OPENING STATEMENT BY DIRECTOR-GENERAL
DISCOURS D'OUVERTURE DU DIRECTEUR GENERAL
DISCURSO DE APERTURA DEL DIRECTOR GENERAL
LE DIRECTEUR GENERAL: Mesdames et Messieurs les délégués, Excellences, Mesdames et Messieurs: j'ai aujourd'hui pour la première fois, l'honneur de souhaiter la bienvenue aux éminents délégués de nos Pays Membres, parmi lesquels j'ai le plaisir de compter de nombreuses connaissances.
Aux nouveaux venus, et particulièrement aux représentants des pays ayant présenté leur demande d'admission en qualité de membre de l'Organisation, je tiens à exprimer ma satisfaction de les voir s'intégrer à notre grande famille.
Je suis heureux aussi d'accueillir toutes les personnes présentes en qualité d'observateurs.
Pour nous tous ici, la Conférence est toujours un grand moment de la vie de la FAO.
C'est là que, depuis plus de trente ans, des hommes et des femmes, toujours plus nombreux et plus enthousiastes, tentent patiemment de poser les jalons d'une politique agricole commune à l'ensemble de l'humanité.
Une politique basée sur la concertation et la solidarité pour vaincre à jamais la faim et la malnutrition.
Et pourtant, plusieurs centaines de millions de personnes souffrent encore de ce double fléau.
Faut-il alors nous déclarer forfaits, ou pis encore, compenser par l'abondance du verbe la cruelle indigence de nos moyens?
Je ne le pense pas.
Nous sommes tous convaincus de la nécessité de poursuivre et même d'intensifier l'aide aux pays en développement.
Mais il est aussi de plus en plus évident que le Tiers monde doit d'abord compter sur lui-même. A cet égard, je ne peux manquer d'évoquer la Chine.
Ce pays, qui regroupe le quart de la population du globe, cette nation qui est la plus grande nation paysanne du monde, a réussi à assurer sa propre subsistance en comptant sur ses propres forces.
S'il est une assemblée internationale qui se doit de rendre hommage à l'oeuvre du
Président Mao-Tsé-Tung, au lendemain du premier anniversaire de son décès, c'est bien la nôtre.
Nous savons tous ici combien il est difficile, combien il est ambitieux d'édifier une économie capable de nourrir tous les hommes, au lieu d'être seulement soumise aux intérêts d'une minorité.
C'est à cette tâche que nous devons nous atteler en priorité.
Voilà la raison d'être de la FAO et l'ultime signification des travaux qui nous occuperont dans les prochains jours.
Nous aboutirons, j'en suis sur, à des décisions concrètes.
Ensemble nous ferons progresser la coopération internationale dans un esprit de conciliation et d'entente.
Excellences, Mesdames, Messieurs: je déclare ouverte la Dix-neuvième session de la Conférence de l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture.
LE DIRECTEUR GENERAL: Le premier point à l'ordre du jour est l'élection du Président de la Conférence. Conformément à l'Article VII du Règlement général de l'Organisation, le Conseil a proposé pour cette haute fonction Son Excellence le Docteur TOYIB HADIWIJAYA, Ministre de l'Agriculture de l'Indonésie.
La Conférence approuve-t-elle cette proposition?
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LE DIRECTEUR GENERAL: J'ai l'honneur de déclarer le Docteur Hadiwijaya élu par acclamation au poste de Président de la Conférence générale de la FAO.
Je vous félicite Docteur Hadiwijaya. Puis-je vous demander de venir prendre votre siège de Président?
Mr. T. Hadiwijaya took the chair
M. T. Hadiwijaya assume la présidence
Ocupa la presidencia el Sr. T. Hadiwijaya
ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN OF THE CONFERENCE
DISCOURS DU PRESIDENT DE LA CONFERENCE
DISCURSO DEL PRESIDENTE DE LA CONFERENCIA
CHAIRMAN: Mr. Director-General, Distinguished Delegates, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen: May I acknowledge most sincerely the signal honour you have accorded my country by electing me Chairman of the Nineteenth Session of the FAO Conference. Indonesia, as you well know, belongs to Asia. It is a region with a long history of religion, culture, arts and agriculture. This election is also an honour bestowed on my Region. For this manifestation of trust, I extend my gratitude and deep appreciation to all of you, to the Asia and Pacific Region, in particular to Bangladesh, for their support to the candidature of Indonesia.
In response to your vote of confidence, I pledge my services to help ensure that, in the days ahead, our deliberations are conducted impartially, not merely in accordance with our established rules and practices, but also with what we, in our ancient Indonesia farming villages call musyawarah: a process of authentic consultation, that goes beyond mere power compromises, and seeks instead a consensus, based on mutual understanding and respect.
Upon his assumption of office, the Chairman of an FAO Conference is required to discharge a series of traditional duties.
I would like first, on behalf of all member nations, to convey to the Government of Italy our gratitude for its continuing welcome to our Organization. We owe, too, a word of thanks to the authorities and the people of Rome for their warm hospitality.
Second, we will be opening our ranks, in the course of our Conference, to new members. Their entry comes at a time when the systems for international collaboration that we have painstakingly built, over the years, are strained and threatened by threats of fragmentation. Thus we welcome this bolstering of our ranks.
Permit me also to convey through you, Mr. Director-General, the sincerest thanks of the delegates and observers, to the Staff, for the excellent arrangements they have made for our Conference.
When our Conference closes, the second term of office of the Independent Chairman of the Council will expire. We will bid farewell then to Señor Gonzalez Bula Hoyos, a distinguished son of Latin America. Led by Señor Bula Hoyos, the Council dealt with a large number of significant policies, relating to the basic needs of the rural poor. His work will be remembered, with appreciation, by us. We say goodbye to him in this city of Julius Caesar. So I may, perhaps, be excused in quoting the farewell to Cassius, which probably was uttered in the shadows of the Palatine Hills, not far from here: "If we do meet again, why we shall smile! If not, why then this parting was well made. ''
Like all human endeavour, each Conference assembles in its own unique setting, with its own hopes, its own opportunities for achievement - and if one is realistic - its own chances for failure. What are the chances that our Conference will not fail and thereby be "consigned to the dustbin of history"?
Our Conference is, in a number of ways, fortunate. We meet at a time when the food queues of the mid-1970s have disappeared. The State of Food and Agriculture 1977 is before you. It reports that due to good weather and improved harvests, over the past three years, the food situation has eased. Growth of forestry and fisheries appears to be continuing. Supplies of fertilizer and pesticides are up. The first signs of a moderation in rapid population growth rates worldwide are emerging. We, therefore, have a breathing spell wherein to redesign our common assault on hunger.
We are witnessing, too, a number of hopeful institutional indicators. The International Fund for Agricultural Development is preparing to start operations. The World Bank is redirecting the flow of its funds from traditional urban projects to the rural poor, mostly in agricultural settings. There is a network of excellent international centres for agricultural research and training in the developing world.
Within this House, our Director-General has instituted a series of administrative reforms and integrated set of policies. Significantly, these were endorsed by the Council, on behalf of the Conference, at its 69th Session in July 1976. These new policies sought, first, to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of this Organization; and, second, to bring services where they really matter - at the village level, where seed is sown and harvests reaped - and all too often lost.
Thus, the Director-General has validly insisted that FAO re-examine and move beyond its traditional approaches to give priority to innovative action, at country and village levels. This calls for the adjustment of criteria and practices in old FAO programmes and broadened support for practical action. All these seek to unlock - by investments, training, technology and other means - the latent indieenous resources at grass-roots levels. There has, therefore, been a welcome start to encourage participatory planning and programmes that build from below.
A modest Technical Cooperation Programme, designed to give FAO a new immediacy and flexibility in responding to urgent short-term needs of Member Nations, has been established. Despite initial scepticism, TCP is welcomed, specially in the poorer countries. Establishment of country representative offices is in progress. Clearly, this too has support of Member Governments.
There has been, also, a welcome effort by the Director-General to collaborate with regional institutions. Thus, the Heads of Governments of the Association of South-East Asian Nations or ASEAN commended, at their Second Summit Meeting, FAO's budding programmes in population rural development. The various Funds in the Near East have been approached to support vital FAO programmes.
These aforementioned initiatives by the Director-General signal a rededication, a new start and have given FAO, in the Director-General's felicitous phrase, "A new. dimension'' in carrying out its mandate to assist the rural poor.
It is right to give credit where due and realistically assess the factors in our favour. However, this might tempt us to gloss over the grim, seemingly intractable problems of hunger, malnutrition and mass poverty or the inadequacy of our efforts. As I said before, we could all too easily still be consigned to history's trash can. Estimates of the magnitude of pervasive rural poverty are available. And it is clear that the normal processes of incremental growth and traditional approaches in terms of gross national production will not ease the problem.
Thus, our food situation remains fragile. In the developing countries, the average of food production increase, since the beginning of the 1970s, has been 2. 6 percent. This is below the 4 percent target set by the United Nations for this decade. Well over 400 million today are still malnourished. For reasons that are obvious, our world today is increasingly sensitive to human rights. One of the most vital of these rights is the right to adequate food. It may be appropriate, at this juncture, to consider social aspects of these rights by recalling what the Second World Food Congress, held at the Hague in 1970, said: "Food is the first need of every human being - a fundamental human right. But for hundreds of millions throughout the world, that need is not met and that right denied. This is intolerable. ''
Let me, however, point out a few ironical aspects of this mass denial of human rights.
The most vulnerable groups affected, for instance, are the millions of small farmers and landless labourers. Yet, these are precisely the men on whom we, in the developing countries, pin our hopes for a food production surge. The most extortionate cost of this hunger is borne by those who can afford it least: the children of our rural poor. Our neat infant mortality tables do not fully document the blindness, tuberculosis, mental retardation and premature deaths caused by hunger and malnutrition. But some of that anguish is caught in the poet's haunting line: "Do you not hear the children crying, 0 my brothers? Ere sorrows come with the years?"
There are also other troubling trends.
The drop in population growth is just beginning. The momentum of rapid growth, in earlier years, guarantees that many countries represented around this table will see their populations double in less than a generation.
Official commitments of external aid to agriculture slumped by 7 percent in real terms last year. Our workaday world today is dominated by headlines on satellites, laser bombs and other sophisticated weapons. The World Bank estimates that the bills for armament expenditures pile up at the rate of one billion dollars a day. In contrast, the most recent study on doubling of rice production in Asia by provision of adequate irrigation, done by the internationally known economist Saburo Okita, would entail only $4. 5 billion annually for a 15-year period. We should note, with a sense of sadness, that given our world's priorities we might get the bombs, but not the rice.
The burden of solving the food problem rests basically, of course, with the countries themselves. We know that the resources being made available to agriculture, by many developing countries is far less than needed. Agrarian reform in many areas has been bogged down. The Green Revolution" may have passed its peak, especially as far as rice is concerned.
This listing of problems could be lengthened ad infinitum. I merely cite some to stress that we need apply ourselves, with far greater commitment than has been shown in the past, to the tasks outlined in this Conference agenda.
The FAO Council, therefore, has appropriately invited. Heads of Delegations, when making their statements in Plenary, to give particular attention to the subject "Investment in Agriculture: Implications at the National and International Level. " In a very real sense, this may be considered the underlying theme of this Conference. The delegations, I am sure, will contribute valuable insights to our deliberations.
To start our discussion may I speak on what has been one of the more neglected aspects of our theme: in this case, the human dimensions of investment.
Many will agree with the Director-General that "one of the key pre-requisites for progress in practically all fields of agricultural development is investment, both from domestic as well as from international sources. " This is the reason why many member countries support the current policy to strengthen within the Organization the capacity to respond quickly to requests for assistance in preparing and formulating projects for submission to funding agencies.
But history can be a good teacher.
And we know that one of the bitter lessons of the late 1960s and the earlier part of this decade has been summed up by a Head of State this way: "You cannot solve a problem by throwing money at it. " It is a candid realization of the limits of money as a development tool. It validly implies the need for a vision, a scale of values, as well as the more subtle management skills, to deal with human constraints on economic development.
Beyond securing loans or equipment, the question facing many countries is: How can they utilize what is their major potential source of investment - namely their human capital which is the hearts, minds and bodies of their peoples to produce their food and other basic needs? This is a perennially renewable resource. It is available in abundance in the developing countries. Yet, daily it runs to waste. There are a multitude of reasons: ignorance, malnutrition, poverty, disease, lack of skill, opportunity and organization. Yet, this is the fundamental capital of mankind. Its mobilization remains the basic and most important challenge of our time.
What can we then, as countries and as an Organization, do to eradicate those factors that constrain this resource from creative activity?
There is no universal panacea to resolve these constraints. Conditions vary from country to country. But we have enough experience now, bought by a generation of -costly mistakes, to distil general principles that should guide our approaches in the future. The key lesson is to build into our national programmes, as well as in our collaborative international efforts, a policy of positive bias in favour of the most seriously disadvantaged sectors of our rural populations.
Conversely, this implies a no less important lesson: the need to pinpoint elements in macro-policies -industry, trade, aid, investment, education, etc. - which do not militate against this policy of ''positive discrimination. '' These contradictory elements have to be cauterized from national plans as well as programmes.
Hence, we feel that FAO's work must not be straight-jacketed into the narrow, technological field. They must now encompass more the human and social aspects as well. Both Governments and FAO must explore these aspects to the fullest extent possible.
Our accumulated experience shows that many programmes fail because they attempt to do everything at the same time, rather than doing first things first. Thus, there is now a consensus that a rural breakthrough will occur only when a step-by-step approach is followed.
In Asia, we know that the only way of determining what the "the first things" to be done is to consult with the people themselves. Very often, the needs and problems identified by outsiders do not reflect the needs and problems, as seen and experienced by the rural poor. This fact underpins the basic wisdom of the musyawarah consultative process I referred to earlier.
In countries that have mounted effective rural development programmes, we find invariably that they provided for interacting "bottom-up" planning with central guidance. The usual difficulties that programmes of this nature entailed were minimized where there was full participation of people "at the bottom. ''
In the coming weeks, we will try to work out, in concrete action-programmes, the principles we have discussed. I am confident that in our common task of easing the problems of hunger and poverty, we can count on each other's cooperation and good will.
Before concluding, permit me to make two brief observations.
First, may I bring to your attention a significant comment from the 1977 Agriculture Survey of the Asian Development Bank: "A deserved sense of cynicism has settled in among the rural poor, and it is only due to the timeless patience of these people, that more upheaval and more revolutionary violence did not materialize during the past ten years. Unless major policy commitments are made, however, one cannot be as sanguine about the coming decade. "
Part of the cynicism obviously is ruled by the fact that, mostly in the past, words have substituted for action; that the liturgy of conferences replaced the hard decisions.
My final observation rests on the fact that in the developing countries the majority of food producers are either small farmers, tenants or landless labourers. They could be, as the Bank report cited earlier warns, tomorrow's revolutionaries. This would be understandable. They are, after all, the main victims of earlier lack of commitment.
I have dealt with some of the fundamental questions with which we must be concerned. May I thank you for the patient listening to my statement. If I have been able to convey to you the significant role which FAO should play in the solution of the immense and urgent problems in world food and agriculture, the responsibility which rests upon us, especially the delegates of member countries of the developing nations, the hope and demand of these nations for concrete achievements of this, the Nineteenth Session of the FAO Conference, then I will consider myself generously rewarded. I thank you.
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CHAIRMAN: May I invite now the distinguished delegate of Brazil, Chairman of the Group of 77, to take the floor.
B. de AZEVEDO BRITO (Chairman, Group of 77): In the name of the Group of 77, I would like to congratulate you most warmly on your election. We are particularly pleased to see that a most distinguished son of a great nation will have the responsibility of conducting our work.
Indonesia has had a leading role in the promotion of development in the Third World. Indonesia has been a pioneer in the past of solidarity among the developing countries. Moreover, Indonesia has already demonstrated great achievements in the field of agricultural and rural development.
This background, Mr. Chairman, and you own vast experience and association with FAO is in our view the best token that the Conference will benefit from a most effective and enlightened leadership. We already have proof of this in the very important statement you have just delivered.
I am quite sure the fundamental questions you touched upon just now will merit priority consideration in our deliberations. I thank you very much, Sir.
CHAIRMAN: May I thank the Chairman of the Group of 77. Now I invite the distinguished representative of Iraq for the Near East.
A. WAHAB M, AL-DAHIRI (Iraq) (Interpretation from Arabic): I would like to congratulate Dr. Hadiwijawa, Minister of Agriculture of Indonesia, on his election to chair the General Conference. We are convinced that the new Chairman will enable the Conference to gain excellent and fruitful results.
CHAIRMAN: I thank the representative of Iraq. May I now invite the distinguished delegate of Bolivia for Latin America, please.
M. VARGAS JORDAN (Bolivia): A nombre del Grupo Latinoamericano que me honro en presidir, compartiendo esta responsabilidad con la representación de la hermana República de Colombia, quiero expresar a nombre de mi Grupo, nuestras más sinceras felicitaciones al doctor profesor Toyib Hadiwijawa, Ministro de Agricultura de Indonesia, que ha merecido la confianza de todas las representaciones acreditadas en este magno evento que marca hitos en la historia de FAO, no sin antes expresar nuestra felicitación por la vasta capacidad demostrada por su Director General, que dirige actualmente las actividades de este organismo.
La incansable tarea de dar bienestar a la Humanidad y a los pueblos desamparados y asistirlos en sus horas de angustia, la consideramos como una de las tareas más provechosas que será recogida por todos los desamparados de la humanidad. Estamos seguros de que el profesor Toyib sabrá conducir con sabiduría, capacidad y acierto las deliberaciones de esta Conferencia empleando la verdadera magnitud de ella, en servicio de todo el orbe que cifra sus esperanzas en las determinaciones que se aprueben en el máximo organismo de FAO.
Que estas esperanzas, eminente señor Presidente de la 19a Conferencia que contemplan todos, con justicia, los pueblos desamparados de la humanidad, puedan concretarse en realidades. Este es el deseo que abriga toda América Latina.
CHAIRMAN: I thank the delegate of Bolivia. May I now invite the delegate of Belgium for Europe.
H. BAEYENS (Belgique): Monsieur le Président, permettez-moi, au nom des pays de la zone européenne, de joindre ma voix aux orateurs qui m'ont précédé afin de vous adresser nos plus chaleureuses félicitations pour votre élection à la présidence de cette auguste assemblée.
Je n'ai pas à mentionner l'importance de cette session puisque vous avez vous-même, dans votre discours, souligné tous les aspects des problèmes qui nous occupent. Nous sommes tous particulièrement conscients de l'importance de ces problèmes et nous avons la ferme conviction que, sous votre présidence compétente, nos débats aboutiront aux décisions justes et nécessaires que nous attendons tous.
En même temps que je vous adresse ces félicitations, je voudrais aussi vous présenter, â vous et â votre pays, nos meilleurs voeux et nos remerciements pour avoir bien voulu généreusement assumer cette charge.
CHAIRMAN: I thank the delegate of Belgium. May I now invite the delegate of the Philippines on behalf of Asia and the Far East.
C. J. VALDES (Philippines): On behalf of the Asia Group I would like to say that we are proud to have one of our colleagues, the Minister of Agriculture of Indonesia, chair this Conference. We have no doubt, knowing his background and knowing the history of Indonesia, that he will contribute not only brilliance but also leadership to this Conference.
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CHAIRMAN: Paragraph 1 of Rule VIII of the General Rules of the Organization provides that the Nominations Committee shall propose to the Conference candidates for the three posts of Vice-Chairman of the Conference; seven Member Nations of the General Committee of the Conference required under paragraph 1 of Rule X of the same General Rules; and nine members of the Conference Credentials Committee, as laid down in paragraph 3 of Rule III of the General Rules. The Nominations Committee to make these proposals was elected by the FAO Council in its Seventy-Second Session held from 8 to" 11 November, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 5(b) of Rule XXIV of the General Rules of the Organization. This Committee met on Friday, 11 November and drew up its recommendations for the posts just mentioned. I shall now ask the Chairman of the Nominations Committee, Mr. Amato, to place before the Conference the nominations agreed to by his Committee.
R. AMATO (Presidente del Comité de Candidatures): De acuerdo a la elección hecha por el Consejo en su 72° período de sesiones, el Comité de Candidaturas estuvo integrado por los siguientes países: Bélgica, Canadá, Checoslovaquia, Japon, Líbano, Malawi, Malasia, Rwanda, Sudán, Uruguay y Venezuela. Mis distin-guidos colegas en ese Comité, me confirieron el alto honor de elegirme Presidente. El Comité sesionó en plena armonía inspirado en el deseo de facilitar los trabajos de esta Conferencia.
Es así que, de acuerdo con el Artículo VII del Reglamento General de la Organización, cumplo el honroso deber de presentar a ustedes las conclusiones de nuestras deliberaciones. En nombre del Comité de Candidaturas me complazco en proponer los siguientes candidatos para los tres Vicepresidentes de la Conferencia:
1. O. R. Borin, Embajador Extraordinario y Plenipotenciario de Italia ante la FAO.
2. S. Essimengane, Ministro de Agricultura, Ganadería y Desarrollo Rural de Gabón.
3. S. Juma'a, Ministro de Agricultura de Jordania.
CHAIRMAN: We have just heard the proposals of the Nominations Committee in respect of the three Vice-Chairmen of the Conference. Are there any objections? If there are none 1 consider these proposals adopted.
Adopted
Adopté
Aprobado
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R. AMATO (Presidente del Comité de Candidaturas): Los siete miembros del Comité General elegidos son los respectivos representantes de: China, Egipto, Estados Unidos de América, Gambia, Nicaragua, Panama y Rumania.
CHAIRMAN: We have just heard the nominations for the seven Member Nations to be elected to the General Committee. Are there any objections? If there are none I will consider the seven Member Nations to be duly elected to serve on the General Committee of the Conference.
Adopted
Adopte
Aprobad
R. AMATO (Presidente del Comité de Candidaturas): En relación con el Artículo III -Comité de Creden-ciales, se proponen los siguientes estados: Birmania, Guatemala, Hungría, India, Kuwait, Lesotho, Nueva Zelandia, Sierra Leona y Suiza.
CHAIRMAN: We have just heard the proposals of the Nominations Committee with regard to the nine Member Nations which compose the Credentials Committee. Are there any objections? If there are none I will consider these nine Member Nations duly appointed to constitute the Credentials Committee of the Conference. This completes the report of the Nominations Committee.
Adopted
Adopte
Aprobad
R. AMATO (Presidente del Comité de Candidaturas): Con el fin de facilitar la labor del Comité General, el Comité de Candidaturas tomo nota asimismo de que se habían formulado las siguientes sugerencias en relación con las Vicepresidencias de las tres Comisiones de la Conferencia y la composición de un Comité de Resoluciones integrado por siete miembros.
Vicepresidentes de las Comisiones.
Por la Comisión I: Australia, Irak, Marruecos, Nepal.
Por la ComisiónII: Irán, Kenya, Tailandia.
Por la ComisiónIII: Filipinas, Siria.
En lo que respecta al Comité de Resoluciones:
Por la región de:
Africa: Guinea
América del Norte: no hay nominación
América Latina: México
Asia: Bangladesh
Cercano Oriente: Arabia Saudita
Europa: hay dos candidaturas propuestas: Francia/Yugoslavia
CHAIRMAN: May I thank the Nominations Committee for the brilliant work that they have already done. This surely will be of much help to the General Committee. I now invite the delegate of Italy to take the floor.
O. BORIN (Italie): Je suis très sensible à l'honneur que vous m'avez ifait en me désignant au poste de Vice-Président de la Conférence. Je considère cela comme un hommage rendu au pays hôte de cette assemblée et je désire vous assurer, en toute humilité d'esprit, que je ferai de mon mieux sous votre egide pour m'acquitter de ma tâche avec le plus d'efficacité possible. Je saisis cette occasion pour, au nom de mon gouvernement, présenter à cette auguste assemblée les voeux les meilleurs pour le succès de son travail et la réussite de son activité.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you, sir. I now invite Jordan to speak.
S. JUMA'A (Jordan) (Interpretation from Arabic); First I would like to congratulate you, Mr. Chairman, on your election as Chairman of our Conference. I would also like to thank, through you, all those colleagues who have elected me as Vice-chairman of the Conference. I would also like to say that in the course of the discussions of this Conference I will be entirely in the hands of the Chairman and of the General Committee, and I hope that we will be able to work towards the objectives for which we are meeting here in Rome.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Mr. Vice-Chairman from Jordan. May I now invite the Vice-Chairman from Gabon.
S. ESSIMENGANE (Gabon): Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Directeur général, Monsieur le Ministre, Honorables délégués. Mesdames, Mesdemoiselles, Messieurs: c'est avec émotion que je prends la parole pour vous remercier de tout mon coeur, au nom du peuple et du Gouvernement gabonais, de la délégation qui m'accompagne et du mien propre, de la marque de confiance que vous avez bien voulu me faire en mélisant au poste de Vice-Président de cette dix-neuvième session de la Conférence de la FAO. A travers ma modeste personne vous avez sans doute voulu honorer mon pays et démontrer aux yeux du monde tout l'intérêt que la FAO nous porte. Vous pouvez être assuré, Monsieur le Président, que je vous apporterai toute l'aide nécessaire et le soutien le plus total dans la mesure de mes possibilités pour la réussite de cette session.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Mr. Vice-chairman from Gabon.
This completes our Agenda for this morning.
The meeting rose at 12. 05 hours
La séance est levée â 12 h 05
Se levanta la sesion a las 12. 05 horas
