CHAIRMAN: I shall now give the floor to the Chairman of the Drafting Committee,Mr Brewster, who will give some explanations of the document we are going to examine this morning, document C 83/II/REP/I.
F. BREWSTER (Chairman, Drafting Committee): The document which we have before us was dealt with at one long meeting of the Drafting Committee and it provoked long discussion and very hard work. It is my pleasure and privilege to present it to the Commission this morning.
I would just like to invite your attention to two changes which should have appeared in the final document but they have not. Therefore before we start I wish to draw your attention to them and ask you to follow them as we go along. First, on page 3, paragraph 7, after "programmes" appearing in the eighth line of paragraph 7, this should immediately be followed by the sentence beginning "The Conference stressed in this connection that", in the eleventh line, going right down to the end of that sentence: "to deliver effectively its approved Programmes." That full section should follow immediately after "programmes" and then the paragraph remains as it is.
On page 13, again the English text, line 4, second from last word substitute "basing" for "basic". The sentence reads "it emphasized the importance of basic policy, it should read "it emphasized the importance of basing policy formulation and planning on a more thorough identification". That is paragraph 69.
C. VIDALI CARBAJAL (Mexico): Por favor, quisiera que se repitiera la modificación que hubo en el párrafo 7, que no logramos entenderla: dónde entra, qué frase o cuál es la que se quita. Por favor, una nueva aclaración.
F BREWSTER (Chairman, Drafting Committee): What I said in respect to paragraph 7 is this, we have the paragraph beginning "the Conference" and in the English text line 8 finished with "and effective delivery of programmes." Immediately following that line we should continue the paragraph with the Conference stressed in this connection that" and that goes right down to the end of the sentence "effectively its approved programmes." All of that should follow after line 8, so other words there are five lines following line 8.
C. VIDALI CARBAJAL. (México): ¿Quiere eso decir que las tres líneas que están intermedias desaparecen, según el Comité de Redacción? 0 sea, que pasan hacia abajo.
F. BREWSTER (Chairman, Drafting Committee): Yes.
CHAIRMAN: So that we may proceed uninterrupted I would like at this stage to give the floor to Mr Shah to give an explanation regarding page 4.
V.J. SHAH (Director, Office of Programme, Budget and Evaluation): May I provide some comments of explanation about the resolution on the Budgetary Appropriation 1984-85 which would be inserted into the text of the Report, the practice as followed in the past years and as proposed to be followed now is that the budgetary appropriation Resolution is considered in the Plenary at the same time as the
Plenary considers the Report of Commission II on these items. At that time Plenary receives a supplementary document which gives the text of the Resolution at the rate of exchange which will prevail on the day that the Resolution is considered by Plenary.
You will recall that the text of this draft resolution appears in the document of the Programme of Work and Budget on page 45 of the English text. The text of the resolution would not alter but it is the figures which would alter as the text given in the document is at the rate of 1.190 lire to the US dollar whereas the text to be considered in the Plenary will be at the rate prevailing tomorrow. For the information of the Commission the rate when the markets opened this morning was Lire 1.623. This is only the opening rate, of course. The fixing of the day is set later at about 1.00 o'clock but to give you an idea about what this rate implies, at Lire 1.623 to the dollar the total effective work and budget would amount to $420 million 700 thousand, instead of the figure of $451 million 627 thousand at the rate of 1.190 to the dollar.
CHAIRMAN: The delegates have had yesterday and part of last night to study carefully the draft report and I believe you should be ready now to give your comments so that we can prepare the final document for presentation to Plenary tomorrow. We will proceed through this paragraph by paragraph and I shall be requesting you to indicate if you have observations to make on the paragraphs.
PARAGRAPHS 1 to 4
PARAGRAPHES 1 à 4
PARAFOS 1 a 4
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): En el párrafo 1 hay que agregar la conjunción "y" en la primera frase: la "Conferencia estuvo de acuerdo con la evaluación de la situación mundial y con el criterio seguido".... Esto aparece en el texto inglés.
CHAIRMAN: Yes. Paragraph 1, as amended, is approved. Paragraph 2?
M. MOMBOULI (Congo): Je crois que dans le paragraphe 2, il y a un problème de traduction en français. A la quatrième ligne, il est dit: "Stagnation industrielle... chômage et déficit budgétaire sont le lot des pays développés." En fait,. il faut dire: "... sont les maux des pays développés".
Nous pensons également qu'à l'avant-dernière ligne du même paragraphe où il est écrit: "Les pays en développement... doivent supporter... des balances commerciales en déterioration", il faudrait dire "en déficit". Les termes de l'échange sont en détérioration, mais les balances commerciales sont en déficit.
Donc, il y a deux modifications: "lot" est remplacé par "maux" et "balances commerciales en détérioration" est remplacé par "balances commerciales en déficit ou déficitaires".
CHAIRMAN: The first part will be taken care of as a translation problem.
DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL: With the second proposal I think we are in a little difficulty because French is so much more precise than English. In English if you say "deteriorating trade balances" it covers two situations, one is that the balance is already in deficit and the other is that the deficit is getting worse. I think that would be understood from the English but in French I think the delegate is right in saying "en détérioration" does not convey the idea in itself, "en détérioration" from an already bad situation, a situation of deficit, so if you are going to change it I think you have to put in both ideas that negative trade balances are deteriorating further.
CHAIRMAN: Congo, does that satisfy you?
M. MOMBOULI (Congo): Oui.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Nuestro colega de Barbados y sus compañeros de Comité han hecho un buen trabajo y sólo nos proponemos presentar unas pocas enmiendas dirigidas a reforzar el texto de esta parte en el informe, que es el tema fundamental de esta Comisión. El párrafo 2 empieza de una manera muy vaga. Yo creo que hay que decir que "La Conferencia opinó que la gravedad de la situación ..." "La Conferencia opinó que la gravedad de la situación ...", porque estamos aquí para expresar opiniones.
CHAIRMAN: It looks to me as if most other sentences start like that.
F. BREWSTER (Chairman, Drafting Committee): When we looked at this in the Committee.we just took the view that we were explaining here, or setting out what the world economy and social situation was but I have no difficulty in saying it was "the Conference" at this particular stage. It was just an explanation of what followed before the Conference agreed the assessment and the Committee thought the assessment was what we were given by paragraphs 2 and 3. That is why we did not put "the Conference" at the beginning of paragraph 2 but we have no difficulty with this particular explanation.
CHAIRMAN: Colombia, would you still insist even with that explanation?
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Sí, señor Presidente, porque en el párrafo 1 empezamos por cedir "La Conferencia", luego no se trata simplemente de antecedentes, sino que ya estamos dando opiniones. Además en el párrafo 4 también se habla de "La Conferencia" y yo creo que esta situación básica debe ser expresada a nombre de la Conferencia y no en forma vaga como aparece en el párrafo 2.
CHAIRMAN: Since the Chairman of the Drafting Committee has no difficulty in inserting "The Conference" we would perhaps accept that.
T. AHMAD (Pakistan): I was only going to endorse what the Chairman of the Drafting Committee said regarding paragraphs 2 and 3. Both these paragraphs follow from paragraph 1, which says that the Conference agreed with the assessment of the world situation. Paragraphs 2 and 3 then talk of the world situation, which is contained in the Director-General's introduction. Then paragraph 4 talks about the reaction of the Conference to that assessment. So we have no difficulty. But perhaps it is not really necessary to include "The Conference" at the beginning of paragraphs 2 and 3, but we can go along with it if some delegates feel strongly about it.
CHAIRMAN: Since no one has difficulty with the words "The Conference expressed the view that" we will accept that.
M. B. SY (Sénégal): Je reviens sur la proposition formulée par la délégation congolaise visant les "balances commerciales". Je suis d'accord avec le Directeur général adjoint pour penser que la préoccupation de la version anglaise est de montrer une situation dégradante progressive des balances commerciales et, à mon avis, on pourrait dire en français: "Les balances commerciales constamment déficitaires". Ce serait plus significatif que de parler de "balances déficitaires et dégradantes".
CHAIRMAN: There is a suggested version here which reads "growing trade deficits". How does that do with you, Senegal?
M. B. SY (Sénégal) : Je ne modifie pas la structure de la phrase. Je dis simplement "Balances commerciales constamment déficitaires".
LE DIRECTEUR GENERAL ADJOINT: Le problème est que le déficit ne change pas, mais il se détériore.
M. Balla SY (Sénégal): Le mot "constamment" ne traduirait pas une situation stable mais un phénomème qui se répète. Mais je n'insisterai pas davantage. Qu'on dise: "Des balances commerciales déficitaires ou dégradantes".
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for your cooperation. I am glad we did not have to call on France to intervene.
B. H. DJIBRIL (Bénin): Compte tenu de l'importance des problèmes de malnutrition et de pauvreté, j'aurais souhaité une tournure un peu plus engagée pour le paragraphe 4. Voici ce que je proposerais:
"La Conférence lance un appel pour qu'en dépit de la situation économique mondiale aucun effort ne soit relâché pour l'accomplissement des engagements internationaux en faveur de la réduction puis de l'élimination de la malnutrition et de la pauvreté. Elle reconnaît la FAO comme devant être au premier rang du combat visant à atteindre cet objectif qui est commun à toute l'humanité."
BREWSTER (Chairman, Drafting Committee): What I can say on this paragraph is that when we discussed it in the Committee we made some amendments to make the original stronger at that particular time. We thought we had captured the feeling, and the suggestion of the delegate of Benin seems to be intended to make it even stronger. It is just in the first part of the paragraph that the changes occur. I thought that what the Committee had here was adequate for the purposes, but I am open to the directions of the Commission on this one, I have an open mind, but I thought that the Committee had in fact strengthened the original text and what we have is a prettv strong text on this paragraph.
S. ABOUJAOUDE (Lebanon): I am sorry, but if we have to speak each in his language we will have to find lots of differences. If we go back to the Arabic text, I think it reflects exactly what the Drafting Committee wanted to convey and does not go far from what our friend from Benin is suggesting in French. It is probably the language that changes the composition of the phrases. But basically I think we have to leave the text as it is in English because as it is translated in Arabic it gives the same meaning which I have just heard from my colleague from Benin.
A.BOTHNER (Norway): It may come as no surprise to this audience that my delegation would be very happy to support the proposal made by our colleague from Benin.
J. SAULT (Australia): When we were discussing these paragraphs in the Drafting Committee they were very much the background paragraphs which introduced us to this item. We can endorse the thoughts that have been expressed by Benin, but I wonder whether it would be better, if they are to be included, to have them under a separate heading, something like "priority to elimination of hunger". If we were to do that I think we should perhaps make the paragraph a little broader to say not only that no effort should be spared in achieving international commitments, but no effort should be spared in achieving national and international commitments
CHAIRMAN: Looking at the nature of the problem, since neither version presents any problems in Arabic, and the people who are reading the English text can live with either, although the feeling is that the latter version is stronger, perhaps we should opt for the stronger version in the English language, and in Arabic it would probably convey the same meaning. If people who are using languages other than English do not have any difficulties I think we can take the suggested version.
G. FRADIN (France): Je ne vois aucun inconvénient à ce qu'on adopte la version française proposée par le représentant du Bénin. Il me semble toutefois qu'en dépit de la remarque faite par notre collègue du Liban, la version française est sensiblement différente de la version anglaise, et il me semble difficile d'adopter le texte du paragraphe 4 proposé par le représentant du Bénin sans modifier la version anglaise. Puisque vous avez sollicité tout à l'heure mon intervention sur les questions de fond, Monsieur le Président, j'aimerais que la version française dise: "de n'épargner aucun effort", au lieu de dire: "de ne pas relâcher l'engagement et les efforts...".
CHAIRMAN: I will ask the Secretary to read the redrafted paragraph and see how it fits with other languages.
K. KILLINGSWORTH (Secretary, Commission II): I willwin readread what we have taken down in English. We have also taken down the original French. But in English it would read something like the following: "The Conference launched an appeal that, in spite of the current world economic situation, no effort should be spared in fulfilling international commitments to reduce and eventually eliminate malnutrition and poverty. It recognized that FAO had to remain at the forefront of efforts toward this objective which was universally shared.11
A. GAYOSO (United States of America) : I do not see any problems in accepting that language which the Secretary has read. It seems to me, however, that because we are expressing a firm commitment toward alleviation of malnutrition and poverty that commitment should be at the national level as well as at the international level.
The second point I want to make is that I assume given the very high quality of translation FAO usually provides us that we will end up with a text that is similar in all official languages. So that if one reads in English, "The Conference will have launched an appeal", and if one reads it in Arabic, or French, or Spanish, one will have read that the Conference also launched an appeal in all those languages.
P. GOSSELIN (Canada): My request for the floor was only to support the point made by the distinguished colleague from Australia, and I see now that the USA has picked up that point as well. The problem that we are alluding to is of such a serious nature that surely it is not only a respon‐sibility of the international community, but of the national communities as well.
CHAIRMAN: I will now ask the Secretary to read the redrafted paragraph to incorporate this idea which Canada, Australia and the United States have just stressed.
K. KILLINGSWORTH (Secretary, Commission II): I believe we could insert the word "national" and the sentence would read, "The Conference launched an appeal that in spite of the current world economic situation no effort should be spared in fulfilling national and international commitments", and the rest of the sentence would remain as read before.
S. ABOUJAOUDE (Lebanon): Please correct me if I am wrong, but usually in backgrounds we do not launch appeals, we just state facts about present things. So, I think, I would like to go back to what one of our colleagues here said, that probably this suggestion might come up later in the text, but leave the background as it is, because in the background we usually state things that are present or past.
M. B. SY (Senegal): Si nous continuons à cette allure, nous risquons de passer la journée avant d'adopter la moitié du rapport. La rédaction d'un texte peut toujours varier selon le style du rédacteur. L'essentiel est pour nous de retrouver les idées force.
Pour en revenir au texte, je pense que doit être réétudiée l'introduction du terme "nationaux". Il conviendrait qu'on n'épargne pas les efforts pour le respect des engagements internationaux et qu'on renforce les efforts nationaux. Je ne vois pas qu'on puisse demander à un Etat de respecter ses engagements nationaux. Je crois que ses efforts nationaux doivent être renforcés dans la contribution à l'aide internationale.
C. VIDALI CARBAJAL (México): Fundamentalmente para apoyar lo expresado por el distinguido delegado del Líbano en el sentido de que este concepto expuesto por el distinguido delegado de Benin es un concepto válido que nuestra delegación apoya plenamente.
Apoyamos plenamente el hecho de que la Conferencia de la FAO lance un llamamiento enfático, importante, con el fin de que se combata la malnutrición y la pobreza, pero coincidimos con el distinguido delegado del Líbano en que este no es el lugar para ponerlo. Estamos en un capítulo de antecedentes, puede ser que en un punto más adelante, que podía ser el de "Criterio” o el de "Estrategias, Prioridades y Objetivos"!, en fin, se ubicará este llamamiento con el cual estamos totalmente de acuerdo y apoyamos plenamente que se pusiera más adelante en el documento, pero no aquí.
J. MCHECHU (Tanzania): I am quite happy with the way the Drafting Committee has expressed this background information here as it is. It does convey the right meaning, and the way our colleague from Benin has put it it reads more or less like a resolution, you see. When you talk about background you state the situation as it pertains at that particular time, or in the past. So I am quite happy with what it reads in paragraph 4, and I will go along with what the Drafting Committee has said, in a fairly strong simplistic and very clear background position, which flows very well from paragraph 3. So I will be happy to leave it as it is, without even including the word "national". Actually it expresses the current world situation, and it does not relate with a national aspect of it. So I would rather have it left as it is, Chairman. I will support the Drafting Committee expression here.
M. MOMBOULI (Congo): Je ne suis pas de l'avis du Mexique. Le paragraphe 4 figure au titre des généralités, il pourrait être conservé en l'état mais il faudrait toutefois que soit retenue l'idée de lancer un appel un peu plus tard à la communauté internationale face à la situation économique mondiale qui prévaut. Donc je suggère que ce paragraphe soit retenu et que soit également retenue l'idée de lancer un appel qui serait explicité plus tard.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. I will now go back to Benin. The idea you have suggested is very well appreciated, and there is every feeling that it will be accomodated someplace else. Do you have any difficulty with that, Benin?
B.H. DJIBRIL (Bénin): Non. Je suis d'accord.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Now I go on to Australia and Canada. You suggested inclusion of "national effort". If this idea of an appeal could be coupled with the national commitment at some other place, would you have any difficulty? No problem. Thank you very much. In the meantime perhaps Benin and Canada or Australia might assist us by thinking of the appropriate place where we will fit in that idea of launching an appeal coupled with the national commitment.
In the meantime on this paragraph are there any more observations?
G. VIDALI CARBAJAL (México): Sr. Presidente ¿entiendo que el párrafo permanece tal como está redactado sin ninguna modificación?
CHAIRMAN; Yes, exactly. Any more observations? No. Thank you.
Paragraphs 1 to 4, as amended, approved
Les paragraphes 1 à 4, ainsi amendés, sont approuvés
Los párrafos 1 a 4, así enmendados, son aprobados
PARAGRAPH 5
PARAGRAPHE 5
PARRAFO 5
M. MOMBOULI (Congo): Nous avons une objection à soulever. Dans la dernière phrase de ce paragraphe il est dit: "En particulier, l'intégration des objectifs à moyen terme dans le document ... donne plus de transparence aux débats". Pour notre part, nous pensons que la transparence est à attribuer au document et non pas au débat et nous proposons que le texte soit repris comme ceci pour la deuxième phrase: "En particulier, l'intégration des objectifs à moyen terme facilite l'examen des propositions du programme et donne plus de transparence au document". Cette transparence attribuée au document facilite effectivement la compréhension.
M. LENSTRA (Netherlands): Myself and some of my Scandinavian colleagues stressed, or mentioned, during the discussions the item of Medium-Term Planning, and recommended the General Assembly Resolution in .that case. I would like to add one sentence in this paragraph, which reads as follows: "Some members stressed the importance of Medium-Term Planning in the Organization and referred to the recommendations made in the General Assembly Resolution 37/234."
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. Before we go on to this one, does anybody have problems with the suggestion made by Congo?
DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL: I leave to the Commission, Mr Chairman, what reaction it has to the proposed amendments, taking account of the fact that several delegations, as I recall, disagreed with this idea, but what I want to clarify is that as proposed the amendment gives a misleading impression. It gives the impression that the General Assembly resolution made recommendations to FAO. It did not. It applies to the United Nations Medium-Term Planning in the United Nations. So that if you want to refer to that you would have to say "to the recommendations of the General Assembly Resolution as applied to the United Nations" or words to that effect, so as to make it clear they do not of themselves apply to FAO.
M. LENSTRA (Netherlands): If that proposal is correct, as also Mr Shah told us, that there were no recommendations to FAO but to the whole United Nations system, yes.
CHAIRMAN: Norway and Yugoslavia, do you want to speak on this point of the Resolution?
A.BOTHNER (Norway): I did support my Dutch colleague when we talked about this and naturally I am happy to support him now. Of course one should aim at working out some language that is also compatible with the views just put out by the Deputy Director-General.
M. TRKULJA (Yugoslavia): There are in fact two points; one is that which Mr West has just now explained. I am familiar with the Resolution and it clearly uses the term "United Nations" with obvious reference to the UN proper.
The second concerns how the amendment proposed started. Some members stressed the importance - and I think it also leads to a misleading message perhaps - that only those members were aware of the Medium-Term Planning importance, so perhaps it might be better to say "in that context" and then the reference to the Resolution as applied to the United Nations.
C.VIDALI CARBAJAL (México): Yo quisiera hablar después de que usted conceda la palabra al distinguido Embajador de Colombia que la pidió mucho antes que nosotros.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Yo quería compartir el punto de vista del Sr. West en el sentido de que es necesario evitar confusiones y situar la función de nuestra Organización en su propio contexto. De manera que sería deseable que los colegas que se refirieron a este asunto y que ahora han presentado esta adhesión, presentarán una nueva redacción y así quedará bien clara la situación.
CHAIRMAN: Since the suggestion is that the amendment should be polished, I hope that the movers of the amendment are polishing up the language while we are going on with the debate. In the meantime, I give the floor to Mexico.
C.VIDALI CARBAJAL (México): Para sumarme al distinguido Embajador de Colombia, yo siento que fueron muchas las delegaciones y fue prácticamente la Comisión la que elogio la actividad de planeaciôn a plazo medio de la FAO y no recuerdo que se haya recalcado o tengamos que recoger este criterio que realmente corresponde a otra Organización en el seno de la comunidad internacional.
El hecho de incluir una idea de este tipo puede dar la impresión de que la FAO no está haciendo una planeación a plazo medio, lo cual es totalmente equivocado y erroneo porque es de las organizaciones que sí lo hacen y lo hacen con una gran eficacia.
Entonces creo que realmente, inclusive, una redacción modificada o diferente a ésta, estaría totalmente fuera de lugar en el texto que estamos revisando.
CHAIRMAN: Do the Netherlands and Norway want to press ahead with the amendment, change the words, or leave it out?
M. LENSTRA (Netherlands): I ask for some time in order to propose a new text which convenes the remarks which have been made.
T. AHMAD (Pakistan): If the distinguished delegate of the Netherlands is going to come up with a new formulation maybe I can wait to have that formulation and then react, because my initial reaction, Mr Chairman, is that in paragraph 5 we are basically talking of the merger of the Medium-Term Objectives into the Programme of Work and Budget document. It is not talking of the Medium-Term Planning, whether it is good or bad; it is basically about format and presentation as the heading says - it is both format and presentation. Within that context the only thing that is relevant is that the Medium-Term Objectives, a separate document, has been merged in the Programme of Work and Budget. Here I do not see immediately any relevance in the UN Resolution being incorporated but I am willing to wait until my Dutch friend comes up with a new formulation.
CHAIRMAN: Does either Norway or the Netherlands have any reactions to that last intervention?
A. GAYOSO (United States of America): My eyes were wandering about and I found paragraph 9 at the bottom of page 3 of the English text which I have the feeling takes care for the time being of the Conference agreeing with Medium-Term Objectives, so that we could leave paragraph 5, which is format and presentation, as it is without any further discussion.
CHAIRMAN: I had previously asked if Norway and the Netherlands had any observations to make to the Pakistan suggestion. There is a further suggestion from the United States about moving that amendment. Does either the Netherlands or Norway still insist on incorporating the amendment?
A. BOTHNER (Norway): Mr Chairman, sorry to keep you waiting but we are perfectly in agreement to leave paragraph 5 as it is, and then we would be happy to have some inclusion in paragraph 9 to that effect.
DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL: Following on that, Mr Chairman, which I would agree is a wise decision, I would offer some technical assistance and refer the two delegates to the Report of the Council, the Eighty-second session of the Council, which is CL 82/REP paragraphs 126 and 127. Perhaps after consulting that they would find it easier to draft their amendment to paragraph 9 if they still want to go ahead with one.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Mr West. Any more observations on paragraph 5?
M. MOMBOULI (Congo): ;Si l'on adopte le paragraphe 5 en l'état, cela veut dire que l'on n'a pas tenu compte des observations que nous avons faites d'attribuer la transparence au document et non pas au débat. Je voudrais une précision à ce sujet.
CHAIRMAN: Nobody has an objection to your objection or your observation, so it is incorporated.
I want to remind you of the observations that were made by the Chairman of the Drafting Committee on the rearrangement of sentences in this paragraph.
Paragraph 5, as amended,approved
Le paragraphe 5, ainsi amendé, est approuve
El párrafo 5, así enmendado, es aprobado
PARAGRAPHS 6 and 7
PARAGRAPHES 6 et 7
PARRAFOS 6 y 7
S, SCHUMM (Germany, Federal Republic of) (original language German): I would like to refer to the sentence in paragraph 7 that begins - this is about six lines down - "The Conference recognized that this modest increase". Now we have not yet reached the end of our rationalization efforts and there are still many possibilities open to us for increasing the effectiveness of this Organization. Consequently I would like to amend the text very slightly and drop "a minimum level". I think that if we do that, then we will be taking account of what was expressed by other delegations. A deletion of these words would not affect the meaning of the sentence.
M. B. SY (Sénégal): Dans la première phrase, on dit : "La Conférence a loué le Directeur général...". J'aurais préféré un autre terme, que l'on loue son esprit d'initiative ou d'innovation.
En suite on parle de: "3,6 pour cent dans les ressources..."; j'aurais préféré que l'on dise : "3,6 pour cent des ressources".
On dit également : "... tout en limitant la croissance nette de programmes à 0,5 pour cent globalement"; je préférerais que l'on dise : "... tout en limitant globalement la croissance ...".
Enfin, on dit : "... en réduisant le coût des services d'administration et de soutien au strict minimum..."; je pense que l'on pourrait dire : "... les coûts des services d'administration au strict minimum et qu'en supprimant...".
C. VIDALI CARBAJAL (México): Creo que este es uno de los párrafos que más se discutieron en el Comité de Redacción, lo cual podrá confirmar el Presidente del mismo. Realmente el equilibrio y el balance que se lograron entre las distintas posiciones e ideas en este párrafo son admirables y dignos de elogio. Lo que queremos sugerir es que no se haga ninguna modificación, que se le mantenga tal cual está, dado que realmente llevo mucho tiempo acordarlo dentro del Comité de Redacción, y argumentos como los que se están exponiendo ahora fueron ya escuchados y discutidos aquí y se llego a esta solución, que es una solución de transacción. Por otra parte, quiero recordar que vamos apenas por el séptimo párrafo de nuestro documento y que si seguimos así, como decía algún delegado antes que yo, no vamos a terminar en todo el día.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for your useful observations.
M. NAKAMURA (Japan): If I understand correctly, the sentence starting from the ninth line, "The Conference was particularly appreciative of this renewed evidence" has been deleted. However, I do not understand why these beautiful words should be deleted and I wish this sentence to remain as it is.
CHAIRMAN: The beautiful words have not been deleted. That sentence has merely been moved to become the last sentence of that paragraph, and the sentence that comes after it came before it.]
M. B. SY (Sénégal): Je crois que ma démarche ne visait pas à modifier le paragraphe. Le rapport reflète les débats du Comité de rédaction. Nous sommes en présence de plusieurs langues. En français, on ne peut pas dire "3,6 pour cent dans les ressources". Il faut parler de l'augmentation de quelque chose. Il s'agit seulement d'une question de forme dans une langue différente qui ne veut pas bouleverser les idées d'un texte. De même, au début, je préfère louer les qualités de quelqu'un plutôt que de louer quelqu'un, C'est là le problème. Il ne s'agit pas de modifier les données précises du texte, puisque je n'étais pas au Comité de rédaction.
CHAIRMAN: I do not think you should be very worried; most of your suggestions have met with cooperation. The only thing would be the spirit of initiative, and I do not think that changes the substance of the paragraph
M. MOMBOULI (Congo); En fait, vous m'avez précédé. Je voudrais dire simplement que nous sommes conscients des efforts faits par le Comité de rédaction. C'est pour cela que je veux rassurer également la délégation du Mexique, et nous ferons en sorte que nous trouvions toujours un consensus dans les débats.
Le Sénégal nous a proposé un certain nombre d'aménagements qui, en fait, ne modifient pas le fond du texte. C'est une question de traduction. Ce qu'il a dit est exact en ce qui concerne le pourcentage de 3,6 pour cent attribué au Programme technique. En français, on doit dire: "3,6 pour cent des ressources". Nous ne pouvons pas le discuter.
Le délégué du Sénégal a proposé également que l'on inscrive le mot "globalement" tout de suite après "tout en limitant ...". Cela ne change pas le fond de la question.
La seule question qui reste ouverte est l'opportunité de louer ou non le Directeur /?/énéral. Il pense pour sa part qu'on ne peut pas louer quelqu'un, mais ses initiatives et ses efforts. Nous devrions peut-être nous prononcer sur ce point. Mais pour le reste, c'est une question de traduction.
CHAIRMAN: Those will be incorporated.
S. ABOUJAOUDE (Lebanon): I tend to agrae with my colleague from Mexico here because I would like to tell you that in our Drafting Committee session we had many ideas coming up and we tried as much as possible to reduce repetition, we tried to minimize the eloquent words and phrases that might tend to repeat themselves. If my colleague who suggested the addition of "l'esprit d'initiative" and "innovation" after the Director-General's qualities, reads that - probably because I have the English text - these qualities have been included in this text. As a matter of fact, with regard to the problem that my French speaking colleagues are facing and that we are facing in the Arabic text also, we came to the conclusion that as long as the meaning is the same as the English, I could simply recommend it without having to go back; simply recommend to the Secretariat the changes that would give the Arabic text the meaning that is intended in the English text. Probably if we could convey this to our friends here, we could save a lot of time and we could proceed more quickly in our discussions.
G. FRADIN (France): Je voulais simplement appuyer mes collègues du Sénégal et du Congo dans la défense de la langue française.
CHAIRMAN: Could we, in the interest of time, try to confine our observations and comments to matters affecting the substance, unless the language totally distorts the meaning. Does anyone have any objection to the suggestion by the delegate of the Federal Republic of Germany to eliminate the four words: "to a minimum level"?
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Yo creo que la propuesta más sabia fue la hecha por el colega de México, en el sentido de que se adopte este párrafo 7 tal como está, sin ninguna modificación.
TESEMA NEGASH (Ethiopia): I personally would endorse the proposal made by the delegate of Mexico and supported by Lebanon and Colombia. This is a difficult paragraph and if we start proposing, then counter-proposals will come up and we shall end up discussing the same paragraph for days. The "minimum level" as stated here is in fact for some of us below minimum. Therefore if there is a proposal to delete those words, we shall put forward another proposal saying "to below minimum level". So, in the interests of time, I would go along with Mexico and Lebanon.
C.VIDALI CARBAJAL (México): Gracias Presidente: Para reiterar rai proposición, que ha sido apoyada por otras delegaciones.
S.ABOUJAOUDE (Lebanon): I just wanted to ask: whenever we call for a reduction it has to stop somewhere at any rate, it cannot continue indefinitely. That is why we discussed this point in our Committee and we thought that stopping it at the bare minimum level would be appreciated by everyone. And that is why we feel that we must maintain the previous plea to keep this sentence as it is.
M.E. JIMENEZ ZEPEDA (El Salvador): Nuestra delegación también estima que introducir modificacionesa este párrafo nos llevaría a discutir todo el día y no podríamos ponernos de acuerdo nunca. Estimamos que la meta al nivel mínimo es lo mínimo que podemos establecer en este párrafo parallegar a un consenso. Por ello apoyamos la propuesta de México, ratificada por Colombia, Etiopíay otras Delegaciones.
E.J. STONYER (New Zealand): I should like to support our German colleague who suggests that - administrative services and support services could, in fact, be streamlined further. I know of no large organization which does not allow for some improvement to take place, even if it is only a transfer of technology or a reduction in the labour that can be utilized. I therefore support the suggestion made by our colleague from Germany that "to a minimum level" be taken out of this Report.
H. BENATTALLAH (Algérie): C'est l'un des paragraphes les plus importants que nous ayons à approuver. La suppression de certains termes à certains endroits entraînerait inévitablement des ajouts supplé‐mentaires à d'autres endroits. Si on adoptait ce paragraphe qui nous satisfait pleinement, on avancerait beaucoup.
M. NAKAMURA (Japan): The Japanese delegation would like to associate itself with the view expressed by the New Zealand delegation and we support the amendment proposed by the German delegation.
A.BERGQUIST (Sweden) : Being a member of the Drafting Committee I can assure members here that we spent a considerable time on this paragraph. We are all here concerned with effectiveness and saving money for the Organization and one way to save money would be not to dwell further on this paragraph so I support the proposals of other members of the Drafting Committee that we adopt the paragraph as it is.
T. AHMAD (Pakistan): After these words of wisdom I have nothing else to say but to support my colleagues from Sweden.
H.J. ARBUTHNOTT (United Kingdom): I would like to support my German and other colleagues for the omission of the words "to a minimum level". Somebody expressed concern that this could not be pursued indefinitely. The elimination of those words does not suggest that it would be because we already have the sentence which has now moved up to the penultimate sentence which says that this "should not need to extend expectations that it would be pursued indefinitely" so that I do not think taking the words out "to a minimum" alters that point. I agree with one of the earlier speakers who says that one cannot say what is a minimum of any one kind. Circumstances may change, one cannot commit oneself to setting up a certain level forever.
A.GAYOSO (United States of America): We have during the course of the Conference fully recognized the tremendous efforts made by the Director-General moving towards improved efficiency in this Organization. I have to support in that connection, because it is a dynamic situation, the proposal made by New Zealand and so well reiterated by the United Kingdom at the elimination of the words "to a minimum level" does not affect the thought that we all have that some things cannot be pursued indefinitely, which is so well expressed later on in the penultimate phase. The idea is we cannot at this time prove one way or the other that we have reached the optimum point on support and administrative costs. Technology is here, new technology is coming, and things will change in a very dynamic sense.
T. AHMAD (Pakistan): I thought that after the words of wisdom from Sweden we would perhaps go on to paragraph 8 but it would seem we are stuck on paragraph 7: When I look at the paragraph I feel that this particular sentence where you want to eliminate the words "minimum level" is referring particularly to two policy parameters that are enunciated in the earlier paragraph and the minimum level, which incidently we wanted to be pronounced as "bare minimum level", refers to the fact that there is a modest increase in the technical programmes shifting resources from the general administration and support services. Within that total context on this Programme of Work and Budget you have shifted resources from the administrative services to the technical services and by doing so you have left the administrative services to support that level of delivery of the technical services and at that level it is the bare minimum required for the delivery of those technical services.
The other idea which is subsequently incorporated in the paragraph in the subsequent sentence is an entirely different idea, that it is not to be a continued long run process, that it has to come to an end at some time so these are two entirely different ideas. So the idea of the minimum level here, which we would like to see changed to bare minimum level, refers to the shift of the resources from the administrative to the technical services and it also refers to the fact that delivery of the technical services is not possible unless the general administrative services are kept at a certain level and that level is the minimum level. That is why we feel that "minimum level" has to remain there because this refers to this Programme of Work and Budget so we think this should remain and perhaps you would make more progress by agreeing to the earlier proposal of the Mexican delegation that we do not try and pick holes in this paragraph and go on.
DIRECTOR-GENERAL: We have the verbatim here. We do not find in the verbatim that Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have said what they want to put now in the Report. The Report is only a picture of what was discussed here. They cannot add now anything to the debate. If they would have said it then we could say "three countries" or "four countries" not "the Conference". You cannot have the whole Conference saying this, which was never said even by yourself. The Report is just a reproduction of what was discussed here and what was discussed is in the verbatim. It is not in the verbatim and we have been wasting a long time on this issue. In the other meeting which is taking place in the other room, when additionnai posts are asked for with an increase in the admi‐nistration budget, the same country approves and applauds. When it comes here to FAO we would have to cut to the maximum, and we should still cut and cut and cut. To come back and say it again: those countries did not express themselves in the way they want the Report to express itself, when the matter was discussed.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Director-General. I think the delegate of Pakistan has also made an explanation. Does Germany have any comments to make on that explanation?
S. SCHUMM (Germany, Federal Republic of) (original language German): I do not want to prolong this discussion but of course we are not really discussing the substance once again. We simply have to adopt the Report and include in this Report what was said in the discussion. Now we feel this was actually said, but, of course, the whole Commission need not identify itself with this. This is not what I asked. Therefore, as a compromise I would suggest, so as to reflect what was meant that "the majority" or "the great majority", that I leave to you, "felt that this could represent a minimum level". We could certainly express that the great majority was of this opinion but at least there was no unanimous view on this.
DIRECTOR-GENERAL: This is a report for the Plenary and when there is "a great majority" it means "the Conference". We cannot make this "the great majority, the small majority, the few" etc., it is "the Conference". A majority plus one makes the Conference. Then we say "the Conference" and then we say "a few", not "the great majority or other majorities" etc. This is how the things have always been done, especially on this important subject. It is the Conference, it is not a great majority, the Conference means the majority.
CHAIRMAN: I want once more to appeal to the delegations that we must recognize that we do not have all the time on our hands.
M. MOMBOULI (Congo): Je pense que nous avons consacré suffisamment de temps à cette question et que le commentaire fait par le représentant du Pakistan a pu éclairer nos collègues.
Je suggère que nous nous prononcions pour l'adoption du texte tel qu'il nous est soumis et demande à ceux qui hésitent encore à s'y rallier, qu'ils comprennent que le texte exprime bien notre pensée et que ce qu'il y aurait lieu de craindre en "réduisant les coûts des services au strict minimum", c'est que les programmes soient compromis.
H.J. ARBUTHNOTT (United Kingdom): I wonder if we could come to a compromise by suggesting that it should say "support service costs to a currently minimum level". I think that takes into account what the delegate from Pakistan was proposing.
CHAIRMAN: "Currently minimum level."
S. SCHUMM (Germany, Federal Republic of) (original language German): I find it rather difficult, what do you mean by "minimum level"? What is the definition of "minimum level"? If the Commission feels that this "currently minimum level" is a compromise, of course English is not my mother tongue, then I will not be opposed to this but I have some hesitations nevertheless.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for your cooperation.
C. VIDALI CARBAJAL (México): Nuevamente para insistir en que se mantenga la redacción tal cual está. Realmente, como nos decía el Director General esta observación nada más la hicieron muy pocas delegaciones, como consta en los repports que recibimos; entonces, realmente el querer por un lado reabrir la discusión y por otro lado imponer un criterio que no es el de la Comisión ni tampoco el que pueda ser el de la Conferencia nos resulta en este momento extemporáneo.
Vuelvo a reiterar mi proposición que se mantenga el texto como está dado que fue un texto que se discutió muy ampliamente en el Comité de Redacción, que llevó muchas horas en el Comité de Redacción y se llegó a un compromiso y transacción y ninguna modificación va a mejorar o alterar, o mejorar realmente este texto que fue muy sesudamente trabajado.
Es nuestra sugerencia, por tanto creo que estamos perdiendo tiempo y perdiendo recursos, como decía la delegada de Suecia, y podíamos pasar a otro párrafo y dejar éste tal cual está.
DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL: I think there is a certain amount of confusion. I do not recall anyone in the debate proposing that the level of administrative and support services proposed in this budget should be further cut. I do not think anybody said that. Some delegations, many, the Conference did say that is was a minimum and that I think is what the verbatim reveals. The problem only
arises because now in reflecting the views that this was a minimum some delegations feel that they are being committed in some way but on the other hand if you cut out this reference to a minimum then you are committing the Conference in a different direction, you are saying cut further. This is a new idea which has come up during the discussion of the Report to try and put a restriction on the level of the support for the future but as far as the debate is concerned I do not recall anyone saying that the provision for administrative and support services proposed in the budget should be cut further.
CHAIRMAN: I did earlier on make reference to the very excellent explanation that was made by Pakistan and I think that was accepted. The German delegate, who made the suggestion, would have no problems with the word "currently", and that does not alter the substance of the paragraph. Could we agree on going on like that without any further. waste of time? Thank you very much. for your cooperation. The paragraph is adopted. If you are not clear, Mexico, only with "currently" added before the words "minimum level".
C.VIDALI CARBAJAL (México): Nosotros hemos insistido en que el texto se mantenga igual al que acordó el Comité de Redacción. El incorporar el factor "actual" modifica totalmente el sentido que se quería incorporar en esta frase y abre nuevamente la discusión, además de que no resuelve ningún problema.
CHAIRMAN: I thank Mexico. I think you have reopened the debate.
S. ABOUJÁOUDE (Lebanon): I fear I have to reiterate the words of my colleague from Mexico. I do not think that adding ‘Currently’ would help in any way because if we have to delete 'minimum level’, then the sentence that we have included pertaining to not lead to expectations in the future would have no meaning, because if we had thought at that time we could reduce these costs further we would not have said in the discussions that took place in the Drafting Committee that this situation cannot continue indefinitely. For that reason I would like to move to adopt this paragraph as it is.
G. CAMELARIS (Cyprus): If we insert the word 'currently', then the meaning of the paragraph is in contradiction with the next sentence, which stresses the expectations that this cutting down cannot be pursued indefinitely. Therefore, though this specific paragraph has been discussed extensively here and in the Drafting Committee, in which I participate, I share the feeling of other delegates that this paragraph should remain as originally drafted and agreed upon by the Drafting Committee.
J MCHECHU (Tanzania): I support other speakers, Mexico in particular. The word 'currently' is inappropriate. I think it should be struck out. Let us adopt this paragraph with the minimum amendments proposed by Senegal and let us move ahead.
K.M. EJAZUL HUQ (Bangladesh): A minimum level is obviously in a time context, it has a time dimension, this is not ad infinitum, and therefore 'currently' becomes redundant. The simple fact is that when we talk of minimum level we talk of a biennium, and therefore 'currently' is redundant and it should be struck out and we should adopt the paragraph as it is.
CHAIRMAN: I believe that we cannot go on arguing on this point. It is clear that a very large majority in this Commission would like to have the paragraph adopted as presented by the Drafting Committee. I think it is clear that the few delegations that wanted to stress the point that 'minimum level' should be deleted from the paragraph should now be persuaded in the interests of consensus and progress in our work and that we could move toward the adoption of the paragraph.
A.GAYOSO (United States of America): In a spirit of cooperation and trying to bridge some of the different opinions that have been expressed here, I would like to propose three words that I think articulate what Pakistan explained to us this sentence meant. The phrase would then read: "By further reducing administrative and support services costs to the minimum level for 1984-85."
M. TRKULJA (Yugoslavia) : If we take the sentence that we are discussing now that contains 'minimum level' in the context of the next sentence that Cyprus rightly drew our attention to, I think it is quite obvious. The next sentence says that it could not be pursued indefinitely. Indefinitely is a very strong term. It means that it could continue for some time, surely the next biennium, but not indefinitely. Indefinitely in this context means zero level. I think the meaning of the two sentences together makes it absolutely obvious what 'minimum level' means in this sentence. It is absolutely obvious that the reference to 'minimum level' is the current level, the minimum for the next biennium.
T. AHMAD (Pakistan): If you want to change anything, Mr Chairman, I need to explain again. If the paragraph stands as it is, I have nothing else to add.
R.F.J. NETO (Angola): Je voudrais tout simplement savoir si votre représentation reconnaît encore le principe de la démocratie. Je pense que la majorité des membres ont approuvé ce paragraphe tel qu'il est. Nous nous demandons porquoi nous devons faire un jeu de mots, réajuster ceci ou cela pour donner satisfaction à deux ou trois délégations. Je pense que les choses son claires. La majorité a approuvé le paragraphe, je pense que nous pouvons continuer et passer à d'autres paragraphes.
CHAIRMAN: In view of what Pakistan and Angola have said, Colombia and Mexico, do you insist on having the floor, because we have to pass now?
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Yo solo quiero apoyar lo que acaba de decir Angola. Adoptemos el párrafo 7 como está y pasemos al párrafo 8.
CHAIRMAN: Mexico, do you insist? Thank you very much
Paragraphs 6 and 7, as amended, approved
Les paragraphes 6 et 7, ainsi amendés, sont approuvés
Los párrafos 6 y 7, así enmendados, son aprobados
PARAGRAPHS 8 to 12
PARAGRAPHES 8 à 12
PARRAFOS 8 a 12
M. LENSTRA (Netherlands): In accordance with what was suggested under paragraph 5, I have a new text under paragraph 9 which is as follows: "Some members draw the attention of the Conference to General Assembly Resolution 37/234 with regard to medium-term planning".
C. VIDALI CARBAJAL (México): Nuevamente quiero intervenir para insistir en que no se cambie este párrafo y se mantenga lo acordado por el Comité de Redacción. Una mención de este tipo daría la impresión de que la FAO no realiza la planeación a plazo medio, lo cual está totalmente fuera de la realidad. De hecho si lee uno el párrafo, se habla de planeación a plazo medio y a largo plazo.
Creo que la FAO es una de las pocas organizaciones dentro del Sistema de las Naciones Unidas que realiza una planeación efectiva y el mencionar esto da la impresión de que la FAO no lo hace.
Yo le sugiriría al distinguido Delegado de Holanda que retirara esta proposición.
M. B. SY (Sénégal): Je crois que si certaines délégations ont insisté sur la résolution de l'Organisation des Nations Unies sur la planification à moyen terme et que d'autres n'ont pas soulevé d'objection c'est que nous avons fait nôtre l'importance soulignée de ce système. A partir de ce moment il n'est pas nécessaire de vouloir -singulariser des délégations sur un point qui avait recueilli un consensus. Il s'y ajoute que, étant donné que nous avons réaffirmé notre approbation pour des actions de la FAO orientées dans le même domaine, citer l'Organisation des Nations Unies d'une manière singulière n'est pas une démarche capitale qui devrait nous retenir aussi longtemps. Je pense que nous pourrions dans cette optique approuver ce paragraphe comme l'a suggéré la délégation du Mexique et passer rapidement parce qu'il y a d'autres problèmes plus importants et plus vitaux pour nous, pays en développement, dont nous devrions discuter plutôt que nous attarder sur des problèmes de fond, qui finalement nous amèneront à escamoter des problèmes importants au niveau du rapport.
CHAIRMAN: Netherlands, do you really insist on the amendment?
M. LENSTRA (Netherlands): As the Director-General has said, this Report should reflect what has been said during our discussions and what is in the Verbatim Record. I think there is ground to put this sentence. We discussed before that we could put it under paragraph 5. There was no consensus about it and there was a proposal to discuss this matter under paragraph 9. That is now my proposal, which does not include the suggestion that we criticise FAO in this matter.
DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL: When I intervened before on this I did not want to take up too much of your time, but I do think it is desirable that all members present should know what they are doing, because the Resolution has been referred to but it has not been described. The fact is that this Resolution lays down an enormously elaborate pattern for preparing a separate medium-term objectives plan with quantified information in it, programme by programme. As Mr Shah told you at the end of the debate, the Secretary-General in his opening of the Fifth Committee in the General Assembly in effect made a plea to the General Assembly not to give him instructions like this because it was making his life impossible in managing the United Nations. This is not a Resolution about the importance of medium or long-term objectives or planning to achieve those objectives. It is about how to set up a medium-term plan in great detail, and is precisely what you have rejected in saying that you approve the incorporation of Medium-Term Objectives into the Programme of Work and Budget, as presented to you at this Conference. Some delegates want to say, in effect, that they do not agree with that. They drew attention to a different way of doing things. I think it was two who said this, and again I repeat if you just include a reference to the Resolution, without clarifying that it does not apply to the FAO, it applies to the UN, and it is totally different from what you are doing, you are just giving a misleading impression of the subject you are discussing.
CHAIRMAN: Before we give the floor to other delegations, Netherlands, do you want to insist?
M. LENSTRA (Netherlands): Well, I give the floor to my colleague of Norway.
A. BOTHNER (Norway): I think we should take our point of departure in what the Director-General just said on another paragraph, that the Report should faithfully reflect what was actually said in the Committee, and it is a fact of life that two members mentioned this point, and referred to this resolution, and rightly or wrongly, regardless of its relevance, it would be fair to reflect in the Report what was actually said in the meeting.
M. TRKULJA (Yugoslavia): Well, Mr Chairman, I have very serious doubts with regard to the reference proposed, but it is really fact and I think we have to be fair. Some members made that reference in the course of our debate, and let it be reflected. I want only to sueeest that we still add two words, as related to UN. United Nations, so as to make it clear that it was not directed towards the UN system in general. It is medium-term plan for United Nations, that means UN proper, 84-89, as simple as that.
C. VIDALI CARBAJAL (México): Realmente nosotros nos encontramos en toda la documentación de las dis‐tintas Organizaciones del Sistema de las Naciones Unidas con una serie de referencias cruzadas que muchas veces la hacen ilegible e incomprensible
Realmente yo en lo personal no sé que contiene o qué dice la Resolución 37/234 de Naciones Unidas. No sé si en alguna parte tenemos ese texto para ver de qué trata porque no me gustaría que se aprobara un informe del cual estamos aceptando una Resolución de otra Organización diferente a la nuestra cuyo texto no conocemos.
Lo que pediría es que nos lean ese texto de esa Resolución y mantener la idea de que se mantenga inalterado este párrafo si eso resulta muy difícil.
S. ZAHARIEV (Bulgaria): I was trying to cooperate with everybody here and not take the floor and bother the Conference and the meeting with too much talk about it, but as a member of the Drafting Committee I am feeling a little bit touchy, because several points which have been quoted,which took us quite a lot of time to discuss in the Drafting Committee, have now tried to be completely amended, even completely changed. So by supporting the very first proposal of my Mexican colleagues to keep as much as possible to the original text, and I fully endorse the extremely wise words of my distinguished Swedish colleagues who say that we have to try to be effective ourselves, and to bear in mind how much it is costing for our stay here now for interpreters, and we are going to have to stay even this evening, because we never can finish in the way that we are moving. I once again appeal to everybody to try be as cooperative as possible. Several people have quoted the Director-General as saying that we have to respect the opinions of the few. Of course we have to respect it, but the Director-General does also say that the Conference is to be respected, and here in this sentence we start with the words "The Conference", and we clearly understood "The Conference" is the great majority. So if the great majority is of one opinion, let us try to keep this opinion as much as possible, as it is explained here on that very document.
CHAIRMAN: I think at this point we should say that there were many more things that were said during the discussions, that have not been reflected in this Report, and not only because they were not of immediate relevance to what comes into the Report, but does Norway and Netherlands want to insist, in the light of the fact that the reference they are making seems to be causing confusion, because even the amendment suggested does not go a long way enough to indicate the immediate relevance of that Resolution.
M. LENSTRA (Netherlands): Mr Chairman, as I told you during our discussions the Netherlands attach great importance to medium-term planning and, therefore, our proposal to put it somewhere in the Report, with the text that it were only some members. Also I refer to a General Assembly Resolution which could be used as a referring point, which was accepted in the General Assembly with consensus. I have made my point here in the discussion, and I do not want to stop the progress of our discussion about the Report, and I leave my proposal.
CHAIRMAN: Does Norway concur with that? So we leave the amendment out. Thank you very much for your cooperation. Paragraph nine is approved. Paragraph 10?
M. MOMBOULI (Congo): Je pense qufil y a également une difficulté au niveau de la traduction. A la troisième ligne de ce paragraphe, on essaye d'écrire le concept élargi mais je pense qu'on pourrait, dans la version française, trouver les mots qui conviennent, qui sont déjà consacrés en quelque sorte et la phrase pourrait être libellée comme suit: "La Conférence a mis tout particulièrement l'accent sur les besoins spéciaux et urgents du continent africain et a pris bonne note de l'importance qui est attachée au concept élargi de la sécurité alimentaire " parce qu'il y a une expression consacrée, sur le concept élargi de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale, on ne fait plus de description.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Congo. I have been promised that the Secretariat will bring the French in line with the English, and reflect your views there.
B.H. DJIBRIL (Bénin): Je voulais simplement proposer que l!on remplace "a pris bonne note" par "la Conférence a vu l'importance qui est attachée".
R. F.J. NETO (Angola): Ma délégation voudrait tout simplement donner son appui total aux amendements proposés par les honorables délégués du Congo et de la République populaire du Bénin.
G. FRADIN (France): En ce qui concerne l'amendement proposé par le Bénin, il y a un petit problème pour la version française. Il me semble qu'il est difficile de dire: "Appuie l'importance". Cela ne me semble pas tout à fait correct. Est-ce que l'on ne peut pas trouver une autre formulation comme "approuve l'importance", ou laisser les choses dans l'état? Mais dire "appuie l'importance", cela ne me paraît pas une bonne formulation.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, France. I get your point. If we were to take the word "support" to replace "highlighted" it would read, "supported the attention", Now you are talking about "importance", which is in French. Would you accept, "supported the attention"?
G. FRADIN (France); Si vous voulez, M. le Président. Ce n'est pas extrêmement bon, mais je ne me battrai pas là dessus.
K. TRAORE (Guinée): J'aurais souhaité que l'on dise: "La Conférence a fait sienne la nouvelle conception révisée et élargie ...".
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. Guinea but the broadened concept has not yet in its entirety been submitted to the Conference for adoption. So far it is being developed and it is being discussed by the different Committees within the Organization, so I think it might be premature to say that the Conference adopted the broadened concept. If you do not mind we might stick with the "supported the attention that has been given to the revised and broadened concept of food security".
M. B.SY (Sénégal): Autant je pensais effectivement difficile d'appuyer une importance, de même il m'est difficile d'appuyer une intention. Ou bien on souligne l'importance qui est attachée à la nouvelle conception, ou bien ou approuve l'intérêt, ou l'on peut dire "l'importance accordée à une chose". On peut donc souligner l'importance, ou approuver l'intérêt ou l'importance.
G. FRADIN (France): Je voudrais simplement appuyer ce que vous venez de dire. L'amendement proposé à ce concept élargi n'a pas encore été soumis. Il est difficile d'exprimer ce que la Conférence désirera approuver.
Je voudrais dire aussi que ce que propose le Sénégal me semble une bonne chose. On pourrait dire: "a souligné l'importance". Ce serait une très bonne formulation.
CHAIP'AN: I wart to make sure we are clear what we are accepting. I will ask the Secretary to read the amendment.
K. KILLINGSWORTH (Secretary, Commission II): We have a problem which arose initially because of a slight variation between the French and the English texts which came out of the translation process. The last proposal made, I think, would come out in English "and stressed the importance given to the revised and broadened concept of food security". If this is satisfactory in all the languages we can incorporate it that way from the English. I believe it would be "appuyé l'importance accordée" in French.
CHAIRMAN: I don't see any indication of desire to speak, paragraph 10 is therefore approved. Paragraph 11?
A.BOTHNER (Norway): Mr Chairman, on the fourth line I would like to replace the words "fish production" with "development of fisheries". I believe that was also changed when we adopted the report of the Council, and it would bring the whole thing in line with the other elements of that paragraph.
CHAIRMAN: Paragraph 11, as amended, is approved. Paragraph 12?
M. NIETO Y LARA (Cuba): Señor Presidente: Pienso que en el penultimo renglón, en lugar de "especiales", pudiera sustituirse por "urgentes" y a,;corto plazo", y así quedaría "las necesidades urgentes y a corto plazo, etc". Más adelante quisiéramos agregar asimismo: "La Conferencia apoya la importancia concedida al PCT por el Director General, y reconoció el efecto altamente positivo de este Programa para los países en desarrollo".
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much; it will be taken care of. Did everyone get the amendment? I will ask the Secretary to read it.
K. KILLINGSWORTH (Secretary, Commission II): This would be an additional sentence I believe at the end of paragraph 12, and it would read as follows:- "Likewise the Conference supported the importance given to the TCP by the Director-General, and recognized the highly positive effect of this programme for the developing countries".
M.E. BONDANZA DE FILIPPO (Argentina): Simplemente, la delegación de mi país quiere apoyar la propuesta del delegado de Cuba porque, efectivamente, numerosas delegaciones hicieron mención, entre ellas Argentina, y por lo tanto creemos conveniente que eso quede registrado en el informe.
E. HERAZO DE VITI (Panamá) : Nuestra delegación apoya lo que acaba de decir el delegado de Cuba, pero creo que hay solamente una pequeña cuestión de redacción en español. En la frase "que permitan una respuesta a las necesidades urgentes y a corto plazo" sigue otra "y" que podríamos suprimir, dejando la oración en esta forma: "a las necesidades urgentes y a corto plazo que no podrán satisfacerse con otras fuentes".
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much; that will be taken care of.
Paragraphs 8 to 12, as amended, approved
Les paragraphes 8 à 12, ainsi amendés, sont approuvés
Los párrafos 8 a 12, así enmendados, son aprobados
PARAGRAPH 13
PARAGRAPHE 13
PARRAFO 13
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Deseamos referirnos a la tercera fase del párrafo 13. Esa tercera frase del párrafo 13 sigue aún representando la opinión de la gran mayoría y a que se hace referencia al comienzo de la segunda frase del párrafo 13. Queremos proponer que donde dice "y que, en el futuro, deberán garantizarse unos niveles de recursos correspondientes, etc.", Queremos cambiar la expresión de "tratarían de garantizar" por "deberán garantizarse". Esto corresponde, repito, a la opinión de la gran mayoría, y al final del mismo párrafo 13 está la opinión de los pocos miembros que creen que deben seguirse aplicando restricciones financieras. De manera que esperamos que ésto no ofrezca dificultades.
J. GAZZO FERNANDEZ-DAVILA (Perú): Me refiero a la última frase. Recuerdo que en el Comité de Redacción, el sábado, se hablo de criterios de flexibilidad para la aplicación de las restricciones financieras. De manera que inclusive hubo miembros que insistían sobre este punto y estuvieron de acuerdo en que las restricciones financieras deberían tratarse con gran flexibilidad. Me gustaría incluir esa palabra acá, la palabra ,"flexibilidad".
CHAIRMAN: I would now like to ask the Secretary to read the penultimate sentence as amended. In the meantime I would like Peru to indicate exactly where the word "flexible" on the concept of flexibility, should come into the last sentence.
K. KILLINGSWORTH (Secretary, Commission II): Mr Chairman, this would be the penultimate sentence. The English text would read, "While being ready to join the consensus on the Director-General's realistic proposals, they emphasized that this could not be interpreted as a precedent towards any continuing trend of budgetary restraint and that in the future resource levels to match the magnitude of the tasks assigned to FAO should be ensured".
S. ABOUJAOUDE (Lebanon): I do not really have .problems, but probably those who are going to read itlater on will have lots of problems and we really do not want to put things that are not going to betaken up fully in the future. I think this problem also has been discussed in our Committee and wethought that instead of imposing things on people we would care to put only that "they would seekto ensure". It would give the same meaning but at the same time would not really restrict peopleto something that probably they would not apply to. So I would like to leave the text as it is please.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. Colombia, would you be very hard about this?
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): A mí me parece que el texto actual es muy débil, pero si el colega del Líbano dice que esto fue discutido en el Comité de Redacción y nadie apoya mi propuesta, pues, obviamente, la retiro.
CHAIRMAN: Is the delegate of Peru ready to indicate where the word "flexible" comes in?
J. GAZZO FERKANDEZ-DAVTLA (Perú): Dejo a cargo del Comité de Redacción esto. Yo creo que podría decir "subrayaron la necesidad de seguir aplicando con flexibilidad las restricciones financieras" y continúa lo demás.
P. GOSSELIN (Canada): As you can imagine, this paragraph was debated at some length - though perhaps not as much as paragraph 8 - in the Drafting Committee and I think that the good advice that we got on paragraph 8 should pertain to this one as well. This is a reflection of a negotiated text which probably does not satisfy anyone fully, but to reopen some of these basic concepts will lead us into another long and perhaps fruitless debate.
J, SAULT (Australia): I concur with my colleague from Canada. Perhaps our colleague from Peru might recall that it was in response to the comments that he and other members of the Drafting Committee made about the flexibility point, that this language which appears here was introduced; and it is considerably more flexible than that which was originally proposed in the Drafting Committee.
M. B. SY (Sénégal): Je suggère de dire: "Ont souligné la nécessité de continuer à limiter, dans toute la mesure du possible, le budget, d'autant plus que la conjoncture économique est difficile dans le monde."
Nous avons craint tout à l'heure qu'on continue à réduire le budget. On pourrait effectivement demander qu'on continue à limiter le budget "mais dans toute la mesure du possible".
J. GAZZO FERNANDEZ-DAVILA (Perú): Yo me he permitido decir esto porque textualmente lo dijo el señor Shah; lo tengo aquí escrito y él fue el que citó, cuando yo hablé del contexto del crecimiento cero, que en el caso de los problemas de alimentación se debería usar con flexibilidad; no es una palabra mía, sino que fue de él. Eso es lo que tengo escrito textualmente y yo creo que nada invalida, ¿o es qué ellos proponen que se aplique con inflexibilidad el criterio de restricciones financieras?. Si proponen que se aplique con inflexibilidad entonces no podemos poner "flexibilidad", pero si ellos creen, como prometieron cuando se habló del crecimiento cero, que en el caso de los alimentos se iba a aplicar "con flexibilidad", entonces yo quisiera saber en qué invalida la frase el decir "con flexibilidad".
F. BREWSTER (Chairman, Drafting Committee): As as just been said, this was a section that gave rise to a considerable amount of discussion and I think the delegate of Peru is correct: we did refer to the question of flexibility. The delegate of Australia is also quite correct: we did speak in terms of compromising and we thought at the time that the best rendition of what we could get between the two sides is what appears here in this particular text. I must acknowledge, however, that we did discuss the notion of flexibility but in the end we did settle for what we have here.
J. MCHECHU (Tanzania): I propose that we adopt the sentence as it reads here because my understanding is that once you speak of continued financial stringency, and then you say "particularly", you really bring in an element of flexibility because you say "particularly in the difficult economic situation". That means you qualify it so actually the way it reads here, there is already a flexibility because it is a particular situation. I therefore really do not see that the addition of the word "flexibility" here would change the meaning at all. We had better leave it as it is because it has already been qualified.
CHAIRMAN: Delegate of Peru, would you really like to be inflexible about "flexibility"?
J. GAZZO FERNANDEZ-DAVILA (Perú): Yo creo que la situación económica predominante en el mundo es una coyuntura, es una cosa conyuntural. La palabra "flexibilidad" yo no la veo implícita en la última frase. La idea de la "flexibilidad" era otra. La idea de flexibilidad era, y esto sería reabrir el debate, que en la cuestión de crecimiento cero, y ahí comenzamos, alguien pensaba que era una cosa simplista, que era decir no damos más dinero y hasta esta cantidad. Entonces lo que se dijo es que para aplicar con flexibilidad el crecimiento cero lo que quería decir era racionalizar los gastos a tal punto que cada proyecto tenga un costo mínimo pero si hay más proyectos, digamos, tienen que crecer las aportaciones financieras para hacer más cosas.
Entonces la palabra "flexibilidad" quería decir que fuera un poco flexible, no aplicar gramaticalmente lo que quiere decir "crecimiento cero". Crecimiento cero quiere decir "nada" porque en matemáticas "cero" es la nulidad. Entonces la flexibilidad es lo que le daba a los que patrocinan el crecimiento cero un poco de flexibilidad; no era tan simplista el hecho de decir "cero", no doy más dinero; doy flexiblemente más dinero de acuerdo con las nuevas acciones que haya que hacer en el nuevo bienio, que no son iguales a las del anterior.
Esa es una cuestión interpretativa, señor Presidente, y si no hace daño, lo que abunda no daña yo quisiera saber cuáles son las razones por las cuáles los dos delegados, mis dilectos amigos, de Nueva Zelandia y de Canadá se opondrían a que se diga "con flexibilidad". Si ellos seoponen yoentonces retiraría la propuesta, pero quisiera que me explicaran porqué se oponen.
C.VIDALI CARBAJAL (México): Yo coincido totalmente con las observaciones que ha hecho el distinguido y mi dilecto amigo el Embajador del Perú, pero también quiero llamar la atención de que éste fue otro de los párrafos difíciles, de gran discusión en el Comité de Redacción y que realmente el que hayamos llegado a esta redacción obedece a un consenso, a una negociación que se estableció en el seno del Comité de Redacción y que yo le aconsejaría que retirara por favor la observación a esta cuestión de flexibilidad, que sea flexible con la flexibilidad y que nos permita seguir ade‐lante con el trabajo de esta Comisión. Realmente, estando de acuerdo con él sí quisiera que entienda el esfuerzo que significó dentro del Comité de Redacción, del cual él también forma parte, el llegar a esta redacción y que retire esto para que podamos seguir adelante.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Mexico, and thank you, Peru, for your cooperation.
Paragraph 13, as amended, approved
Le paragraphe 13, ainsi amendé, est approuvé
El párrafo 13, así enmendado, es aprobado
PARAGRAPH 14, INCLUDING RESOLUTION
LE PARAGRAPHE 14, Y COMPRIS LA RESOLUTION
PARRAFO 14, INCLUIDA LA RESOLUCION
DEPUTY DIRECTOR-GENERAL: Mr Shah told you at the beginning that tomorrow when the Report goes to Plenary, we would be producing a LIM Document giving the text of the Resolution including the Chapter totals and Budget level at the rate which the Conference will have to decide to adopt. I just wanted to say in that connection that it is going to be very difficult for the Conference to reach this decision because the rate is fluctuating so much: two days ago it was 1626, then yesterday it was 1616; it started this morning at 1623, this evening it might be 1630, tomorrow morning it might be 1616 again. So probably whatever rate goes into this document will not be the rate tomorrow. In any case, since it is generally the practice to round up the figure, the document tomorrow should also be regarded as a preliminary proposal. The Conference will have to decide on the rate to the best judgement it can make tomorrow, when it deals with this point. The Secretariat will of course provide the latest possible information on the rate but it may be necessary to read out a new set of figures even after the production of the LIM Document. The only way to overcome that would be to take an average for a certain period, but at the moment I am not suggesting that we do that. We shall review the situation overnight.
CHAIRMAN: So we are not discussing paragraph 14.
Paragraph 14, including Resolution, not concluded
Le paragraphe 14, y compris la résolution, est en suspens
El párrafo 14, incluida la Resolución, queda pendiente
PARAGRAPH 15
PARAGRAPHE 15
PÁRRAFO 15
C. VIDALI CARBAJAL (México): Nada más hacer un pequeño comentario sobre el término "tipo de cambio". Realmente, si el tipo de cambio está oscilando en los niveles que estamos viendo, el presupuesto de la FAO en términos reales se va a reducir y el incremento del 0,5 por ciento en términos reales que estamos autorizados va a desaparecer al considerarse los tipos de cambio actuales. Esto lo digo como un señalamiento para que los países miembros de la FAO tengan conciencia de qué signi fica esta situación y que realmente hemos estado discutiendo sobre una serie de detalles que con estas oscilaciones en el tipo de cambio realmente va a salir perjudicado el presupuesto de la FAO.
Paragraph 15 approved
Le paragraphe 15 est approuvé
El párrafo 15 es aprobado
Paragraphs 16 and 17 approved
Les paragraphes 16 et 17 sont approuvés
Los párrafos 16 y 17 son aprobados
Paragraphs 18 and 19 approved
Les paragraphes 18 et 19 sont approuvés
Los párrafos 18 y 19 son aprobados
Paragraphs 20 to 25 approved
Les paragraphes 20 à 25 sont approuvés
Los párrafos 20 a 25 son aprobados
PARAGRAPHS 26 TO 34
PARAGRAPHES 26 A 34
PARRAFOS 26 A 34
Paragraphs 26 to 28 approved
Les paragraphes 26 à 28 sont approuvés
los párrafos 26 a 28 son aprobados
S. ABOUJAOUDE (Lebanon): It is not an observation but rather a correction that I would like to add to paragraph 29. There is a plant protection project that has to be referred to because it is a specific project that we mentioned. I do not have the exact name of it but we can refer to it easily. It is not a programme but rather a project.
CHAIRMAN: We do not have the immediate words to insert there but it will be looked into and it will be put right.
S. ABOUJAOUDE (Lebanon): "The Conference recognized the importance of crop protection and expressed its support to the Cooperative Action for Plant Health Programme. It also expressed its support for the project on Action Programme for Improved Plant Health" and it continues like that.
CHAIRMAN: Lebanon, you do not intend to leave out support to the global strategy?
S. ABOUJAOUDE (Lebanon): No, no. It is included but I am just referring to the exact name.
V.J. SHAH (Director, Office of Programme, Budget and Evaluation): I have tried to follow attentively the suggestion of the delegate of the Lebanon but may I respectfully point out that this paragraph deals with the whole programme. It does not refer to any particular project and in the discussion in the Commission I understand that it was support given to the entire programme in plant protection, including its aspects of improved wheat management, the development of a computerized information system, etc. Unless we have misunderstood it, it might be perhaps better to leave the wording to the programme because after all individual projects are comprised in the programme.
CHAIRMAN: As it stands, delegate of Lebanon, your addition on the first sentence would be acceptable, but would you go along with that explanation.
S. ABOUJAOUDE (Lebanon): I would if we had action programme and plant protection.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for your cooperation.
Paragraphs 29 to 34, as amended, approved
Les paragraphes 29 à 34, ainsi amendés, sont approuvés
Los párrafos 29 a 34, asi enmendados son aprobados
M. MOMBOULI (Congo): Je voudrais faire une remarque de forme sur la traduction de la dernière phrase du paragraphe 35 ainsi conçue : "qui l’une et l’ autre sont essentielles à un développement rural équilibré". Je suggère : "... qui sont l' une et l' autre essentielles au développement...".
CHAIRMAN: That can be taken care of.
M. B. SY (Sénégal):Egalement une petite remarque de forme. A la troisième ligne où l'on dit: "elle a noté avec satisfaction la place importante qui est faite à la formation..." je propose que l'on dise : "la place importante qui est donnée à la formation...".
M.A. MEDANI (Sudan) (original language Arabic): On paragraph 37, Mr Chairman. When we compare the various texts we see a difference. I would like the Arabic text to be exactly the same as the English text.
CHAIRMAN: I suggest on these sorts of matters, like we said with the delegate of Lebanon, please give those to the Secretariat so that they can put things in line.
I. MAZOU (Niger): L'amendement que je voudrais proposer concerne la deuxième partie du paragraphe 37. Au lieu de: "la Conférence a souligné l'importance du rôle de coordination que doit jouer la FAO..." nous proposons: "la Conférence a souligné l'importance du rôle d'assistance de la FAO aux organisations interafricaines en matière de coordination dans la lutte contre les maladies animales afin que sa longue expérience..." le reste sans changement. A notre connaissance d'une part les débats n'ont pas été dans ce sens-là, d'autre part au niveau des organisations interafricaines, notamment en matière de lutte contre la peste bovine et certaines maladies de ce type, des résolutions ont été prises confiant la coordination des luttes à opérer précisément à l'OUA/IBAR, aidée par d'autres organisations soeurs.
V.J. SHAH (Director, Office of Programme, Budget and Evaluation): I was trying to find the reference to this discussion in the Commission and if I recall correctly the discussion in fact was very much on the lines of what had gone on on the Council the week before. If I may read the relevant part of the Council Report on this subject, "the Council reiterated its recommendation that FAO support for the proposed Pan-African Rinderpest Campaign should cover not only technical assistance for the Organization of African Unity, Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources but also responsibility for the back-stopping and monitoring of the progress of the campaign, as well as coordination of the very substantial bilateral and multilateral donor inputs that were needed". All this was, of course, summarized to be reflected in the draft report you have before you.
CHAIRMAN: Niger, does that accommodate your concern?
I. MAZOU (Niger): Malheureusement, le Niger était absent au départ de cette réunion, en sorte que c'est avec regret que nous n'avons pas pu souligner cet aspect des choses. Mais enfin je rappelle tout simplement que des résolutions, au niveau des organisations interafricaines ont confié cette organisation à l'OUA/IBAR. C'était un rappel. Alors les absents ont tort dit-on, je n'insisterai pas outre mesure si la Conférence a déjà pris position en ce sens.
TESEMA NEGASH (Ethiopia): I think the coordination in this respect, especially the rinderpest aspect, to my recollection is to be taken care of by FAO along with other inter-African organizations including OAU, IBAR and OIE.
S. SIDIBE (Mali): Je pense qu'il y a deux problèmes. Ce qui a été dit au Conseil n'est pas forcément ce qui a été dit à la Conférence. Concernant une campagne particulière, comme la peste bovine, des réunions ont déjà été tenues, avec l'aide de la FAO d'ailleurs, et c'est l'OUA qui est chargée de cette coordination avec l'assistance de la FAO. Je ne parle pas de l'ensemble des maladies animales, comme la trypanosomiase, mais je pense qu'il est bon de préciser ce détail.
CHAIRMAN: At this stage may I ask Niger to read the suggested amendment again.
I. MAZOU (Niger): "La Conférence a souligné l'importance du rôle d'assistance de la FAO aux organisations interafricaines, en matière de coordination dans la lutte contre les maladies animales, afin que sa longue expérience ..." le reste sans changement.
P. OLMOS MORALES (Uruguay) : Creo, sin perjuicio de reconocer lo planteado por las delegaciones de los países africanos, que el párrafo puede también aplicarse a las actividades que está realizando la FAO en otras regiones, concretamente en el caso de America Latina y el Caribe se han realizado en los últimos meses seminarios en cuanto a organización de campañas en materia de sanidad animal. Inclusive en nuestra intervención en el debate de este punto de la Comisión habíamos señalado nuestro apoyo a las estrategias, generales en materia de sanidad animal. Por eso nos parecería que el último párrafo tal vez tendría que quedar en la forma en que está redactado sin perjuicio de que en las dos situaciones que se han planteado aquí, de la peste bovina en Africa y la peste porcina en Africa, que están tomadas a título de ejemplo en el texto actual, se puedan hacer las aclaraciones que desean las distintas delegaciones de los países africanos.
Tesema NEGASH (Ethiopia): According to the Resolution of the Council FAO is not to be limited to assisting Inter-African agencies but it is to take full part in the coordination of these activities. I think Mr Shah can help us in referring to the recommendation or the resolution of the last FAO Council, with reference to rinderpest..
V.J. SHAH (Director, Office of Programme, Budget and Evaluation): In fact there is some basis for this difficulty, because what I referred to a few moments ago was the discussion on rinderpest, and there to insert what has been suggested by Niger would apply only to the African organizations, whereas this sentence in this paragraph deals with animal diseases in other regions as well, as also pointed out by Uruguay. So if one wishes to consider a way out one might say something like: "The Conference stressed the importance of FAO’s active collaboration with other organizations concerned at the intergovernmental level in coordinating animal disease control", and the rest of the sentence would remain unchanged. This might be a way out.
CHAIRMAN: Niger, how does that go down with you?
I. MAZOU (Niger): Cette formulation, nous agrée.
CHAIRMAN: We will stop at this point.
PARAGRAPHS 35 to 41 not concluded
LES PARAGRAPHES 35 à 41 sont en suspens
LOS PARRAFOS 35 a 41 quedan pendientes
The meeting rose at 13.00 hours
La séance est levée à 13h00
Se levanta la sesión a las 13.00 horas
