A. NTEZILYAYO (Rwanda): Permettez-moi de joindre ma voix à celle des collègues qui m'ont précédé hier, pour appuyer les propositions de programme et de budget de la FAO pour le biennium 1984-85. En plus de la clarté de leurs présentations, le budget et le programme présentés ont le mérite d'être réalistes. En effet, ils se concentrent principalement sur les priorités, priorités relatives à l'amélioration de l'alimentation par l'accroissement des productions vivrières, ainsi qu'à la sécurité alimentaire.
Toutefois, M. le Président, une inquiétude profonde s'impose et notre délégation voudrait l'exprimer. Au cours de cette semaine que nous venons de passer ensemble, nous avons reconnu la précarité de la situation alimentaire mondiale qui ne fait que se dégrader davantage, notamment et particulièrement dans les pays africains à faible revenu et à déficit alimentaire. Les importations de denrées alimentaires de ces pays, surtout les céréales, ne cessent d'augmenter, grevant considérablement la capacité d'investissement dans les secteurs multiples. Une étude très fouillée a fait l'inventaire des problèmes qui se posent dans ces régions, et a proposé des solutions. En conséquence de cette situation, le pays le plus grand producteur mondial de céréales décide de mettre ses terres en réserve. L'aide au développement et l'aide alimentaire ont particulièrement diminué et, de surcroît, la FAO voit son budget diminuer dans certaines de ses composantes et croître de manière insignifiante dans d'autres. Je voudrais souligner le danger de cette situation qui, à notre avis, porte atteinte à la vie même de notre organisation.
En effet, aujourd'hui on réduit le budget des postes administratifs, on supprime certains programmes jugés non prioritaires, comme si brusquement la FAO nous apparaissait tout juste comme une machine bureaucratique. Je me demande si demain les programmes de terrain ne seront pas à leur tour mis en cause, histoire d'apprendre aux pays sous-développés à se débrouiller eux-mêmes. Il est à notre avis temps que les Etats Membres se rendent compte que la FAO est l'organisation internationale la plus qualifiée pour aider à résoudre les problèmes alimentaires mondiaux; qu'elle est un forum privilégié où les responsables internationaux de l'agriculture, en dehors de toute considération politique et autres, peuvent encore entendre la voix du partage et de la reconnaissance du droit de se nourrir de l'humanité entière. Et ici je voudrais rendre un vibrant hommage au Directeur général de la FAO qui incarne cette politique de défense de notre organisation.
Il importe par conséquent de sauvegarder cette organisation comme telle, en lui assurant les moyens de s'affirmer davantage et de venir à bout des égoïsmes des uns et des autres.
Enfin j'aimerais insister sur le fait que même si le budget du programme d'agriculture a légèrement augmenté, la part de cette augmentation consacrée aux cultures, à l'élevage et à la nutrition paraît insignifiante si l'on pense à tout ce qu'il reste à faire pour assurer l'autosuffisance alimentaire d'une partie importante de la population du globe.
A. PAPASOLOMONTOS (Cyprus): The Cyprus delegation is supportive of the general trends proposed by the Director-General in his proposals for the Programme of Work and Budget for the biennium 1984/85, as outlined in document CL 83/3. We note, however, that for the second consecutive biennium the budget proposals contain little real programme increases, which amount to only about .5 percent. We understand and fully appreciate the reasons which necessitate this extended period of consolidation. At this time there is extreme fragility of food supplies, as was pointed out by the Director-General in his opening statement.
We would hope that the world economic situation would improve in the biennium under consideration, allowing for real budgetary increases and growth of the Organization in the years ahead.
If this were not to happen, the Cyprus delegation feels that FAO would then be faced with increasing difficulties in fulfilling its mandate, since the 1984/85 financial constraints are being proposed to be accommodated through drastic, perhaps under the circumstances unavoidable, shifts in resources in allocations and in the various programmes.
This shift of resources in itself cannot be expected to compensate, at least in the long run, for real budgetary growth.
We would therefore hope that the world economic situation in the years ahead would be such as to allow FAO to hope for real growth of its resources in view of the current and potential needs for expanded FAO assistance in order to meet its world mandate for increasing agricultural production and help to adequately feed a rapidly increasing population.
Bilateral assistance, which, as the Director-General pointed out in his opening statement, is increasing, does not really provide in our own view dollar for dollar the value to be derived from multilateral assistance programmes nor does it provide of course an opportunity for all least -developed countries to help themselves towards self-sufficiency in food production which would in turn alleviate misery and malnutrition in the world.
Within the framework of these introductory remarks, I would now like to focus on the Programme of Work and Budget for the biennium 1984/85 with which, as I have said earlier, we are in broad agreement.
Nevertheless, in order to accomodate an "austerity" budget, certain cuts have been inevitable and we have no comments in the areas of these cuts, as we believe that these, under the circumstances, are the least painful ones. The situation has, however, to be watched very carefully, and any effect that the proposed elimination of posts might have on the functioning of the Organization's main activities should be corrected as quickly as possible in forthcoming budgets through the establishment of the necessary incremental posts.
We have also noted the regrouping and merging of units, and here we have no difficulty in accepting that these proposals will bring about real economies and probably improve their productive output. We therefore congratulate the Director-General for this bold step.
We do regret to note that circumstances have dictated a period of consolidation of regional and country offices since these from their inception have been instrumental in promoting and coordinating FAO activities at the field level, and my delegation would hope that this period of consolidation would only be a temporary one.
We are happy with the priority sectors that are being proposed to receive net incremental resources and would only like to highlight the significance of four of these sectors. These include the farming systems which will deal with both arable crops and livestock (the mixed farming concept, as we call it in Cyprus) and would cover aspects such as input supplies, marketing, credit and agro-industries, aspects that are often overlooked in catering to the needs of the small farmer. It is our belief that without a proper farming systems approach, real growth in most developing countries would be difficult to achieve. Hence we give our full support to these proposals.
Fisheries is also programmed to receive incremental support - and rightly so. As is very rightly pointed out in the document before us, the adoption of the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea would enable developing countries to more fully exploit their economic zones, and for this they would certainly need greater assistance from FAO and indeed from other international organizations than ever before. Increased support to fisheries would also enable FAO to assist in the development of acquaculture and inland fisheries, areas which have a great potential in many of the Least Developed Countries of the world.
We continue to hold the view that investments in agriculture, which in the concept that I am referring to includes investments in training and in rural development, should continue to receive priority in the developing world, as they lay foundations for real agricultural growth and rural well-being.
We note with satisfaction that in spite of a decline in FAO's collaboration with the World Bank, which is now deemed to have halted, a much higher level of collaboration has been developed with other funding institutions such as IFAD and regional banks. This is in our view a healthy sign. The Investment Support Programme works substantially in the poorest countries which need urgent capital investments. We are therefore very happy to support the improved modest inputs into this programme.
Finally the modest increase in the TCP component from 12.9 percent to 13.5 percent of the total budget is, we feel, a small step in the right direction. Modest as this increase might be, it highlights FAO's determination to continue to provide rapid assistance in the field in dealing with unforeseen needs and problems and for acting as a catalyst in promoting capital as well as technical assistance from different sources. We know from personal experience how relatively small inputs that are well-timed and planned can provide much greater benefits to the developing countries through a catalytic effect.
In our view, this Programme has done extremely well in promoting the priorities and principal aims of FAO at a minimum cost, and we would wish to avail ourselves of this opportunity to thank FAO for introducing this Programme and the Programme's management for their quick response to assistance
requests. We would have been much happier if resources were available for even further increases in the Programmed budget for 1984/85, particularly in view of the sharply declining UNDP resources, but we are realistic enough to accept that this would not be possible for the biennium under consideration. We would, however, hope that future budgets would allow for real and substantial growth in the resources of this Programme to enable it to continue and expand its activities - acting always as a catalyst, a formula which has already proved its success.
May I conclude by expressing the hope that future budgets would contain elements of real growth, since any further budgets with zero or almost zero growth would certainly hurt and would certainly damage FAO's image and capability to execute effectively, efficiently and timely its mandate which has been bestowed upon it by the international community and on which the developing world has placed so much hope and expectations. I would hope that we shall not let these countries down in their expectations because we would then be failing in our duty and responsibilities.
In conclusion, I would like to urge the Council to unanimously support the proposals of the Director-General.
ZHANG CHENGHUA (China) (original language Chinese): At the outset, we wish to thank the Director-General for the effort he put in in proposing the Programme of Work and Budget for consideration by the Council. This is a well-contemplated and seriously worked-out document which deserves our commendation. We also wish to express our appreciation for the introduction made by the two chairmen of the Programme and Finance Committees. We are sure that the recommendation of the two Committees will serve as a useful input to the deliberations of the Council.
Today, we are discussing the Summary Programme of Work and Budget at a time when the world is facing a grave international economic situation. Since our deliberations of the 1982-83 Programme of Work and Budget two years ago, the world economy has been deteriorating, imposing restraints for further expansion of the Programme of Work of the Organization. On the other hand, the developing countries most severely affected are hampered in their food and agricultural production and urgently need international organizations to step up their efforts and increase their assistance.
We noted that the proposed budget level for the next biennium is US$451 million with 22.48 percent cost increase and 0.5 percent real programme increase. The 0.5 percent real programme increase is inadequate when we consider the need to strengthen the work of the Organization so as to meet the demand of developing countries. However, we think this is realistic in view of the current world economic situation. Therefore, we endorse the budget level the Director-General has proposed to the Council and we urge the Council to approve it by consensus. We have also noted with interest the policies adopted by the Director-General to raise the Organization's efficiency, reduce administrative costs and eliminate less important activities. The resources thus saved can be used to ensure the implementation of economic and technical programmes and facilitate increases in the allocation of funds for projects of high priority. As the Director-General indicated in his opening statement, the aim has been achieved of "effecting a major shift in resources to substantive programmes. Administrative support services will be heavily cut, so that there will be an increase in technical and economic activities by more than $7 million." We appreciate and support the efforts made by the DG to this end.
We endorse the proposed Programme of Work for the next biennium and would like to make the following comments.
First. In the overall Programme for the next biennium, the DG strives to ensure first and foremost real increases of the technical and economic programmes, including the Technical Cooperation Programme which is not listed in the programme of work. We give it our support.
Second. We endorse the four priority areas in the Programme. Among the four, the first one is to promote food production. Food remains the core of the current problems of world agriculture. Hence, all activities, especially those at the field level, which have direct relevance in promoting food production in developing countries, should receive priority consideration in the allocation of additional resources.
Third. As science and technology are productive forces, we support the DG for giving priorities to work in this field. However, we believe that science and technology should be applied and extended in production to create material wealth for the society. Therefore, we attach particular importance to science and technology relevant to developing countries and the significance of science and technology transfer to these countries. As indicated in paragraph 5.31 of the document, new programmes will pay special attention to technologie appropriate for developing countries and will reflect qualitative changes of this new dimension. Furthermore, in sub-programme 2.1.4.1 of Annexe in the document, it is pointed out that at the national level, emphasis will be placed on the identification of obstacles to the transfer of new technologies and to their adoption by farmers. We hope that the Secretariat will put this principle into practice in the next biennium so that developing countries will be able to enjoy practical benefits in their agricultural production from this sub-programme of FAO. Besides, in the allocation of resources among regions for this sub-programme, due attention should be paid to the balance among different regions.
Fourth. We noted that the African Region continues to be the priority region in terms of their receipt of net additional resources. We give our support to this approach.
Fifth. Concerning investment in the field programme. Although a quarter of UNDP resources will still be used on agriculture, the prospects for its resources are less than satisfactory. We are concerned that this will exercise adverse effects on FAO's field programme in the Third World countries in the next biennium. But the document says that the Trust Fund of FAO will continue to increase. We hope that the trend will not be weakened, because this will be beneficial to both developed and developing countries. The developed countries need the developing countries to provide markets while the economic growth of the developing countries will in turn benefit the developed countries by way of expanding the latter's exports. Therefore, investment in the field programme for the next biennium should be strengthened rather than weakened.
In recent years, FAO, in the implementation of its field programme, applied "new dimensions", namely, utilization of the capabilities of the developing countries. We wish that this policy will be further effected in the next biennium. Therefore, we suggest that the departments concerned of FAO will, through all possible channels, collect, compile and consolidate information concerning technical advantages and expertise from developing countries for application in technical assistance projects.
LEE CHENG YAN (Malaysia): Like all delegations before me my delegation considers this agenda item, that is the Summary Programme of Work and Budget for the next biennium, very informative and as the most important item in this Session of the Council. As it has been emphasized, and without any further constraints, this summary Programme of Work and Budget should get the support and approval of all of us. My delegation has read the document which reflects the fact that the Director-General for his part has taken every possible measure to formulate a proposal which is acceptable to all under this very difficult economic situation and tied financial aid. They had put in the forefront the great wisdom and judgement to reflect the needs and priorities and having in mind the urgency and magnitude of the problems of food and agriculture development in developing countries, particularly those in Asia and Africa.
My delegation wishes therefore to congratulate the Director-General and his staff for having realistically examined and prepared this summary proposal. As he had indicated in the proposal, this Summary Programme of Work and Budget was formulated after critical and serious examination, taking into account the urgent demands of the developing countries and the constraints faced by the developed countries, and also the capacity of the Organization to fulfil its mandate.
Mr. Chairman, my delegation would not want to go into a deeper examination of the proposal because we feel that under the present situation the Director-General has put up what appears to us an acceptable proposal, though with a barest minimum possible budget level. We only hope that this will not be the case in the future. We feel that the zero growth concept should not be applied to an agency like the FAO which plays an important role in the alleviation of hunger and malnutrition in the world. If we consider carefully the actions taken by the Director-General and his part in preparing this proposal as summarized in his fact sheet in which he had trimmed the budget for greater efficiency and economy, and to shift his Programme activities to boost technical and economic programmes, we would agree that this proposal would result in the implementation of priority programmes with the aim of increasing efficiency and optimum utilization of resources.
We agree with the priorities proposed by the Director-General. In view of the difficult situation now prevailing in Africa we welcome the emphasis given to the Continent with the hope that these difficulties will soon be reduced and eventually eliminated.
We also agree Mr-Chairman with the various programme priorities proposed. Many of these reflect the proposals and recommendations that we in the Council, the Conference and the Regional Conferences that had met before and, which the Director-General and his staff had taken into careful consideration. In view of the fact that this proposal had been closely examined by both the Programme and Finance Committees and it had their approval, for which we would like to congratulate them, in view of the constructive nature with which this proposal was prepared to give thrust and balance to the programmes, my delegation gives our full support to the proposal of the summary Programme of Work and Budget, especially the level of budget, the strategies and priorities in the Organization's Programme of Action for the next biennium.
Finally, Mr Chairman, the Director-General will prepare no doubt a detailed programme for the consideration of the Council and the Conference in November, which takes into account the views that have been expressed in this Council. As we all know between now and November many unforeseen events could take place. In view of this the Director-General should be allowed to use his wise judgement to make the necessary changes should the need arise.
W.A.F. GRABISCH (Germany, Federal Republic of): First of all allow me some general remarks about document CL 83/3 before us. We appreciate the efforts of the Director-General to find in his summary Programme of Work and Budget for 1984-85 a balance between the need for increased activities towards promotion of food and agriculture and the well-known world-wide economic and financial difficulties which are of equal concern to developing and developed countries alike.
We welcome in particular the general thrust that is to absorb the real programme increases largely through cuts in the administrative sector within the framework of clearly established priorities.
We also welcome the way in which the summary proposal has been presented in document CL 83/3, allowing us to recognize the broad technical and administrative structures as well as important details.
With your permission, Mr. Chairman, I should like to refer first to the programme. We welcome the further sharpening of priorities towards production oriented measures which has partly been achieved through shifts within and between the programmes, as well as through the discontinuation of activities of less relevance and the completion of non-recurrent activities. We can agree on the whole to the priorities suggested.
We are also in agreement with the Director-General that the programme proposal covers all important areas of FAO's tasks and responsibilities. In the Major Programme, agriculture, we welcome the intention of the Director-General to give in the future even greater importance to research and technology. Research and technology and their practical application have to play a key role in the fight against hunger in the world. In this crucial area international organizations and governments are faced with a broad field of activities in which they must continue their efforts to a still larger extent.
In this respect an effective division of labour is of special importance. We assume that FAO will endeavour to avoid even more unnecessary duplication. In this context the effect of coordination with the Consultative Group on International Research and with the European Communities, will remain of special importance. The EEC recently launched a programme to promote research and technology for development. As regards the programme contents of the new Research and Technology Development Division in detail, we should like to draw your attention to the fact in connection with sub-programme 2.1.4.2: Agricultural Application of Isotope Research, that the possibilities and limits of agricultural application of isotope research have now been studied for 30 years. It has been learned that the contributions of this method to the clarification and control of scientific interrelations and processes are limited. For this reason, Mr. Chairman, for example the research capacities in the Federal Republic of Germany have been reduced again substantially in the last few years in the field of isotope application in the agricultural sector.
FAO should take this development into account and examine carefully whether it is possible not only to avoid an increase in this sub-programme but to make even considerable cuts.
As regards Sub-programme 2.1.4.4: Remote Sensing Technology we fully recognize the benefit of this technology in particular in large-scale areas of the Tropics and Sub-tropics. In the sector, however, we see possibilities for a labour division with a joint research station of the European Communities in ISPRA, where a comprehensive remote sensing programme is being carried out for agriculture. The joint research station at ISPRA should be prepared and in a position to expand the cooperation with FAO in that sector.
Concerning the Sub-programme 2.1.2.4: Crop Protection, we should like to point out that preliminary work for preparing a code of conduct in the trade and use of pesticides is under way, also within the framework of UNEP. In order to avoid unnecessary overlaps it is considered imperative that the Secretariat of FAO and UNEP come to an understanding about the coordination responsibility for the further development of this Code of Conduct.
We have no special remarks, Mr. Chairman, on the Major Programmes: Fisheries and Forestry. The planned rates of increase concern areas of particular priority.
As far as the TCP is concerned, my delegation does not intend to restate the general opinion of my Government that technical cooperation should be financed from voluntary contributions and not from Regular Budgets. Therefore we note with concern that the TCP shows the highest rate of increase in percentage as compared with other Major Programme areas. We do, however, not ignore the fact that the Organization has entered into certain difficulties in the project sector because of a declining flow of funds from UNDP, even though this reduction has been mitigated to a certain extent through an increase of trust fund resources. We are nevertheless of the opinion that with a share of the TCP of 12.9 percent in the total budget which the TCP has reached in the current budget 1982-83 the upper limit for project operations financed from the Regular Budget of FAO has been surpassed. We are seriously concerned about any increase beyond this point. This concern also relates to the ever-increasing number of TCP projects which is absorbing an excessive share of the Secretariat's planning, implementation and supervision capacity. This may in the long run effect even the core tasks of the Organization.
In view of the already existing high share of the TCP in the total budget, we repeat our request for more detailed and comprehensive information. We continue to ask for information about the extent and the results of internal evaluation and suggest again increased external evaluation. Moreover, we would like to ask whether the project criteria established at the beginning of the Programme have worked out or require revision.
Coming back to the proposal as a whole, my delegation does appreciate every effort to achieve consensus in the forthcoming Conference on the Programme of Work and Budget and wishes to see it come about. My Government is willing to do its best for maintaining FAO's role and functions and has therefore always been advocating concentration on priorities and improvement of efficiency which, as a matter of fact, should be the,common aim of all of us. In times in which we are going through budget cuts at home and most people in our countries are affected by reductions of expenditure, we should strive for limiting the financial burden of all member nations. Proceeding on these grounds, my Government recognizes the endeavour made by the Director-General for bringing down the budget increase while trying to strengthen FAO's working capacity. We believe that this is the right approach but that there is still room for improvement. However, in view of the aforementioned objectives and with due regard to my Government's well known position relating to real zero budget growth as a general rule throughout the United Nations system, more information and greater transparency would be required to understand more fully the budget proposal before us.
In particular, in order that we may be put in a position to elaborate more thoroughly on possible suggestions for such improvement, we would be very grateful for more detailed information on some points which seem to lend themselves to improving even more concentration and efficiency of the Organization's activities.
Firstly, the large budget increases result from the biennalization of programme activities as well as from the compensation of cost increases. We would be grateful for detailed information about the factors of calculation and their period of application for the individual cost areas in order to see whether the cuts will be possible. This is also in line with the "petita" of the Finance Committee for its session in autumn.
Secondly, we welcome the further reduction of the share of staff cost of the total budget of the Organization. However, as this share continues to be the largest portion in total expenditure, we should like to ask the Director-General to include additional information about the staff situation in his final proposal for the Programme of Work and Budget, We assume that this information will also include the established posts for the country representatives, broken down by number and rank of the posts as well as the summary which shows the intended elimination and/or establishment of new posts in the respective units. We would be grateful for information on the share of costs for consultants in nominal figures and as percentage of the next budget. The summary proposal indicates a decline in the costs for consultants. We request the same information on contractual services for which the document before us shows an increase of 15 percent and we would appreciate being informed about the reasons for this increase. With this information we would be in a position to identify the share of overall personnel costs in the budget.
Finally, we would be grateful for knowing how far the fully computerized personnel data system has progressed, as requested by the Finance Committee and by Member States, We are looking forward to the full and detailed Programme of Work and Budget proposal which will allow for comprehensive examination with a view to determining the final position of our Government,
S,P. MUKERJI (India): The Indian delegation thanks the Director-General for his very lucid presentation of the Programme of Work and Budget; even the documents and their structure are very clear, precise and immediately understandable. The Indian delegation fully supports the Programme and Budget.
The budget is a very balanced document in which the donor group and the beneficiary group can both find satisfaction, solace and reassurance; satisfaction that maximum efforts are being made to economize on expenditure and on overheads and low priority items; satisfaction that specific steps have been taken by the Director-General to increase efficiency so that economy is not at the cost of efficiency. We get the reassurance, especially in the developing countries, that priority programmes and activities are not only maintained but also reinforced and increased in real terms.
Administrative expenditure has been reduced by $4 million which in percentage terms comes to 6.4 percent less than last year's. This is very commendable. On the other hand, the technical and economic programme's outlay on them has been increased by $7 million, that is 3.5 percent over last year's level and the overall increase has been $2.2 million, that is 0.5 percent in real terms over last year's level.
I seek your indulgence Mr. Chairman, to clarify the implications of 0.5 percent increase in real terms; this should not disturb those who asked for zero growth rate, for reasons best known to them. My feeling is that as a matter of fact, with 1.8 percent growth rate in world population, 0.5 percent growth rate will mean actually a negative per capita growth rate of minus 1.3 percent in FAO's outlay. To maintain per capita growth rate at the same level as now, FAO's budget should have been at least 1.8 percent higher over last year's in real terms, and not 0.5 percent.
The Indian delegation would perhaps be expressing the desire of many developing countries that 0.5 percent is a very modest increase; as a matter of fact, in per capita terms it is a negative growth rate and we would have liked a 2 percent growth rate as a minimum. Be that as it may, we rest content with 0.5 percent increase. The Government of India will meet her commitment on the revised budget.
My delegation fully endorses the Director-General's principles of increasing food production, strengthening food security, giving more orientation to field programmes and encouraging cooperation amongst developing countries. We are happy that Africa has been placed at the centre of the stage of FAO's programmes and activities. India will be prepared to offer all possible assistance to Africa through the FAO's programmes in the areas of irrigation, crop husbandry, agricultural research, forestry, fisheries, livestock development, management of agricultural credit and agricultural extension. My delegation is happy that dry land farming, forestry, energy management have been given priority in FAO's programmes. These are the programmes on which India has laid great stress through its policies and our Prime Minister's new 20-point programme. We are satisfied that in FAO's programmes ecology, exclusive economic zone in the case of fisheries, price policy, small farmers, inland fisheries, social forestry have been included. We consider them to be programmes of the greatest importance.
The Indian delegation has a few general and specific suggestions which the Director-General may kindly consider to the extent possible at this stage. We feel that research in animal sciences and problem-oriented research should be emphasized. Such things as seed-cum-fertilizer drills, designing a special type of plough, seed drills - they are very minor things but they can take agriculture, especially in African countries, very far if some new design through intermediate technology can be achieved.
Similarly, agricultural cooperatives, which we think are a main vehicle of rural development and also for agricultural inputs, processing and marketing, should be included and accommodated in the programme.
Some of the specific suggestions my delegation would like to make - and in this respect I would seek your indulgence, Mr, Chairman, to take you through a few pages of this very lucid and important document, CL 83/3. On page 52 the sub-programmes on agriculture have been indicated. Within the overall figure of $15.6 million, seeds have been given $1.86 million whereas crop protection has received $3.6 million. The suggestion of my delegation is that seeds being the foundation of more productive agriculture, should receive a little more funds than perhaps crop protection has had at this stage. High yielding varieties of seeds, diversifying seed processing are very important in the development of agriculture in its incipient stages and crop protection will come after we have sown a good crop. So therefore I think seeds should receive more attention and more finance than has been indicated and crop protection has got perhaps more than its share, at least in the countries where agriculture has not taken the strides in modern technology.
Next on page 56, on livestock with an overall ceiling of $9.8 million, keeping the ceiline as it is, my delegation would like to see that livestock production, which has received only $1.3 million approximately as against $3.1 million on animal health, should receive more attention. I think the same picture is repeated; we are placing animal health and crop protection on a higher pedestal than animal livestock production or crop production. So I thought where agriculture or livestock is still at a developing stage, livestock production and genetic improvements should receive perhaps more attention and perhaps more funds and perhaps we can afford to reduce the outlay in animal health as we are able to do in the case of crop protection.
On page 60 on Research Technology development my delegation feels that out of a total outlay of $7.6 million we have given about 30 percent to agricultural applications of isotope research. While we are still struggling in the case of African countries with the design of a new type of plough or seed-cum-fertilizer drills I thought perhaps we could afford to reduce our outlay on isotope research and divert a little bit to problem oriented research, intermediate research, lab-to-land programme, for making the fruits of research available to the farmers and some programmes of operation research, where the results of research are tried out in the farmers' fields. I feel that these items will pay much more and much quicker dividends than perhaps big outlays on sophisticated research programmes.
On page 64, on Rural Development, I have a few suggestions. We have a feeling that in some countries like India and others also, marketing too could receive a little more attention because without proper marketing and pricing the motivation to produce more will not be available to farmers.
Then we feel in this sub-programme agricultural cooperatives should also be included and in this statement my delegation feels that allocation for programme management seems to be a little higher than has been done for other sub-programmes. I have checked up; in the case of other sub-programmes, programme management takes about 5 percent of the total outlay but in this particular case programme management has taken about 15 percent of the total outlay of $16.7 million. So we thought perhaps there can be some scope for reducing the expenditure on programme management without reducing the total ceiling and diverting some funds on marketing and agricultural cooperatives. These are our suggestions, only for consideration.
On page 68 on Nutrition, out of $9.2 million we have allocated $3.2 million to one single item of food quality and standards. My delegation feels that perhaps this can to some extent be reduced and that money could be made available to the anti-poverty programmes of nutrition and field programmes support. This is for consideration.
On page 71 on Food and Agricultural Information and Analysis we feel that an item on agro-meteorological services could be accommodated within the overall budget of $12.5 million by taking some money out of the sub-programme outlay on situation and outlook, and statistics.
On page 73 on Food and Agricultural Policy, my delegation feels that the commodity policies and trade with $6.3 million of outlay is a little on the high side. Perhaps some of the funds could be diverted to agricultural planning assistance which is very much needed for African and developing countries and my delegation would suggest that some efforts should be made to prepare model policy guidelines for countries which ask for such guidelines, and where no such invitation is available, at least for the sub-regions and certain agro-climatic areas, model policy guidelines on agricultural development could be thought of and some assistance could be provided under this heading, agricultural planning assistance.
My delegation feels that just as commodity policies and trade inter-act with GATT perhaps there is a case for having a cell on agricultural credits which is presenting considerable difficulties in our country, and this cell on agricultural credit could inter-act with IFAD, the World Bank and IDA. So that there is some rethinking about the basic policy and approach which the international agencies are adopting to my mind in a counter-productive direction .But I do feel that some interaction or some point of inter-face, between the FAO and the financial institutions could be very helpful indeed.
Then I come to page 79 on fisheries. We feel that inland fisheries should receive more attention. I think this was discussed a number of times in the regional meetings and most of the countries in
the Asian region and the Pacific region emphasised that inland fisheries development should
receive more attention. One of the prime difficulties in developing inland fisheries is the lack of some fish seeds and some development of hatcheries. This has not been included under this sub-programme. It could also be thought of.
Last but not least I come to forestry, this is on page 82. I have calculated that forestry during 1982/83 has received $12.2 million out of a total allocation of $366.6 million. This figure of $366.6 is not indicated but I have got it from some other place. The budgetary allocation was $366.6 million of which $12.2 was given to forestry which comes to 3.3 percent in 1982/83. If we compare the corresponding figures 1984/85 $12.4 million out of a total outlay of $451.6 million comes to 2.8 percent. So the share of forestry during 1984/85 is 2.8 percent as against its share of 3.3 percent in the 1982/83 biennium. Similar reduction from 4 percent to 3.3 percent of forestry's share can be calculated against total projects as given on page 89.
It is for consideration of the Director-General and the FAO whether we can afford to reduce the percentage share of forestry considering the Director-General's keen interest in ecological and environmental protection and need for afforestation as a supplement or a support of agriculture. Therefore my delegation would like to submit, most respectfully, that in the case of forestry (Headquarters total forestry) the percentage share of 3.3/4.0 during 1982/83 should be maintained during 1984/85, within the overall budget.
The second suggestion of my delegation on forestry is that outlay on forest afforestation resources and environment, even if cannot be increased, at least should not be reduced during the 1984/85 biennium. It has been reduced by $91.000.
We would also suggest that forestry research should receive some recognition either under this head or some other head because forestry research is something which is suffering in various developing countries. Conservation of wildlife should also receive some more attention and outlay insofar as Asian and African countries are concerned.
These are a few recommendations in the form of suggestion which the Director-General and FAO may consider for whatever they are worth even. Otherwise we fully support the Programme of Work and Budget given by the Director-General. We support the Director-General's proposal on reorganizing the research and technology development division and strengthening of the internal audit and inspection division fully. We congratulate the Director-General that he has produced such an excellently balanced budget. If I may say, in the language of Churchill, one can say that never before have so many important programmes been contained in so little funds and with so few people. The Director-General has very difficult and very challenging problems. We wish him all success for the sake of man's future. With his dynamism and his commitment to the cause of developing countries and their famished people we are sure that the interests of the world's community are safe in his able hands.
P.M. AMUKOA (Kenya): I was trying to respond to your appeal to ask us to be brief because of time constraints. Although I have cut out some parts I think the main message will be communicated.
We wish to thank the Programme Committee and Finance Committee for the excellent work they did. We also thank the Director-General, first for his correct assessment of the international political and economic situation, particularly for his very honest concern for the worsening food supply situation of low-income food-deficit contries, especially in Africa. We endorse the work of the two Committees. We endorse the strategies and the priorities proposed for 1984/85 and also request the Council to endorse these programme proposals together with the level and balance of resources to be allocated to them.
While agreeing that the proposed level of resources is a sound basis for the preparation of the full Programme of Work and Budget, my delegation wishes to put it on record that we did not see how the Director-General will respond adequately to priorities of the developing countries given the limited level of resources. To us developing countries this is a matter of great concern. We therefore ask the Council to express the same concern and also note that organizations directly dealing with food and agriculture should not be handled in this manner; I mean, should not be denied reasonable resource increases. Concepts like zero-growth have been advanced but I have yet to get an explanation of how this is consistent with our efforts to achieve goals which governments have set nationally and internationally to meet growing needs of developing countries. How do you expect such organizations to fulfil their mandates when we deny them the resources they would have wanted to have and use for this purpose?
Regarding specific comments on various programmes, we have already commented on the agricultural programme during the debate on the report of the Committee on Agriculture when we, inter alia, emphasized four main areas, namely training, research, delivery systems, farming systems and institutional building and when we emphasized the contents of paragraph 279 on page 10 of document CL 83/4, that the crops programme should be strengthened by reprogramming the resources in favour of the production of indigenous food crops, including roots and tubers, sorghum and millet.
We would like to see this reflected in the final Programme of Work and Budget, and the assurance that we have already had from the Director-General that this will be done is welcome to us and very encouraging.
Regarding the Fisheries Programme, we endorse the strategies and priorities set, but wish to emphasize small-scale fishery development, aquaculture and inland fisheries development as a whole.
We also agree with the basic objectives and general thrust of the Forestry Programme but wish to empahsize (a) arid zone forestry and watershed management, (b) community forestry including fuel tree development programmes.
Lastly we support strongly FAO's collaborative efforts with the Economic Commission for Africa and the efforts to implement the Lagos Plan of Action for agriculture and rural development in Africa, as indicated in paragraph 2.185 in document CL 83/4.
A. NAGA (Japan): First of all I would like to make some general remarks about the 84/85 Summary Programme of Work and Budget.
My delegation feels that the 84/85 Summary Programme shows a certain amount of improvement as compared to the 82/83 Programme, in being that it has reduced the real programme increase to almost zero by the cutbacks of various costs including 40 posts, management costs etc. In view of this situation, my delegation appreciates the Secretariat's efforts which appropriately reflect the extremely difficult financial situation of each Member Nation.
In the Summary Programme it indicated that priorities were given to such activities as food production world food security, TCDC/ECDC etc. that have been endorsed or recommended by the Council, Conference, Intergovernmental Bodies and other bodies. Even though my country's final position on the budget will be finalized after futher examination of the full Programme of Work and Budget and will be stated at the 84th Council or the 22nd Conference, my delegation feels that these areas of priority are very appropriate and hopes that FAO will continue to undertake these activities utilizing its expertise and knowledge.
At the same time, we should give due consideration to FAO's major responsibility in collecting, analyzing and distributing of the information on food and agriculture. My country considers FAO's study and research activities in the field of food and agriculture to be very important and we strongly hope that FAO will continue to provide the member countries with this very essential information.
Now I would like to make some specific comments on the Technical Cooperation Programme. According to the document CL 83/3, the budget allocated to TCP has proposed an increase of 5.0%, while the total real increase of the 84/85 budget is actually 0.50%. Subsequently the shares of TCP have also increased from 12.9 percent to 13.5 percent.
Although my delegation recognizes the important role of TCP, we feel that it is very difficult to support such a sharp increase in the TCP budget unless specific and concrete reasons for this increase are provided.
Although the document CL 83/3 has defined many decisions and recommendations which indicate the necessity for an increase in TCP, we have been unable to obtain the information of the actual basis for calculating the TCP budget; therefore, my delegation would like to request that the Secretariat provide this information for all the member nations before the next council. In addition to this, my Government would also like to know more specific information about the TCP projects which actually had a catalytic effect in succeeding to introduce external funds and technical assistance. A list of these projects and their relevant information should be provided by the Secretariat before the 84th Council so that each member nation may fully understand the important role of TCP in this area.
In the table of paragraph 5.60, we notice that the miscellaneous category gradually increases its shares, and after 1979 it holds the largest share. My delegation feels that the present categorization does not clearly and appropriately explain the actual TCP activities. Therefore, we would like to request that the Secretariat design and present to us before the 84th Council a table which includes a more detailed categorization.
S.M. MATIUR RAHMAN (Bangladesh): The Bangladesh delegation has carefully studied the Summary Programme of Work and Budget for 1984/85 and the reports of the Programme and Budget Committees. My delegation congratulates the Director-General for presenting such a well-considered, pragmatic and development-oriented Programme of Work and Budget. My delegation also thanks the Chairmen of the Programme and Budget Committees for their hard and arduous work in examining the proposed Programme of Work and Budget and presenting their reports for consideration by the Council. We are happy to note that both these Committees have supported the Summary Programme of Work and Budget. This will no doubt facilitate the Council in deliberating on the subject.
My delegation generally agrees with the main objectives, strategies and priorities of the Programme of Work and the level of budget proposed by the Director-General and endorsed by the Programme and the Budget Committees. However, we would like to make a few comments and observations on certain points which my delegation considers very important.
My delegation has noted with appreciation that in determining the priorities and strategies of the Programme of Work and Budget the Director-General has taken into account the recommendations of the FAO Council, the Conference, Regional Conferences, the various committees and the UN General Assembly. It is also gratifying to note that urgent developmental needs of the different regions and countries, and especially of the low-income food-deficit countries, have been taken into due consideration in fixing these priorities.
My delegation also highly appreciates the measures taken by the Director-General in eliminating the low priority activities, reducing administrative and support costs and then devoting the resources thus freed to the high priority technical and economic programmes, including TCP, with the main objectives to promote agricultural development and food production, improve food security, to give more impact at field level activities as well as to enhance the economic and technical cooperation among developing countries, on which much assistance has been given.
My delegation also supports the allocation of these net additional resources to the high priority programmes and sub-programmes such as technology, follow-up of WCARRD, a small farming system, agricultural price policy studies, food security assistance scheme, World Food Survey, TCP, fisheries, forestry and for Africa. These are indoubtedly recognized priority areas of FAO activities and hence my delegation supports the increased allocation to these priority programmes proposed by the Director-General.
In view of the importance of the Technical Cooperation Programme in providing rapid assistance and in meeting unforeseen needs and problems of the least developed countries in Africa, Asia and elsewhere, as well as promoting capital and technical assistance from different sources for these countries, my delegation strongly supports the proposal of the Director-General for the modest increase in its resources from 12.9 percent of the total budget to 13.5 percent. The FAO Conference, Council and the Regional Conferences also recommended augmentation of the resources for TCP. We therefore hope that all delegates to this Council meeting will also give their valuable support to this programme.
About the level of budget proposed for 1984/85, my delegation has noted that in proposing a very modest increase of about 0.5 percent over the working budget for the current biennium the Director-General has exercised his utmost judgement, spirit of economy and restraint in formulating his proposal after reconciling the urgent needs of the developing countries on the one hand and the constraints of the developed countries caused by economic recession on the other hand.
The Director-General has proposed a small amount of $83 million for cost increase requirements for 1984/85, as against the $114 million for the current biennium, in spite of continued high inflation. This is another instance of the austerity measures of the Director-General.
The Director-General has taken many other measures for bringing about economy and efficiency of the Organization. These include a drastic cut by $4 million in administration and common service expenditure, the abolition of 40 posts, bringing down the expenditure on established posts from 77 percent of the total budget a decade ago to only 58 percent in the next biennium. At this time of high inflation and rapid cost increase these bold measures to cut down expenditure are no doubt praiseworthy, for which the Director-General should be highly commended.
Finally, my delegation strongly feels that 0.5 percent increase in the Programme of Work and Budget for 1984/85 over the current biennium is very modest as compared with the need of the developing countries for food production and for the eradication of hunger and malnutrition.
It is needless to mention that the FAO, under the dynamic leadership of its Director-General, has the dedication and expertise and is poised to carry out its sacred task of improving the standard of life of the people in the developing countries. It is therefore very urgent that the FAO's programme of activities should not be so severely limited by resource constraint. However, in view of the present economic recession and financial difficulties the proposed meagre budget increase of 0.5 percent for 1984/85 over the current biennium has our full support. My delegation would also urge upon the Members of the Council to approve the proposed level of the Summary Programme of Work and Budget by consensus.
M. BENNIS (Maroc) : Je me fais un devoir de remercier notre Directeur général du brillant exposé qu'il a fait hier, nous présentant de façon concise, claire et précise le contexte dans lequel a été établi le programme du prochain biennium 1984/85. Les éléments d'appréciation qui ont conduit au choix des priorités et les domaines essentiels sur lesquels seront axées les actions de la FAO.
Je voudrais également féliciter le Président du Comité du Programme et le Président du Comité financier de nous avoir rendu compte des principales conclusions des travaux des comités en question qu'ils ont d'ailleurs dirigés de façon remarquable.
D'une manière générale, ma délégation ne peut que constater avec regret l'affectation de plus en plus grande de l'activité de notre Organisation par les retombées de la crise économique mondiale et ce à un moment où devient plus urgente la nécessité de permettre á toutes les populations de satisfaire leurs besoins de nutrition. Certes, la prise de conscience est générale et personne ne conteste actuellement ce droit à la nourriture, et il incombe à toutes les nations d'oeuvrer pour l'honorer.
Ma délégation appuie sans réserve les grandes lignes du Programme qui nous est présenté et tient à rendre hommage au Directeur général pour avoir bien décelé et identifié les domaines d'activités susceptibles de réduire autant que possible l'impact peu favorable de l'évolution du volume des ressources qui sont encore en général en-deçà des besoins exprimés et potentiels dans le domaine de la sécurité alimentaire. Nous appuyons donc la stratégie préconisée par le Directeur général pour le prochain biennium. Nous nous réjouissons en particulier de l'accent mis sur le Programme de terrain et des efforts déployés pour réduire les charges administratives.
Ma délégation a noté avec regret également que l'érosion que ne cessent de subir les ressources financières du PNUD dans l'efficience de la contribution à réaliser les objectifs de développement agricole dans de nombreux pays est incontestable.
Nous constatons également la baisse des ressources des institutions financières multilatérales mais nous notons avec satisfaction l'intérêt croissant porté à l'agriculture par les organismes internationaux et régionaux de financement. Nous voudrions demander à notre Organisation d'intensifier ses efforts pour drainer le maximum de ressources vers le PNUD pour permettre à ce dernier de faire face à des demandes de plus en plus croissantes et d'ailleurs importantes.
Nous suggérons également que notre Organisation lance un appel pressant aux institutions financières pour qu'elles continuent à porter la plus grande attention à l'agriculture sachant que ce secteur joue et jouera pour de longues années encore un rôle moteur et dynamique dans le développement économique et social des pays en développement.
Plusieurs délégués ont mis en exergue au cours des réunions de notre Conseil l'importance du rôle de la recherche et de la technologie et nous ne pouvons qu'abonder dans le même sens.
D'autre part nous enregistrons avec satisfaction le fait d'avoir hissé les préoccupations dans le domaine des politiques de prix agricoles parmi les premières priorités des programmes qui bénéficient de ressources additionnelles. Je voudrais marquer également la satisfaction de la délégation marocaine pour l'attention particulière dont bénéficie le continent africain.
En définitive, ma délégation constate avec admiration le tour de force réalisé par le Directeur général qui a su judicieusement opérer les économies nécessaires pour retenir les priorités convenables. Nous devons l'en féliciter et soutenir ces efforts pour permettre à notre Organisation de remplir sa noble mission. La délégation du Maroc renouvelle donc son appui au Directeur général, formule son approbation sur les conclusions du programme et exhorte le Conseil à donner son accord sur le Programme et budget des deux années à venir.
P. GOSSELIN (Canada): It goes without saying that we have studied the documents before us on this item very carefully. The Summary Programme of Work and Budget we feel represents the fine distillate of the efforts of the various sectorial committees and councils to give directions to the efforts of the FAO Secretariat. The Director-General and his colleagues are to be congratulated on the documents they have presented for our consideration, and these documents represent the treading of a fine line among the diverse interests represented in this Council, bearing in mind the overwhelming needs of many countries and the scarse resources available to meet them. In this vein we commend the efforts that have been made to prioritize the various programmes and to reorient the scarce resources within the budget envelope towards technical and economic programmes at the expense of programmes judged to be of a lower priority and of savings effected in the administrative and support areas. We, as others before us, appreciate the difficulty of cutting posts and commend the efforts that have been made. On this point, I would like to echo the statement of France who expressed the hope that the full Programme of Work and Budget would provide details on where these cuts have been made as well as some information on the reorientation of priorities they may represent.
As regards the presentation of the document, we welcome the efforts that have been made to present the information to Council in a more transparent fashion to allow us to better appreciate this complex subject and to make more informed judgements on these important matters. Notwithstanding, we believe the document could be improved by providing appropriate reference points in the various tables so that the reader is better able to appreciate the orders of magnitude of changes that are being proposed.
My government was represented on many of the sectorial committees from which the programmes represented in this document were drawn. We had an opportunity to make our detailed comments on them at that time and will not reopen those issues. On balance, we can support the thrust of the programme we are being presented with. We like others will look forward to the full Programme of Work and Budget for more complete details. For the moment, however, we would like to express some disappointment that the forestry sector appears to be receiving a declining share of admittedly meagre resources which are available, as was so eloquently put yesterday by France and this morning by India when they described the essential role that forestry can play in the food processing chain. Developments such as desertification, erosion and fuel wood shortages are directly linked to food production, supply and nutrition. In this vein, somes members may recall how the importance of these links was brought out by Mrs. Gandhi in her opening address to the last Conference. We have noted with some concern the continued albeit modest growth of the Technical Cooperation Programme where resources are being increased from 12.9 to 13.5 percent of the regular programme resources. We believe that the current available funds are ample to meet the unforeseen needs that this programme is designed to meet and that the carryover provisions provide ample flexibility for the administration of the programme. We would prefer to see these additional funds allocated to the FAO's main technical and economic programmes which are at the heart of the FAO's mandate. We would suggest, for instance, that the forestry programme could well absorb some additional resources. On this subject of TCP we would like to echo the statements of the Federal Republic of Germany and Japan when they called for more information and caution in the use of this programme.
My delegation is also concerned about the use of the regular budget resources to support extra-budgetary activities. We certainly do not quarrel with these activities. However, we would urge the Secretariat in accepting these extra-budgetary activities to ensure that they be fully costed so as to avoid drawing resources away from the FAO's regular budget. Finally, on the subject of TCP, given its growth over the years and the sizable amounts now involved, it may be opportune to pause somewhat and evaluate the effectiveness of the programme before allocating to it additional resources.
Turning now to the financial side of the document, we were reassured by the Director-General's statement that the Organization weathered the difficult period last Fall without needing to seek temporary financing through borrowing and that for the present the Organization is in good financial state. This, of course, is confirmed by the data that has been provided to us. We are, however, concerned about the increasing tendency of payments being made late in the fiscal years as well as the numbers of Members who are seriously in arrears. In these time it is sometimes understandable that some Members experience difficulty meeting their financial obligations, but efforts should be redoubled, since these delays and non-payments can seriously hinder the delivery of the programmes and the achievements of our common objectives.
Finally, on the level of the budget, my delegation has reviewed the document very carefully and has participated in numerous meetings to seek a better understanding of the Programme of Work and Budget. My government's position on zero real programme growth throughout the UN system is well
known and I will not test the patience of the Council by repeating our commitments to our policy again. However, taking account of the efforts that have obviously been made to trim the sails in keeping with the current economic and budgetary storms raging in many Member countries on both sides of this issue, my delegation believes that the proposals contained in this summary document provide an acceptable basis on which to prepare the full Programme of Work and Budget. On this note, I would once again like to commend the Director-General and his associates on the skill which they have shown in navigating these difficult waters.
V.J. SHAH (Director, Office of Programme, Budget and Evaluation): Thank you Mr.Chairman. At this stage, Sir, I would reply only to this question of resources for Forestry which has been raised by a number of distinguished delegates, as you pointed out. In particular the delegate of India referred to some figures which I think it might be helpful to clarify. He referred to the figure 12 244 000 in the 1982-83 Budget, and taking that as a percentage of the total 1982-83 budget, remarked that this was 3.34 percent. He then took the figure of 12 496 000 which appears in the same table at page 82 of the document proposed for 1984-85, and gave it as a percentage of the total proposed budget, including the cost increases at 451 627 000, and then drew the conclusion that the share of Forestry declined to 2.77 percent. Of course this is not quite doing justice to the information.
It would be more useful if we took the figure for Forestry not only for the Headquarters because the table to which reference has been made refers only to Headquarters. One has also then to consider the resources to be channelled to the Regional Offices, and if we take the total resources in 1982-83 you had 14 634 000, which as a percentage of the total budget comes to 3.99 percent. If you then take the comparable figure proposed for 1984-85, this is 14 896 000 and as a percentage of the proposed budget without the cost increases comes to 4.04 percent, but if you add the cost increases at the same level for Forestry as you would across the board, the share of Forestry would then be around 4.25 percent. So in terms purely factually of resources in 1982-83, Forestry resources - 3.99 percent; for 1984-85 - 4.25 percent.
I would also point out that the Director-General's proposal of the net additional increase for Forestry amounts to just over 2 percent as compared to the medium for the budget as a whole of 0.5 percent.
L. ARIZA HIDALGO (Cuba): Antes de hacer ningún tipo de consideración nuestra delegación quiere expresar que apoya en absoluto el Programa de Labores y Presupuesto para 1984/85 como está presentado en el documento CL 83/3.
Durante el desarrollo de la discusión se han presentado muchas pruebas del equilibrio con que se ha recogido este documento. Las palabras iniciales del Director General, a nuestro juicio, son conclusivas del esfuerzo realizado para presentar armonizadas las prioridades con la realidad de la situación económica mundial.
Al Director General, con el prestigio de su dedicación a la causa de la solución de los problemas del hambre y del desarrollo de la agricultura en el mundo, hay que felicitarlo por este aporte de realismo.
Consideramos que los informes y exposición hechos por los distinguidos presidentes de los Comités del Programa y de Finanzas demuestran la pulcritud y dedicación en que se trabaja en la formulación del Programa de Labores y Presupuesto.
Señor Presidente, en estos momentos queremos comenzar a plantear, primero, que nos oponemos a que se inicie una instrumentalización del crecimiento cero, con consideraciones, a nuestro juicio inconscientes y egoístas porque no se dan cuenta que el hambre crece, que crece la malnutrición, que crece la muerte por inanición y de esta forma se comenzará a propugnar el evitar poder enfrentar, o al menos aliviar, estas situaciones.
Nuestra delegación no tiene que hacer ninguna preferencia por los programas; apoyamos en todo su contenido y en las interrelaciones que existen entre todos de la forma que está presentado.
Apoyamos, asimismo, las prioridades presentadas.
Sí queremos específicamente exaltar la importancia para nuestros países del Programa de Cooperación Técnica. Estos Programas se ha probado ya, se ha repetido muchas veces, y en todos los continentes hay pruebas fehacientes de ello, constituyen un medio eficaz, rápido de apoyo a las prioridades internas de nuestro desarrollo. Esta es una cuestión muy importante porque estos Programas de Cooperación Técnica obedecen a nuestra demanda. Los Programas de Cooperación Técnica garantizan que los países puedan elegir su opción sin interferencia de los grandes centros económicos. ¿Será por esto que les molesta que la FAO ayude a evitar la dependencia? Creo que estas son razones específicas para la existencia y para el crecimiento de los Programas de Cooperación Técnica.
En este sentido queremos elogiar los esfuerzos que realiza nuestra Oficina Regional para América Latina y el Caribe. Asimismo queremos referirnos al papel de los representantes de la FAO en los países. Consideramos que los mismos están jugando un papel muy importante de agilización de la participación de nuestros países en las actividades de los Programas Ordinarios.
La labor del representante de la FAO en nuestro país podemos considerarla como muy fructífera, criterio de nuestro gobierno.
Una Organización como la FAO necesita de esta dinámica para poder mantenerse en la situación mundial existente. No entendemos, lo decimos claramente, que países con suficientes medios de informática a todos los niveles, con una computerización científicamente alta puedan escudarse para oponerse al presupuesto y al programa en necesidades de informaciones.
La FAO, lo acaba de demostrar en estos momentos el Sr. Shan, inclusive a todos los países, y no a los poderosos solamente, le ha suministrado en todos los tiempos todo tipo de información y está considerada dentro del marco de Naciones Unidas como la Organización con el cúmulo mayor de informática y de estadística.
Los Comités del Programa y de Finanzas proporcionaron documentos suficientemente amplios, y en estos Comités están representados muchos de los que, no sabemos por qué, aquí necesitan más información.
Con todos los respetos, señor Presidente, consideramos que el Consejo va a apoyar y aprobar por consenso un presupuesto que sólo ha tenido dos o tres manchitas que necesitan más información y que estamos seguros que la FAO la puede dar.
Una Organización consecuente con su objetivo fundamental, la FAO, sobre todo a partir de que la Dirección General está en manos de un hombre del Tercer Mundo, ha procedido dinámicamente por el origen de sus propósitos; la FAO incorpora novedades importantes que van más allá de la conformidad de ver al hambre como consustancial a los países del Tercer Mundo, a lo que nos puede llevar si aceptamos el crecimiento cero.
Es lamentable decir que el desarrollo espectacular de unos pocos países a costa de la dependencia económica de la mayoría nos obliga ver en la FAO el instrumento primordial de análisis y preparación de todo tipo de programas que le permita cumplir con la erradicación de las causas reales de la pobreza y del hambre, que es su mandato en Naciones Unidas. Esta importante Organización se ha caracterizado por su capacidad informativa e instrumentalización al servicio de las grandes mayorías; debe seguir profundizando sus estudios y apoyando a los países pobres a eliminar las verdaderas causas que han provocado la dependencia alimentaria.
Sin duda que el horizonte mundial sería muy distinto si las resoluciones y recomendaciones aprobadas colectivamente en esta Organización se hubiesen apoyado o instrumentalizado, por ejemplo, por el Consejo Mundial de la Alimentación, o si la voluntad política de quienes gozan de abundancia se ejecutara como lo proclaman.
Nuestra delegación está convencida de que la FAO va a seguir orientando todos sus esfuerzos y capacidades en contribuir intelectual y técnicamente para activar el apoyo a los gobiernos por sus reformas agrarias, su desarrollo rural, agroindustria, el desarrollo tecnológico, nuestra agricultura, nuestros montes, la pesca, la nutrición, la capacitación, los programas de cooperación técnica, la participación popular, etc.
Preguntamos: ¿Será por esto que se impide crecer a la FAO? ¿Será por esto que se ataca a la FAO?
La angustiosa perspectiva de los pueblos del Tercer Mundo, que también sufragan una crisis que hoy nos la presentan como motivo para el crecimiento cero, una crisis que en nada han contribuido a crear, tendrá que exigir también que la FAO se incorpore a la campaña permanente contra el armamentismo. ¿Por qué? Porque estamos obligados a no concebir que la FAO pase por alto, que en la misma medida que crecen los hambrientos la humanidad gasta en un año miles y miles de millones de dólares en armas; se sabe que son cinco mil veces más que lo que se le da a la FAO, dos mil veces más de lo que se le da al FIDA, no concebimos que la civilización más refinada- y altamente científica destine más a aniquilamiento que al desarrollo; no concebimos que se nieguen fondos a la FAO y se le den fondos a Sudafrica para que siga asesinando a pueblos en nombre del sacrosanto racismo blanco; no concebimos que se opongan a que la FAO pueda seguir cumpliendo su mandato.
Finalmente, apoyamos las cifras que nos proponen porque queremos que siga existiendo la FAO; apoyamos las cifras y el Programa porque la FAO va a cumplir con su mandato con ahorro y austeridad como lo ha hecho hasta ahora.
Queremos volver a felicitar al Director General, a la Secretaría y a los Comités de Programas y de Finanzas por el perfecto esfuerzo de armonización para presentarnos, dentro de las circunstancias, un programa y presupuesto para que la FAO cumpla su misión histórica eficazmente.
J. TCHICAYA (Congo) : Le sommaire du Programme de travail et budget 1984-85 a fait l'objet d'un examen attentif et minutieux de la part de la délégation de mon pays. Nous sommes heureux de pouvoir dire qu'il s'agit d'un document bien structuré, dont la présentation marque des progrès sensibles par rapport au passé; aussi voudrions-nous nous associer aux félicitations adressées au Directeur général par tous ceux qui nous ont précédés. Les mêmes félicitations s'adressent également aux présidents des deux comités qui ont fait une analyse fouillée et équilibrée de ce sommaire de Programme de travail et budget.
L'examen des documents CL 83/3 et CL 83/4 ne doit pas être séparé des analyses que nous avons faites les jours précédents; au contraire nous pensons qu'il convient de l'inscrire dans ce contexte préoccupant, et à cet égard l'exposé introductif fait hier après-midi par le Directeur général est fort éloquent. Il a en effet su, en termes poignants, décrire le contexte dans lequel il convenait de placer ce sommaire de Programme de travail et budget. Or ce contexte, nous le connaissons, il est caractérisé Dar un faible taux de croissance de la production vivrière par rapport à l'accroissement démographique dans les pays en développement, source de pénurie alimentaire chronique et de fréquentes situations d'urgence. Ceci amène une diminution du volume d'aide publique au développement, notamment des ressources affectées au PNUD, au FIDA, au PAM et à la Banque mondiale qui connaissent un déclin préjudiciable aux investissements dans l'agriculture et une dette extérieure de plus en plus écrasante, conséquence du déclin enregistré au niveau des recettes d'exportation et des taux d'intérêt élevés.
Face à une telle situation, l'on pouvait s'attendre à ce que l'organisation chargée d'aider les pays en développement à inverser ces tendances puisse bénéficier des ressources nécessaires pour accomplir cette mission. Hélas, on nous propose la croissance zéro. Oui, M. le Président, je ne me suis pas trompé car une augmentation de 0,5 pour cent sur le précédent budget nous paraît proprement symbolique voire insignifiante. Il y a deux ans, à la même époque, nous disions que le budget alors proposé était un compromis entre les tenants de la croissance zéro et ceux, comme nous, qui pensaient que le niveau du budget devait correspondre à l'ampleur des besoins auxquels la FAO devait faire face. Il est clair que le niveau du budget proposé donne plus satisfaction aux partisans de la croissance zéro.
Ma délégation tient à rappeler qu'il est inacceptable que ce concept s'applique à la FAO dont la mission essentielle est de promouvoir la production agricole et alimentaire en vue de garantir à tous le droit à la nourriture. Mais ma délégation voudrait apporter son soutien au programme de travail ainsi qu'au niveau du budget soumis à notre examen, car elle apprécie hautement les efforts d'assainissement faits par le Directeur général pour réduire les dépenses administratives au profit des priorités techniques et économiques. A cet égard, nous percevons à travers les différentes rubriques la volonté confirmée du rôle essentiel de la FAO dans la production vivrière, la sécurité alimentaire, l'élimination de la pauvreté en milieu rural et l'avènement d'échanges internationaux plus équitables pour les produits agricoles.
Les stratégies et priorités retenues pour le biennium 1984-85 rejoignent nos préoccupations telles qu'elles sont exprimées à la Conférence régionale d'Alger et dans d'autres instances. Cependant, nous tenons à exprimer nos réserves quant à la timide orientation de ressources affectées pour renforcer les activités intéressant la production du plantain, des racines, des tubercules ainsi que des légumineuses. Il est souhaitable, au regard de ce qui a été dit ici au sujet de ces produits, que des ressources supplémentaires y soient consacrées.
Le regroupement de quatre unités dans une Division du développement, de la recherche et des techniques nous paraît assez judicieux, car il semble qu'ici l'esprit d'économie se conjugue parfaitement avec le souci d'efficacité qui doit caractériser les activités de notre Organisation.
Un autre côté faible dans la préparation des ressources, malgré les explications données, nous paraît être les forêts et la pêche, et nous voudrions demander au Directeur général d'imprimer un essor décisif à ces départements qui nous paraissent être les parents pauvres dans l'affectation des ressources, malgré les efforts indéniables qui ont été faits dans l'actuel budget. Nous savons tous le rôle de la forêt en milieu rural et son impact dans certaines de nos économies nationales, pour ne rien négliger qui puisse permettre aux Etats intéressés de tirer le maximum de revenus et de bien-être social de leurs forêts. La pêche revêt pour notre délégation une importance capitale, car de nombreux facteurs, dont la tsé-tsê, limitent le développement de l'élevage malgré des efforts importants de notre Gouvernement pour promouvoir ce secteur pour lequel les crédits ne devraient souffrir aucune amputation. C'est pour cette raison que les produits de la pêche constituent à présent une source de protéines non négligeable qui apporte une contribution importante à la sécurité alimentaire de notre pays. Ces crédits devraient donc être renforcés par rapport à l'actuel budget.
Mais, M. le Président, toutes ces imperfections pouvaient être corrigées si le programme de coopération technique, dont l'efficacité n'est plus à démontrer, sans doute parce qu'il tire ses ressources du budget ordinaire - et nous l'appuyons sous la forme actuelle, car c'est sous cette forme qu'il a reçu l'appui unanime et pertinent des différentes conférences régionales dont la nôtre, et dont les mérites ont été largement évoqués ici -,si donc le PCT, dis-je, avait reçu toute l'impulsion dans l'affectation des ressources.
En effet, une augmentation de 0,6 pour cent ne nous paraît pas refléter tout le bien que les pays bénéficiaires en pensent puisque l'augmentation notée ici est à peine supérieure à l'augmentation générale du budget. Nous nous étonnons de ce que ce programme, qui a suscité tant d'intérêt de la part de nos pays, n'ait pas été le principal bénéficiaire des différents transferts de fonds qui se sont opérés à l'intérieur de ce budget. Nous sommes cependant conscients que le Directeur général s'est trouvé face à de multiples priorités et orientations, et a dû faire des choix parfois douloureux. C'est pour cette raison qu'il convient que le Conseil lui apporte tout son soutien, avec l'espoir que les lacunes qui ont été relevées ici soient tant soit peu comblées lorsqu'il nous présentera son programme définitif.
Pour sa part, la délégation de la République populaire du Congo réitère son appui aux priorités contenues dans le sommaire du Programme de travail et budget 1984-85 présenté par le Directeur général, et souhaite ardemment qu'il l'aide à accomplir sa mission dans la sérénité. Voilà pourquoi, tout en étant sensible aux efforts du Directeur général visant à réduire le personnel au siège, nous pensons qu'il y a des limites dans ces réductions au-delà desquelles la FAO ne devra pas s'aventurer, au risque de compromettre l'efficience des programmes de terrain.
Nous saluons également l'accent mis sur la formation dans les différents sous-programmes, et espérons que cet effort se poursuivra dans l'avenir, puisqu'il s'agit là de la priorité des priorités mises en avant par la dernière session de la Conférence régionale de la FAO pour l'Afrique.
J.I. PALACIOS SERRANO (España): Gracias señor Presidente. La delegación española se reserva el derecho de intervenir en otras futuras intervenciones. Quisiera tomar la palabra en este momento, aunque muy brevemente, pero antes deseo felicitar al señor Director General por las palabras que nos dirigió ayer, así como a los presidentes de los Comités de Programas y de Finanzas por la excelente forma en que presentaron sus informes.
La delegación española ha estudiado detenidamente el resumen del Programa de Labores y Presupuesto para 1984-85, y quisiera manifestar su satisfacción por los esfuerzos que se han hecho en pro de la economía y de la distribución más eficaz de los recursos dentro de la Organización. Quisiera, asimismo exhortar al Director General a seguir en esta misma línea. Mi país considera como esencial el papel de la FAO en la sociedad internacional, y aunque estime que todos los recursos destinados a financiar la erradicación del hambre en el mundo son escasos, no por ello deja de considerar necesario que en esta tarea exista un cierto rigor presupuestario y una mayor eficacia, que debe entenderse como resultado de la actual crisis económica internacional, y la difícil situación financiera por la que atravesamos algunos países miembros.
En resumen, la delegación española apoya los recortes para una mayor productividad y economía, así como los impulsos a los programas técnicos y económicos con las prioridades que se especifican en el documento de referencia.
H.F. NAJEB (Iraq) (original language Arabic): First of all I should like to say that all the delegates who have spoken before me have expressed their support for the Programme of Work and Budget proposed for 1984-85 biennium. We would express, in our turn, our entire support for this Programme of Work and Budget. We also wish to congratulate the Director-General for his proposals which constitute a compromise between the developing countries' needs on the one hand and the world economic situation on the other. We also congratulate him again on his success in allocating an amount not exceeding 58 percent for the staff costs and this had a positive effect on the increase in technical activities up to the sum of $7 million allocated to these activities without any extra increase in the budget. We would have been happier still if the Director-General in the light of the above, would have submitted to us at this Session, as he has done at previous sessions, details of expenditure for administrative services for every amount spent on the services in respect of each of the field projects and programmes along with a comparison of these figures with those of other development organizations, international or national, so that the efficiency of FAO in this matter could be better illustrated.
We wish, on the other hand, to express our concern because of the substantial reduction in the UNDP resources, as well as the reduction in the aid given to developing countries in general.
We fully agree on the joint report of the Programme and Finance Committees, as contained in document CL 83/4 and we thank them for their emphasis on strengthening the administrative and technical support to the Technical Cooperation Programmes and for their support to the Technical Cooperation Developing Countries. We trust that the increase of only 0.5 percent suggested in the budget will not have an adverse effect on the training activities undertaken by the organizations because of the vital importance of this activity and its positive effect for the development of agricultural personnel in the developing countries.
We also wish to refer to another point here at the Council. It concerns the Technical Cooperation Programmes which we consider as a very useful tool which the Director-General can resort to for a quick and effective intervention in favour of the developing countries. Although we would have wished that a larger share of the resources be earmarked for this programme, yet in view the general circumstances which we hope are only exceptional and not to be repeated in future budgets we are happy to announce our support for the increase in these allocations from 12.9 percent to 13.5 percent.
Finally we wish to welcome with pleasure the consensus of this Council Session in approving the Programme of Work and Budget as this would certainly have a positive effect on the speedy ratification thereof by the Conference.
G.E. GONZALEZ (Argentina): Desearía, en primer término, expresar nuestro sincero reconocimiento al Director General y a todos los funcionarios de la Secretaría General que han puesto un esfuerzo especial en la preparación de la documentación. Entendemos que es especialmente valiosa, no solo por la forma clara en que ha sido presentada, sino por el rigor presupuestario que caracteriza a esta presentación; pero decía que, en particular, expresamos nuestro reconocimiento por la forma, el "approach", casi podría decir la filosofía seguida por la Secretaría en la preparación del proyecto del Programa.
Nuestra Delegación ha estudiado en detalle la documentación respectiva, y para ser franco con ustedes había preparado una larga exposición con comentarios y consideraciones, pero creo que a esta altura del debate resulta innecesaria su lectura. Consecuentemente, tratare de referirme a algunos aspectos de particular interés.
El Documento refleja en forma sintética el enfoque con que la Secretaría de la FAO ha preparado, o está preparando, el Programa del Presupuesto para el próximo bienio, e incluye en forma resumida el examen de las estrategias y políticas y de sus repercusiones en el Programa de Campo, las prioridades de los programas, los aumentos de los costos y las relaciones recíprocas entre todos estos elementos. Por otra parte, y como es lógico, en la formulación del Programa de Presupuesto se ha tenido debidamente en cuenta la actual situación mundial; es así que la Secretaría General en su documento nos señala la grave crisis económica internacional, el estancamiento del comercio mundial, la desocupación, los niveles de endeudamiento de los países en desarrollo y, en fin, todos los males que aquejan a la comunidad internacional, pero que adquieren un carácter dramático en el caso de los países en desarrollo.
Sobre lo que hace a la producción agrícola se señala que aunque ésta ha crecido globalmente en los últimos dos años, se tiene plena conciencia de que sólo un análisis de la situación alimentaria por regiones, por países e incluso por sectores dentro de los países, puede indicar dónde se hallan los problemas reales.
Coincidimos también en la forma sintética en que la Secretaría General señala la situación en materia de ayuda alimentaria, el comercio agrícola, los intercambios y la ayuda exterior a la agricultura; la situación descrita ha llevado, y aquí algo muy importante, a actuar con grande cautela y con gran sobriedad en la preparación del Programa de Presupuesto.
Mi Delegación considera que el enfoque es absolutamente correcto, ya que en forma pragmática se ha logrado hacer el estudio de las necesidades y de las limitaciones financieras existentes.
Finalmente, se hace una evaluación crítica de la capacidad de la organización para cumplir su mandato.
Insistimos en que este documento nos parece muy correcto y nosostros le damos nuestro total respaldo.
Por otra parte, el Documento se refiere también al apoyo prestado por la FAO a distintos programas y a la decisión de continuar participando y de tratar de hacerlo tan eficientemente como sea posible. Así se refiere a fertilizantes, al PASA, prevenciones de pérdida de alimentos, y entre algunas otras, al de la pesca en las zonas económicas exclusivas. Sobre'este punto en particular, Señor Presidente,quisiera detenerme un par de minutos. El propio Documento señala que son los cambios introducidos en el Régimen Jurídico del Mar por la adopción por parte de la mayoría de los países de la Comunidad Internacional de la Convención sobre el Derecho del Mar, los que han tenido consecuencias importantes para los Estados costeros, tanto desarrollados como en vías de desarrollo. Es precisamente ante esta situación consciente de las consecuencias de los cambios, que se iniciará en 1979 un programa global para el desarrollo y la ordenación de la explotación pesquera en las zonas económicas exclusivas.
Se ha prestado, y leo del Documento, una ayuda especial en numerosas esferas de actividades, en particular política y planificación dentro de las zonas económicas exclusivas, vigilancias, controles e inspección de las actividades pesqueras de otros países y propias, prestaciones de asesoramiento jurídico y armonización de los regímenes nacionales. Estas misiones, a juicio de esta Delegación, constituyen el medio principal para prestar la asistencia de los países ribereños para que éstos puedan desarrollar sus recursos pesqueros. Este es el objetivo principal del Programa y nos congratulamos de que así sea.
Por otra parte, y siempre dentro de este mismo tema, nos ha llamado la atención lo señalado en la página 13 de que se necesitará un apoyo extrapresupuestario de 30 millones de dólares para aspectos supranacionales del Programa de zonas económicas exclusivas.
Mi Delegación congratula a la Secretaría General por la permanente búsqueda de fondos y recursos extrapresupuestarios en vista de las crecientes dificultades que tenemos; pero nos permitimos recordar la conveniencia de garantizar que la eventual procedencia de esos fondos extrapresupuestarios no nos desvíe de los objetivos fijados.
Abreviando, Señor Presidente, quisiera decir que la Delegación argentina coincide en el mantenimiento de los niveles del fondo de operaciones y de la cuenta especial de reserva, que han alcanzado niveles aceptables para su funcionamiento. Agradecemos especialmente a la Secretaría, el esfuerzo realizado para disminuir los gastos administrativos sin limitar los principales programas. Apoyamos la iniciativa de aumentar los recursos del PCT, ya que creemos que responde a solicitudes expresas de varios organismos de esta Organización así como de todas las conferencias regionales de la FAO.
Confiamos en que la Secretaría continuará haciendo todo lo posible para disminuir los costos de documentación y entendemos que la propuesta que nos hace significa un buen esfuerzo, pero quizá sea en este campo donde se podrían realizar ajustes adicionales.
Respecto a la disminución de los 40 puestos en la Organización, estoy seguro de que dicho corte no afectará el nivel de eficiencia de la Organización. Estimo que podrían ser absorbidos sin mayor problema; lo más importante en todo caso es señalar los esfuerzos de la Secretaría por presentarnos un presupuesto donde no disminuyen los programas técnicos y que por lo menos, no nos presenten nuevos pedidos de vacantes para llevar adelante esos programas.
En resumen, Señor Presidente, mi Delegación coincide en la forma y en el fondo con el Documento presentado y le damos nuestro pleno apoyo. Somos conscientes de que el monto total del Presupuesto resulta insuficiente para hacer todo lo que FAO puede hacer, pero estamos convencidos de que con el entusiasmo y la eficiencia que caracteriza a todos los funcionarios de la Organización, ésta podrá continuar prestando sus valiosos servicios a la humanidad.
W. DOYLE (Ireland): My delegation wishes to record its appreciation of the efforts made by the Director-General and clearly reflected in the documents before us to keep the budget increase to a minimum and to reconcile this modest increase with the enormous needs of the developing countries by providing Council with a commendable programme of work in the next biennium.
We wish to refer in particular to the question of savings under administration. We note that the Director-General is leading by example here and that some of the staff savings are made from among his own staff.
The difficult economic climate is a special spur to all governments, and indeed the Organization, to search exhaustively for savings, especially savings which can be effected without undue detriment to essential services. My Government is not alone in this quest. Having heard the delegates of so many member countries express misgivings in regard to possible adverse effects that staff reductions might have on programme performance, I thought it might be appropriate for me to explain that our Government looks to this area in our own public service to achieve very significant savings. I think it is a question of hard times require difficult and often unpopular decisions.
The decision taken and implemented by the Government of Ireland almost a year ago was that two out of every three posts in public service would remain unfilled. You may be pleased to note that reaction to this rather severe action has been very mild, even though it has been in operation for almost a year now. Reaction showed itself on my departure from Dublin to Rome, in that we had a 24-hour air traffic controllers strike - perhaps it is gathering.
As regards the increase proposed in the FAO budget and its being as low as 0.5 percent, I would like to point out that such an apparently modest increase would mean a considerable increase in my country^ contribution. This is so because of the revised scale of UN contributions recently decided in New York and also the adverse exchange rates for our currency. Notwithstanding this, my delegation considers that the proposals made in the summary before us form a sound basis for the budget for the next biennium. I wish again to thank the Director-General on this account.
Sra. Doña E. HERAZO DE VITI (Panamá): El primer comentario que le merece a la delegación de Panamá la discusión del resumen de Programa de Labores y Presupuesto para el 84/85 que nos propone el Director General es el de reconocerle a éste su mérito en la racionalización de los gastos que viene a significar que los servicios de apoyo y los servicios comunes lleguen a representar el 18 por ciento del presupuesto, así como la eliminación de 40 puestos, y que los gastos en estos puestos en proporción al presupuesto total hayan disminuido del 77 por ciento; hace un decenio al 50 por ciento, aparejando estos recortes por un aumento de' 7,3 millones de dólares, un 3,5 por ciento sobre el nivel actual en los recursos dedicados a los programas técnicos y económicos, entre ellos el PCT.
El Director General nos ha expresado que ha tomado muy en cuenta los problemas económicos por los que actualmente atraviesan los Estados Miembros, y sobre este particular reiteramos lo que expresáramos en nuestra intervención inicial en el sentido de que la crisis que se da en el interno de los países desarrollados es dentro de ciertas condiciones de bienestar, que dista mucho de las mejores condiciones por las que puedan pasar muchos de los países en vías de desarrollo.
Para sorpresa nuestra, durante el día de ayer escuchamos señalamiento por parte de algunas delegaciones en el sentido de que apoyaban la tendencia al crecimiento cero al referirse al nivel del presupuesto. A esta delegación le preocupa este tipo de planteamientos, el cual en anteriores oportunidades hemos rechazado, y rechazamos, porque, como bien lo expresara nuestro Presidente del Grupo de los 77 en declaración inicial a este Consejo, las dificultades de nuestros países no tienen crecimiento cero, sino que lamentablemente se multiplican y agravan. Se trata, pues, como bien lo expresaron los Presidentes del Comité de Programa y de Finanzas, de un incremento presupuestario simbólico del orden de 0,5 por ciento para el próximo bienio; y este tipo de incremento no guarda relación con las necesidades crecientes y demandas insatisfechas de una seguridad alimentaria que todos hemos aceptado en fortalecer y ampliar.
Es por todo esto que resulta totalmente inaceptable la denominada teoría de "crecimiento cero" porque la racionalización de gastos con la cual se está de acuerdo tiene un límite que superado significará regreso en las actividades mismas de una Organización como la FAO en la cual hay puestas muchas esperanzas y depositada mucha confianza.
Sobre los programas de campo, cuyas propuestas vienen indicadas en el capítulo tercero del documento CL 83/3 queremos subrayar, por su importancia dentro de los programas especiales de acción, el de fertilizantes, destacando lo acordado por la 8a reunión de la Comisión de Fertilizantes que reconoció las funciones de este Programa en su esfuerzo por aumentar la producción agrícola, reconociendo asimismo los aspectos socioeconómicos de esta labor como acción complementaria de la CMRADR, lo mismo que el plan de ayuda para la seguridad alimentaria, el Programa para Prevención de las Pérdidas de Alimentos, así como el de Mejoramiento y Desarrollo de Semillas, el Plan Internacional de Fomento de la Carne, el de Contribución Forestal y Desarrollo de las Comunidades Locales, y el de actividades complementarias de la CMRADR, cuyos avances hemos venido examinando periódicamente los órganos rectores de esta Organización y que vienen a incidir en la prestación de asistencia y ayuda a diversos países en la preparación de sus estrategias, planes y programas nacionales de reforma agraria y de desarrollo rural, así como la atención al fomento de la participación popular, la función de la mujer en el desarrollo rural y el apoyo a la educación, capacitación y extensión para el desarrollo rural; y en planos regionales el importante aspecto que tiene que ver con el establecimiento y funcionamiento de los centros regionales del desarrollo rural y reforma agraria que tal y como han sido concebidos deben incidir positivamente en los aspectos de planificación, capacitación y ejecución de los programas de reforma agraria y de desarrollo rural; sobre este aspecto del resumen del programa de labores y presupuestos para el 84/85 subrayamos lo indicado en el párrafo 3.85 sobre la amplitud de las demandas no satisfechas, que inciden en las esferas de los programas de acción de esta Organización que merecen en las actuales circunstancias un apoyo especial.
Para finalizar, nuestra delegación desea mencionar que Panamá ha recibido los beneficios del Programa de Cooperación Técnica, un Programa ágil y oportuno que da respuesta a necesidades con soluciones impostergables para nuestros países.
Z. GROCHOWSKI (Poland): First our delegation wishes to say that we found the document highlighting the main features of the Director-General's proposed Summary Programme of Work and Budget for the next biennium concise and clear, which will certainly facilitate discussion of this important issue. We fully appreciate the amount of work and effort which was necessary for the preparation of this document and further improvements in its format and presentation.
As we stated in the discussion of the current world food situation, we agree with FAO's assessments of the world agricultural position and the recognition of the gravity of the world food situation, and that these problems are requiring the highest attention of governments and public opinion. We also agree with the statement of the Secretariat that the basic mandate as well as the strategies and medium-term objectives of the Organization remain unchanged and that its programmes have a continuous character being carried forward from one biennium to the other. However, the needs of world agriculture and food economy are evolving and require a new determination of priorities of action in their context of available resources.
It should be appreciated that the budget proposed takes into account the economic situation of the world and financial constraints faced by many governments. We therefore welcome the efforts undertaken by the Director-General to limit the request for additional resources.
I would like to remind you that my delegation is in favour of the concept of zero growth. In order to be able to expand the programmes and activities in these fields in which their expansion is highly desirable it is necessary to reduce or to cut programmes and activities of relatively low priority or utility.
My delegation is of the opinion that the main directions and orientations of the proposed Summary Programme of Work and Budget are correct. We are in favour of recognizing the highest priorities for food production, farming systems, research and technology, to shifting the resources to technical and economic programmes, to concentrating attention on the African region. We agree however with the comments of the Programme Committee that food and agricultural problems in other regions should continue to be given adequate attention and that Asia in particular would need to remain a focus of attention in view of its huge population and the magnitude of the problem of rural poverty in the region.
We welcome and support the Organization's effort to reduce the number of established posts at Headquarters and the proposed cuts in the administration and support services at Headquarters and in the field.
It seems to us that there are still some possibilities of making economies, and we should like to encourage further steps in this direction. The priorities as established in the proposed Programme of Work and Budget in our opinion reflect the present pressing need of countries and regions, and both regular programme activities and special programmes are geared to render the maximum possible assistance to needy countries in the field of agricultural development. The concentration of efforts and resources on technical and economic programmes appears to us fully justified under the present circumstances when agricultural productivity is stagnant in many countries, a number of which experience serious food shortages. The importance of mobilizing additional financial resources for agricultural development cannot be over-emphasized.
We should remember that the most important factor in fighting human malnutrition is increase of food production. Therefore, we think that the work of technical divisions like plant and animal production divisions should be strengthened and cuts be avoided.
We consider the training of farmers in the introduction of new improved farming systems as being of paramount importance for the further growth of production. We would appreciate some more detailed information on the results achieved in this field, methods applied in training and proposed action for the future.
We note that the activities carried out by the Investment Center are highly appreciated as they are supposed to pave the way and facilitate future investment. We understand that this work will be further continued. We are not very clear, however, why the demands of the World Bank for FAO services have been declining as stated on page 26 of the document under discussion. We would appreciate receiving additional information in this respect.
The Polish Delegation on many occasions has stressed the need to increase FAO's function in international cooperation in the field of agricultural research and technology development. Therefore we are glad to see the proposal of the regrouping of units dealing with various aspects of research and technology development and we hope that this measure permits FAO to increase its contribution to the countries' development and to intensify cooperation with other international entities dealing with research and technology.
My country's position is that the normal assistance programme should be based on voluntary contributions. The Conference accepted these specific purposes of the TCP of providing a speedy, efficient response to Member governments' urgent requirements. Taking into account the specific purposes of the TCP, we do not consider that the proportion of financial appropriation for this purpose should increase.
We fully agree with the proposal to stabilize the decentralization programme at its present level. The coverage of more than 70 developing countries by FAO representatives should be sufficient for providing assistance to countries which need it most. We consider, however, that the concept of multi-accreditation should be further pursued whenever possible.
We have noted that the present scope of recent activities in the European region will be continued. We only regret that financial resources allocated for this programme are extremely small, which would prevent further expanding of this programme.
To summarize, I wish to state that we agree with the general line of the Director-General's programme of work, and we appreciate his efforts to limit the additional financial burden on Member countries in the present difficult economic situation faced by many of them.
H.K. SEIP (Norway): In his opening statement last Monday, the Director-General characterized the item under discussion as a main item on our agenda. It certainly is. The Programme of Work and Budget reflects the policy of the Organization and creates the basis for its implementation. With this in mind, it is encouraging to experience the work done by the Secretariat to optimize the use of available financial resources. We sincerely hope that the firm and wise leadership of the Director-General which has led to the Summary Programme of Work and Budget before us will bring us a proposal for the Conference that is acceptable both for the developing and the developed world. Even in the existing difficult economic situation, my delegation feels that chances are good both concerning the budget level and the priorities applying.
It should be noted, though, as mentioned by Ireland, that even a budget with a very moderate growth because of relative changes in money values can be a significant regrowth in the burden of some donor countries. Realizing the difficulties of getting the reports from the Programme and Finance Committees out sufficiently early, we hope that it will be possible to give us more time for studying the final Conference documents than has been possible this time.
We know, of course, that the work of the Organization cannot be judged only by the allocation of sources to budget posts. The type of activity within each element of the sub-programmes can vary considerably without changing the headlines that are visible in the budget. A closer look into detailed activities enabling a value judgement on how close the Organization is following its own policy is rather difficult for an outsider. As far as my delegation has been able to familiarize itself with the actual work of FAO, we feel that even in this respect, the Programme of Work is close to the wishes expressed by the governing body. During the Conference it is assumed that medium-term objectives will be discussed together with the budget. As we have found nothing about this in the document before us, I would like to ask the Secretariat how this item will be handled.
Two aspects in the budget I would like to mention specifically. The Technical Cooperation Programme has been given a significant increase. This was discussed in my delegation because we felt it was difficult at this stage to see the detailed allocation of these funds. We have, however, recognized that the breakdown as suggested by the Finance Committee will be available in the Conference document. This will help us to get a clearer view of the allocation of the total financial resources, including extra-budgetary means.
We also feel that the increase in reserve left over from one year to the next raises a question about the justification of an increase. In the best budgetary situation, we appreciate, however, the Director-General's need to use this way of keeping a reasonable flexibility if the total budget can be kept on the level indicated. We therefore feel that we probably be able to go along with the increase of the TCP. In spite of the valuable clarifications given by Mr Shah, it is our hope that this flexibility can be used to strengthen in particular forestry activities, as mentioned by the Programme Committee in paragraph 2.1.5.9 and by several delegations from various parts of the world. This links to the need to give attention also to long-term problems as, for instance, to reduce the desertification which goes on with the speed of about 800 hectares each hour day and night. Since we started this meeting this morning, another 2,000 or 3,000 hectares have passed the border from fertile soil to desert. Such development threatens forestry and other types of water management which are conditions for sustained agriculture.
The other aspect that I would like to touch upon is the significant reduction of personnel which has been found necessary due to limitations in the financial resources. As pointed out by the Programme Committee in its report in paragraph 2.5.2 and others, there is a limit to how far such an approach can be applied. I assume that the Director-General by this operation has brought about a reasonable balance between financial and personnel resources. If the financial situation should improve in the future - which we sincerely hope - the situation could arise when staff and not money would be the limiting factor in the implementation of FAO's technical programmes. As staff members of a quality that is a condition for an effective international work are not always readily available, this will need a well-planned recruitment policy. I do not know how this problem is handled in the Organization, but I think the situation indicated in this budget needs the Director-General's particular attention.
DIRECTOR-GENERAL: Just to say that the number of technical posts will be increased in 1984/85, and the posts which I am proposing to abolish are not technical posts. This is just to reassure the distinguished delegate of Norway.
The meeting rose at 12.30 hours
La séance est levée à 12 h 30
Se levanta la sesión a las 12.30 horas
