D. J. WALTON (Director, Office for Interagency Affairs): The various sub-items which I shall introduce, namely 19. 1, 19. 2 and 19. 4 cover a rather wide range of subjects, and I shall not attempt in any way to summarize what is in the papers before the Commission. I shall rather give additional information by way of up-dating.
The first document which the Commission will be considering is C 79/30 which deals with Relations with the World Food Council and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. Mr. Yriart will be speaking in a minute on relations with IFAD and I shall restrict myself to the World Food Council.
The document contains in Appendix A, the complete text of the conclusions and recommendations adopted by the World Food Council at its fifth Ministerial Session held in Ottawa at the beginning of September. The comments of the Director-General are contained in the introductory text, finishing at paragraph 11. The report of the World Food Council goes through the Economic and Social Council to the General Assembly. The second Committee of the General Assembly has considered the report of the Ottawa meeting, and two resolutions have been tabled in that Committee, one by Canada and the other by India on behalf of the Group 77. Negotiations have been continuing informally for some weeks to reach an agreed text, but as of yesterday agreement on the full text had not yet been reached, and I am therefore not in a position to report on the conclusions reached by the General Assembly.
I would like to draw the Commission's attention in the second place to document C 79/31 together with Supplement 1 dealing with recent developments in the United Nations system of interest to FAO. I must emphasize that these documents follow the traditional pattern of reports to the FAO Conference, that is to say they do not aim at providing a complete analysis and picture of all aspects of FAO's cooperation with other Organizations in the United Nations system. Rather they single out developments that have occurred recently which may be of particular interest to delegations in the Conference, and which are reported to the Conference primarily for its information rather than for any particular action or decision that may be required on particular issues. I would just mention as an example the evolution of cooperation that is not mentioned specifically in the papers, our cooperation with UNIDO. At the last Conference we reported on its development and the Conference expressedsatisfaction that the arrangements were proceeding satisfactorily.
FAO and UNIDO, handling agriculture and industry, the two main sectors in the economies of developing countries, need of course to work together very closely in a wide range of particular fields, and I am glad to report that on the whole this cooperation is proceeding satisfactorily. We look forward to participating in the Third General Conference of UNIDO which will be held in New Delhi starting in January next year.
Coming back to the documents I would point out that C 79/31 has already been reviewed by the FAO Council at its session last June, and the comments of the Council will be found in paragraphs 84 to 88 of its report on that session, the 75th Session. The Council in its debate attached a particular importance to the preparation of the new International Development Strategy and the special session of the General Assembly. I should therefore draw the attention of the Commission to the relevance of the current
debate proceeding in Commission I on item 8. Item 8 of the Conference Agenda deals specifically with preparations for the special session of the General Assembly and the new International Development Strategy. The Conference's report on Item 8 will become our input for the special session, and the new strategy under cover of the Conference's own report on item 8.
It may be of interest to know that arrangements for the special session of the General Assembly have not yet been finalized, but it is expected that the session will take place starting late in August next year; in other words shortly before the opening of the Regular Session of the General Assembly. However the decisions on this point have not yet been taken.
I would also mention, as an item of background interest to the Conference, a proposal which is now being considered in the General Assembly for the launching of a new round of global negotiations on international economic cooperation for development. A draft resolution on this subject has been tabled in New York by India on behalf of the Group of 77. Here again the General Assembly has not taken its decision so I cannot report on the outcome, but if the draft resolution is adopted in the form in which it was tabled, this new round of global negotiations would include major issues in the field of raw materials, energy, trade, development, money and finance. Several of these subjects are of course of close and direct interest to FAO. The Committee of the Whole, also and more formally known as the Committee established under General Assembly Resolution 32/174, would be responsible for recommending the procedures, time frame and detailed agenda for these new negotiations. The negotiations themselves would be launched by the General Assembly at its special session to which I have just referred.
I would now like to refer to the recent United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development, which was held in Vienna late in August. This is the subject of document C 79/31, Supplement 1, which summarizes in its first part the historical background and then analyses the main substantive points and the chief institutional issues contained in the Programme of Action adopted by the Conference.
The official report of the conference has not yet reached Rome in translation, so we are not able to make the full report available to the Commission, but we have provided a fairly extended summary of the main points.
Debate on the report of the Vienna Conference has been started in the General Assembly but has not yet been finished, and is at the moment held-up pending the issuance of a further document containing the Secretary-General' s proposal for Secretariat arrangements in the United Nations itself for handling science and technology in the light of the recommendations adopted in Vienna. Since science and technology are clearly of fundamental importance for the intensification of agricultural production in coming years, this subject is one that may be of particular interest to delegations.
The Programme of Action of the Conference is framed in terms of general policies rather than following a sectoral approach. In practice, however, much of the Programme of Action will undoubtedly have to be carried out at country level in specific sectors. I would therefore draw particular attention to the arrangements for an Interim Fund for science and technology for 1980/81. The Interim Fund is to be administered by UNDP and there is a target of $250 million for the two years 1980 and 1981.
A pledging conference for the Interim Fund is to be convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and we understand informally that it is likely to take place in February.
I believe it is particularly important that ministries of agriculture, particularly of developing. countries, be aware of the potential of the Interim Fund for providing financial support for projects relating to science and technology and which are related also to the issues in the Programme of Action of the Vienna Conference. When representatives of countries return to their capitals, it may wellbe worth their while to follow up on this matter to ensure that projects for the Interim Fund are formulated so that agriculture as well as forestry and fisheries can benefit from the financing that we hope will be available for this purpose.
Other aspects of the follow-up of the Vienna Conference are dealt with in paras 44 - 49 of our document. I would draw attention to the rather complex array of institutional arrangements which will emerge if the General Assembly approves the recommendations of the Conference. There is likely to be a considerable cost to FAO in terms of staff time as well as of travel and other expenses in participating fully in these new arrangements which will include rather elaborate programming exercises, an intergovernmental committee for science and technology for development, an advisory group of experts, and a mechanism for inter-secretariat coordination.
Based on our experience in the last two or three years, we have made a very tentative estimate that the cost of full participation in these bodies could be just over $ 1 million in the next biennium. This, of course, is not included in the Programme of Work and Budget, and will certainly cause problems.
I should now like to say something about the restructuring exercise which is also reported in Document C 79/31. To recapitulate very briefly, delegations will recall that in December 1977, two years ago, the General Assembly concluded its discussions of the restructuring of the economic and social sectors of the UN system and adopted Resolution 32/197 to which is annexed a rather complex text with a series of recommendations relating to many different aspects of the UN system. The Programme Committee and the Council have been kept informed as the implementation of this resolution proceeded. There have been difficulties with various sections of the restructuring resolution; for instance, the provisions relating to the restructuring of the Economic and Social Council and its subsidiary machinery have not yet been implemented.
One paragraph of the text, para. 34, calls for the designation of a single official at country level. The functions of the single official are spelt out in somewhat vague language in the text, but in essence they amount to the coordination of the operational activities of the system.
In the Administrative Committee on Coordination, which is the top level body for inter-secretariat coordination attended by the Secretary-General and the executive heads of all Agencies, agreement was worked out earlier this year on a series of arrangements for putting this paragraph into effect by the designation at country level, in consultation with the government concerned, of what is to be known as the Resident Coordinator of the UN System's Operational Activities for Development. At the time the Council met in June, we thought that this matter had been settled.
However, it has since been reopened by the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly, and right now discussions are proceeding informally in New York on a possible new resolution of the General Assembly dealing with the functions of the Resident Coordinator. Obviously, I cannot report to the Commission on the action which the General Assembly may take, since no draft resolution has yet even been tabled on this subject, and the discussions are still completely informal. However, if a resolution were to emerge from these discussions that could, in the view of the Director-General, slow down or prejudice the effective functioning of FAO country offices, he will certainly wish to bring this question to the attention of the FAO council when it meets next year.
Finally, I would like draw attention to document C 79/18, which reports briefly and factually on relations with intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations with which FAO enjoys a formal relationship. As additional background, delegations may like to recall that Doc. 79/Inf/15 contains the report of the informal meeting of International Non-Governmental Organizations which was held in the Tuesday of the first week of the Conference.
J. F. YRIART (Subdirector General, Departamento de Desarrollo):Seré breve ya que el documento C/79/30 cuya preparación compartimos con el señor Walton también contiene un informe sobre nuestras relaciones con el FIDA. Ya hace casi dos años que el FIDA está en existencia. Desde el primer momento, y cuando digo el primer momento digo desde el establecimiento de la Comisión Preparatoria, antes de que entrara a funcionar el FIDA mismo, nuestra Organización ha tenido la suerte de poder colaborar estrechamente con el Fondo. El Fondo además ahora que es operativo, confía cada vez más en los servicios de apoyo y servicios sustanciales que le presta la FAO, especialmente el Centro de Inversiones en el Departamento de desarrollo que ha asumido un papel preponderante en la preparación de proyectos de inversiones para el FIDA.
Es natural que la FAO dé el máximo apoyo posible al FIDA desde que los objetivos de ambas organizaciones son complementarios. La FAO es la agencia especializada del Sistema de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura; el FIDA es la única agencia multilateral del Sistema o fuera del Sistema, dedicada exclusivamente a la financiación del desarrollo agrícola.
El aumento de la producción de alimentos, el mejoramiento de los niveles de vida y de nutrición de los sectores más pobres, en los países más pobres, son objetivos que compartimos la FAO y el FIDA.
La extension de nuestra cooperación con el FIDA y el éxito obtenido por esta cooperación, en gran medida se pueden medir por el número de misiones que ejecutamos por el FIDA y por el numero de proyectos que preparamos para el FIDA; y cifras bastante detalladas, las damos en el documento C 79/30 que he men cionado.
Hasta el presente y desde los comienzos de sus operaciones, el FIDA confió en gran medida para llenar sus objetivos, en lacofinancíaciónde proyectos con otras instituciones financieras internacionales tales como el Banco Mundial y los Bancos Regionales de Desarrollo. Aun muchos de esos proyectos presen tados para la cofinancíación del FIDA habían sido preparados por el Centro de Inversiones para otras organizaciones financieras. El impulso principal, la dirección principal de nuestra labor conjunta con el FIDA es el establecimiento de una reserva de proyectos; de proyectos que podríamos llamar de iniciativa exclusiva del FIDA.
Este, naturalmente, es un proceso largo desde que incluye la identificación de los proyectos, en los cuales los beneficiarios tienen que ser esos grupos especiales a que está dirigida la acción del FIDA, es decir, los pequeños productores agrícolas, la gente sin tierra, los pobres del sector rural;la identificación de esos grupos de beneficiarios viene primero, y después vienen los análisis detallados de costos y de beneficios, por los cuales nos podemos abocar a la preparación de los proyectos en sí.
Los dos primeros proyectos que fueron totalmente financiados y de iniciativa completa del FIDA fueron aprobados en septiembre pasado; y estos proyectos fueron identificados o preparados con la asistencia de nuestros centros de inversiones. Desde que el FIDA inició sus operaciones, la FAO ha asistido ya en la formulación de 25 proyectos exclusivos del FIDA. Algunos de ellos justamente serán aprobados por la Junta Ejecutiva del FIDA el mes próximo, y otros son para aprobación en 1980.
Pero también en el campo de la asistencia técnica financiada por el FIDA y vinculada a la ejecución de sus proyectos de inversiones, la labor, la cooperación de la FAO está tomando un impulso cada vez mayor. Las misiones del Centro de Inversiones que visitan los países para identificar y preparar proyectos, identifican también asistencia técnica que será necesaria. Por ello, para la ejecución de los proyectos financiados por el FIDA y esa asistencia técnica, recibe la cooperación financiera del FIDA, dada al gobierno, con el cual nuestras divisiones técnicas pueden ejecutar o supervisar las operaciones de asistencia técnica.
Finalmente, quisiera recordarles que los fondos, los primeros mil millones de dólares del capital del FIDA se espera que estarán, en gran medida, comprometidos ya para fines del año próximo. En tal sentido siempre recordamos a nuestros gobiernos miembros, el Director General toma especial interés en esto, que la reposición de los fondos del capital del FIDA, adquieren ahora un significado prioritario especia-lísimo si hemos de llegar a los objetivos que se fijan los gobiernos en materia de producción agrícola y de desarrollo rural.
EL PRESIDENTE:Gracias señor Yriart por su presentación sobre el FIDA. Quiero aprovechar la oportunidad para anunciar la presencia en la Mesa del señor Ahmed, Director Adjunto del Consejo Mundial de Alimentos.
J. BERTELING (Netherlands):I would like to state at the outset that my delegation had some problems with changing time-tables yesterday and today, but we are prepare to make a statement at the moment.
We are now dealing with the item of Coordination and Cooperation within the UN System and my delegation stressed in Plenary already the importance of good cooperation and coordination. It appealed there that other organs like ECOSOC, the UN Secretary-General, the Director-General for Development and International Economic Cooperation and the Heads of all Specialized Agencies should do everything in their power by joint action to preserve and strengthen the integrity and cohesion of the UN System in order to be able to deal with the vital problems of men and of nations. The UN, I mean the UN in New York and in part in Geneva, when dealing with the major economic world problems in favour of establishing a New International Economic Order, should take into account the facts and situation in the food and agricultural situation, and these facts should be presented by FAO. As we stated before, the UN should use the knowledge and skills of the Specialized Agencies. My delegation appreciates the many activities concerned in FAO and hopes it will cooperate also at ACC level in order to reach agreement on the many subjects of importance to the different agencies. A real cooperation between the Director-General of FAO and the Director-General for Economic International Cooperation is an absolute necessity and only then can development cooperation benefit.
My delegation is of course aware of the many kinds of practical cooperation, for example, rural development including follow-up of the World Conference on the Preparation of New Development Strategy including activities just now in the other room on Agriculture: Towards 2000. We noted with satisfaction in Mr. Walton's introduction, it was expected to continue this cooperation in the many fields of interest to FAO.
My delegation particularly welcomes the activities of FAO mentioned in the document in relation to International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights. In his introductory statement Mr. Walton also mentioned re-structuring of the UN System and economic and social structures. He mentioned the UN General Assembly decided in 1977 to establish what was later called the function of a resident coordinator of the UN system. This coordinator, as was decided at that stage, by all developing countries, should have the possibility for, and coordination of, the operational activities for development carried out at country level. It is clear that the assistance provided should be in conformity with the national objectives and priorities of the recipient countries and that therefore the coordination of various main inputs at national level is the prerogative of the government concerned. The government's national authorities should decide on the directives of the resident coordinator. Furthermore, it is always understood FAO representatives, like the representatives of other agencies, have not only a direct line of authority and communication with Headquarters, with the Director-General of FAO and other agencies, but also direct relations with the government concerned. That is why my delegation is not afraid of any harm to the effective function of the FAO Country Representatives. These principles have been requested by the developing countries and are endorsed by UN General Assembly, and it is our understanding that FAO will play its very important role within this generally accepted system.
Exactly two weeks ago the Netherlands representative in the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly, in a debate on operational activities, stated that the Netherlands delegation is in full agreement with the UNDP Administrator. He said the resident coordinator in playing a larger coordinating role will have a positive effect on the cohesion and impact of the UN system, and will constructively further the objectives of integrated development.
May I also mention here that my government expects a very positive effect for the FAO and UN System as a whole in cooperating effectively together at Headquarters for a comprehensive review of operational activities, since agricultural development merits priority treatment. In the framework of the ACC and CBC, and the UN Committee for Programme and Coordination, agreement was reached on medium-term planning. The General Conference of UNESCO accepted to change its biennial period to uphold the accepted princples. My delegation did not speak on the MTO yesterday but would like to state that it does not consider the relevant document of the basis for MTO planning adequate. It is a useful document but more information is needed for medium-term planning, in relation to the time frame if the objectives are to be reached.
My government supported the ACC suggestion to accept the idea of 6 years fixed medium-term plan. It would also strongly urge the others to accept this principle.
I would like to make a very short remark on the Joint Inspection Unit. My delegation concurs with the Director-General's opinion that FAO should continue to be the participating agency with the JIU. There are many good reasons for this. I stress the contents of the last comments in doc. C 79/17 Sup. l " recent experience indicates that these difficulties can be attenuated without compromising the independence or integrity of FAO or JIU".
A. HYNNINEN (Finland):I should like to present a few brief remarks relating to agenda item 19. 2 Recent developments of our UN System of Interest to FAO. I speak on behalf of the four Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The Nordic delegation have studied with great interest the contents of document C 79/31 and supplement to it concerning Recent Developments in United Nations System of Interest to FAO. We fully agree with the Director-General's observations that almost every subject dealt with by FAO has agency implications, and this is a reflection or a change in perception of the nature of the economic and social development process. Governments and international organizations are increasingly aware that developments cannot be viewed as a sectoral concern and that a multi-disciplinary approach to development programmes is essential for the success of each sector. FAO which deals with perhaps the most central and crucial development programmes, those related to food and agriculture, is among those organizations who feel the impact of changes most acutely. We are pleased to note in the document before us that FAO is seriously and actively responding to the call for a closer interagency cooperation and is aware of its role as a part of the UN development system.
The Nordic governments, as you know, are major contributors to the UN System for development activities and as such have a marked interest in the closest possible coordination in order to achieve common development goals. In this context we wish to refer especially to the General Assembly Resolution 32/197, which expresses the trend towards increased cooperation and coherance in the inter-operations of the UN development system. We also are aware that important work is being undertaken on the basis of another General Assembly resolution, namely 33/1201 on the comprehensive policy review.
We have noted that the Director-General intends to submit to the Council in 1980 a detailed analysis of recent trends in inter-agency coordination and cooperation. These issues, of course, have an increasing significance to the entire membership of FAO and will merit discussion both in the Council and in the Conference. Therefore, we would recommend that a similar analysis be submitted also to the next session of the Conference.
A. F. CHOUDHURY (Bangladesh):I shall limit my intervention to a part of document number C 79/LIM/30, that is the relations with the World Food Council.
My delegation notes with satisfaction the increasingly closer cooperation between the World Food Council and the FAO in the common goal in eradicating hunger and malnutrition from the world. Particularly both of these resolutions have put great emphasis on the world food security and increased food aid. The vital interest of my delegation to the world food security is well known, especially after the general statement made by the Minister of Agriculture of my country the other day before the Plenary. The new food recommendations of at least 10 million tons is of vital interest to the food-deficit countries, as they suffer from failure or loss of crops from time to time. The convention has already been supported by the USA, Canada and the Nordic countries, among the region food surplus countries, but it cannot be a reality until other developed countries participate. I would ask the other major food donors to endorse this convention. In this respect FAO's anticipatory steps to collect dataon storage capacity in different countries and regions is praiseworthy. Sufficient storage capacity has to be developed on an urgent basis in both the food deficit developing countries and regions as well, so that food could be moved to the most needy areas with the least possible delay. My delegation fully endorses the recommendation of both the World Food Council and the FAO that the developed countries will have to relax their traditionalist trade practices unless greater excess of the exports of developing countries are allowed into the markets of developed countries, the current difficulties of developing countries in meeting their food needs will further increase.
H. WETZEL (Germany, Federal Republic of)(interpretation from German): My delegation would like to thank the Secretariat for the excellent information which is given in document C 79/30. There are two brief comments I would like to make on paragraphs 22 and 24 of this document.
In paragraph 22 IFAD initiated projects are mentioned, which are going to be exclusively financed by the Fund. I would like to point out that this is not the proper definition of fund-initiated projects. The term fund-initiated project means that it is a project that does not come from the project pipeline of a co-financing institution, but comes from the project pipeline of the fund itself. That is to say that especially the identification of the project has been the sole responsibility of IFAD. However, it is possible, and very often it is desirable, that other financing institutions or donors should be associated with such financing.
With regard to paragraph 24, which mentions the replenishment of the fund, there my government is ready to participate in negotiations on the first replenishment of the fund, as laid down in the Agreement on Establishing the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
K. M. KHUDHEIR (Iraq) (interpretation from Arabic): The delegation of Iraq would like to make remarks on certain points, especially food security and the activities of the various bodies, so that this can cover the various countries needing aid and the various groups which in most cases are trying to better the lot of the small farmers, because otherwise the situation will remain the same for a long time, and developing countries, I am sure, would agree with this. If this is not done in the interest of mankind we shall go further and further away from the time when the world can talk about world food trade in terms of world food security on the same footing, and as one single people.
Κ. Choueri (Liban)(interprétation de l'arabe): J'ai écouté avec beaucoup d'attention l'introduction du représentant de la Hollande en ce qui concerne la restructuration du système des Nations Unies et la nomination d'un coordinateur résident pour coordonner différentes activités des Nations Unies dans les différents pays membres. En ce qui concerne le point de vue du représentant de la Hollande, nous ne le partageons pas car nous estimons qu'il n'existe pas du tout de conflit entre l'action entreprise par notre Organisation, la FAO, et le PNUD. Bien au contraire, les actions entreprises par la FAO ainsi que par le PNUD sont complémentaires.
L'exemple le plus clair dans ce domaine ce sont les activités entreprises dans mon pays à cet effet, la coopération étroite existant entre les deux représentants peut servir d'exemple et notre délégation avait déjà indiqué que le recrutement des représentants dans les pays en développement a prouvé son efficacité car le représentant résident de la FAO porte une assistance efficace dans le secteur agricole et le secteur rural, assistance plus efficace que celle apportée par le PNUD. Ainsi, l'assistance apportée au secteur agricole est une assistance directe qui nous satisfait entièrement.
En résumé, nous approuvons la nomination d'un coordinateur de la FAO aux cotes du représentant du PNUD, comme nous l'avons déjà proposé, et nous appuyons les idées exposées par le Directeur général, lorsqu'il a dit, dans son discours d'inauguration, que les représentants de la FAO dans les différents pays membres oeuvrent d'une manière coordonnée et en coopération étroite avec les gouvernements auprès desquels ils sont accrédités ainsi qu'avec les représentants du PNUD et d'autres organisations, en vue de réaliser les objectifs de développement des pays intéressés. Telles sont mes observations.
J. S. CAMARA (Guinée): Je voudrais faire un commentaire concernant les déclarations qui viennent d'être faites concernant la question de la coordination et des coordinateurs résidents. Nous avons l'impression que chaque fois que nous abordons ce problème de la coopération entre les institutions spécialisées et que nous touchons le problème de la coopération de la FAO avec le PNUD, que l'on veuille nous faire croire qu'il y a une opposition entre la FAO et le PNUD. J'ai cette impression à force d'insister toujours sur cette question, que le coordonnateur ou le représentant du PNUD devraient imposer son point de vue, sa façon de concevoir, alors que nous ne voyons pratiquement pas d'opposition. Toutes les institutions travaillent pour les mêmes buts et visent les mêmes objectifs. Cette impression ne date pas d'aujourd'hui, cela fait deux ans que nous entendons la même litanie et le même refrain. Quels sont ceux qui devraient apprécier le travail que font les institutions spécialisées?Sont-ce les premiers les bénéficiaires, ou ceux qui perçoivent ces choses de l'extérieur? Et, ensuite, à qui incombe la responsabilité de coordonner les activités des institutions spécialisées dans leurs pays? Ce sont nos gouvernements qui sont responsables de notre politique de développement, de notre souveraineté, de notre indépendance, donc nous ne comprenons pas que l'on puisse dire que c'est un tel qui devrait être le coordonnateur. C'est le gouvernement le coordonnateur. Ceux qui viennent pour nous aider suivent les indications de nos gouvernements et, vouloir toujours dire que le coordonnateur résident ou le représentant du PNUD sont opposés aux représentants de la FAO, ce serait créer le mal là où il n'existe pas.
Dans mon pays, le représentant de la FAO et le représentant du PNUD travaillent la main dans la main. Ils coordonnent leurs activités conformément aux instructions reçues de leurs chefs et conformément aux directives de notre gouvernement, et c'est ce que j'ai toujours entendu ici, de la part des autres pays en développement. Donc, nous pensons que s'il doit y avoir une coordination c'est d'abord à partir des gouvernements qui sont responsables et ensuite, la présence du représentant de la FAO, son efficacité, a déjà démontré (et cela a été dit du haut d'une tribune ici, à la Conférence, par un chef d'Etat africain). Ce que nous souhaitons toujours, c'est que l'on n'essaie pas de défendre, imposer au détriment d'un autre. Nous avons eu cette impression depuis que nous avons commencé à discuter, non seulement le programme de la FAO, mais dès que nous avons commencé à discuter de la coopération entre les pays et les institutions, on nous a répété la même chanson. Ma délégation s'élève contre cette tendance et nous réaffirmons ici que chacune des organisations internationales qui a un représentant qui vient travailler pour les mêmes buts travaille d'abord avec le gouvernement. La FAO travaille avec le gouvernement, l'OMS, l’Unesco aussi, le PNUD aussi. Donc c'est le gouvernement qui coordonne leurs activités en priorité. Voilà quelle est notre position et nous ne voulons pas que l'on nous oppose la FAO au PNUD. Nous avons constaté que le travail de la FAO vient renforcer l'apport du PNUD et que le PNUD vient renforcer le travail de la FAO. Voilà pourquoi nous disons que nous apprécions la présence des représentants de la FAO dans nos pays. Ce n'est pas pour contrecarrer l'action du PNUD, c'est parce que la FAO est spécialisée dans le secteur de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation. Même si le PNUD est maintenant reconnu comme primus inter pares (ce terme ne nous convient pas) nous ne voulons pas que l'on nous impose le terme de coordonnateur résident, le coordonnateur résident, c'est le gouvernement.
A. RODRIGUEZ PIRES (Cap-Vert): Ma délégation saisit cette occasion pour féliciter le Directeur général et ses collaborateurs pour les excellents documents préparés, les honorables représentants du FIDA, du Conseil mondial, pour la présentation des documents.
Nous appuyons sans réserve le Directeur général dans sa politique d'une bonne et efficace coordination entre la FAO et les autres organisations spécialisées des Nations Unies, pour le progrès social de l'humanité.
Pour terminer, nous appuyons la mise en place par le Secrétariat général des Nations Unies d'un système de coordination des Nations Unies, et espérons qu'une coopération fructueuse se concrétisera entre le représentant de la FAO et celui du PNUD et les autres organisations spécialisées des Nations Unies, tout en respectant la politique des gouvernements souverains et pour le progrès de leurs populations.
J. BERTELING (Netherlands):If I understood him correctly, the delegate of Lebanon said that he did not completely agree with what I said. I am afraid there is some misunderstanding, I noted the remarks made by him and by the delegate of Guinea on the good cooperation between UNDP and FAO and I have the impression that that is the case in almost all countries. I therefore do not see any contradiction between what he said and what I said.
It is even easier, I can say that I have no problems whatsoever with the contents of the statements of those delegates. In order to get rid of that misunderstanding, may I quote one sentence of the statement I made? I said:
"Furthermore, it is always understood FAO country representatives, like the representatives of other agencies, have not only - "
And of course not only -
"a direct line of authority and communication with Headquarters with the Director-General of FAO and the other agencies, but also direct relations with the governments concerned. "
I see no contradiction, and I am glad that in fact we seem to agree on these principles. I did not expect anything else.
R. B. SINGH (Nepal): My delegation would like to support the document regarding the relationship of FAO and other agencies of the UN system and outside. My delegation would particularly like to mention, for the sake of the record, the role of IFAD in developing activities.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development has already made a promising start in its effort to help needy countries. We are happy to note that IFAD has given priorities in assisting least developed countries, that is what are called the LDCs, and the most seriously affected countries, the MSAs. Nepal is not only a least developed and most seriously affected country but also a land locked country. We are happy to note that IFAD has chosen Nepal as one of the seven countries in its priority list for rendering assistance. We were happy to receive Mr. Al-Sudeary, the President of IFAD, who visited Nepal late last year to appraise himself of the development needs and constraints of Nepal. As a follow-up of his visit we also received a project identification mission early this year which again was followed up by the recent visit of the Assistant President of IFAD and his team.
We strongly support the policy of IFAD concentrating its resources on agriculture and rural development. We believe that the resources of IFAD should be utilized more in rural development programmes rather than restricting itself to highly capital intensive projects based on the project concept of capital output and cost benefit ratios. When we talk of rural development, Mr. Chairman, we cannot base our criteria solely on capital output or cost benefit ratio, the modern economic jargon. When we talk of rural development essentially we talk of social development using economic development as a significant means in national development. This is why I said earlier that we should not ignore programme approach and concentrate only on project approach. Earlier we discussed at length how to follow up the action plans recommended by WCARRD. We feel that the action plan recommended by WCARRD can be combined with IFAD resources. This is why I said we should not ignore the programming approach in our development efforts.
RAMADHAR (Chairman, Group of 77): The question that we are discussing right now is very important and very vital for the developing countries. In this connection, I would like briefly to intervene on behalf of the Group of 77. I would like to refer to the question of appointing resident coordinators at country level.
I do not see why more complicated arrangements are needed. The Member Governments themselves are responsible for coordinating external assistance. The consensus of 1970 has already set out arrangements which in the opinion of my group are working reasonably well.
It seems important to us in any event that the line of command between the FAO country representatives and the Director-General should not be interrupted. We feel that any resolution of the General Assembly on this subject should be looked at by us or perhaps in the interim by the Council, if it could lead to bureaucratic procedures impairing the effectiveness of the FAO country offices. It should be automatically accepted as an accomplished fact.
P. D. TANDE (Côte-d'Ivoire): Notre délégation voudrait apporter son plein appui à la déclaration qui vient d'être faite par le représentant de l'Inde sur le rôle des coordinateurs résidents. A priori, on peut penser qu'une coordination peut assurer une bonne efficience de tous les opérateurs du système sur le terrain. Mais nous devrions aussi nous préoccuper des risques de bureaucratie qui pourrait s'instituer et jouer à l’encontre du résultat escompté. Nous pensons que le rôle principal de coordinateur - et ce n'est pas une simple clause de style - devrait en fait être attribué aux gouvernements bénéficiaires, et dans ce contexte ceux-ci devraient - et il n'y a pas de doute qu'ils le feront - faire en sorte qu'une entente réelle existe entre les différents opérateurs sur le terrain.
Nous voudrions saisir cette occasion pour apporter notre plein appui à l'oeuvre commencée mais combien prometteuse du FIDA.
S. S. AHMED (Sudan): In the Sudan we are very grateful for the assistance we get from the various international organizations, but whatever we get from them is relatively ineffective for the total requirements of our country and we do not think that what we get has reached the stage of having yet another agency or coordinators.
On this matter, our delegation strongly endorses the statement just made by the delegate of India on behalf of the Group of 77.
NGA MA MAPELA(Zaïre): Pour commencer, je voudrais, avec votre permission, appuyer au nom de mon pays la déclaration faite par le délégué de la Guinée, et surtout celle faite par le délégué de l'Inde lorsqu'il a parlé au nom du Groupe des 77.
En appuyant le principe qui veut qu'une étroite collaboration existe entre la FAO et les autres organismes du système des Nations Unies, ma délégation estime que cette collaboration n'est possible que dans la mesure où les activités qu'entreprennent ces autres organismes dans les pays en développement ne viennent pas se chevaucher avec celles qui normalement doivent être entreprises par la FAO. En clair, nous voulons souligner que, dans le domaine de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture mondiale, la seule organisation des Nations Unies à pouvoir jouer le rôle de chef de file au sein des autres organismes des Nations Unies est la FAO. Cela est d'ailleurs le cas pour l’Unesco, en ce qui concerne l'éducation, la science et la culture au niveau mondial. Pour ce qui est de la coordination de l'activité du système des Nations Unies au niveau des pays, Monsieur le Président, je voudrais rappeler ici ce que nous avions déclaré là-dessus, quand nous avions examiné le Programme de travail et budget pour le prochain biennium. Nous insistons sur le fait qu'au niveau des pays il n'y a aucun doute, et il ne faudrait pas qu'à tout moment les délégués reviennent sur ce sujet. Les gouvernements des pays bénéficiaires des activités entreprises par les organisations des Nations Unies sont, à notre avis, les seuls à pouvoir coordonner ces activités. Et quant à la coordination au niveau des organisations mêmes des Nations Unies, nous ne croyons pas qu'il doive y avoir un seul arbitre pour toutes les activités. On devrait tenir compte des activités de chaque organisation. Ce qui veut dire qu'en agriculture et en alimentation, s'il faut un coordinateur au niveau des Nations Unies, c'est la FAO, en matière d'enseignement et d'éducation c'est l'Unesco, en matière de santé humaine l'OMS. C'est comme cela qu'il faut concevoir le mot 'coordination' au niveau de ces organismes.
V. MRISHO (Tanzania): I am going to be very brief. My intention is basically to indicate my delegation's full support for what the distinguished delegate of India has just pointed out. I believe several delegates do understand the importance of resident coordination at country levels. Mr. Chairman, the purpose of my intervention is to emphasize that the developing countries are going very much to endorse what my colleague from India has just stated.
A. DA SYLVEIRA (Togo): A l'ouverture des travaux de la Commission II, le Directeur général a insisté clairement sur le fait que l'intervention de la FAO dans les pays doit être considérée, sur le plan des ressources, comme marginale vis-à-vis des besoins massifs des pays intéressés. Ainsi, dans mon pays, la FAO intervient au coté d'autres institutions nationales ou étrangères, sous forme d'assistance bilatérale ou multilatérale. Bien entendu, ces assistances font l'objet de démarches préalables des pays intéressés avec ces organismes, compte tenu des réalités nationales et surtout des priorités qu'accordent les politiques d'orientation à tel ou tel projet.
Compte tenu de ce qui précède, ma délégation estime que seul le gouvernement intéressé peut organiser la coordination la plus efficace entre ces organismes. Ainsi, nous nous rallions pleinement aux idées exprimées par la Délégation de la République démocratique de Guinée et reprises par le représentant de l'Inde au nom du Groupe des 77.
A. GARTA (Libya)(Interpretation from Arabic): The delegation of my country would like to give its full support to the comments made by the delegate of India with regard to the resident coordinator who is responsible for UNDP activities and the activities of the other Organizations. We feel that the system which exists at present works well and that we should not complicate it further.
K. CHOUERI (Liban)(interprétation de l'Arabe): Je voudrais remercier le représentant des Pays-Bas pour ses éclaircissements. J'apprécie pleinement le rôle joué par la Hollande dans le domaine de l'aide aux pays en développement.
Ce que j'ai déjà dit n'était pas adressé contre M. le représentant des Pays-Bas. Mon avis était de ne pas accepter la présence d'un seul coordonnateur qui s'occupe de la coordination de toutes les agences spécialisées des Nations Unies dans les pays. A ce propos, nous appuyons ce qu'a dit Monsieur le Président du Groupe des 77. L'Organisation a déjà un système dans ce domaine, système qui vise à la nomination d'un représentant dans les pays, qui s'occupe de l'aide accordée aux pays en développement. Je pense qu'il s'agit là d'un point essentiel dans le sens de la décentralisation. L'idée d'un seul coordonnateur revient en discussion chaque fois que l'on parle des activités de cette Organisation. Nous apprécions pleinement les activités de M. le représentant du PNUD qui nous accorde des aides de grande valeur, une assistance de grande valeur. Nous avons de très bonnes relations avec le représentant du PNUD; cependant, nous pensons qu'il ne peut pas nous accorder l'assistance rapide dont nous avons besoin dans le domaine agricole. Bien au contraire, le représentant de la FAO nous donne pleine satisfaction, et nous fournit toute assistance dans le domaine de l'alimentation et de l'agriculture, chaque fois que l'on demande cette assistance.
J'appuie pleinement la déclaration du représentant de la Guinée qui a dit que les vrais coordonnateurs dans les pays en développement sont les gouvernements; ce sont effectivement les gouvernements qui jouent le rôle de coordonnateurs dans les pays en développement.
Z. GHOSHEH (Jordan)(interpretation from Arabic): The delegation of my country would like to make some comments on what was said by the delegates of Guinea and India. We give our full support to the statements made by those delegations. The delegation of my country has some comments on paragraph 15 of document 30. There are three types of interest rates going up to 8 percent. We feel that the 8 percent rate of interest is normal, but is very high for agricultural purposes, especially in those countries where there are drought problems. We are of the opinion that we should only have the rates of 1 and 4 percent, and delete the 8 percent rate.
W. KISAMBA-MUGERWA (Uganda): In our intervention, we emphasize the point of cutting down bureaucracy when we are discussing these Field Programmes. This again was put when we were discussing external evaluation which we though that again this would provoke rather than shorten the period taken in processing our products.
In this connection my delegation would like to support the statement made by the distinguished delegate of Guinea, and amplified by the distinguished delegate of India.
Furthermore, I would like to thank the Secretariat for preparing the documents before us and for the good introduction made by the officials of FAO. In this connection, my delegation appreciates the further efforts taken in fostering the interests which FAO has said represent its interests, and in the opinion of my delegation FAO's interests are definitely ours. We appeal to the authorities concerned to pursue and expedite the process of the resolutions tabled, and those under discussion should also be persisted in as soon as possible.
Mr. Chairman, my delegation appreciate science and technology and the fund which we have been informed about, and my delegation is prepared to make use of it.
I would like to inform the House that my delegation feels happy with the formation of IFAD, the International Fund for Agricultural Development. IFAD is complementary to the activities of FAO and we hope it will assist developing countries.
F. KESMIR (Turkey): My delegation fully supports the statements made by the delegates of Guinea and India on the subject of the Coordinator.
H. BOUVIER (Observateur pour la Commission séricicole internationale): Je voudrais remercier d'abord M. le Directeur général Saouma de m'avoir invité en tant que Secrétaire général de la Commission séricicole internationale à assister aux travaux de la vingtième Conférence de la FAO. Je remercie également M. le Président de cette Commission d'avoir bien voulu m'accorder la parole. La sériciculture est l'art de produire de la soie. Ce n'est pas une chose simple car il faut Cul-tiver les mûriers, élever les vers à soie, et enfin tirer la soie des cocons pour obtenir le fil de soie grège qui sera utilisé par l'artisanat et l'industrie textile pour la fabrication des tissus les plus beaux et les plus agréables.
Découverte en Chine il y a plus de 4000 ans, la soie est et reste la reine des fibres textiles. La récolte mondiale de cocon a été, en 1978, de 400 000 tonnes environ. La Chine, le Japon, l'Inde, l'URSS et la Corée produisent à eux cinq 97 pour cent de la récolte mondiale. Les vingt autres pays produisent les trois pour cent restants. Pour la même année, la production de soie grège a été d'environ 45 000 tonnes. La plus grande partie de cette soie a été utilisée sur place. Seules 8 000 tonnes ont été livrées sur le marché international. Le Japon en ayant acquis les deux tiers, le reste est acheté par les pays de l'Europe occidentale et par les Etats-Unis.
Actuellement, de nombreux pays envisagent soit d'augmenter une production de soie déjà existante, soit d'introduire cette production chez eux. La sériciculture offre en effet de nombreux avantages. Les plantations de mûriers participent à la lutte anti-érosive. La feuille de mûrier, si elle n'est pas utilisée pour l'élevage des vers à soie, constitue un aliment de haute qualité pour d'autres animaux (lapins, moutons, chèvres). L'élevage de vers, la filature de la soie, l'artisanat textile, peuvent fournir du travail à une population nombreuse.
Enfin, la soie et les produits de soie ont une valeur suffisamment élevée, compte tenu de leur faible poids pour pouvoir supporter des frais de transport depuis des régions isolées. Mais, comme nous venons de le voir, le marché international de la soie est relativement étroit, et il est fragile. Si dans les pays occidentaux la consommation de soie augmente d'année en année, il est toujours à craindre qu'un simple changement dans la mode féminine au Japon entraîne une baisse de la consommation dans ce pays. Et une baisse de consommation de un pour cent au Japon serait bien loin d'être compensée par l'augmentation de 10 pour cent dans les pays occidentaux. Une certaine prudence est donc nécessaire dans l'établissement d'un programme séricicole qui devrait envisager de produire de la soie d'abord pour la consommation intérieure, ce qui peut ne pas être négligeable du tout, la soie exportable sur le marché mondial, qui doit être de toute première qualité, ne représentant qu'une faible part de la production.
Des résultats très positifs ont été obtenus en Amérique latine où le Brésil a réussi en quelques années à introduire des soies sur le marché mondial et est devenu le troisième pays exportateur mondial après la Chine et la Corée. Des essais très encourageants ont été faits ou sont en cours en Indonésie, en République centrafricaine, en Algérie, en Côte-d'Ivoire en Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée. La Commission séricicole internationale - organisation intergouvernementale dont la création fut décidée lors du Congrès séricicole international d'Alès en France en 1948 - regroupe actuellement 15 Etats Membres, et son ambition est de réunir tous les Etats producteurs ainsi que ceux qui s'intéressent à cette production.
La Commission séricicole internationale a pour objet d'encourager et de favoriser le développement et l'amélioration sur les plans techniques, scientifiques et économiques de toutes les activités qui concernent la sériciculture. A partir de 1949, la Commission séricicole internationale entrait en rapport avec la FAO qui a été invitée à participer à tous les congrès et conférences organisés par la Commission, Ces dernières années, le Secrétariat général de la Commission a assuré une grande partie de la traduction française du Manuel de sériciculture édité par la FAO.
Au cours de sa Conférence tenue à Paris en septembre dernier, les Etats Membres de la Commission séricicole internationale ont exprimé le désir de voir officialisés les rapports de fait existant depuis trente ans entre la FAO et la CSI.
Je suis personnellement persuadé, qu'une collaboration entre ces deux organisations, basée sur des échanges de renseignements et de documentation, la participation aux conférences et réunions organi-sées par l'un et par l'autre, la consultation réciproque pour la réalisation des programmes techniques ne pourrait être que bénéfique pour les Etats Membres de nos Organisations.
A. GAYOSO (United States of America): First of all, I should like to congratulate you, Mr. Chairman, on your election as Chairman of this Commission. We wish you and your country well.
We have all agreed on the fact that the nature of development is very complex, multi-dimensional and interrelated. Governments do have the right, as well as the responsibility, to coordination of foreign assistance, but the UN system has the sole responsibility for marshalling its financial resources in a way that will maximize their effectiveness on the development goals being sought both by the Organization and the country.
A Resident Coordinator does not imply conflict among representatives of different Specialized Agencies. It does imply a single point of contact for the United Nations to ensure complementary effectiveness of its programmes and accountability to its own members. We are very pleased with the good working relationships which exist among all of its representatives at country level in most, if not all, countries, and we want to encourage that.
On a related matter, we want to emphasize our strong support to FAO for the very important role they are playing and which they should play in the development of the new international development strategy.
J. H. FEINGOLD (Observer for the International Federation of Agricultural Producers): I should like to intervene on the Agenda item on FAO's relations with NGOs. My organization, the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, is a world-wide representative of farmers' organizations from both industrialized and developing countries. With a membership ranging from commercial family farmers to subsistance farmers and very small farmers in the developing countries, it is obviously very interested in most of FAO activities. Almost every policy decision taken during this Conference or implemented by governments as a result of recommendations made here will affect the farmers, especially in the developing countries.
Therefore, we are most concerned that the views of farmers on the national and international level be taken fully into account, and that participation by rural peoples' organizations in the planning and policy making process become increasingly a reality and be seen to be such. But IFAP's relationship qith FAO is not confined to the periodic Council or Conference meetings. Through its permanent representative here in Rome, and through frequent visits by other members of the IFAP Secretariat, over the years we have established sound and meaningful relationships with various departments and sectors of FAO. Mention of this is made in Doc. C 79/18, where it is also stated that proposals were discussed last year concerning how to improve still further the collaboration between our two organizations.
We should like to take this opportunity to thank the Director-General, and through him the FAO Secretariat at all levels, for the cooperation and help we have received from them and which they have always shown to us. This has enabled IFAP to play its double role: to make farmers's needs and requirements better known and ensure they are better reflected in inter-government policy decisions, and to give IFAP also the opportunity to publicize FAO initiatives and encourage support for their action. As an example, we have recently asked our member organizations to encourage their governments to take greater, speedier and more effective action for the achievement of the goals of world food security.
I would also like to mention the yearly information meetings on women which are reported on in para, 32 of document C 79/18. This was requested by IFAP both separately and jointly with other international women's organizations.
Finally, I would like to make some reference to the informal meeting of NGO's which was mentioned in the introduction. A number of NGOs including IFAP feel that the time has now come to formalize a little more the relationship between NGOs and FAO, and to this end to expand the function and enhance the status of the present Ad hoc NGO committee of permanent representatives here in Rome so that they can better fulfill their function of lia ison with FAO and liaison with other NGOs and INGOs the world over.
S. AHMED (World Food Council): The World Food Council is deeply appreciative of the interest taken in its activities and the guidance and support it has been receiving from Member Governments. Ours is a political and catalytic role and it has been our constant endeavour to work in close cooperation with agencies and organizations in the United Nations system whom we are committed to support, through greater mobilization of political will and resources in favour of their fight against hunger and malnutrition. With the FAO, our relations have been one of closest collaboration.
Some progress has been made since Ottawa in implementing the decisions of that session and members may like to be appraised of that.
As regards resource mobilization, the Italian Government has taken further action on their announ-cement before the World Food Council Session in Ottawa to significantly increase their development assistance. They have already given £15 million to UNDP for agricultural projects, Lit. 2 billion to UNICEF and are now working on another 100 billion lire aid programme.
The European Parliament held a special debate on food and world hunger on 25 October. The Executive Director was invited to attend. There was general agreement on the gravity of the world hunger situation, on the conclusion, as soon as possible for a new FAC, on raising the development assistance level in national budgets and on the preparation by the Parliament's Development Committee of a report early in 1980 on world hunger with specific proposals for further Community action. An appropriate resolution was adopted by the Parliament on 16 November.
Members may recall that the Nordic countries, the USA and Canada, have announced their agreement to the conclusion of a new FAC without waiting for the new International Wheat Agreement. Indications are that the EEC will view this concept favourably and perhaps at a higher level of aid. The Council is also in touch with OPEC countries for appropriate assistance.
As of today 24 developing countries have opted in favour of national food strategies and these are at different stages of planning and action. We are in contact with international and national financial and development assistance agencies to mobilize the necessary support. Today we are meeting with the OECD representatives.
The report of the Ottawa session is before the Second Committee of the United Nations General Assembly. During the debate that took place the observations, decisions and recommendations of the session received attention and support. The report is awaiting approval anytime now.
D. J. WALTON (Director, Office for Interagency Affairs): I think the only subject on which I need to say a few additional words is the question of the resident coordinator mentioned by many delegations. The text which was agreed at inter-secretariat level earlier this year and which I mentioned in my introduction, fully met all the preoccupations expressed by the Chairman of the Group of 77 and by many other developing countries. We hope very much that nothing will be done in the General Assembly which will lead to a change in these arrangements. Indeed, frankly, we do not understand why a resolution by the General Assembly is necessary at all.
I have noted the statement by the representative of the Netherlands that the General Assembly's conclusions should not lead to any new arrangement which could impede the effective work of FAO country offices, and his statement is comforting but not, I think, definitive since the General Assembly has not yet reached its conclusions on this matter. There has, I think, been general agreement in the statements made that if the General Assembly's decisions are likely to result in impediments in the work of the FAO country offices, this is a matter which should be brought back to the Council next year for consideration.
K. M. KHUDHEIR (Iraq) (interpretation from Arabic): The Iraq delegation wholeheartedly supports the Jordanian delegation's request for abolition of the 8 percent target under paragraph 15 of document C 79/30. We hope the rates paid by developing countries will be reduced as regards implementation of programmes in those countries because of the overall burden.
A. F. M. de FREITAS (Brazil): I would like to join my voice to the voice of all those who have spoken before in the sense that we support the resolution of the Group of 77 as expressed by Mr. Ramadhar. We have just signed an agreement, as I said before, between FAO and Brazil on the establishment of an office of FAO in Brazil, as we have signed other previous agreements with UNDP and other organizations because we agree also with the delegation of Guinea in the sense that the government is supposed to be, and is, the main and only coordinator between all those different organizations, so we do not really see any special need for an intermediary step between those representatives and their direction here in Rome, and in this sense we actually agree with the proposition made by Mr. Ramadhar. We prefer to deal separately with each of the UN Agencies and specialized bodies in Brazil.
Ms W. BARTH-EIDE (Norway): My delegation would like to support the views expressed by Mr. Walton in his introduction to agenda item 19. 2 concerning the increasingly important role of science and technology in the design and implementation of policies and programmes within the scope of work of the FAO.
We have read with interest doc. C 79/31 Sup. l on the United Nations Conference on Science and Technology, in which my country took a great interest. My delegation knows that FAO made a considerable contribution towards the preparation of the UNCSTD and that it will no doubt also follow closely and influence the further elaboration of the use of the Interim Fund which will be established by voluntary contributions pending the establishment of long-term financial arrangements. Thus recognizing FAO's interest in the role of scientific efforts to improve its work and that of the UN, my delegation is somewhat surprised that the development and present status of a major component of the scientific activities within the UN is not mentioned at all in doc. C 79/31, namely, the UN University. Knowing that this young institution within the UN family has not yet been able to make itself or its charter fully known to wide circles in member countries, my delegation feels that this might have been a useful opportunity to mention its potential value to the UN family in general and to FAO in particular.
The UNU, as you will know, Mr. Chairman, is quite unique in its structure within the UN family due to a number of reasons, for example, its special basis of financing through an endowment fund, its aim to be problem orientated in its approach to an analysis of pressing global problems, of which world hunger is singled out as one of the central problem areas, its gradually increasing worldwide network of scholars from various fields, its special fellowship programme, and last, but perhaps most importantly, the guarantee of full academic freedom laid down in its charter adopted by UN Member Governments which places the University in a particularly useful position in the UN to be maximally utilized by the UN and its Specialized agencies. For example, in the many tasks now ahead of the FAO in developing methodologies for evaluating and reviewing impacts and follow-ups of various programmes and projects, it would probably be mutually beneficial both for FAO and the UNU if links were established that could facilitate these types of analysis for which FAO has already admitted it does not have sufficient capacity, at the moment. There is thus here not a question of overlapping efforts, but rather to maximize the use of other, and by definition, different, opportunities within the UN family than those available to FAO or similar institutions. Indeed the United Nations University may not yet really have found its profile and it certainly also is fighting against infant diseases that it continues to suffer from since its birth in 1975. FAO and other UN institutions can, on their side, help the United Nations University overcome the difficult period of infancy by nourishing it with specific problems that are perceived and felt by the organizations but which not always can find their most innovative solutions within the framework of an intergovernmentally governed institution.
Mr. Chairman, with these comments my delegation has wanted to draw the attention to the complementary role of the UN University to the rest of the UN, including FAO, a role which, however, can only be fully developed if the UN organizations themselves make maximal use of it, again in a complementary fashion; to their own work, but also thereby gaining from the special nature and mode of work of the UNU.
EL PRESIDENTE: Muchas gracias, Señora Delegada de Noruega.
Permítanme que yo agregue un pequeño comentario a su exposición. La Universidad de las Naciones Unidas - es de pleno conocimiento de todos - es una de mis mayores preocupaciones, así como la de no haber visto aquí representadas las Naciones Unidas. Yo puedo también hacer uso de esa representación, pues he trabajado durante dos años en el Programa Mundial contra el Hambre, y he considerado siempre que es muy importante que las Naciones Unidas estén representadas en la FAO. Ello no supondría una duplicidad de trabajo, sino trabajos paralelos, continuación de los trabajos de la FAO y de la Univer-sidad de las Naciones Unidas.
Es ciertamente un punto muy importante, que le agradezco haya traído a colación.
D. J. WALTON (Director, Office for Interagency Affairs): Can I perhaps add that FAO and the United Nations University have a memorandum of understanding and arrangements for cooperation. We have, in fact, been working together quite closely in two specific areas, one relates to nutrition and the other relates to the reduction of post-harvest food losses. I would agree completely that the work of the UNU is complementary to that of FAO. The resources of the University are, unfortunately, quite severely limited, although they have been getting some additional funds lately. We have good working relations with them and we shall certainly be delighted to expand the areas in which we cooperate with them if they have the funds and the ability to do so.
Ms. N. SHEANAKUL (Thailand): The Thai delegation wishes to refer to the statement made by the representative from the International Sericulture Commission (ISC) this morning concerning the promotion of silk growing and silk reeling in developing countries.
In Thailand, especially in the North-Eastern region, where the poorest of our people live, due to the poor soil and perenial shortage of water, sericulture has become, in recent years, an extra source of income for these rural poor.
Sericulture should also be promoted for the reason that it can be done at home in the backyard by women, both young and old, with the help of big children. In this respect, it is one of the few activities that keeps the people at home instead of sending them to the factories - a situation which all developing countries should be aware of.
Therefore, as one of the fifteen member countries of the ISC, the Thai delegation wishes to give its full support to the proposal from the representative of ISC that the long and close working contact between FAO and ISC become official. Thailand looks forward to seeing sericulture being included and developed among the various FAO technical assistance programmes in a not too distant future. 1/
J. F. YRIART (Sub-Director General, Departamento de Desarrollo): Sr. Presidente, verdaderamente tan solo una aclaración debo hacer y es que naturalmente hemos tomado en cuenta todas las observaciones que se hicieron, pero algunas de ellas estaban más bien dirigidas al FIDA que a nosotros, por ser un problema de colaboración entre FAO y FIDA y quiero decir a los Sres. Delegados que hicieron esas observaciones que naturalmente haremos notar al FIDA las declaraciones que hicieron.
EL PRESIDENTE: Esta reunion de la mañana está a punto de concluir, en vista de que algunos oradores tocaron puntos sobre el tema 19. 3, "Evaluación de los Servicios de la Dependencia Común de Inspección", Documentos C 79/17 y C 79/17 Sup. 1.
El Sr. E. M. West está dispuesto a hacer un breve comentario sobre el punto 19. 3, para así concluir esta sesión de la mañana.
1/ Statement inserted in the verbatim records on request.
E. M. WEST (Director (ADG), Office of Programme, Budget and Evaluation): The evaluation was requested by the Conference. The evaluation itself is not the Director-General's evaluation but your evaluation in the sense that it sets out the comments expressed by you, the Council, the Programme and the Finance Committees on the various reports we have received over the years. The contribution of the Secretariat is simply to analyse the statistical material available on the amount of work we have had to do and the type of work we have had to do. The document has been discussed by Programme and Finance Committees and by the Council, whose reports you have. As you will see, the conclusion is that we should continue to improve our relationships, I am glad to say they have improved. We had hoped that the Chairman or Deputy Chairman of the JIU would be here for this item. When we heard it was going to be taken early we telephoned Geneva, not without some difficulty, hut we did, and we understand that they do not feel it necessary to attend. I understand this morning that one speaker has, in effect, supported the conclusion in the document and unless there are any who disagree with that I would assume that we could close the matters there and record in your report something to the effect that the Conference noted the Director-General's comments and approved the conclusion.
I do not feel that there is any need for a long report unless you have a long debate.
The meeting rose at 12. 15 hours
La seance est levée à 12 h 15
Se levanta la sesión a las 12. 15 horas
