CHAIRMAN: We will now resume our discussion on Item 16.1, the second part, the International Development Strategy, document C 83/26.
P. POERWANTO (Indonesia): I would like to confine myself to offering a general comment on some pertinent points relating to the implementation of the International Development Strategy in the food and agricultural sector.
As has been rightly pointed out in document C 83/26, the eradication of hunger and malnutrition cannot take place without accelerated and sustained growth in food and agricultural production in developing countries.
My delegation noted with concern that despite serious efforts made by the international community and the international organizations, in which FAO has indeed made commendable contributions, we are still witnessing a world situation which is characterized by successive imbalances in which major food producing countries are cutting back their production while food deficit countries are facing catastrophic food shortages. This alarming situation poses a serious challenge to the international community which almost ten years ago at the World Food Conference solemnly pledged to eradicate hunger and malnutrition within a decade. It is true that some countries in Asia and Latin America have made encouraging progress in fostering self-reliant food production.
As far as Indonesia is concerned, we are fortunate enough that we have not only reached but surpassed the targets set in our national development plan for our food production. We noted with concern, however, that the prospects for most low-income countries, particularly in Africa, remain desperate. The deterioration of food production in Africa has cause millions of our brothers and sisters in that continent to suffer from deficiencies in food supplies. In view of this situation we lend our full support to the call for urgently stepping up joint efforts designed to overcome the food shortages in many developing countries, particularly in Africa.
The International Development Strategy indicated that the implementation of a world food security scheme should become one of the urgent tasks to be undertaken by the international community. However, as is indicated in the report before us, despite the general recognition of the importance of the problem there has been only limited progress to achieve the objectives.
Indonesia has played an active role in the promotion of world food security through such means as sub-regional decentralized stock management. This scheme is, we believe, a most realistic arrangement, considering its logistical trade, transportation and distribution aspects. My delegation therefore endorses the idea of establishing similar programmes in other parts of the world. We would strongly underline the central importance of increase food production at the national level, which we believe constitutes the strongest security a country can provide for its crucial food supplies. While those objectives are primarily the responsibility of each individual country, the international community should play a sustained, coordinated and supportive role. In this respect continued financial and technical support should be provided for the implementation of food policies and strategies and their incorporation into the respective national development plans of the developing countries.
Taking the aforementioned into consideration, my delegation supports the conclusion referred to in document C 83/26 that policy measures recommended in the International Development Strategy are as valid and as necessary as ever. In this context necessary resources should be provided with a view to implementing the various food and agricultural programmes at the international and regional as well as the sub-regional level.
A. LUTZ (Finland): This morning before lunch Sweden made a statement on behalf of the other Nordic countries, also on this document which is under discussion. I would like to continue from that a little bit, by making a few observations. Firstly, I want to thank Mr Shah for his very complete introduction to this document. He invited our views, the views of the Conference, which could be attached to this document when it is forwarded to the Committee of universal membership for the review and appraisal of the IDS. Of course, the views which have already been expressed during this one week and a half in the Conference will be taken into consideration, as was said by Mr. Shah. I feel that there is very little to say in general, because what we are saying we have said already many times before. We have said it during this Conference, and we have said it already before. When one reads this document you get the impression that this is a very complete document. It contains everything. It analyses the situation as it is, and I think that all of us can find in this document very many things which we can support. Probably we can support this as such. There is only one thing which is not new either, which has been repeated already several times, and already was touched on this morning by the Swedish delegate, when he spoke about the relations and consultations with international organizations. He made reference to the UNDP specifically at that time. Well, there are other important organizations in the UN family who are working with the same problems. One is the World Food Council, and that Organization is going to have a very important discussion next year, and I hope that these types of documents will be the basis for their discussions. We are actually a member of the Organization, and they are talking about food strategies. This paper is talking about food strategies, agricultural policies, agricultural plans, whatever they are, and we see that they are not going completely parallel with this work. At least they are not taken into consideration in such a way as they should be taken into consideration, and I think that if we could enhance that situation by asking the other organizations to take into consideration what has been said, what we have been discussing here, and not repeat the same thing, and try to find something else, because this is everything that we need. It is very difficult to find something else. We do not need any new incentives, any new ideas. Everything is here. I think that that must be an important message that we can bring out of this Conference.
R.E. STENSHOLT (Australia): I would just like to comment fairly briefly on the general context of this report, because I feel that the Conference should welcome this report of the Director-General, and acknowledge that it will be a valuable input to the work of the United Nations General Assembly, and its appropriate subsidiary body, in reviewing the IDS next year. I believe also that it is as comprehensive a view of what FAO is doing to implement, as it is its responsibility to do so, the relevant elements of the IDS.
I do not intend to comment on individual items of the report. Nor do I think it proper that the Conference should endorse the report in all its minute detail, for as you know the International Development Strategy was a document negotiated over many months, and I myself had the fortune, or perhaps misfortune, of attending the preparatory sessions, and final special sessions, where many nights were spent negotiating exactly this document, and I am sure the review will be similarly proceeded with, with a long discussion and delicate negotiations as necessary. That said, however, we wholeheartedly agree that the Conference should give its blessing to the Director-General sending forward such a comprehensive and good report for the review.
E. SIEWE (Cameroun): C'est avec un réel intérêt que la delegation du Cameroun a pris connaissance du document C 83/26. Elle a également hautement apprécié la présentation liminaire qui en a été faite ce matin par M. Shah, Directeur du Bureau du programme, du budget et de l'évaluation; tout en soutenant la totalité des lignes directrices de l'application de la stratégie internationale de la troisième Décennie du développement dans l'élaboration et l'exécution des programmes de travail et des plans à moyen terme de l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture, elle apprécie à un très haut point les actions que la FAO s'efforce de promouvoir en Afrique, surtout en ce qui concerne les nouvelles technologies adaptées aux conditions de l'environnement dans la transformation des produits locaux.
Elle souhaite que, parallèlement à cette disposition, la FAO concentre son effort dans'ce domaine sur la transformation des produits locaux dont l'accès est facile à la masse des populations et répond aux habitudes alimentaires de la majorité des défavorisés.
La délégation camerounaise salue avec ferveur les voeux émis au paragraphe 30 à savoir que la faim et la malnutrition pourraient être éliminées le plus tôt possible et en tout cas avant la fin du siècle. Tel est le sens de l'intervention du Ministre de l'agriculture du Cameroun qui, lundi dernier, posait la question suivante: "A quand la fin de la faim?..."
Le chapitre "Production alimentaire et agricole" est plus qu'un bréviaire pour cette délégation qui pense que la lutte contre la faim exige la participation des petits exploitants et qu'il leur revient de se nourrir et de nourrir leurs concitoyens à partir de leur travail de la terre.
En ce qui concerne la production agricole, la délégation du Cameroun constate avec plaisir que les programmes sur l'utilisation des engrais, la lutte contre la trypanosomiase, le développement des semences améliorées, la lutte contre les acridiens figurent en bonne place. Elle souhaite envisager aussi la lutte anti-aviaire qui constitue un fléau au Sahel.
Avant d'en terminer, je tiens,au nom de ma délégation, à vous dire que nous adhérons entièrement au Programme et que nous souhaitons qu'il soit présenté aux instances supérieures, surtout aux Nations Unies, afin que l'Organisation puisse débattre des problèmes posés dans ce document.
B. FURNESS (United States of America): At the recent meeting of the FAO Council the United States delegate addressed the document that we have before us at some length, and made a number of points. Particularly he pointed out that the United States has carefully reviewed this report, and that it can fully support most of the FAO activities designed to fulfil the objectives and goals of the International Development Strategy. We do believe that this is a very comprehensive and thorough report, and that it can generally serve as a basis for the discussion, as has been indicated.
Our delegate to the Council did indicate, however, that the United States did have a number of concerns that should be reflected in the report. In particular we believe that it does go beyond the existing international consensus in some of the points that it does make in some areas. It is not my intention today to go into great detail on this. I believe that our concerns in this area are generally well known, and were reflected, in fact, on the statement made by the United States at the time of the debates and adoption of the International Development Strategy. I would note that in the recent Council meetings the concerns of the United States, or perhaps I should say one delegation, were expressed in the form of a footnote in the appropriate paragraph, a footnote which stated "One delegation noted that it had expressed certain reservations on the International Development Strategy and while largely agreeing with many FAO approaches nevertheless had questions and concerns that reflected its reservations on the IDS."
In summary, as I have indicated, we can fully support most of the FAO activities designed to fulfil the International Development Strategy. However, we do feel that some of the points go beyond the existing international consensus, and we ask that a footnote similar to that recorded in the Council be placed in the record of discussion on this item as well.
R. SALLERY (Canada): I, and like several others, have perhaps been under a misunderstanding that the second part of this item would allow us to treat in some more detail the general aspects of recent developments in the UN system. Since it seems it will not, I just wanted to mention very briefly that I would be terribly remiss if Canada did not join with those delegations this morning who called for a completion of the first replenishment of IFAD in the beginning of the second replenishment cycle. I think most delegations are where Canada stands on this.
I would also join those delegations who call for a continuous and predictable funding at higher levels for the United Nations Development Programme.
That being said, I would like very briefly to treat the document before us C 83/26. It has much in it that we would in fact, in other circumstances, have commented upon. I fear however that we will not have time nor the desire to do that again to-day, but let me raise just two points. In paragraph 36 the FAO admits, and we admit that there are "no compelling technical reasons why developing countries as a whole should not be able to.achieve the goals of adequate production growth and of equitable distribution of available food supplies".
That is our conclusion also, Mr Chairman. It is certainly the conclusion of our Minister of Agriculture, and it is certainly the conclusion of many delegations here to-day. We all accept the fact that issues are more complex than perhaps we originally suspected, but the list of complexities which follow in paragraph 36 will, we fear, become perhaps excuses for too many of us. Several Ministers at this Conference have stated many times that political will is the engine of growth, and without this political will there will be no movement. From our perspective this political will involves not only the donor countries or even the international organizations, specialize agencies like the FAO, but recipient LDCs as well. It is also our belief that as complex as the problems may be, they are not insurmountable given the political will.
The second example I would refer to very briefly deals with paragraph 90 onwards on food security. In the middle of that paragraph we read, "there has been only slow and limited progress in the achievement of that objective", i.e. of an effective World Food Security system. Progress may be slow but there has been some progress. Just a few moments ago we heard the distinguished delegate of Indonesia speak of his country's progress. We have heard from others during this Conference - India, Bangladesh, Thailand and so on - all of whom are making some progress. We know of other institutions: we can give some credit to the World Food Council for beginning the IMF food facility to the food sector strategies. These are all steps in the right direction for us. The Director-General's global perspective on food security is also a step in the right direction and a very important one, but the base line for our delegation and many others is still national production.
I read just last week in one of the journals that a particular developing country, now almost entirely dependent on food aid assistance, had managed - and this is a quote from that article -"to get away from the precarious reliance on national production". My delegation finds it very difficult to believe that that kind of statement is one of serious intent. We feel that having done so, this nation now relies on the precarious availability of food aid. Being able to purchase commercially the food you need is one thing. Having to rely on the generosity or the availability of food aid assistance is quite another.
We, like the United States, agree in general terms with most of the principles contained in this document, and we have no objection to the document going forward to the General Assembly as FAO's views on the Review and Appraisal of the IDS. We believe it is a useful and important document and comprehensive from FAO's perspective, and it should be considered in the context of the IDS.
M. AHMAD (Pakistan): This document which is before us really gives a very nice view of how the actual programmes are oriented and directed at the objectives and goals of the International Development Strategy.
We strongly support these Programmes but there are just one or two small comments that I would like to make on behalf of my delegation. One relates to what is stated in paragraph 25, the role of agro-processing industries. This is a very important area, particularly for the small farmers. These agro-processing industries are related to perishable agricultural commodities, vegetable and fruits, and these small farmers usually own very small pieces of land.
If they go in for traditional agriculture the income is low. We should encourage them to go in for high value agriculture. This they can do if they can find easy markets for it, and therefore there is need for small-scale agro-processing industries. We are glad to note that FAO is giving due priority to this and has done a lot of useful work, as has been stated in the subsequent paragraphs, in Africa and Latin America. I do hope that the information is not continent-specific, and should be made available to other regions which are anxious to develop these agro-processing industries.
Then my second comment relates to paragraph 45 in which firstly the problem has been rightly identified that the agricultural projects, the projects aimed at increased production of food and agriculture, they need to be executed, but the main problem is of course that the project planning and formulation capacities of the countries are limited. Emphasis has been laid in these paragraphs under this heading that FAO is giving planning assistance. That means assistance for planning and policy formulation, and what is stated here is that training is being given in project analysis. I would suggest that what is much more important first is assistance in project formation. Perhaps analysis will come a little later. The formulation capacity needs to be developed. This is one of the weakest areas. We have ideas, we probably can come up with good policies, but good projects is a major constraint. Perhaps FAO's resources may not be adequate. Some extra-budgetary resources may have to be found and should be made available to FAO.
After having said that I would come to the two conclusions, the two paragraphs at the end, 169 and 170. I would only say that the thrust of the policy area recommended in the IDS is "more valid" now rather than "as valid" because of the fact that this decade was heralded by continuing economic stagnation, and therefore we think that the matter should be much more vigorously pursued.
E.P. ALLEYNE (Trinidad and Tobago): My delegation also wishes to congratulate the FAO on the document before us. We refer to C 83/26 which is clearly quite comprehensive and well prepared.
We also feel that as has been said by at least one of the previous speakers, there is perhaps nothing, or rather not very much, that is very new, and we would have commented on a lot of this at various points throughout the Conference. So in a general sense we also commend the document for the consideration of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in the General Assembly.
Reference was made only a few minutes ago to political will, and in particular to a statement from, I think, a publication from a well-known source in which reference was made to some particular country getting away from the "precarious reliance on national production". We think that that is a very serious statement, a very serious kind of thinking, and one that is definitely not in the direction which would help us in our struggle in overcoming the problems of food production and feeding the hungry people of this world. We need to look very seriously at that.
What we must and we have been doing it and we will have to continue to do it, what we must emphasise is that in the final analysis success in our struggle and in our efforts will come in the first instance from what is accomplished with the national effort. The whole picture emphasises clearly the case for resources, more resources, as we have been saying throughout the Conference. So we also take this opportunity to support all possible efforts for funding for UNDP, IFAD, and other organizational arrangements pertaining to the struggle for food production.
What we need to stress is that our best hope will be in the will and the determination of the developing countries themselves in the first instance, which means that there is a need to harness and exploit our own internal resources, and one thing which stands out in all this is the need for research which is also referred to in the document, and we wish to emphasise research on a broad basis because if we say and we believe that the problem surely is not technical, then it means that we need to be able to understand what the world problems are, and in so doing there is need for research not only on technical matters but very definitely also on social economic aspects.
V.J. SHAH (Director, Office of Programme, Budget and Evaluation): May I firstly Sir, through you thank all the delegations which have taken an active part in this debate, and express on behalf of the Director-General our appreciation for their reaction.
I believe the Director-General will be strengthened in his decision to have submitted this document to you by the response he has received. It is a mark of the respect that he has for our governing bodies and the importance he attaches to the Conference expressing itself vis-a-vis any other external organ that led him to submit this document to you.
Every speaker has been very kind and clear in expressing support for the document which is proposed to be submitted to the Committee of the Whole of the General Assembly on the review and appraisal of the IDS. This general endorsement was, of course, a prerequisite for any further action by the Director-General.
While endorsing the substance and the gist of the document, a few delegations - in particular Australia and the United States of America recalled their governments' position when the International Development Strategy was adopted by the General Assembly. Let me say quite clearly that there is no intention of changing the views or interpreting in any way the views of these governments other than as they are and as they have been recorded. What the Director-General requested was the reaction of the Conference on the validity of FAO programmes in response to the Strategy and not whether member governments retained their position on the Strategy or had in any way changed these positions.
It will of course be for the Commission and the Plenary to decide how to handle this matter in the report. The Delegate of the United States referred quite correctly to the footnote which appears in the Council Report. I would only point out for now that the Council Report was, after all, an internal report from the Council to the Conference. When we are talking about an extract of the Conference Report going to a Committee of the General Assembly it might be preferable to express the reservation intended in the text of the report rather than as a footnote; but this is a point really for the Chairman of the Drafting Committee in the first instance to consider with his colleagues, and then for the Commission and the Plenary.
A number of points were made about FAO's activities in support of the Strategy. 'Let me say that we have taken very careful note in particular of the suggestion by the Delegate of Pakistan, that it is not only policy planning and policy formulation which should receive high priority in our programmes but also - and perhaps more - project formulation. Some other comments were made also on the importance of agro-processing industries, regarding which the document gave examples of our activities in Africa and Latin America, but not in other regions. For all these points I would like to assure you, and the Commission that the report is, of course, very concise and very selective. It should not be interpreted as - nor is it intended to be - a full account or a full reflection of all FAO programmes. We try in a concise manner to indicate what were the main areas of work and then to give illustrative examples. The importance attached by our Member Nations to our particular programmes is carefully noted.
I believe that is all I need to say in response. Finally, only to recall that the views expressed by the Conference in other parts of its Report, of relevance to international development strategy, will also then be conveyed by the Director-General together with this document. May I thank you very much, Sir, and in closing request that you kindly give the floor to Mr Regnier, my colleague, as I believe he has some other points on which he needs to reply to the debate.
A. REGNIER (Director, Office for Inter-Agency Affairs): I am pleased to answer a question raised this morning by the Representative of Sweden pertaining to inter-agency matters. He referred in particular to the UNDP Inter-Agency Task Force and asked the FAO's experience in this regard. I would say that FAO has been a strong and consistent participant in the Inter-Agency Task Force and, as the delegate of Sweden noted, FAO had a senior representative from the Development Department outposted to this Inter-Agency Task Force at UNDP for the past three years; for the period 1981-82 this officer acted as the convenor of the Task Force. And it would not be wrong to say that FAO is among the agencies which participate in the Inter-Agency Task Force most actively and most permanently.
I should also mention that the Task Force acts as the secretariat of the Consultative Committee on Substantive Questions .for Operations, which is a subsidiary body of the ACC, and that at present the FAO Representative is also acting as the coordinator of that important secretariat body.
The Inter-Agency Task Force has certainly led to improvements in understanding between some of the elements of the system, including UNDP under whose chairmanship the Task Force is convened, but we must say frankly that we believe that the effectiveness of the Task Force could be even further enhanced. In particular, we feel that the fullest use needs to be made of the Task Force on a consistent and continuous basis. This is a matter that the Director-General is keeping under constant review.
On the other hand, we appreciate the comment which was made by the delegate of Sweden about the recent joint letter addressed by the Director-General of FAO and the UNDP Administrator to the respective representatives in the field. The full text of this joint letter is contained in document C 83/INF/18. The contents of this letter are particularly important we feel in considering the recent falls which have occurred in the share of the UNDP resources allocated to food and agriculture and consequently FAO's share of UNDP project execution, but the latter demonstrates our mutual concern with the situation at a time when agriculture and food production and food security have been recognized as the first and most urgent development priorities. We believe that the letter indicates the real and practical cooperation between the UNDP resident representatives and FAO representatives at the country level, and in this connection I am pleased to note that we are not aware of any instances where there has been a significant lack of this essential cooperation. I must add that in a recent document prepared for the ACC, the fact that this cooperation is really under way and with good results, was underlined by all the representatives in the field who had to report to Headquarters on the matter.
R.E. STENSHOLT (Australia): I appreciate the explanations given by Mr Shah and Mr Régnier. I would just like to note for the record that in our statement I made no reference to any explanatory statement or reservation of my Government on the IDS.
E.J. STONYER (New Zealand): I am sorry to come in at this late stage and I would just briefly seek your indulgence, Mr Chairman. We have nothing substantive to say on this matter and we generally support the other delegations in their view of the papers that have been put forward but there is one point I would just like to make, something we have just noticed: that is the absence of our South Pacific friends and neighbours, for instance Fiji, Samoa, Tonga. We find there is no mention of these island groups, in Section J of the report, the small section that deals with Least Developed Countries and other Special Groups. I merely wanted to draw the attention of the Commission and the Secretariat to this. These Asian groups have specific problems that are probably quite unique in the Organization and we would like to see them recorded.
CHAIRMAN: This will be taken care of. The Commission has shown interest in and appreciation of document C 83/26 presenting a comprehensive view of what FAO is doing to implement IDS in its Programme of Work. The Commission supported FAO activities in these areas and considered the document indicated validity in these activities. In particular, the paper's conclusion in paragraphs 169 and 170 was given strong support. It is vital that resources for implementation of the food and agriculture component of the Strategy are made available as early as possible and that the necessary commitments be pursued at international and national levels.
Attention was also drawn to the importance of promoting increased national food production and other national efforts towards self-sufficiency.
In sum, the Conference commended the document to the Committee of Reinforced Membership for the review and appraisal of IDS.
This concludes our discussion on the International Development Strategy and we now move on to the next item.
A. REGNIER (Director, Office for Inter-Agency Affairs): The document C 83/17 in front of you provides information on relations between FAO and inter-governmental and international non-governmental organizations during the past biennium. This paper includes only some selected examples on new developments in FAO in relations with international organizations outside the UN system. It is in no way an attempt to include global information of our complex relations with the multitude of organizations with which we cooperate in various ways but to highlight the main recent developments. In order to develop and strengthen appropriate cooperation with international organizations in an institutionalized way, FAO cooperation is, as you know, formalized under the relevant Rules of its Basic Texts. During the biennium 1982-83 formal relations have been established with 22 additional international organizations bringing the total number to 252 of which 85 were inter-governmental and 167 international non-governmental organizations. Cooperation with intergovernmental organizations in the past biennium was dynamic and expanding in quantitative and qualitative terms.
As an example in this respect a growing FAO/IGO cooperation took place in such complex and often urgent issues as food security and related matters. Collaboration in various aspects of food security materialised with important regional and sub-regional political bodies such as the Organization of African Unity, the CILSS, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the Latin-American Economic System and others.
This sector was just chosen as an indication but sure enough there is an exhaustive list. It can be expected with a well-founded optimism that cooperation with various inter-governmental organizations will continue and expand further in the future.
We hope that this growing cooperation and coordination will result in a better service to member countries, in avoiding duplication of activities and a better use of available resources.
Cooperation with international non-governmental organizations is continuing successfully. In this particular sector of cooperation, however, new and more flexible ways will have to be found in order to make the best use of a more specific role of international non-governmental organizations, i.e. in their direct contact with people. During the past biennium cooperation with INGOs was centred mainly on the celebration of the World Food Day and on the follow-up to WCARRD. There is no doubt that Agrarian Reform and Rural Development and other activities which are the main follow-up of WCARRD will continue to be a field where FAO and INGO cooperation will have the most fruitful ground. In this context a global expert consultation of people's participation in rural development with an active involvement of INGOs was held in Rome at the end of 1982.
Before closing allow me to draw the Commission's attention to document C 83/INF/20 which has been distributed and contains the Report of the informal meeting of international non-governmental organizations held recently in FAO Headquarters. As you know during each Conference session an informal meeting of representatives of international non-governmental organizations is held when they have had an opportunity to refer to the FAO's Programme of Work and Budget as well as the other main subjects of FAO/ICO cooperation. At this session the meeting was held on November 8th and this Report is in document C 83/INF/20 for your consideration.
This agenda item 16.2 was, we thought, the best and most appropriate occasion to draw your attention to this INGO/FAO cooperation although many of those important points are already discussed under other items, such as the follow-up to WCARRD and, of course, food and population and so on. I understand on the other hand that Mrs Pela, who was the Chairwoman of the informal meeting, will speak later on on the main questions raised during this meeting. With these few words may I deliver for the Commission's consideration both the documents C 83/17 and C 83/INF/20.
R.E. STENSHOLT (Australia): I note the documents and also in particular C 83/INF/20. I had the fortune to be an Observer for part of the informal meeting of the non-governmental organizations and I found it a useful experience and no doubt the non-governmental organizations will be much better placed than most to talk about it, but I do feel though that there is room for far more dynamism, active pursual of the interaction between the FAO and the NGOs and the great body of NGOs whose programmes in many ways are probably matched, or may even exceed, that of FAO worldwide in all their various shapes and forms. FAO may well be able to provide some more specific, more practical cooperation with them. It is more in terms of the FAO getting alongside the NGOs and I could not but endorse the remarks of Mr Regnier, perhaps we should inscribe them in our Report, that new and more flexible ways need to be found for cooperation with NGOs, particularly in getting down to the people.
I am not just talking necessarily about NGOs of western countries, I mean national NGOs and their peer bodies the international NGOs and some creative thinking needs to be applied here. We have had some mechanisms which have been evolved over the years. Now we need to look at these things, reformulate them and reactivate them and otherwise I feel insufficient interaction between the most dynamic forces, very often the non-government organizations, it is just being passed by and I find this particularly very unfortunate, particularly as we have just discussed the international development strategy, the worldwide ideas and challenges that encompasses and yet we are not paying enough attention to activate the very dynamic forces in world society.
M. MAHI (Cameroun) : Ma delegation a parcouru la liste des organisations intergouvernementales qui sont en relation avec la FAO. C'est une très bonne chose, mais nous ignorons qui prend l'initiative de la création de ces relations. Je veux dire par là que ma délégation souhaiterait que la FAO intervienne beaucoup plus auprès des organismes impliqués dans le cadre du développement rural. En ce sens, ma délégation souhaiterait par exemple que la FAO soit en relation directe avec certaines organisations telles que la Commission du Bassin du Tchad, qui est directement impliquée dans le développement rural, la production des végétaux et des cultures et la lutte antiacridienne et antiaviaire. C'est pour cela que nous souhaitons que la FAO soit en relation directe avec la Commission du bassin du Lac Tchad. Nous souhaiterions également que dans un futur assez proche la FAO soit en contact avec la Communauté économique des Etats africains qui vient d'être créée. Puisque cette communauté existe déjà, la FAO pourrait amorcer des relations et les intensifier dans un futur assez proche.
R. SALLERY (Canada): We, like the other two delegations who have spoken, would certainly encourage the FAO to find those new and creative ways of dealing with the NGOs, I appreciate very much the comments that Mr Regnier has given to us this afternoon and we certainly would support them. One of the ways which comes to mind in which we continue to support the role of the NGOs in international development is through the strengthening of the Programme for the World Food Day. Our own experience in Canada has been that it was through this mechanism, through the annual World Food Day celebrations, that many of the NGOs came to know about international development, indeed, came to know about the FAO and its role in development and as I tried to indicate this morning, along with other delegations, it is with the public and with these NGOs in particular that we will find growing support for multilateralism and for international development assistance efforts.
G. PELA (Observer for the International Federation of Agricultural Producers): Permit me as Chairman of the informal session of Observers of non-governmental organizations to say a few words on the report of this meeting as published in the document C 83/INF/20. I would like to thank Mr Regnier for his presentation under this item of the agenda. This meeting in fact is part of the cooperation of FAO with international non-government organizations. I would like to express on behalf of the NGOs our thanks to FAO for offering this opportunity to meet and express our views. This opportunity was in fact particularly important for those organizations which had not foreseen any other form of direct participation in the Conference.
The main theme, Food and People, was selected especially to draw the attention of the Conference to the fact that all issues concerning food to be dealt with by FAO concerns the people and their organizations. This may seem an obvious statement, but when you consider how little say people have in decisions affecting their lives in many countries, how seldom real partnership has been developed between governments and people's representative organizations, how often development plans and programmes are devised without any involvement of the people concerned, then you will realize how important it is to point out the link between food issues and people.
NGOs made a strong appeal to governments to pay more attention to the socio-economic factors involved in food-related action and to become more aware of the human dimension of development. To this end, while support was expressed to FAO participatory programmes, a series of critical areas were identified and a number of recommendations were being addressed to governments and FAO. We hope that even at this late stage these recommendations will be taken into consideration by the Conference in its deliberations and especially by FAO and the Member Governments in their future action. Let me express my wholehearted gratitude to the Australian delegate as well as to the others who have expressed the need for improvement in the relationship between FAO and the NGOs.
Now, if you will permit me I would like to say a few words as representative of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers. In document C 83/17, paragraph 31, we see reported quite comprehensively the most recent developments in the long-standing collaboration between FAO and IFAP. The search for improving this cooperation is a continuous exercise with IFAP. I can mention that it will again be discussed at our next Executive Committee meeting which be held in Rome in this house early in December.
I could not find a better way to express the extent of FAO/IFAP share of the concern than quoting the Director-General's words when he addressed the IFAP General Conference last year:
"FAO and IFAP together share mission to confront governments with their responsibilities to agricultural producers and to the hungry people of the world. We must endeavour to create effective channels of communication in order to give rural people, particularly food producers, a say in national policies."
A. REGNIER (Directeur, Bureau des affaires interinstitutions): Je voudrais remercier les délégations qui ont donné leur appui et leurs encouragements à tous les efforts de rapprochement et de coopération plus intensifs entre la FAO et les organisations non gouvernementales, et qui ont indiqué qu'effectivement des voies et moyens imaginatifs et flexibles devaient être recherchés en vue d'atteindre ce but.
Nous en avons pris note et certainement, du côté du Secrétariat nous ferons tout ce qui est possible en l'occurence. Je voudrais à cet égard signaler que le Directeur général a demandé au Programme de la FAO pour la campagne mondiale contre la faim de préparer un catalogue des organisations non gouvernementales nationales intéressant le travail de la FAO et ce catalogue devrait être prêt en février/mars de l'année prochaine; et ce sera certainement un moyen d'identifier les organisations avec lesquelles une collaboration nouvelle et accrue devrait ou pourrait s'établir.
Cela dit, je voudrais répondre au représentant du Cameroun qui, en citant deux organisations, a demandé qui prenait l'initiative de ces relations. Selon les textes mêmes de la FAO, ce sont les organisations en question qui souhaitent établir des relations de travail avec la FAO qui en font la requête auprès du Directeur général. Par une procédure d'examen interne, cette requête est examinée et le Directeur général prend une décision quant à la nature des relations qui peuvent s' établir entre ces organisations.
CHAIRMAN: In summary, the Commission took note of the Organization's activities in cooperation both with intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, as reported in document C 83/17. It was suggested that new and more flexible ways needed to be found for FAO's cooperation with NGOs which offered great potential for further development. The importance of continuing coope‐ration with intergovernmental organizations, particularly in Africa, was also stressed. With that we conclude the discussion on Item 16.2.
The meeting rose at 16.30 hours
La séance est levée à 16 h 30
Se levanta la sesión a las 16.30 horas
