le sera peut-être quand nous aurons l'honneur et le privilège d'être reçus par le prochain Premier Ministre. Nous n'avons pas pu rencontrer les deux précédents. Peut-être qu'à ce moment-là nous pourrons avoir enfin quelque espoir.
Je ne dis pas que la situation serait autre si nous étions en Grande-Bretagne ou aux USA, ou ailleurs. Je crois que nous commençons à fatiguer tous nos pays hôtes avec nos demandes, mais nous devons vivre avec cette situation très difficile. Je dois préciser, avec tout le respect que nous devons avoir pour le pays hôte, pays souverain - que tout ce que nous demandons c'est que la loi italienne puisse être mise en application, et c'est tout ce que nous demandons.
CHAIRMAN: Shall we defer this item for some time and request the Ambassador for Lebanon, the Ambassador for Italy, the delegate from Canada and the delegate from Pakistan to get together when we finish this, before the last REP comes, and try to suggest a formulation. Are there any other comments on this Resolution?
Paragraph 34, including Resolution, not concluded
Le paragraphe 34, y compris la résolution, est en suspens
El párrafo 34, incluida la Resolución, queda pendiente
Paragraph 35 approved
Le paragraphe 35 est approuve
El párrafo 35 es aprobado
Paragraph 36 approved
Le paragraphe 36 est approuvé
El párrafo 36 es aprobado
Paragraph 37 approved
Le paragraphe 37 est approuvé
El párrafo 37 es aprobado
Draft Report of Plenary, Part VI, not concluded
Le projet de rapport de la plénière, sixième partie, est en suspens
El proyecto de informe de la Plenaria, Parte VI, queda pendiente
DRAFT REPORT - PART VII
PROJET DE RAPPORT - PARTIE VII
PROYECTO DE INFORME - PARTE VII
Paragraph 1 approved
Le paragraphe 1 est approuvé
El párrafo 1 es aprobado
Paragraph 2 including Resolution adopted
Le paragraphe 2 y compris la résolution est adopté
El párrafo 2 incluida la Resolución es aprobado
PARAGRAPH 3
PARAGRAPHE 3
PARRAFO 3
N.S. COOK (Canada): During the course of the Council my delegation has met with the delegates of Mexico, as well as the United Kingdom and others, and we thought we had reached an agreement that the Ninth World Forestry Congress would be held in Mexico during January 1985. While confident in Mexico's commitment, we are expressing concern that there will be no slippage. We see from the draft report that it has already slipped from the month of Jannuary to some indefinite time in the first half of 1985. We propose therefore that the statement read in the last sentence of paragraph 3: "However, in view of the need to ensure adequate preparations for a successful Congress, Mexico notified the Council that the timing of the Congress may have to be deferred to early in the spring quarter and no later than March 1985".
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Nuestra primera reacción, Señor Presidente, sobre la propuesta de Canadá, tiene dos aspectos. Primero, el colega del Canadá dijo que se había reunido en privado con algunas delegaciones. No dijo que esto se planteo durante el debate que es lo que corresponde reflejar en el Informe. Segundo, si el Gobierno de México es el que ha hecho esta aclaración, quisiéramos saber qué piensa el Representante de México.
J. VERRUETE FUENTES (México): He escuchado las palabras del Delegado de Canadá y quisiera regresar a mi intervención referente a este punto y claramente después de la intervención del Dr. Flores-Rodas, con quien tuvimos una larga charla sobre esta posibilidad de ajuste del período del cumplimiento del Congreso, queremos recordar que dejamos abierta la fecha debido a varios aspectos muy específicos que en su momento no mencionamos por considerar que era simplemente un informe a este honorable Consejo.
En particular pedimos nuestras excusas, recuerdo haberlo dicho, por alguna situación de probable interferencia con algún país miembro del COFO. Sin embargo, tendría que decir que la charla que tuvimos, muy informal, con el Señor Representante del Reino Unido, sobre el particular, y con el Señor Representante del Canadá, en ningún momento se mencionó el mes de enero, y creo yo que no se menciono porque el primer trimestre del año, de cualquier año, en México las condiciones climatológicas no permiten en ninguna ocasión realizar este tipo de Congreso, ya que existen o están previstos siempre viajes al interior del país sede que implica las áreas forestales, áreas generalmente alejadas, con dificultad de acceso, donde la lluvia u otros agentes pueden interferimos.
De ahí que la decision preliminar que tomamos con el Dr. Flores-Rodas fue ubicarnos en este primer semestre del año de 1985 para tener la posibilidad de ofrecer a todos los asistentes un congreso digno, un espacio digno para que se realizara.
No sé si esto aclara un poco nuestra previa participación, pero creo que son razones de peso del Gobierno mexicano para que, volviendo a pedir excusas si hay alguna interferencia con el Gobierno de Canadá, nos permita realizar el Congreso dentro de ese primer semestre de 1985.
N.S. COOK (Canada): Our Government is, we feel, being quite reasonable. Indeed we have left the date open in the spring. We have not specified within that period. We would prefer a baseline of March 1985. It would be convenient to us to form an alternative in November 1985. We do have continued concern about the second quarter of 1985.
J. VERRUETE FUENTES (México): Atendiendo otra vez al amable comentario del distinguido delegado del Canadá, esta fecha que él comenta de noviembre de 1985 estaba prevista en las posibilidades del gobierno de México para realizar el congreso; sin embargo, ten¿o que recordar que para ese mes precisamente se realiza la Conferencia de FAO y quizá fuera otro motivo de interferencia que tuviera un poco más de peso para que no pueda realizarse en ese mes, aunque, lo digo con gusto, si se nos permitiera sería más fácil realizarlo en ese mes porque es cuando, climáticamente hablando, se nos facilita en México realizar este tipo de eventos.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Es indiscutible que la intención del distinguido delegado del Canadá al intervenir sobre este tema está dirigida a asegurar el buen éxito del Congreso y sobre todo a la participación adecuada en ese congreso de un país tan importante como Canadá, esto es indudablemente necesario reconocerlo, pero después de las reiteradas declaraciones que ha hecho el representante de México tal vez convenga dejar el párrafo tal como está.
N.S. COOK (Canada): Notwithstanding the difficult weather conditions of Mexico, I think we in Canada could probably describe a litany of adverse weather conditions that would affect conferences in our country. However, it is not our intention to embarrass Mexico. We see the sentence as it stands fairly flexibly. We would hope that Mexico would make best efforts to guarantee that the Congress would be held in the first quarter of 1985.
CHAIRMAN: So paragraph 3, on the Ninth World Forestry Congress, will remain as it is in the draft.
Paragraph 3 approved
Le paragraphe 3 est approuvé
El párrafo 3 es aprobado
Draft Report of Plenary - Part VII, was adopted
Le projet de rapport de la plénière, septième partie, est adopté
El proyecto de informe de la plenaria - Parte VII, es aprobado
DRAFT REPORT - PART VIII
PROJET DE RAPPORT - PARTIE VIII
PROYECTO DE INFORME - PARTE VIII
PARAGRAPHS 1 to 12
PARAGRAPHES 1 à 12
PARRAFOS 1 a 12
R. SALLERY (Canada): We, like several other delegations, as you are aware, had some considerable difficulty with the completeness and the clarity of this document in its original form. We also have, as this Council know, an overriding interest in effective inter-agency or institutional coordination so that, as the Chairman of the Drafting Group said a couple of days ago, the good work of FAO and the good work of WFP can be maximized for the benefit of developing countries. We understand that originally the WFP was asked to prepare this document and for various reasons declined to prepare it. In any case, the final document was completed by the FAO Secretariat and apparently without any further consultation with the WFP. This perhaps unfortunately resulted in a somewhat incomplete
picture of a very complex and intricate relationship between the FAO and the WFP. Our concern is not that the draft document does not reflect the discussion. The Drafting Committee as a whole has done an excellent job in representing the proceedings. What is important to note is that we, like many others in this Council, did not at this time consider the document as necessarily describing a definitive position. We say this because we, like other Members of the Council and of the CFA, recognize the CFA as the Governing Body of the WFP and that had yet to consider the paper and its implications.
I have already said that I have agreed with Colombia that the reports of the Drafting Committee are indeed excellent. There are two elements in this paper however which I wish to recall are part of the Canadian statement but which do not appear in that statement. The first is that we have indicated that the primary responsibility for giving indigenous agricultural production the highest priority rests with developing countries themselves. As I read through the report this does not appear to stand out. Secondly, it was our own particular view that there are ever-increasing demands for food aid, representative of a collective area to produce enough in its country or at least to buy enough commercially and when we cease to require food aid, except perhaps on an emergency basis, then we will truly have cause to celebrate.
I have no intention at this time to try to work these two what we consider important elements into the statement. I merely wish to recall it.
In paragraphs 1 and 6...
CHAIRMAN: Will you kindly take paragraph 1 first?
DIRECTOR-GENERAL: Canada said that this document was supposed to be prepared by WFP and not by FAO and ultimately it was prepared by FAO without consultation with WFP.
Firstly, I don't believe we are here to have a debate; we are hereto approve the report paragraph by paragraph. It is not up to me to rule on whether we should make statements such as having a debate. However, I would like to answer this question as it was directed to the Director-General of FAO. FAO is a parent of WFP. The Executive Director of WFP is appointed by the Director-General of FAO and the Secretary-General of the UN. He reports to the Director-General and the Secretary-General and I have special responsibilities.
We are a parent and this is why we wanted to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the child which was born in FAO and for this we are having a special celebration. It was therefore natural that FAO should write the report on the celebration of the anniversary of its child.
I wished to make this remark in order to avoid any misunderstanding that we are taking over somebody else's task in preparing a report. We are not here to have a debate, but to go over the Report paragraph by paragraph - not to take paragraphs 1 and 6 together, paragraphs 1 and 7, etc. This is not the way of doing our business.
T. AHMAD (Pakistan): We listened with great interest to the statement by Canada, and I must confess I have started feeling as if I am not doing my job properly, because Pakistan is a member of the CFA and Pakistan is a Member of the Council, but this privileged information which was given by Canada, at least we were not part of that information, so we can only request that in future, if there is such privileged information that was given to one Member State, it should be given also to the other Member States, either by the WFP or the FAO, and we feel very disturbed about the situation, Mr. Chairman.
CHAIRMAN: May I again remind you of what the Director-General said? We are now considering the draft report as it emerged from the Drafting Committee. That is why I said paragraph 1. If we start the regular Council sessions which led to the birth of this report, then we will be going back. It is the last concluding day and we must get on to the report, so I shall be grateful if the comments will be related to the report itself. Anyone can suggest an amendment, an addition here, as has been done so far, but if some important point has been missed, you can point it out as an addition to a paragraph here, and then we could consider it.
C.R. BENJAMIN (United States of America): It seemed to me that Canada had the floor and you have never gotten back to Canada. He was in the midst of talking, and immediately we have several others of us that seem to be coming in. If I am right, I do not think that that is appropriate.
CHAIRMAN: Canada had the floor, but since other delegates raised their flags, what we have done is recognize them as they raised their hands, so Pakistan wanted the floor. Canada has the floor now.
R. SALLERY (Canada): I have indeed not finished. I will try and do so now. I indicated that I would not try to change the main body of the Report and to put in two issues which are very important to my government. Pakistan, of course, was at the CFA, and the reason that document did not appear is that it has not been shown.
Paragraph 1, the last sentence reads: "and that the Director-General had special responsibilities for the functioning of the Programme."
If you permit me, I do not wish to jump from paragraph to paragraph, but paragraph 6 said: "The Council noted the special responsibilities of the Director-General" and goes on to describe them. In an effort to be helpful, I am not sure that we need the statement in both places. Perhaps I could suggest then that after "virtually all WFP projects" put a period and eliminate the rest of the sentence and use the very excellent drafting in paragraph 6.
CHAIRMAN: The Canadian proposal is that since points relating to the Director-General's responsibilities were elaborated in paragraph 6, we stop paragraph 1 after "in one way or another in virtually all WFP projects".
H.F. NAJEB (Iraq) (Original language Arabic): I have just listened to the statement made by Canada, but I think we have now discussed this Report of the FAO Council, and within the framework of this Report there is a point which concerns the Twentieth Anniversary Programme. We know that the Organization through its Council also celebrates this anniversary, and of course, this Organization drafts the relative report, the report that concerns this celebration, and of course, when the WFP celebrates this Twentieth Anniversary, it will be up to WFP and up to the WFP's Secretariat to draft the report of this celebration. Therefore, I think that if Canada finds it strange that the Organization has prepared this part of the Report, I do not think this is pertinent to say. This is something that goes without saying. Mr. Chairman, as you yourself have said, we are here to discuss the Draft Report presented to us by the Drafting Committee, a Draft Report which concerns the Twentieth Anniversary of WFP, and the discussion of this should be done paragraph by paragraph.
CHAIRMAN: In fact, we are on paragraph 1, and Canada has made a specific suggestion, that the last part of it be stopped. We stop this paragraph with "virtually all WFP projects".
T. AHMAD (Pakistan): It is indeed true that Canada has made a proposal regarding the deletion of this last part of paragraph 1, because they feel perhaps the same idea is repeated in paragraph 6, but these two paragraphs convey two entirely different ideas. The first paragraph is talking about the appropriateness of FAO to celebrate the Twentieth Anniversary and it is in that connection that there is mention of the Director-General's responsibilities.
Incidentally, I may mention here before I go on that as far as the Director-General's responsibilities are concerned, those are all laid down in the Basic Rules, so there should be no dispute on that.
As far as paragraph 6 is concerned, that talks of the joint responsibility of FAO and the WFP and the UN Secretary-General; they are entirely two différent ideas, and if I may remind Canada, this was the tenor of the debate in the Plenary, and that is how it has been reflected by the Drafting Committee. This issue was raised during the Drafting Committee also, and it was retained precisely because of this reason that the two paragraphs are reflecting entirely two different ideas altogether.
S. ABOUJAOUDE (Lebanon) (Original language Arabic): I would like to support what has been said by Iraq and Pakistan. I suggest that we maintain the last part of paragraph 1, because as Pakistan has just said, this paragraph deals with an idea which is completely different from paragraph 6. Therefore, I propose that we retain the rest of paragraph 1.
CHAIRMAN: What is the wish of the Council, retain it as it is?
M.I. MAHDI (Saudi Arabia) (Original language Arabic): I myself also prefer this paragraph to remain as it is, and I fully support what is included in this text.
CHAIRMAN: Does Canada agree? Canada agrees to keeping it as it is. Thank you. We now move on to the following paragraphs.
H. CARANDANG (Philippines): This is by way of a question on the last sentence of paragraph 8. The sentence here reads: "The Council drew particular attention to the broadened and revised concept of world food security agreed in the Committee on World Food Security and emphasized the importance of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes and the WFP taking the revised concept and the approaches indicated in the Director-General's report on World Food Security into account in formulating their policies and programmes." There is a particle end here, and the particle end in the third to the last line joins two concepts. One is the revised concept which was approved by the Committee on Food Security, and the other element is the approaches indicated in the Director-General's report. Now, the connective particle, of course, means that these are treated as though they were given the same weight. We have a very great respect, of course, for the report of the Director-General. It is a very important report, it has been prepared with very great care, but I was just wondering whether this has the same weight as the revised concept which bears the stamp of approval of the governments, so I was just wondering whether it is appropriate to treat them giving them the same weight. I have no very concrete proposal, Mr. Chairman, but I was just calling attention to this because for me the construction was a little bit disturbing, because while one concept carries the approval of the government, the other one is the proposal of an international civil servant, no matter how wise and how well-placed and how respected, and we have a very great respect for the Director-General, but I think they do not have the same legal status and they do not have the same weight as far as the concepts are concerned, so I was just wondering how we can reflect that idea.
DIRECTOR-GENERAL: I do not pretend to compare myself to a concept, I am a reality, I am not a concept, and those are two things which cannot be compared. If you have a suggestion to make, please make it.
H. CARANDANG (Philippines): Mr. Chairman, I am not comparing the concept and the Director-General, I am comparing the revised concept and the approaches indicated in the Director-General's report.
CHAIRMAN: I think if I get the Philippines' suggestion regarding the sentence which says: "The Council drew particular attention to the broadened and revised concept of world food security agreed in the Committee on World Food Security and emphasized the importance of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes and the WFP taking the revised concept and the approaches indicated in the Director-General's report on World Food Security into account in formulating their policies and programmes", you would like the reference to the approaches indicated in the Director-General's report not to be linked with the revised concept, is that correct? That is what I gather from your intervention. What would be your specific suggestion on the rewording of this sentence?
H. CARANDANG (Philippines): I did not have a specific suggestion, but I was just wondering whether, if you would allow me, I could come back to it at a later stage.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Sobre el párrafo 8 tengo dos modestas observaciones. Tal vez debo empezar por la primera y luego, si tengo razón, usted me dará la palabra nuevamente.
En la segunda frase del párrafo 8, en la sexta línea, creemos que se debe decir "instrumento de presión política", "de presión política" tal como aparece en el texto inglés. Para el texto castellano es muy importante "presión política".
Esa es la primera observación. Luego, si usted me da la palabra puedo seguir sobre el párrafo 8.
L. ARIZA HIDALGO (Presidente del Comité de Redacción): Lo que propone la distinguida representación de Colombia es correcto, porque en el documento inglés y francés aparece "presión política"; fue una omisión en el documento en español. Así es que creemos que tiene validez su proposición.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Ahora queremos referirnos a la tercera frase del párrafo 8. La tercera frase del párrafo 8 empieza con las palabras "a este respecto". Si en realidad aceptáramos el texto de esta tercera frase estaríamos contradiciendo los principios que motivaron nuestra intervención a este respecto, porque justamente la declaración de Colombia, sobre este tema, y muchas otras delegaciones, estuvo dirigida a criticar el proceso lento e injusto, a través del cual se llegó por fin a la aprobación de proyectos para un país que cuenta con toda nuestra simpatía. De manera que, en realidad, no quisimos ensalzar el criterio imparcial y equilibrado con que se había procedido en el pasado, sino todo lo contrario decir que no se había actuado con ese equilibrio y con esa imparcialidad y queríamos que se procediera así en el futuro.
Habíamos preparado de acuerdo con unos colegas una enmienda un poco larga que incluía, inclusive, el propio nombre del país: el VietNam, a quien nos referimos varios delegados, pero sabemos que esa referencia pudiera ofrecer algunas inquietudes a otros colegas. Y vamos a prescindir de presentar esa propuesta, al menos por el momento. Pero quisiéramos que a la tercera frase del párrafo 8, por lo menos, se le agregara algo que reflejara nuestra inquietud con respecto al pasado y, sobre todo, al porvenir.
Después de donde dice "criterio imparcial y equilibrado" debería agregarse solamente las siguientes palabras: "que debería aplicarse siempre", "criterio imparcial y equilibrado que debería aplicarse siempre". Esto creemos que es lo mínimo que puede reflejar muy levemente la posición de algunas delegaciones.
CHAIRMAN: I will read out the amendment of Colombia and then I will give the floor to the United States. "In this connection, the CFA, the Executive Director and his staff were highly commended for their even-handed and balanced approach which should always be followed".
C.R. BENJAMIN (United States of America): I would like to support the Colombian amendment. I think it is desirable and useful.
H. CARANDANG (Philippines): I have a proposal regarding the semi-last sentence of paragraph 8 and it would go as follows: "The Council drew particular attention to the broadened and revised concept of world food security agreed in the Committee on World Food Security and emphasized the importance of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes taking the revised concept", and then we will omit "and the approaches indicated in the Director-General's Report on World Food Security" - that should be omitted, and continuing as follows up to "programmes". Then a new sentence would be inserted, "The Council also drew attention to the important approaches indicated by the Director-General's Report on World Food Security".
CHAIRMAN: Have you all got the Philippines' suggestion? I will read it out again. "The Council drew particular attention to the broadened and revised concept of world food security agreed in the Committee on World Food Security and emphasized the importance of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes and the WFP taking the revised concept into account in formulating their policies and programmes. The Council also drew attention to the important approaches indicated in the Director-General's Report on World Food Security". Is this right?
A. REGNIER (Directeur, Bureau des affaires interinstitutions): Je voudrais simplement faire remarquer que la formulation telle qu'elle vient d'être présentée par le distingué représentant des Philippines introduit évidemment plus qu'une simple nuance, puisque dans le second cas on ne demande pas au Comité de l'aide alimentaire de prendre en considération les différentes approches qui ont été suggérées. Or il y en a certainement qui ont une importance considérable pour ce qui est de l'aide alimentaire, par exemple celle qui consiste à recommander l'intégration, autant que possible, de l'aide alimentaire dans les plans de développement.
M, le Président, ce n'est pas, bien entendu, à moi à en juger, mais je pense que la différence est substantielle. Nous avons entendu, au cours des débats, cette notion de tenir en compte les approches du Directeur général. Au cours du Comité de rédaction, cette question n'a pas été en quoi que ce soit contestée et il me paraissait que la phrase telle quelle était assez claire.
H. CARANDANG (Philippines) : The distinguished Director of Inter-Agency Affairs was referring to the concept that integration of the Policies and Programmes into WFP projects would not be taken into account by this new formulation. I was just wondering whether that would really be so because if we look at the revised concept, I think the revised concept already includes that very idea. In fact we could probably indicate that here, if that is the difficulty of the Director of Inter-Agency Affairs. We could see also the measures that have been approved by the Committee on Food Aid which should be taken into account by the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes, and probably Mr. Régnier is correct in saying that probably we should not just indicate here the revised concept but the other measures and approaches by the Director-General approved in the Committee on Food Aid Security, because Mr. Chairman, the difficulty here is that some of the approaches have a very dubious status. Some do not have equal status, some are approved, some have not been approved, some are controversial and some have unanimous approval of the Committee on World Food Security. So probably if we amplify the thought that has been given by the distinguished Director of Inter-Agency Affairs we could also include the approaches, and the approaches indicated by the Director-General approved in the Committee on World Food Security, and probably that would take care of all the difficulties that I had theoretically.
Sra. Doña M. RUIZ ZAPATA (México): Primero, quisiera decir que apoyamos la propuesta presentada por el Embajador G. Bula Hoyos de Colombia, y en segundo lugar, tal vez, podríamos resolver la dificultad del representante de Filipinas si añadiéramos a "el Consejo señalo especialmente a la atención el concepto ampliado y revisado de seguridad alimentaria mundial acordado en el Comité de Seguridad Alimentaria Mundial" la frase "y endosado previamente por este Consejo". Así quedaría claro que son diferentes; que existe diferencia cualitativa, ya que el concepto quedaría en calidad de Resolución de este Consejo y el resto de la frase en calidad de recomendación. Probablemente no tendría ningún problema con el texto como está.
H.F. NAJEB (Iraq) (Original language Arabic): In the Drafting Committee, as the Chairman of the Drafting Committee has also said, we have examined this paragraph in full detail. We have made amendments, we have made many amendments, we have examined also the Resolution concerning this matter and we have agreed upon this wording. Now we come here, it is late in the afternoon and we should not contradict ourselves by rejecting decisions that were already adopted during the Drafting Committee of the CFA, and concerning such a report we have already said that the proposal and views of the Director-General must be examined in detail.
Within the CFA Committee and in other appropriate fora, one of these appropriate bodies could be, for example, the World Food Programme and also the CFA. If we now change this paragraph we are going to contradict a decision which has already been taken in the CFA.
S. ABOUJAOUDE (Liban) (langue originale arabe): Je tiens tout d'abord à exprimer mon soutien à l'appui formulé par les Etats-Unis et le Mexique à la proposition de la Colombie.
En ce qui concerne la proposition présentée par le représentant des Philippines, je tiens à appuyer ce qui a été dit par le représentant de l'Iraq, car si nous nous référons au texte arabe, qui est tout à fait clair (j'ai écouté la proposition faite par le truchement de l'interprétation) j'estime qu'elle introduit de la confusion dans le paragraphe. Par conséquent, j'estime qu'il ne faut pas changer le texte mais le maintenir tel quel.
H. CARANDANG (Philippines): If I could venture a new text, and I hope it would be acceptable because it incorporates the ideas that have been indicated also by the Director-General and of the Office of Inter-Agency Affairs, it would go like this: - "The Council drew particular attention to the broadened and revised concept of world food security and the approaches indicated in the Director-General's Report on World Food Security which have been agreed upon by that Committee and emphasize the importance of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes to take into account in formulating the programmes." In other words now it is clear that the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes should take into account in formulating their policies and programmes the revised concepts, and those approaches of the Director-General that have been approved by the Committee on World Food Security. Now this eliminates all the doubts one could have on the proposals which are still under discussion.
CHAIRMAN: Let me repeat again so that speakers can get on with it. The Philippines proposed that this sentence now will read as follows: "The Council drew particular attention to the broader and revised concept of the World Food Security and the approaches indicated in the Director-General's report on World Food Security agreed in the Committee on World Food Security and emphasized the importance" and the rest of it. This will come before the sentence beginning "agreed in the Committee on World Food Security."
DIRECTOR-GENERAL: I want to draw the attention of the delegate of the Philippines to the fact that this will defeat the purpose of his earlier intervention, as regards placing the Director-General and the concept of World Food Security on the same level.
T. AHMAD (Pakistan): To be quite honest, I was reluctant to enter into the discussion. I thought it might sound as though I were defending the efforts of the Drafting Committee, where we have been sitting for practically one week for long hours. But when I looked at the sentence - and perhaps it might be my limited understanding of the English language - I do not find any problems with it because it itself includes two different ideas. The first part of the sentence, when it is talking about the concept, says "agreed in the Committee". So it is the concept agreed on about food security and the first part refers to that. The second part, when talking about approaches, says "approaches indicated". That is a very vague term; it does not say "approved" just "indicated approaches". And the last part of the sentence says "into account in formulating" - again it does not contain a categorical imperative. It merely says "indicated in the Director-General's report may be taken into account".
Therefore, we thought there would be no difficulty in that because the sentence itself bifurcates the two ideas that the Philippines is getting at: the revised concept as agreed on and the approaches as indicated. That is how we understood the sentence and we therefore find the sentence to be appropriate and think it should be retained.
R.C. GUPTA (India): I have been listening to this debate for the last half hour but I am sorry to note that I have not been able to appreciate what the problem really is. When you mention two things in a particular context, it does not necessarily mean you give them the same importance. One is what the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes recommended, and incidentally I happened to be in the Drafting Committee of both the Committee on World Food Security and of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes; and I would recall that in the CFS we accepted certain proposals of the Director-General as contained in his report on the revised concept on world food security. It was felt that some of the other ideas were good but required detailed examination of implication in terms of financing, institutional arrangements, etc. We found them to be good ideas that should be further pursued.
In the Drafting Committee as in the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes, if I recall correctly it was said that the ideas indicated in the Director-General's report - such of them as approved by the CFS - should be kept in view while formulating policies and programmes in the World Food Programme. So, after having gone through all this, after having considered world food security and referred to the report and the concepts contained in it in the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes, I do not find any particular problem why the World Food Programme should not be expected to keep in view what has been approved by the CFS and work is still under consideration, taking both into account. We are not asking them to follow anything but merely to keep certain useful concepts in view while formulating policies and programmes; there is no question of equating the two things: one, what has been approved by the intergovernmental committee and the other is certain useful ideas that have been acknowledged as useful and important by a very important Committee, one that is open to all members of the UN system. I find no particular difficulty in putting both things together but certainly that does not mean that the report is being compared to acceptance of the Intergovernmental Committee.
I would suggest that the draft of both paragraphs has been put forward by the Drafting Committee after a great deal of deliberation and hard work and should be accepted as it is.
H. CARANDANG (Philippines): First of all I should like to state that indeed these are two different meanings that are given, if the Philippines' proposal is accepted. First of all, we are equating now the revised concept in the approaches approved by the Director-General and by the Committee; the approaches of the Director-General indicated in his report and now approved by the Committee, I think, have the same status because they have the same status of approval by the Committee. If you say: we will let the present text remain, well, I have no great difficulties with this but I find it illogical.
For example, how can you take into account in the formulation of your policies something that is not in existence? For instance, such as the FAO fund? How can you take this into account in your policies? It is non-existent; it has yet to be approved. How can you take it into account in your policies and programmes? It is still a proposal which is on the table and which has yet to come into existence, is it not?
If we take it in this way, then we are really not giving any directive to the Committee on Food Aid. But if you say right now what it means, if we accept the Philippines'proposal, you are now giving a directive to the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes. You look at these concepts that have been approved, you have to take this into account in formulating these programmes. But asU is, you are taking everything together, even non-existent proposals for projects and proposals which are not in existence. How can you take this into account?
I think my point is logical and in that way we are giving a very definite directive to the Committee on Food Aid, and its parent body, FAO, is giving its child a very definite proposal, now. But the way it is, it is a wishy-washy thing.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Yo quiero manifestar muy sinceramente mi aprecio positivo por la parte inicial, muy constructiva de la declaración del amigo Carandang, de Filipinas y pienso que cuando él ha dicho que no tiene objeción para que sea adoptado este texto como está, pues adoptémoslo así y pasemos al párrafo 9.
CHAIRMAN: Does the Philippine delegation agree to this suggestion?
H. CARANDANG (Philippines): I cannot insist, if the Council will reject my proposal, of course you have to adopt the paragraph as it is because it is only a Philippines proposal and if it does not meet the approval of the Council, naturally it will adopt the sentence as it is.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Then shall we leave it as it is and go on? Thank you very much. Paragraph 9.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): El párrafo 9, Señor Presidente, sin duda se refiere a todos los veinte anos del Programa Mundial de Alimentos, veinte años durante los cuales el PMA ha tenido varios Directores Ejecutivos. Basados en esta realidad, quisiéramos proponer una ligera modificación a la segunda frase del párrafo 9.
La segunda frase del párrafo debería decir como sigue: Expreso también a todos los Directores Ejecutivos y al personal del PMA el reconocimiento, etc., etc. A todos los Directores Ejecutivos y al personal del PMA, repito.
CHAIRMAN: I hope this is acceptable.
R. SALLERY (Canada): We agree.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you. This whole item is called the Twentieth Anniversary so it is important to recognize the work of all Directors. Paragraphs 10, 11, 12? Approved.
Paragraphs 1 to 12, as amended, approved
Les paragraphes 1 à 12, ainsi amendés, sont approuvés
Los párrafos 1 a 12, así enmendados, son aprobados
Draft Report of Plenary, Part VIII, as amended, was adopted
Le Projet de rapport de la Plénière, huitième partie, ainsi amendé, est adopté
El proyecto de informe de la Plenaria, Parte VIII, así enmendado, es aprobado
The meeting was suspended from 17.15 to 17.30 hours
La seance est suspendue de 17 h 15 à 17 h 30
Se suspende la sesión de las 17.15 horas a las 17.30 horas
CHAIRMAN: We will go back briefly to document REP/6 , the portion relating to the Resolution of FAO's mandate and legal process.
You may recall we deferred a decision on this Resolution until the time that the Ambassador of Italy, the delegates of Lebanon, Pakistan and Canada got together and suggested an agreed alternative version.
DRAFT REPORT - PART VI (continued)
PROJET DE RAPPORT - PARTIE VI (suite)
PROYECTO DE INFORME - PARTE VI (continuación)
PARAGRAPH 34, INCLUDING RESOLUTION (continued)
PARAGRAPHE 34, Y COMPRIS LA RESOLUTION (suite)
PARRAFO 34, INCLUIDA LA RESOLUCION (continuación)
M. FRANCISCI DI BASCHI (Italie): Nous nous sommes consultés et nous avons rejoint un accord sur un nouveau texte du paragraphe 1 (ii).
Je vous donne lecture du texte français: "à défendre l'inviolabilité des sections 16 et 17 de l'article VIII de l'Accord relatif au Siège, et,en particulier, à garantir que les avoirs de la FAO ne soient pas bloqués."
CHAIRMAN: The proposal is to delete the present paragraph 1 (iv). The new paragraph 1 (ii) will read as follows, "to uphold the sanctity of Article VIII, Section 16 and 17 of the Headquarters Agreement and in particular to ensure that FAO's assets were not frozen."
R.C. GUPTA (India): I would beg forgiveness to intervene again on this point. I have no strong feeling on this matter, but still I feel that sub-paragraph (ii) suggested is insisting on a temporary solution of an immediate problem. I said during the debate on the subject that we should try to find a long-term solution to protect the immunity of the Organization, not to find temporary solutions in the sense that the assets are not frozen in process of the decree of a particular court or the execution of a particular decree. I must say that the formulation is far short of our expectation. However, I would leave it for the consideration of the Council how the matter should be settled, but we are not satisfied.
CHAIRMAN: I thought the new (iv) seemed to be the kind of point you have been emphasizing rightly. So we now accept the agreed formulation. Thank you, Italy, Lebanon, Canada and Pakistan. We are grateful to you.
Paragraph 34, including Resolution as amended, adopted
Le paragraphe 34, y compris la résolution ainsi amendée, est adopté
El párrafo 34, incluida la Resolución así enmendada, es aprobado
Draft Report of Plenary, Part VI, as amended, was adopted
Le projet de rapport de la plénière, sixième partie, ainsi amendé, est adopté
El proyecto de informe de la Plenaria, Parte VI, asi enmendado, es aprobado
DRAFT REPORT - PART IX
PROJET DE RAPPORT - PARTIE IX
INFORME PROVISIONAL - PARTE IX
PARAGRAPHS 1 to 16
PARAGRAPHES 1 à 16
PARRAFOS 1 a 16
R. SALLERY (Canada): On paragraph 3, Mr Chairman in the third sentence it might be more appropriate to say: "Of this, over 70 percent had gone to refugees and displaced persons".
CHAIRMAN: Is that acceptable? So we add the word "refugees". Any comments on the following paragraphs?
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Deseamos proponer dos ligeras adiciones a la última frase del párrafo 10 para precisar los hechos. En la última frase del párrafo 10 deberíamos decir: "El Consejo lamento una vez más". Y luego al final "fijado por la Conferencia Mundial de la Alimentación en 1974". Estos son hechos, señor Presidente.
CHAIRMAN: There is a point in paragraph 9 to which we will come back. But let us finish this. "The Council regretted once again the non-fulfilment of the World Food Conference target of 1974 of 10 million tons of cereal food aid." Is this acceptable? We accept Colombia's proposal. I give the floor to Mr. Régnier on paragraph 9.
A. REGNIER (Director, Office for Inter-Agency Affairs): The first sentence of paragraph 9, a bit of the sentence is missing from the text. It should read as follows: "On the format and contents of the Annual Report, some Members stressed the desirability of highlighting in the Annual Report itself or by way of an explanatory memorandum", and the rest of the sentence unchanged. It was agreed in the Drafting Group, but because of the pressure of time it was skipped in the final printing. CHAIRMAN: Thank you, I hope you followed the suggestion.
G. BULA HOYOS: (Colombia): Mi distinguido y atento vecino de la derecha, el embajador de El Congo, me ha hecho observar que al final del párrafo 10 en el texto francés, y suponemos que en el inglés también, hay una referencia que no aparece en el texto español, referente al hecho de que la meta de los 10 millones nunca ha sido alcanzada. Quisiera que el Presidente del Comité de Redacción nos aclarara esto para el texto castellano.
A. SOLE-LERIS (Encargado, Dirección Asuntos de la Conferencia y el Consejo y de Protocolo): No puedo dictaminar sobre el texto en lengua árabe, que desgraciadamente no conozco, pero examinando los tres textos, en francés, inglés y castellano, me parece que son equivalentes. Donde dice en inglés "The Council regretted the "non-fulfilment" of the World Food Conference", el equivalente en español es que "no se hubiera alcanzado el objetivo". (Continúa en francés) Pour indiquer l'équivalent en français, il y a justement cette phrase que Monsieur l'Ambassadeur du Congo a souligné: " que l'objectif n'ait jamais été atteint". C'est la façon que nos traducteurs ont trouvé pour traduire le "non-fulfilment" anglais.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Sin duda en francés la redacción es más fuerte, pero aceptamos la explicación del señor Solé-Leris.
CHAIRMAN: In paragraph 12 there is a small correction in the French text. Mr. Solé-Leris will explain it to us.
A. SOLE-LERIS (Chargé de la Division de la Conférence, du Conseil et du Protocole): A propos du paragraphe 12, je me tourne vers les membres du Conseil de langue française avec nos excuses, mais comme vous le savez il a fallu travailler très vite aujourd'hui pour sortir ce texte. Il y a dans le paragraphe 12 un membre de phrase qui a disparu au cours de l'impression du texte français mais qui avait été accepté au Comité de rédaction et qui se trouve dans les textes anglais, espagnol et arabe Voici donc le texte de la première phrase rétabli: "Le Conseil a. estimé qu'on pourrait dans toute la mesure du possible utiliser davantage le poisson sous des formes appropriées et les produits à base de poisson....".
CHAIRMAN: I hope those who read the French text will have noted,
S.A. MAHMOOD (Bangladesh): I would like to draw your attention to the last sentence of para. 12. Here I think the sentence for the purpose of composition should be split into two, ending the sentence after "WFP projects difficult" and starting a new sentence "Even so ...", so that it becomes more clear.
CHAIRMAN: We have heard the suggestion of Bangladesh.
G. BULA HOYOS: (Colombia): Tal vez resulte pertinente en el párrafo 13 decir: "El Consejo manifestó la opinión de que era especialmente pertinente para el CPA y el PMA". Agregar las palabras "y el PMA".
CHAIRMAN: Is this acceptable? We add "and the WFP" after "CFA". So it will read: "... was of special relevance to the CFA and the WFP".
T. AHMAD (Pakistan): Just a slight drafting omission. In the Drafting Committee we have lifted parts of paragraph 14 and incorporated them in paragraph 12 to make that consistent. But some part regarding fish is still left in paragraph 14, which perhaps is no longer relevant to paragraph 14 and has been taken care of in paragraph 12. So I think we can delete the last sentence of paragraph 14.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Mi colega de Pakistán ha dicho exactamente lo que yo quería manifestar en su forma actual. En el párrafo 14 hay una mezcla de fertilizantes y pescado que puede ser indigesta.
L. ARIZÁ HIDALGO (Presidente del Comité de Redacción): Sí, Señor Presidente, precisamente esa indigestión fue la que el Comité de Redacción trató de evitar, porque en el "Drafting Committee" se hizo un proyecto donde venían incluidos fertilizantes y pescados. Se acordó transferir el segundo párrafo completo del 14 al 12, lo cual se acordó así. Ahora parece que en el apuro del empalme se incluyó ese párrafo a continuación del 14. Creo que el 14 debe terminar en "aceptables". Este párrafo tenemos que cotejarlo para ver si es repetición o sencillamente no se incluyó todo como se había acordado. Creo que lo que hay que hacer es cotejarlo para tener en el párrafo 12 todo lo que se refiere a productos pesqueros. Así es que se recoge en un sólo párrafo todos los productos pesqueros.
J. BELGRAVE (New Zealand): Just to add to what the Chairman of the Drafting Committee has said, I think the second sentence in paragraph 14 should go into paragraph 12, because there is the slightly additional thought about the efforts by the Programme in relation to fisheries projects development. I wonder if the principle were accepted whether the Secretariat could probably incorporate it.
CHAIRMAN: The suggestion of the Chairman of the Drafting Committee and of New Zealand is that this sentence, "However the Council noted with satisfaction that efforts were being made by the Programme to make greater use of fish and fish products in its projects, as well as to support projects for fisheries development" might be incorporated in paragraph 12, probably as a second sentence.
A. SOLE-LERIS (Officer-in-charge, Conference, Council and Protocol Affairs Division): It is suggested by those who attended the Drafting Committee that the simplest way would be, looking at paragraph 12, to delete the last sentence, wich says "even so, efforts would be made on the lines suggested by the Council" and instead of that you put in the whole of this second sentence of paragraph 14, which follows on quite neatly from what we have in paragraph 14, because paragraph 12 says, "It was informed" and then you add, "However the Council noted with satisfaction that efforts were being made..." and so on.
CHAIRMAN : Is this satisfactory, Bangladesh?
S.A. MAHMOOD (Bangladesh): Yes,
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Mr. Solé-Leris, for helping with the formulation. Thank you all very much. With that we come to the conclusion.
Paragraphs 1 to 16, as amended, approved
Les paragraphes 1 à 16, ainsi amendés, sont approuvés
Los párrafos 1 a 16, así enmendados, son aprobados
Draft Report of Plenary, Part IX, as amended, was adopted
Le projet de rapport de la plénière, neuvième partie, ainsi amendé, est adopté
El proyecto de informe de la Plenaria, Parte IX, así enmendado, es aprobado
G, BULA HOYOS (Presidente del Grupo de los 77): He sido autorizado para intervenir ahora en nombre del Grupo de los 77 que tengo el honor de presidir.
Seré breve porque posiblemente algunos de los presidentes regionales hablarán también. Al comienzo de nuestros trabajos hablé en representación del Grupo de los 77. Expuse algunos de nuestros puntos de vista sobre el temario de esta sesión. Al final me complace que algunas de esas ideas se hallen reflejadas en el informe que acabamos de adoptar. Somos conscientes de que no podemos aspirar a que todas nuestras posiciones sean aceptadas inmediatamente. Insistiremos a través de un proceso gradual, y queremos agradecer a usted, Sr. Presidente, y a los miembros del Consejo por habernos permitido que el Grupo de los 77 haya participado activamente en la reunion que hoy termina.
Queremos agradecer a usted, Sr. Presidente, la forma inteligente, dinámica y competente como nos ha dirigido. Gracias a su tacto, tolerancia y ponderación, este período de sesiones del Consejo ha transcurrido acertadamente y ha producido excelentes resultados.
Gracias también a los tres distinguidos vicepresidentes, a los colegas amigos, Sr. Sorenson de los Estados Unidos, Sr. Ministro Pereira-Silva de Cabo Verde, colega Hamdi de Egipto, ellos le asistieron muy válidamente-
Igualmente merecen nuestro reconocimiento los presidentes de los Comités del Programa de Finanzas, distinguidos colegas y amigos, señores Trkulja y Abeyagoonasekera, el compañero y amigo Leopoldo Ariza Hidalgo, Embajador de Cuba, que presidió el Comité de Redacción de manera singularmente eficaz y competente, y los miembros del Comité de Redacción, así como su Secretario el Sr. K. Wright; merecen la gratitud y el reconocimiento de todos nosotros por habernos presentado un excelente informe que facilitó la adopción de nuestras conclusiones.
El Grupo de los 77 cada día está más convencido de que en la FAO tenemos un Director General que es figura sobresaliente en el sistema de las Naciones Unidas. Con su acción permanente en favor de todos los Estados Miembros y particularmente al servicio de los países en desarrollo, el Sr. Saouma se ha consagrado como un Director General admirable, rodeado de la simpatía y apoyo de todos los representantes de Gobiernos. Nuestro Director General ha superado las limitaciones que imponen la actual recesión económica mundial y nos ha presentado un Programa de Labores y Presupuesto que está basado en el incremento de los programas técnicos y económicos que realmente interesan a nuestros países.
El Grupo de los 77 se complace en destacar esa actitud positiva del Director General. Todos los colaboradores del Director General son acreedores de nuestro agradecimiento. En particular el Sr. West, Director General Adjunto, el Profesor Islam, Subdirector General Jefe del Departamento Económico y Social, el Dr. Bommer, Subdirector General Jefe del Departamento de Agricultura, el Dr. J'uma, Subdirector General Representante para el Medio Oriente y todos quienes nos asistieron con su presentación e intervenciones. El Sr. Sylla, nuestro gran Secretario del Consejo, ausente en este momento, ha venido confirmando con su valioso silencio constructivo, admiramos en el Sr. Sylla la discreción, la prudencia y la eficacia con que cumple sus responsabilidades.
El Grupo de los 77 está muy satisfecho porque en el informe se haya incluido una referencia a los servicios prestados al Consejo por el Sr. Noël de Caprona, a quien todos conocimos en estas actividades. El Sr. Solé-Leris ha asumido temporalmente el cargo del Secretario Auxiliar del Consejo. El Sr. Solé-Leris es un trabajador incansable, dotado de gran buena voluntad y conocedor de todos los secretos de esta Casa, gracias a él también y feliz regreso a las cabinas de interpretación a las que sirve con tanta devoción.
El Grupo de los 77 quiere igualmente pedirle al distinguido colega y amigo Salahuddin Ahmed, Director Ejecutivo Alterno del Programa Mundial de Alimentos, que trasmita al Director Ejecutivo del PMA, y a todo el personal, el reconocimiento de los miembros del Grupo de los 77 por la valiosa colaboración que nos ha ofrecido.
Igualmente queremos agradecer a los intérpretes su trabajo, que ha facilitado nuestro entendimiento. Mil gracias a las gentiles y lindas mensajeras, que sonrientes han cruzado la sala en todas direcciones para llevar nuestros mensajes, que han facilitado nuestros contactos.
En nombre del Grupo de los 77, gracias a todos, quienes visible o invisiblemente nos han asistido durante estas dos semanas.
Sr. Presidente, y distinguidos colegas: permítanme que concluya con una referencia personal, pero que tiene sentido político. El 30 de junio, dentro de seis días, terminará mi mandato como Presidente del Grupo de los 77. Afortunadamente, nuestro Grupo quedará en las buenas manos de mi ilustre sucesor, A. Khalil, del Sudán. Al final de esa interesante experiencia puedo asegurar a todos los Miembros del Consejo que me he sentido muy honrado, profundamente orgulloso de haber sido el Presidente, el guía de todos mis colegas y amigos de Africa, Asia, Medio Oriente, América Latina y el Caribe.
En particular, quiero expresar mi agradecimiento a los cuatro presidentes de esas regiones y a los coordinadores, que junto con los demás miembros del Grupo hicieron siempre posible llevar adelante nuestras iniciativas. Durante los seis meses que he sido Presidente de los 77 he podido admirar cuántos compañeros inteligentes, capaces, decididos, preparados, hay entre los representantes de los Gobiernos que integran nuestro Grupo. Ellos me han instruido en el sentido de que manifieste a los distinguidos representantes de los países desarrollados y a los colegas y amigos de todas las regiones y todos los grupos, sin distinción, que nos honramos en compartir con ellos nuestras actividades en el seno del Consejo de la FAO, que si bien a veces hay posiciones y opiniones distintas, todo ello lo aceptamos dentro del marco de una normal controversia democrática, pero que lo esencial es el espíritu común de plena cooperación y total entendimiento, de socios para el desarrollo que debe caracterizar a 'todos quienes actuamos en esta importante Organización.
Con este mensaje fraternal de amistad y simpatía, los Miembros del Grupo de los 77 queremos reconocer la valiosa colaboración que nos han ofrecido todos los demás colegas e invitarlos a que continuemos todos de brazos y en sincera cordialidad hasta noviembre próximo para apoyar los esfuerzos de nuestro gran Director General por una Conferencia positiva, constructiva y útil al mejor cumplimiento de los ideales de la FAO que todos compartimos. Muchas gracias, Señor Presidente.
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(Aplausos)ABDUL WAHID bin ABDUL JALIL (Malaysia): I had originally intended to take a longer time for this intervention, but in view of the late hour - and I am sure all delegates are anxious for the end of this session - I will cut my intervention short.
Speaking on behalf of the Asia group and the Malaysian delegation and on my own behalf, I would like first of all to express our most sincere appreciation to you, the three Vice-chairmen, the Chairman and Members of the Drafting Committee for the manner in which you have guided and conducted the deliberations of this meeting, and with the valuable assistance of the Vice-Chairmen and the Drafting Committee, you are able to bring this meeting to a successful and fruitful conclusion. The Council has no doubt benefited very much from your vast experience, and I would like to congratulate you and all other colleagues of yours as well as those of the Secretariat for their excellent performance.
During the last two weeks, we have listened with careful attention to the views of Member Governments on various issues, and in the spirit of cooperation and respect which is characteristic of and still prevalent in the debates of this Organization we were able to reach a common understanding, a consensus on all the issues relevant and significant to the work of increasing food production and reducing food insecurity in the world, especially in the low-income food-deficit countries. I feel this was all because we, irrespective of our positions, were committed to the
one common and noble cause, that is of striving to overcome this depressing problem of mankind and to help make food readily available at all times. Let us therefore keep and honour this long-cherished tradition that we have helped to establish. Let us continue to build on this spirit of cooperation and understanding where individuals' or groups' interest shall find its way to our common understanding, so that the unfortunate poor for whom we have dedicated our efforts will benefit from our decisions and conclusions.
The countries in Asia and the Pacific have over the years realized that the only real solution to the problem of food and agricultural development, of making enough food available to our huge population and of raising the living standard of our rural poor was to build our own resilience. Thus many of us have been frugal because we knew we were poor and therefore had to live within our means. We have to develop our own ideas and innovations to enable us to use to the maximum the unequal and unbalanced distribution of resources that we have had. There is the sheer size of the population on the one hand, while on the other we lack the financial resources, the skill and the land to work on. There are other important resources, but we have not been able to adequately tap and efficiently manage them. We do not have the means to harness for our productive purposes these various resources and today these resources have somewhat continued to become the destabilizing factors in our food production, But, Mr. Chairman, our Government has been very determined and our people very responsive to meet the challenge. Through our own policies and programmes and with our own innovative initiatives assisted by the international community we were able to widen the horizon of hope and reduce that of despair among our rural poor. For example the successful implementation of Masagana 99 of the Philippines, the Communes of China, the 20-Point Plan of India, the Bimas and the Ansus of Indonesia, and the Saemaul Undong of Korea, the FELDA and the FELCRA Schemes of Malaysia, to name a few has brought about new hope and inspiration amongst our poor and a new encouragement to our Government, but Mr. Chairman there are still many countries in Asia, and regions within many countries there, where the situation is still far from satisfactory. We are however increasingly determined to overcome this.
Mr. Chairman, over the years the countries of Asia have gained some valuable experience in our rural development efforts. We would now like to cooperate and share these experiences with our neighbours and friends. We would not only want to limit our cooperation between the countries in Asia; we would want to share and collaborate with all whatever little we have, all we know if we can afford them. We would like to extend to those who need them, especially to other members of the developing world so that we can have a meaningful South/South cooperation. It is our hope that others too will adopt this attitude so that we will not only survive but "inch Allah" we will be able to continually improve our condition.
While we fall back to our own resources, capacity and capabilities for our own development, we will nevertheless continue to need the assistance of the international community to help us plant and implement together our strategies and actions to alleviate hunger and malnutrition and to eliminate the division of hopelessness and desolation of the millions of poor in the developing countries. Our hope is that the international community and institutions who have responded to our call for assistance will increasingly play the role as partners in our development efforts to understand and to share in our hopes and aspirations, and not to be judged as givers of aid. We do not want to just receive, gifts and alms; we do not want them to give us just assistance. We want sincere willingness to share, to assist and to guide us, to share with us the knowledge and experience so that one day we will be able to stand on our own.
We do not want their contribution to the development of the developing countries to be only as an insurance of their own well-being in the future.
Finally, Mr. Chairman I would like to place on record our Group's most sincere appreciation to the Director-General of FAO, Dr. Edouard Saouma, for his sincere concern and tireless efforts to assist the developing countries to cherish the hope for a better world in which to live and to be respected as human beings. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all Members and Brothers in Islam a successful observance of the Ramadan.
J. BELGRAVE (New Zealand): It is my privilege to speak briefly on behalf of, I guess, the smallest group of the Council, the countries of the South Pacific region, but I speak also on behalf of my own delegation. First, Sir, I would like to thank you very sincerely for your patience and skillful Chairmanship over the last two weeks and I think because of this we have, as has been said by previous speakers, been able to arrive at meaningful consensus on the very wide range of important issues that we have considered, and I think this augurs well for the future objectives and successes of the Organization.
I would also like to place on record the sincere thanks of my delegation and those countries I represent to the Vice-Chairmen for their work in helping the Council through a very full and difficult Agenda.
The Chairman of the Drafting Group has guided my delegation and others through a most interesting and at times difficult but always meaningful consensus surrounding ten days, and I think our thanks are very much due to him. Also, Sir, the Chairmen of the Programme and Finance Committees in their help to us in the last couple of weeks took us through perhaps the most important issues facing this Council Session.
The Director-General himself continues to provide the leadership and guidance that FAO has probably come to expect but perhaps we take a lot for granted, but my delegation would like to add to those who have recorded their appreciation of his efforts. Also to his dedicated staff, some of whom are here and some who may have dropped by the wayside after our long meeting, as well as the interpreters without whom many of us could not communicate at all and at the same time I think if the Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme could pass on our appreciation of this efforts and those of the Executive Director and his staff for their contribution..
Finally, Sir, tomorrow I will be going back to our part of the world where it is winter but I will take back not only the warmth of the Italian Summer but I say this sincerely, the warmth, friendship and cooperation of other Members of this Council and all the Secretariat associated with it.
A. G. NGONGI NAMANGA (Chairman, African Group): I am sorry to speak now but I hope you will grant me the privilege of speaking on behalf of the African Group. I do not need to praise you and the Vice Chairmen any more. I think the Ambassador of Colombia, Chairman of the Group of 77, did an excellent job in putting together the sentiments of members of this Council and Observers. This Council has been very important not only because it has supported the Draft Programme of Work and Budget as a solid basis for the preparation of the final document by the Director-General, but it is even more important to those of us from the Africa Group because it has addressed many issues which are of particular interest to our region. I need only point to a few. Para. 28 of REP/2 which calls particular attention to the indigenous cults of Africa; para. 42 of REP/2 which calls upon emphasis and appreciation of the training programmes being carried out at the moment by the Director-General and the Secretariat to boost training in parts of Africa at high and medium level; para. 18 of REP/3 which embodies the comments of the Committee on World Food Security in the paper presented by the Director General on the African constraints on food production and the follow-up actions which should be taken up. These are very important and we appreciate that the Council has taken the time to go through them and given them this endorsement. We do agree Mr. Chairman that the first responsibility lies on each country to make the maximum effort and give priority to increasing its own food production. That we cannot contradict, but an Organization such as FAO was created to go to the assistance of those who were having particular difficulties in facing their food and agricultural problems. It is for that reason that many Africans, of course, address themselves to this Organization, and for that very reason that we are all members of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. We are happy to see the constructive spirit that has characterized the work of this Council and the great sympathy, and I would say empathy, which has been expressed by both developing and developed countries to the particular situation which is facing the region which I have the honour to represent. We appreciate it very much, especially so coming from the developing countries which themselves suffered from such problems only a few years ago, and we appreciate the great willingness they have to share their own experience and their resources and enabling other less fortunate regions who have made less progress to benefit from the experience. Mr. Chairman I do not wish to be long but let me just put on record that the African region places on record with great appreciation the great and valiant efforts which the Director General and the Secretariat has been making, to come to the assistance of our region, a region which we hope in the near future will also take its own respectable place in the family of nations as one which is making a contribution to food security.
R. SALLERY (Canada): On behalf of the North American Group I would also like to express a few words of thanks. First to the Director-General and the FAO Secretariat our sincere thanks for making this another successful Council. Many of us are aware of the tremendous effort which is necessary to prepare, to produce documentation reports and meetings which are so essential to a successful meeting like this, and the FAO has not failed us this time. We have, I believe, obtained a successful conclusion. All the papers, the meetings, the conferences and the resolutions are however only a part of the real work of the FAO which is carried on daily, that of helping developing countries achieve a more sufficient and reliable agricultural productivity and for this we must also be very grateful.
I would also like to go an record as expressing the appreciation of our Group to the Executive Director of WFP and his staff for their help. To the messengers, the clerks, the security guards and all the support staff we must express appreciation. They have been very helpful. The translators, the interpreters, the verbatim reporters deserve special thanks. We are always indebted for the long hours, the great patience and the dedication shown by the Professional staff, and it is true that without them we probably would not succeed.
To the three Vice-Chairmen, the United States, Cape Verde and Egypt, I am sure our Chairman, Dr. Swaminathan, is as grateful as anyone for their assistance. We are also very grateful to them. To the Chairmen of the Programme and Finance Committees and to the Secretariat of the Drafting Group, special thanks also.
To the Chairman of the Drafting Group I believe there is no one in this Council who regrets his appointment. His sincere, objective, independent judgement has been most remarkable and we are all most grateful to him for this. I would like also to thank Members of the Drafting Committee who were able to spend so much time with our Chairman and produce such a fine Report.
To Ambassador Bula Hoyos our special thanks for the cooperation and goodwill he has expressed to our group over the past year and we look forward to talking to your new colleague, the representative from Sudan.
Finally, Mr. Chairman to you yourself we would like to say how very much your sincerity, your fairness, your professionalism has contributed to the success of this Council. I have been honoured to know you for several years now and I know at first hand your personal commitment to development, and all I can say is that your country has produced a fine heritage of what I have learned to call over the years "the peacemakers". And you, Sir, are no exception to that high tradition and we are grateful to you for that.
H.F. NAJEB (Iraq) (Original language Arabic): Due to the absence of the Honourable Ambassador of Cyprus, and as coordinator for the Near East Group within the Group of 77, please allow me, Mr. Chairman, to speak on behalf of the Near East Group. At the outset I should like to thank you for your patience and for your wisdom in conducting the activities of this Council.
We would like to say that we have had an excellent opportunity to benefit from your experience and from your wisdom. There is no doubt that a magnificent country like India has always offered us people of your calibre.
I would also like to extend my thanks to the Vice-Chairmen as well as to the Chairmen of the Programme and Finance Committees, who, through their serious work, managed to come to a compromise on the viewpoints expressed in the Council.
I also wish to thank the members of the Secretariat who through their fruitful cooperation and collaboration have greatly contributed to the success of this Session.
We would also like to thank the translators and the interpreters who have helped us overcome linguistic barriers.
I also would like to extend my thanks to the Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme and I hope he will convey our thanks to the Executive Director himself.
Our special thanks go to the Chairman of the Group of 77 and we are gratified to have had this excellent opportunity to work in close cooperation with him throughout the last six months, a period which was marked by fruitful cooperation and mutual benefits.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, please convey our thanks to our Director-General who is leading this Organization with all due care. We thank him in particular for his efforts to improve the activities of this Organization, to introduce new concepts, aiming always at servicing the developing countries and creating the best possible means of cooperation among developing and developed countries to the benefits, of course, of all humanity.
KONG CANDONG (China) (Original language Chinese): Mr. Chairman, under your able guidance the present Council Session has come to a successful conclusion. We are happy to note that the Council has reached consensus on some important issues we have discussed as a result of the common efforts exerted by the Council members. There is no doubt that such achievement will help lay a good foundation for the deliberations of the Twenty-second Session of the FAO Conference. We feel delighted about this. We believe that in such a harmonious and cooperative atmosphere we have achieved fruitful results and our special thanks should go to the Director-General and all of the delegations who have participated in the Council, as well as the Secretariat.
DIRECTOR-GENERAL: Mr. Chairman, distinguished delegates, on behalf of my colleagues and on my behalf, I should like to thank you all for the kind words of support and confidence you have expressed to us. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your patience which has enabled us to participate fully - especially myself! - in the debate. We shall try to do our best to continue to deserve this confidence through our work.
In my opening address, I expressed the wish to see the Council reach a consensus on the Programme of Work and Budget. This has been accomplished. This is why I want to express my satisfaction and my thanks. Also I want to assure you that we shall look very carefully into the observations, comments and recommendations you have made on the next Programme of Work and Budget 1984/85. We shall take them into consideration in preparing the full document.
I also want to assure you that I shall implement all the decisions and the resolutions you have approved with rigour and we look forward to seeing you again on the occasion of the forthcoming Council which will be held just prior to the Conference. We shall also have an important event on 16 October in the Plenary Hall, when we shall be honoured by the presence of the Prime Minister of Sweden, Mr. Olaf Palme; and we hope that you will all be present on this occasion.
I wish a safe return, to those of you who have to travel; happy holidays for those who can take them. And we thank you again for your confidence and your support.
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
CHAIRMAN: Director-General, delegates, ladies and gentlemen, you know my policy, that I should be the last to prolong a session as I generally believe I should be more seen than heard.
I can only tell you it has been a great experience for me, an enriching experience to hear 49 distinguished delegates from 49 sovereign nations, representing all the variety we have in this world. Variety is the spice of life, but we had in this hall a microcosm of that variety, representing 49 countries, various observers, non-governmental organizations. They have all given their wisdom. They have to the best of their ability communicated the views of their governments, and listening here to these delegates speaking has been a great deal of an educational experience to me and I want to thank you for this enriching experience you have given me. I am grateful for the words you spoke and I know I have done nothing except my duty because as a Chairman here with a prefix "Independent" Chairman, one has to be fair to everyone, otherwise you are not fair to the position to which you were elected. This has been my one ambition that I should not fail you in the trust which has been reposed in me, but obviously I could not have done anything at all except for all of you. Your contributions, your recommendations, after all they are obviously your recommendations, and therefore I want to thank you once again for the extremely active participation you gave. On the one hand success depends upon your cooperation and participation, which we have had in abundance during this session, and on the other, the support, advice and active assistance of the entire staff of FAO, from the Director-General downwards, everyone has given their very best to help us to help the Council's work. We are exceedingly grateful.
As the Director-General said, the documents will be ready in July. The Drafting Committee finished its function only at 12 noon but after only three to four hours, we received, in all languages, the reports of the Drafting Committee. It is an extraordinary accomplishment of this Organization in terms of servicing important bodies like this one, and we want to express our sincere gratitude to all those who have been working behind the scenes to make our work easier.
May I express my gratitude to the three Vice-Chairmen with whom I had the privilege of being associated in this Council. With some of them I have been associated with for very-many years.
Mr. Roger Sorenson of the United States; I would particularly like to wish him well because I understand after a very distinguished career as the United States representative to FAO he is shortly going to take up another assignment. I am sure the Council Members would like me to express to you and to your family our best wishes for continued satisfaction both in your professional life and your personal life. We want to wish you well and we want to thank you for your contributions at this session.
His Excellency, Pereira Silva could not be with us for long but in the few days he spent with us he did share many of his ideas in the area of rural and agricultural developments and we are grateful.
Mr. Hamdi of Egypt, I want to thank him for his assistance in making this Council Session a great success.
Already the delegates from various regions, as well as the Group 77, have rightly expressed our gratitude to Ambassador Ariza Hidalgo, Cuba, the distinguished Chairman of the Drafting Committee, Somebody said the Drafting Committee had worked for the last ten days, I would say they had worked for twenty days, I called it a double-day the other day. We use the word "double-day" largely to deal with the life of the poor women in the Himalayas and other places where they have to gather water and fuel during the day and work during the night, cook and do many other things. When I mentioned when we elected the Drafting Committee that we had sentenced them to hard labour I think it was an understatement. Now I feel very much it was a rigorous punishment, working almost every day until midnight, together with the staff who supported them. So I want to thank you, the Ambassador of Cuba and through you the delegates of Afghanistan, Congo, Ethiopia, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Indonesia, Iraq, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan and the United States of America, the other members of the Drafting Committee, We are very grateful to you for your labour of love.
I also want to add my words of gratitude to Professor Trkulja who is not here, the very distinguished Chairman of the Programme Committee and Mr, Abeyagoonasekera of Sri Lanka, the very knowledgeable and articulate Chairman of the Finance Committee, They certainly make our work very easy in the Council because they spend about two weeks before us in trying to sort out important matters coming before the Council. I want to thank the Chairman as well as the Members of the Programme Committee and the Finance Committee for their very valuable contribution.
Mr. Sylla, who is the Secretary-General, had to leave because he had to catch a flight, and he gave his apologies. He has been observing Ramadan, and I find although I drink a lot of water he has not been having even a drop of water throughout the day, and no food but I have always found him exceedingly the perfect gentleman, the embodiment of every good quality and we are grateful to him for his assistance.
Mr. Solé-Leris, his contributions and his abilities, his linguistic abilities, have been mentioned, you have had some taste of it, and I know, him well, but I must say seeing him from a booth somewhere than sitting nearby makes a great deal of difference. A remarkable person and I think the Organization is fortunate that they have many such highly dedicated individuals.
Mr. West and the Assistant Director-Generals, the Directors and the other staff of FAO, they have been working very hard and they have helped us in our work and we all are unanimous in our praise for their contributions.
Already members have mentioned also Mr. Ingram and Mr. Ahmed and other staff of the WFP, their contributions on the day we discussed this Programme have been extremely helpful.
I must make a mention of many others who we do not see. Mr. Linley, the Of ficer-iti-Charge of the Operations Branch and the entire staff of that Conference Operations Branch. We are most grateful to them.
Mr. Wright and the. Secretary of the Drafting Committee and the staff who supported them. They have had almost a triple-day, almost 24 hours because even after the Drafting Committee dispersed they started their daily work so they have been continuously working, and we are very grateful to them.
Of course mention has been made of all the interpreters, translators, verbatim reporters, printing staff, the messengers and the numerous others who make life meaningful in this hall. When we have our discussions they help us to understand each other, they help us to pass messages to each other and to understand each other in many other ways and we are most grateful to them.
I would like to express our gratitude to Ambassador Francisci di Baschi, the Ambassador of our Host Government, Italy, for his help in many ways to the delegates. Of course, the Host Government make many arrangements, including the Protocol arrangements, which are sometimes difficult. For all the arrangements that are made by the Host Government we are deeply appreciative. We are grateful not only for your presence here, but also for the many things we may not understand, but which are entirely dependent upon the Host Government's support.
I would also like to express my thanks to Ambassador Bula-Hoyos for his introductory remarks and concluding remarks and wish his successor, Mr. Khalil of Sudan, much success as the Chairman of the Group of 77.
Finally, I think words would not be adequate to express my gratitude to the Director-General for his presence here. I know his mother is not well, he has to leave immediately after the Council, but he has spent the whole two weeks with us, in spite of other personal, pressing needs, and we gratefully appreciate all that you have done and the inspiration you have given.
We have in this meeting discussed many problems, food security, genetic resources conservation, the World Food Programme, the Summary Programme of Work and Budget, and what has inspired me is the great deal of ability to understand each other. I think it is the spirit of understanding which ultimately will make the world a worthwhile one. So long as we are able to see each other's point of view and then subjugate our own personal viewpoint to a larger cause, so long as we put the cause above ourselves, then everything will be all right, because we know in this world if agriculture goes wrong nothing can go right, and conversely if agriculture goes right, everything will go right.
This is the cause for which we are all working, and the Organization is working under the distinguished Director-General and I have this message from you, that everyone here is deeply committed to the cause, and that was the real reason why you were able, in many cases, to subordinate your personal viewpoints to the larger cause of having a common consensus on important issues.
I thank you very much and I want to wish you all well, and to our Islamic colleagues I want to wish them a successful completion of Ramadan. I also want to wish those who are leaving Rome a very pleasant and safe journey, and I also add my words of welcome to those of the Director-General, that we will see you all again at the November meeting, the short meeting of the Council preceding the Conference.
Applause
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The meeting rose at 18.30 hours
La séance est levée à 18 h 30
Se levanta la sesión a las 18.30 horas.
