LE PRESIDENT: Je demande au Secrétariat de donner lecture des résultats du vote qui a eu lieu ce matin.
LE PRESIDENT: Les Iles Cook et Salomon ont été admises, ainsi que vous l’avez constaté, comme membres de l’Organisation. Je les invite à prendre place dans l’Assemblée.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
LE PRESIDENT: C’est pour moi un honneur et un privilege d’accueillir ici, en votre nom, les deux nouveaux Etats Membres de l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture, les îles Cook et les Iles Salomon. Je leur souhaite tгès cordialement la bienvenue en votre nom à tous et je suis sûr que leur participation à nos travaux sera active et féconde.
DIRECTOR-GENERAL: It is with the greatest pleasure that I welcome our two new Member Countries from the Pacific, Cook Islands and Solomon Islands. They bring the total membership of the Organization to 158.
Neither country is a stranger to FAO: We have already had modest contacts in the field of technical cooperation. In the years ahead ve shall look forward to building up our relationships with them. Although the Cook Islands and Solomon Islands are different in many respects, I believe that FAO has much to offer in both cases. Indeed, there is potential for cooperation in all three of our major sectors - agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
I can promise our two newest Member Nations the full support of the Organization as they strive for economic and social progress. We look forward to their participation in the Conference, and in the life of FAO.
N. GEORGE (Cook Islands): Mr Chairman, Mr Director-General, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, may I begin by saying how privileged and delighted we are for being given the opportunity to be here on the occasion of the formal acceptance of the Cook Islands as a member of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
It is my country’s hope that our membership in this important and vital Organization will bring forth the hopes and aspirations of small developing island countries of the Pacific, and will further cement anα¦ strengthen regional and international cooperation along common objectives, being the universal struggle waged by mankind against poverty and malnutrition.
I would like to take this opportunity to offer my heart-felt thanks to the Director-General, Mr Saouma, and the Secretariat for the kindness and valuable assistance extended to our delegation, and as we take our place in this forum, we look forward to a productive and closer working relationship with him and his staff.
I would also like to offer my congratulations to you, Mr Chairman, on your election to the chairmanship. We beliqve that through your able leadership this Twenty-third Session of FAO will be both successful and productive.
The Cook Islands is composed of fifteen widely scattered islands covering an exclusive economic zone of almost 2 million square kilometres of ocean territory. The total land area of the state is 240 square kilometres, and supports an internal population of 18 000 people.
The northern islands of the Cook group are predominantly atolls with production restricted to copra, fish and aquaculture industries such as pearl-shell farming that offer the greatest potential for the development of export markets.
In the fertile volcanic soils of the southern islands of the Cook group, banana, citrus, pineapples and fresh vegetables provide valuable export earnings. Livestock production which includes cattle, pigs, goats and chickens are largely for the local, domestic market.
Like many of the small developing states of the Pacific Region the Cook Islands derive their existence from the fruits of its soil and surrounding sea. Our culture and heritage embody these elements and we are sensitive to the needs and changes that modern technology demands.
Over the last few years, the Cook Islands have become conscious of the need to actively participate in cooperative ventures that would enhance our traditional ideals and beliefs in order to achieve the common goal which is the betterment of every man, woman and child.
As a small developing country, we are acutely aware of the need to seek full utilization of all available resources at our disposal. Such a resource includes this very august body, the Food and Agriculture Organization,which we look to for help and guidance.
The development and management of fisheries in our exclusive economic zone is of the utmost importance to us. We realize that species caught within our exclusive economic zone are migratory and therefore accentuate the need for small developing island states of the Pacific to cooperate with other coastal states in order to ensure maximum utilization of this valuable resource, and to promote regional and international understanding and goodwill.
The advent of industrial and technological development has caused the Cook Islands to reassess its own development programme. It has meant a new approach to developmental strategies incorporating full utilization of available natural resources, manpower and financial commitments.
Our hope is to develop a modern economy based on improved methods of agriculture, forestry and fisheries and to establish those industries that would act as a catalyst to stimulate development, thus reducing our dependence on imported resources. Access to inter-regional markets is limited because of our transport problems within and outside of the Cook Islands. And it would be unrealistic for us to strive for increased agricultural production without addressing transport and other infrastructural problems.
Throughout this development process Mr Chairman, we continue to adhere to a predominant feature of our society, and that is the equitable distribution of wealth, education and opportunity.
It is one of the happiest moments of my country’s history to be admitted as a member of the Food and Agriculture Organization on this the 40th Anniversary of the United Nations.
We pride ourselves in thinking that part of the success of this world community of nations is the admission of the Cook Islands into one more of its’Organizations, the FAO. And I would like to sincerely thank all member countries for supporting our membership application.
Together with our feeling of elation upon admittance, we add our congratulations to our brother nation from the Pacific the Solomon Islands, on achieving this historic membership with us.
I take this opportunity to renew my country’s pledge to participate as fully as possible in the activities of the Organization and to accept the obligations of the FAO Constitution.
Thank you and kia orana.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
S. KELLY (Solomon Islands): Mr Chairman, Director-General, Excellencies, delegates, ladies and gentlemen: It is a great privilege for me today to have this opportunity to lead the Solomon Islands delegation on the occasion of this, its formal acceptance as a member of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
I would like to congratulate the Director-General, the staff and the Organization of FAO on the occasion of this, its 40th Anniversary. During the forty years that FAO has been in existence, the world has changed drastically. Throughout this period the activities of the Organization have been a constant help to mankind as a whole, but particularly to the underfed and poor of the world. My Government feels honoured and privileged, but at the same time humble in joining your ranks.
I would like to thank those who have made our presence here today and our joining of the Organization possible, firstly, the FAO Regional Representative in the Pacific who has encouraged us and helped in our application. I would also like to thank the Governments of the United Kingdom as well as Australia and New Zealand for their practical help in facilitating our presence here in Rome and for their assistance while we have been in Rome.
I would also like to thank our sister Pacific island nations who have welcomed us here and encouraged us during our stay.
Lastly, our thanks to the FAO staff who have helped us and guided us here in FAO.
The Solomon Islands is pleased to be joining the growing number of Pacific nations who are members of FAO and we look forward to the day when the Organization will feel it possible to look on the Pacific as a region in its own right rather than part of the very large Asia-Pacific Region from which we differ in size, population and type of agriculture. We look forward in the future to closer links through FAO with the other island nations of the Organization, both in the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean and with the franco-phone islands of the Pacific. These nations we feel have much to offer us and our sister nations in the Pacific in agricultural development and we would welcome closer ties.
Finally, I congratulate you on your appointment and at the same time thank those Member Nations who have elected us to the Organization. We look forward to the future as FAO members, not only for the ways in which we can benefit from membership, but in the hope that the Solomon Islands may in their own small way make some contribution to the Organization.
Mr Chairman, my thanks to you and to the FAO, and a happy 40th Birthday!
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
C.J. MOYLE (New Zealand): It gives me great pleasure to welcome the Solomon and Cook Islands to membership of our Organization. I do so not only as the leader of the New Zealand delegation but also on behalf of the Southwest Pacific region. Further, I have to declare a more personal interest: I represent in the New Zealand parliament a constituency that is truly of the South Pacific, I have many more electors from the Pacific Islands than I have of European origin. Almost a quarter of my electors originate in the Cook Islands. Many others come from Samoa, Tonga and Fiji, and some from the Solomon Islands. So I have a real personal pleasure in welcoming these representatives here today.
Both the newly admitted countries have become members of the South Pacific region, which now brings that total to nine. This increase in our group is gratifying to the other members assembled here today, but I know as well that all delegations in this hall will welcome the new members to the Organization, as it represents a further significant step on the road to universality of membership.
There is a good reason for New Zealand to make this statement on behalf of our region. Our country has a long relationship with both of the new members. With the Cook Islands, as with a number of other countries in the Polynesian part of the South Pacific, there have been ties of constitutional arrangements and governmental activities extending over many years. With the Solomons, situated in the Melanesian part of the South Pacific, New Zealand has had links in the social and educational fields for a long time and we have greatly valued the development of official relations since the Solomons became independent a number of years ago.
The fact that with two new members from our region one should be Polynesian and the other Melanesian emphasizes the diversity that exists within FAO’s numerically smallest region and the one furthest removed from Headquarters here in Rome. These new members, like the others of our region, depend on primary production. Both countries produce copra and vegetables and between them they also export citrus fruit, bananas, rice and palm oil. As island countries surrounded by the ocean there is also the richness of the sea.
Both the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands were represented at the World Conference on Fisheries here in this hall last year, and that is a measure of the importance of their surroundings to them.
For small nations with limited resources the Exclusive Economic Zone may well represent their best hope of economic viability. Larger and more powerful nations would do well to recognize this and to ensure that the exploitation of that economic zone must be for the full benefit of the smaller island nations. Small island countries suffer from many inherent disadvantages. They are in many cases, and especially in the South Pacific, remote from each other and from the rest of the world. They have a narrow base. Their overseas customers and suppliers are far away, and they have small populations. As the pressures of the modern world bear upon them it is natural that such countries should look to an organization such as this for support in developing their economies and their means of production. At the same time they contribute to the diversity of the international community and enrich the global village in which we all live.
It is with these thoughts in mind that I express once again my warm welcome, and that of my country, New Zealand, and of all our region, to the Solomon and Cook Islands.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
L.P. DUTHIE (Australia): As the current Council member for the South West Pacific, Australia also welcomes the admission here today to this Organization of the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands. We are of course both friends and neighbours in the Pacific.
I would like to do nothing more than to add the full endorsement of my delegation to the words and sentiments expressed by Minister Moyle of New Zealand.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
R.F.R. DEARE (United Kingdom): I can follow the example of my Australian colleague and be brief. I would like to support the words of the distinguished Minister from New Zealand. It gives my delegation great pleasure to join Australia and New Zealand, and I am sure others, in welcoming the admission of our two new members, the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands. Both have.strong Commonwealth connections, and we certainly look forward to their full participation in the future important work of this Organization.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
M. BENNIS (Maroc) (langue originale arabe): C’est pour moi un réel plaisir par la voix du Maroc qui assume actuellement la présidence du Groupe du Pгoche-Orient, et au nom de ce groupe, de présenter les félicitations les plus chaleureuses et les souhaits les plus sincères aux délégations des îles Cook et des Iles Salomon à l’occasion de leur admission à la FAO.
Chaque fois qu’un nouveau membre rejoint notre famille, le rayonnement et les activités de notre Organisation se trouvent élargis et renforcés, ce qui confirme d’ailleurs son caractère universel pour le bien de l’humanité entière et ce qui prouuve d’autre part son utilité et la nécessité de sa continuité car les nobles objectifs qui constituent les fondements de sa création et de son existence demeurent valables et nécessitent une préoccupation continue.
C’est pourquoi, il importe que nous saisissions toutes les occasions pour exprimer notre attachement à ces objectifs et pour apporter notre appui à l’Organisation qui ne cesse d’oeuvrer en vue de leur realisation.
Nous sommes convaincus que l’admission des lies Cook et des Iles Salomon est de nature à renforcer la FAO, non seulement sur le plan quantitatif par l’élargissement des membres de notre famille, mais également au niveau qualitatif, puisque les îles Cook et les lies Salomon sont susceptibles d’apporter une experience nouvelle liée tout particulièrement à leur situation géographique, à leurs conditions climatiques et à la nature deleurs topographies, l’ensemble de ces caracteristiques donnant à leur agriculture une spécificité, pouvant apporter une contribution à la FAO,comme l’a mentionné tout à l’heure le Directeur général, et pouvant en échange bénéficier d’une coopération appropriée.
C’est dans cette perspective que nous formulons l’espoir de voir s’établir des relations constructives entre la FAO et ces deux nouveaux membres, les îles Cook et les Iles Salomon, auxquels nous souhaitons plein succès dans leurs activités à nos côtés et auxquels nous renouvelons nos felicitations et nous exprimons la bienvenue.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
O.R. da SILVA NEVES (Brazil): On behalf of the Latin American Caribbean Group, I would like to extend our warmest welcome to the two new member islands of FAO, Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands, and express the conviction that this new association will prove mutually beneficial.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
B. SINGH (India): On behalf of the Asia and Pacific Region, I have a great pleasure in welcoming the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands as new members of FAO. So far there were 27 countries who were members of FAO from this Region. The admission of these two islands raises the number of FAO countries to 29. While so far FAO was fully represented in Asia, the addition of these two countries will make our system more broad-based as far as the South Pacific Sub-Region is concerned.
I express the hope that these countries will benefit a great deal by membership in the FAO. On behalf of my own country, India, I extend full cooperation and a warm welcome to the new members, into the FAO system.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
W.L.R. CLARK (Canada): It is my very great pleasure on behalf of Canada and the North American Region to join with you, Mr Chairman, with the Director-General and with other spokesmen, in welcoming into the FAO family of members, our Commonwealth partners from the South Pacific, the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands.
Forty years ago, I dare say the founders of FAO at Quebec City could scarcely have imagined how broadly their cause would touch the world. Today the United Nations vision of universality moved two more steps closer to reality. In one important sense, the coming forth of the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands offers those countries the opportunity to benefit from FAO programmes as they face the difficult challenges of agriculture, forestry and fishery development. But the flow of benefits is not all one way, indeed, all members of FAO can learn from the efforts made by the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands. Like other island developing states they must seek to achieve much from the natural blessings that exist. With the narrow base of arable land and resources and confronted by enormous distances to major world markets and sources of supply, nations like Cook Islands and Solomon Islands must find major self-reliance within much smaller communities of economic activity.
The Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands deserve not only our assistance but also encouragement and our close attention to their unique experience as well. Once again, may I offer them our very best wishes as they take up their membership in this organization today.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
D.P.G. MOKOAE (Lesotho): I am sure that I express the sentiments of members of the.Organization of African Unity who also happen to be members of the Food and Agriculture Organization, when I say we are delighted to receive into this Organization, as witnessed a while ago, the admission of the Cook Islands nd the Solomon Islands. We are pleased to state that these two islands have taken a bold step by deciding to join a dynamic organization like the Food and Agriculture Organization, which, under the leadership of Dr. Edouard Saouma, has shown it is an organization that is geared to improving the lot of people in the developing countries, and to ensure their success insofar as agricultural production is concerned.
The size of territory or the population of a country, or the state of economic development of any country, is not a precondition of membership of the Food and Agriculture Organization since all States are equal. One is delighted, therefore, in taking part in the admission of these two islands to membership in the Food and Agriculture Organization. However, I cannot overlook the fact that in the Southern Hemisphere of the continent of Africa millions of people still remain disenfranchised and through discriminatory and most obnoxious laws they are still not allowed to take part in the government of their country. When one speaks of the admission of the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands one cannot forget to recall the sad situation still existing in South Africa and Namibia, and one is left with the hope that one day even those countries that have suffered from the problems of apartheid will gain their independence and, like the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands,will join this organization as members.
To the members of the Cook Islands and the Solomon Islands I would like to say once again welcome to the Organization. We look forward to your participation and we wish you well in the future.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
J.R. LOPEZ PORTILLO ROMANO (México): A nombгe del Gгupo de los 77 tengo el honor de acoger y dar la bienvenida en el seno de nuestгa Organización a los гepгesentantes de las Islas Cook y de las Islas Salomón como nuevos Estados Miembros de nuestra Organización.
La FAO, cçrao otros organismos internacionales, acogen en términos de igualdad jurídica a los Estados que la integran. En ese sentido, Sr. Presidente, las perspectivas y necesidades, y los problemas que a todos aquejan se deben resolver conjunta y global·mente, problemas como el de la seguridad alimentaria.
Nos complace plenamente que se unan estos nuevos Estados Miembros a nuestra Organización que sin duda contribuirán con el planteamiento de su problemática y perspectivas de solución al estudio de los problemas de todos. Sin duda también, esta Organización y los Estados Miembros que la componen, sabrán ofrecer perspectivas serias y realistas a sus necesidades de producción agrícola, pesquera y de alimentación para todos.
Por tanto, Sr. Presidente, a nombre del Grupo de los 77, de nuevo les doy la más cordial bienvenida.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
LE PRESIDENT: Voilà épuisée la liste des orateurs que j’avais inscrits. En votre nom, encore une fois, nous souhaitons la bienvenue au sein de notre Organisation aux îles Cook et Salomon. Notre Organisation est heureuse de compter deux nouveaux Etats Membres à qui nous souhaitons bonheur et prospérité, ainsi que des relations de coopération les plus étroites et les plus constructives avec notre Organisation.
Mr Chairman, Delegates and Observers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Twenty-third Session of our Conference marks the completion of four decades of work by FAO. The Organization itself is but the tip of the iceberg. Vaster but less visible, a thousand forms of international cooperation have developed during these forty years. Together we strive to rid the world of its millenial scourge of hunger and malnutrition.
Our thoughts will be much devoted to the past: to an assessment of what has so far been achieved, by FAO and others; and to mapping out the tasks which still lie ahead. This will be our special theme next Thursday, when the Conference will formally celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the Organization.
Today I would like, rather, to look at the situation of today, and its implications for our work of tomorrow.
Movements in the world economy may appear remote from the work of FAO, but they nonetheless determine the elbow-room of our member countries for coping with problems in food and agriculture. In one way or another, they have a major impact on world food security.
The state of the world economy can give us small comfort. The recovery from the deep depression of the early eighties appears to be losing its impetus. The developing nations have benefited little from the recent buoyancy in the industrialized areas. Their external debt is moving toward the awesome figure of one thousand billion dollars. As yet there is no consensus on how short-term debt management can evolve into long-term expansion of the national economy. These nations must attempt to remove the stranglehold of debt at a time when they face a deteriorating economic climate, and when trading conditions — to which I shall return in a moment — are alarmingly weak.
The debt problem remains central to the economies of many developing countries, especially in Latin America and also in Africa. Until it has been solved, their economic and even social stability must be considered in jeopardy. This includes their food security. A foreign exchange crisis can prevent imports of the fertilizers and other inputs needed to grow food. It can bring the most extreme difficulties to a food-deficit country which is obliged to import basic foodstuffs.
In the interest of rich and poor countries alike, it is imperative that the industrialized nations reach agreement on a set of concerted macro-economic policies. These policies should aim at steering the world away from the danger of another slump, at bringing about a renewed flow of capital to the developing countries, and at creating an environment in which the nations of the Third World can resume the growth rates of the seventies. Only in a context of overall growth can the poorer nations cope with the investment and policy requirements on which their future food security will depend. Either their economies will grow, or their problems.
And if the human race is to survive at all, it is surely time to put an end to the competitive dissipation of resources for armaments. The fault is by no means only with the richer nations. How much of the external debt of the developing countries is owed for weapons? Mankind is impoverishing itself to build its own funeral pyre.
In food and agriculture, the scene before us is in many respects favourable indeed. Although the final harvest results for 1985 are not yet in, we can already see that in most regions it has been a satisfactory year. Global food production is likely to have grown a little faster than population. Increases have been well distributed among the developing countries. It is likely that in many areas the nutritional levels of the poor have further improved. Africa — to whose problems I shall return in a minute — has shown a good recovery from its recent run of disastrous crops, although by no means all countries are out of difficulty.
Cereal stocks are forecast to reach a level equivalent to 21 percent of annual consumption at the end of the current season: more than enough to act as a cushion for world food security.
However, all is not well. The problems have deep roots, but are reflected chiefly in trade. They were reviewed just last month by FAO’s Committee on Commodity Problems.
World prices have been trending downwards, across almost the entire spectrum of agricultural commodities. This would not be so serious, if we could look forward to markets picking up again in the near future. However, there is little to justify hopes of an early upturn. On the contrary, the prospect of a general economic slowdown suggests rather that prices may continue to be weak.
Over the medium term, too, we foresee scant possibility of renewed dynamism in agricultural trade. Our most recent round of commodity projections, just completed, suggests that in most cases import demand will grow more slowly in this decade than it did in the seventies. Both developing and developed exporters will be adversely affected.
For many tropical products, such as coffee, cocoa and tea, the market is projected to expand by little more than one percent per annum up to 1990. For some commodities, it may even contract.
In the cases of cereals and livestock products, import demand grew in the seventies by more than seven percent annually; in the eighties, growth is projected at between one and two percent only.
This unpromising trade environment is being further weakened and distorted by the side effects of national agricultural policies, especially those of developed countries.
The difficulties being faced by many developed nations as they attempt to reshape their agricultural policy framework are highly complex. New policies must achieve objectives that conflict at many points. Farmers must be able to enjoy acceptable income levels. Food prices to the consumer must be reasonable. The farm community must be able to carry out its function of conserving the countryside, a function to which growing importance is attached by society as a whole. Exporters must be able to compete on international markets, and importers must be assured of a regular flow of supplies. Subsidies to agriculture from the rest of the economy must be kept within reasonable bounds.
The problem is not to achieve one or more of these objectives: it is to achieve all of them at the same time.
These unresolved dilemmas lead to national policies which can have a damaging impact on other countries through the mechanism of trade. In effect, farmers are being subsidized to produce surplus commodities, which importers are then subsidized to buy. The total cost to the world economy is enormous. And increasing competition for limited markets is leading to tensions between trading groups that are certainly not in the interest of the world community as a whole.
There are mounting pressures for protectionism, even while discussions on trade liberalization are under way.
It is essential to find viable solutions to these complex issues as soon as possible. The focus of attention is on trade, but in the last resort what happens in trade depends on what happens in production.
National production policies should be deliberately conceived in such a way as to minimize any possible negative effect on other countries through trade. The highest importance attaches to the decisions on farm policy which are under consideration by the United States and the European Economic Community. Together, the US and the EEC account for about 45 percent of the world’s agricultural exports and the world’s agricultural imports. Their policies are clearly going to have a very wide impact indeed. I trust that the decisions will be statesmanlike, and will take full account of all implications for international trade, in particular for the interests of developing countries.
So far as trade issues are concerned, we have been counting heavily on the work of the GATT Committee on Trade in Agriculture, established just three years ago. I deeply hope that this Committee will be able to speed up completion of its work programme. I also hope that the conditions will be met for the early launching of a new round of multilateral trade negotiations in GATT. So far as agriculture is concerned, this could help to bring about again more rational and efficient arrangements for world production and trade.
In the meantime, the possible impact of trading difficulties for the developing countries is a matter for the greatest concern. How can agricultural exporters cope with their debt burden, and finance economic growth, without a strongly rising level of earnings from foreign trade?
The plight of exporters is made more desperate by the virtual collapse of most of the international commodity agreements. The chances of establishing the UNCTAD Common Fund for Commodities now appear remote.
Projections are not forecasts of what is going to happen. They are extrapolations from trends. They provide a warning. In order to mitigate the dangers I have analysed, a three-pronged approach to the problems of developing-country exporters can be suggested.
In the first place, the industrialized nations should deliberately sustain the efforts of the poorer countries to earn their livelihood through trade. Several distinct types of action are needed. New protectionist measures which would further restrict the trade outlets of the developing countries should not be enacted, and existing trade barriers should be lowered or if possible eliminated. There should be a halt to subsidized exports from richer nations which enter into direct competition with the products of the Third World.
Secondly, the development of South-South trade should be more systematically fostered. Intra-tгade among the developing countries has been growing with great rapidity — it increased by more than five hundred percent between 1970 and 1980. Indeed, it now accounts for about a quarter of all the agricultural exports of the developing nations. Nevertheless, there is still much scope for liberalization in South-South trade. Negotiations among developing countries on a Global System of Trade Preferences are still at an early stage: they should be pressed forward vigorously. Among commodities, we see particular opportunities for expanding intra-tгade in tea, fats and oils and oilmeals.
Thirdly, exporters of tropical products would do well to coordinate their production and investment plans, if necessary through informal groups such as those sponsored by FAO. If this is not done, a stagnant market can all too easily be pushed into collapse by the untimely expansion of production. And genuine efforts should be made to revive existing commodity agreements, to negotiate new ones, and to bring the UNCTAD Common Fund for Commodities into operation.
Difficulties of another kind face the world’s fishermen. In substance, they must meet a constantly rising demand for fish while adapting to the new regime of the oceans, at a time when there are only limited possibilities of expanding the total catch. The year 1984 was a good one in this respect: the catch rose strongly and reached about 82 million tons, well above the previous record.
The spotlight is now on improved management. Just last year our World Fisheries Conference endorsed a Strategy for Fisheries Management and Development. At national level, the Strategy is already being widely utilized as point of reference by individual countries as they plan to strengthen their fisheries sector. Internationally, FAO has been giving particular attention to the Strategy provisions regarding trade in fish and fishery products. We shall be starting a series of intergovernmental consultations on this subject next year, taking up both its technical and its economic aspects.
Besides a Strategy, the Fisheries Conference also approved five Programmes of Action, for implementation mainly but not exclusively by FAO. I am glad to say that the annual target for contributions to finance these Programmes has been comfortably exceeded in 1985, and we are continuing to negotiate for further pledges. Most recently, the United States has agreed to support an FAO-executed regional project in West Africa. I have also been in touch with the Minister of Fisheries of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which I visited on the invitation of the Government. Last September, I was invited by the Government of Spain to participate in a Ministerial Conference;on Fisheries which was organized as a follow-up to the FAO World Conference.
I may add that “Fishermen and Fishing Communities” have been adopted as a main theme for World Food Day 1986.
I have spoken so far of the world’s farmers and fishermen, but it is the foresters who have a special claim on FAO’s attention in 1985, for this has been declared by the FAO Council as the International Year of the Forest.
The decision of the Council was part of FAO’s response to the mounting wave of concern over the future of man’s forest heritage. Atmospheric pollution, pest and fire in the temperate zones, indiscriminate cutting in the tropics: everywhere the forest is under siege.
Another response was the recent launching of a major FAO initiative which appears to be rapidly gathering strength. Last June, our Committee on Forest Development in the Tropics adopted an overall framework for action to tackle the problems which we believe to have the highest priority in tropical forestry. This overall plan covers a wide range of programmes: land-use planning, fuelwood, industry, forest conservation, and institution-building. These are not conceived as specific FAO programmes, but rather as priority areas for action by the international community as a whole.
I am glad to say that a series of follow-up meetings is being organized by individual governments. In this way, the diffuse and generalized concern felt by the public about the fate of tropical forests can be channeled into concrete programmes and projects. Within the very flexible structure envisaged for the Programmes of Action, our Committee on Forest Development in the Tropics will function as the overall mechanism for monitoring progress and problems.
The other main event in this International Year of the Forest has been the Ninth World Forestry Congress held in Mexico last July. The conclusions of the Congress are embodied in a Manifesto which is before this Conference. The Congress placed considerable emphasis on the integration of forestry in broader approaches for rural development. This is, of course, completely in line with the thinking of FAO. Furthermore, it expressed strong support for the Plan of Action for Tropical Forests which I have just described. I would also draw attention to the proposal supported by the Congress for the creation of a world fund for the development and environmental protection of forests, aimed especially at providing aid for developing countries.
This proposal — if it is acceptable to the donor community — would come at a very opportune moment. Official commitments of aid to agriculture in its broad definition (which includes forestry) declined in 1983 for the first time in the present decade. Within the total figure, an even sharper drop occurred in aid on concessional terms: in other words, loans for agriculture are tending to be given on harder terms. Multilateral assistance is going through a particularly difficult time: multilateral commitments to agriculture have dropped by 23 percent in current dollars since 1980. This reflects, of course, the difficulties being encountered by IDA, IF AD and other organizations. The long-drawn-out negotiations for the second replenishment of IF AD are especially worrying. I appeal to all parties concerned to bring them to a successful conclusion before the end of the year.
The progress of the Substantial New Programme of Action for Least Developed Countries, adopted by a United Nations Conference in 1981, has been less than satisfactory. Only some donors have reached the 1985 target for aid to the least developed countries. As for the LDCs themselves, their socio-economic situation in the last four years has tended to deteriorate rather than improve.
Food aid is the one bright spot. For the first time, the target of 10 million tons of cereals set at the World Food Conference in 1974 has been attained and surpassed. The International Emergency Food Reserve, too, has handsomely exceeded its target; of 500 000 tons in each of the recent years. However, the increased flow is accounted for by emergency assistance to Africa, and not by a higher level of development aid. I deeply hope that contributors will make a special effort to attain the new `target for the World Food Programme in 1987-88, amounting to 1.4 billion dollars in both commodities and cash.
It is, of course, in Africa that aid has made its most dramatic response to the most dramatic of problems. I would like, Mr Chairman, to summarize the evolution of the crisis in Africa south of the Sahara.
Two years ago, African food problems already occupied the forefront of the international stage. In November 1983, the last session of the FAO Conference adopted its resolution on “The Critical Situation of Food and Agriculture in Africa”. During 1984 the crisis peaked, with widespread famine in Ethiopia, the Sudan and Chad, and intense local food shortages in a number of other countries.
The relief operation has mobilized an immense fund of goodwill and generosity, not only on the part of governments but also among private organizations and citizens. I would like to pay a special tribute to all who participated in fund-raising drives, both as organizers and as givers. Thanks to the efforts of governments, organizations and individuals, the food aid needs of the stricken countries, estimated at 7 million tons for 1984/85, have been almost entirely covered.
If the situation of food aid pledges is satisfactory, I cannot say the same for the logistics. Innumerable delays have occurred at almost every stage of the long transportation process which takes relief grain from its country of origin to the point of distribution. At the beginning of this month, over a million tons of pledged relief supplies had still not reached the afflicted countries. Further substantial quantities were awaiting either discharge or transportation to the deficit areas.
In the meantime, the situation south of the.Sahara has been transformed by timely and abundant rains. For 16 of the 21 affected countries, the emergency can be considered over, although most of them will continue to need food aid to cover their structural food deficits. In several cases, including Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe, the harvest has been so good that substantial quantities of maize and sorghum are available for export —although markets are extremely difficult to find. On the basis of present information, we expect only five countries to require further emergency relief in 1986.
Action must now be taken to organize the best use of the exportable surpluses in the region and the late-arriving relief supplies. If the necessary arrangements can be made, including triangular transactions and the rescheduling of destinations, it should be possible to meet emergency requirements for 1986, to contribute toward structural food deficits, and to rebuild national reserves in a speedy and rational manner. If this is not done, there is a danger that relief goods arriving late may depress prices and discourage planting for next year’s harvest.
I have already drawn the attention of donors to some of these problems, and would urge all concerned — including both donors and affected countries — to plan the necessary measures as soon as possible. FAO will, of course, be ready to continue its support of these efforts.
The Agricultural Rehabilitation Programme for Africa (ARPA) launched by FAO at the beginning of the year is contributing toward the turnaround in food production. In order to get the Programme moving as fast as possible, the Council approved a гefocusing of Regular-Programme activities in the amount of 5 million dollars for the purpose of rehabilitation in Africa. This was increased by a further 2.5 million dollars from savings under the Regular Programme. As a third step, the Finance Committee approved my proposal to transfer to the Programme an amount of 15 million dollars from savings, to be used according to the procedures of TCP projects.
So far, projects costing about 200 million dollars are covered by tentative or definite pledges from various sources of finance. I am especially pleased that the list of participants includes some developing countries in other regions. However, many deserving projects still need a donor. I would ask potential contributing countries to look again through our list of projects for which there is at present no financing in sight.
Over and above rehabilitation and recovery, there remain many questions for the medium and longer term. How, in particular, can the different agro-ecological zones of Africa best achieve a massive increase in their rates of growth of food production? And how can they best be helped by the international community? We are formulating possible responses. Our suggestions will be put forward for discussion at the Regional Conference for Africa next September in Brazzaville. Before that time, they will be reviewed by an Expert Consultation of individual specialists from Africa.
Meanwhile, I would like to draw attention to a recommendation put forward by the Conference of Ministers of the Economic Commission for Africa last July, and modified by the recent Summit of the Organization of African Unity. This recommendation, in its final form, calls for agriculture to receive 20-25 percent of public expenditure. The fragmentary data which are available suggest that for most African countries this would involve a major shift in priorities toward agriculture.
In the last resort, the problems of African agriculture can only be tackled within the framework of the total economy. In turn, the problems of a national economy cannot be examined in isolation from the external forces — debt, trading conditions, migration, aid flows — which have such a major impact on it. That is why, in addressing the Second Committee of the General Assembly at the end of last month, I reiteгateá my suggestion that a Special Session of the Assembly be devoted to the long-term development of Africa. A proposal to this effect was adopted by the OAU Summit last July.
Mr Chairman, I have dwelt at length on the two issues — or groups of issues — which I see as the most disturbing at this time: the trading problems of developing countries; and the difficulties of Africa.
Among the more specific questions on the agenda of this Conference, I would like to draw special attention to the proposed World Food Security Compact.
On the occasion of this fortieth anniversary, the Compact gives an opportunity for the solemn reaffìrmation of the principles which are guiding our endeavours. It contains no new commitments of a legal or financial character. What it does offer is a statement to the world of what we are trying to do, and of the indispensable contributions that can be made by governments, organizations and individuals.
I deeply hope that the Compact can be adopted without controversy, and by consensus, as an integral part of the celebration of our anniversary.
Similarly, I would urge the Conference to adopt by consensus the International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides. The document before the Conference is the culmination of several years of preparatory work, in the course of which there have been extended consultations with the many interests involved. This final text incorporates certain suggestions put forward in the recent discussion in the FAO Council, which we hope will facilitate its acceptance by the Conference.
As developing countries intensify their agricultural production, plant protection becomes increasingly important. Pesticides are not the only instrument within plant protection strategies, but they are often of crucial importance. The Code of Conduct can be of special benefit to developing nations which do not already have their own pesticide control procedures and regulatory processes. It can help to avoid hazards to health and the environment, and thus promote a key aspect-of agricultural development.
I would also like to draw attention to the items on the Conference agenda relating to the 1990 Census of Agriculture and our Study of Price Policies.
Without going into the substance of these two questions, I wish to flag them as prime examples of FAO’s role in organizing the collection of data, and in analysing the information which becomes available in terms of policy options.
The function of a world data centre, with a high capacity for analysis, is likely to become of ever-increasing importance in future. This is the result of both the mounting complexity of the world in which we live, and the rapid advances in the technology for handling information. FAO must remain at the forefront in coming years, as it has in the past.
These concerns, Mr Chairman, are reflected in my Proposed Programme of Work and Budget, which is before the Conference.
I cannot emphasize too strongly that my proposals are based on strategies which have been unanimously approved by the entire membership of the Organization. The général thrust of FAO’s programme has the full backing of the countries of the world.
It is only when we come to financial matters that we find unanimity more difficult to attain.
My approach has been aimed at three objectives: to improve the service which FAO provides to its members, and especially to developing countries with serious food problems; to show austerity, economy and efficiency in the use of the funds made available to us; and to seek a consensus among all groups of countries on the level of the budget.
With a view to achieving the last of these objectives, I have made cettaώ adjustments since my Summary Programme of Work and Budget was discussed by the Programme and Finance Committees and Council. This is the first time I have taken such a step, and I hope that members will appreciate the spirit of goodwill in which it was done.
In substance, I have maintained my proposals for a modest increase in our technical programmes, but have made a number of reductions in administrative and support costs.
There remains a small net programme increase, but I foresee that this will be fully covered by an increase in Miscellaneous Income and by changes in the effective dollar/lire exchange rate.
The actual cost of the budget to member countries will, in the last resort, depend on the exchange-rate factor, but I believe that most countries will find an actual reduction in their contributions to FAO in the next biennium.
I appeal to all member countries to support the Programme of Work and Budget which I have submitted to the Conference.
Mr Chairman, the fortieth birthday of FAO was celebrated on 16 October last with a very fine ceremony, at which we were honoured by the presence of His Excellency President Cossiga of Italy. While he was here, President Cossiga unveiled a plaque marking the start of work on the additional buildings which the Italian Government is generously constructing for FAO. These will enable all the Rome staff to work at the Teгme di Caracalla, rather than being spread over several different locations in the city.
In a broader sense this was a gesture of support, not just for FAO, but for all that FAO stands for: raising the living standards of the poor and the malnourished; promoting a rational world order in food and agriculture; and ultimately contributing toward peace and prosperity for all.
It will be up to FAO, as it moves into its fifth decade, to justify this confidence. We have gone far, but not far enough, toward the aims established forty years ago. The reflections inspired by our anniversary should lead us to a new dedication of purpose, a new vigour in our action, and above all a renewed enthusiasm.
With purpose, vigour and enthusiasm we shall fight to bring all people their birthright of food security and happiness.
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie vivement Monsieur le Directeur général pour son discours à la Conférence. Traditionnellement, la déclaration du Directeur général joue un rôle essentiel dans l’orientation des travaux de la Conférence. La déclaration que nous venons d’entendre ne fait pas exception à cepte regie.
Le Directeur général nous a présenté une analyse lucide, sans complaisance et sans pessimisme systématique de la situation actuelle de l’alimentation et de l’agriculture dans le monde. Il a souligné les principaux aspects que la présente session de la Conférence sera appelée à accomplir, pour faire face à cette situation, pour faire avancer la solution des principaux problèmes qui se posent et pour assurer les progrès des efforts en faveur du développement.
Le Directeur général a dressé les grandes lignes du Programme de travail que l’Organisation devra réaliser en 1986-1987, et indiqué les moyens dont elle devrait disposer à cette fin.
Nous voyons done très clairement la tâche qui nous attend, En votre nom à tous, je remercie, chaleureusement le Directeur général d’avoir ainsi fait le point et dressé la route à suivre.
Si vous me peгmettez d’employer une expression familière, je dirai que “C’est maintenant à nous de jouer”.
Je suis certain que nous allons tous nous y appliquer avec toute notre énergie.
LE PRESIDENT: Excellence, Mesdames et Messieurs, le Prix Sen a été institué par la Conférence à sa quatorzième session. C’est une manifestation permanente de l’activité de la FAO, associée au nom de l’ancien Directeur général et qui s’inspire des objectifs auxquels ce dernier s’est dévoué. Le prix Sen consiste en une médaille gravée au nom du lauréat: un parchemin exposant ses realisations, une somme de 5 000 dollars et un voyage aller et retour à Rome pour le lauréat et son conjoint. Le prix est attribué chaque année à un expert de la FAO ou du Programme alimentaire mondial qui pendant l’année en question a travaillé sur le terrain au sein de l’un quelconque des programmes de la FAO ou du PAM. Le lauréat doit avoir contribué, dans une mesure exceptionnelle, à l’avancement du pays ou du groupe de pays auquel il est affecté.
Si vous me le permettez, je donne à present la parole au Directeur général pour presenter le lauréat.
DIRECTOR-GENERAL: These awards honour the name of Mr B.R. Sen, who was Director-General of FAO from 1956 to 1967. I am glad to say that Mr Sen will be with us later in the week for the commemoration of the Fortieth Anniversary of FAO.
There is one Sen award for each year. On this occasion, we shall be presenting the awards for 1984 and for 1985. The award is given to the field officer who has made the most outstanding contribution towards the development of the country to which he or she is assigned. The award for 1984 goes to Mr Alfred Sherer, a citizen of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is given in recognition of his work in Nepal, and more specifically his contribution towards strengthening the Nepal Food Corporation. This is the government organization responsible for price support and marketing. Mr Scherer helped to plan and then carry out a series of measures to improve the operational and managerial capacity of the Corporation.
As a result of his work, the Government now has a more effective instrument for carrying out its policies, and the food security in Nepal has been significantly strengthened. The Government of Nepal, in endorsing the choice of Mr Scherer for a Sen Award, has confirmed the success of his efforts.
The award for 1985 is given to Mr Lawrence Kwadjo Danso of Ghana, for his work in Thailand.
Mr Danso is a forester. He has been working to improve the productivity of forest lands in the north eastern part of the country. In doing so, he has applied the principles of rural sociology to settlement in forest areas with notable success.
Through his personal qualities of leadership, he has helped to mobilize the participation of people at all levels in the project area. Here again, the Government of Thailand has endorsed the selection of Mr Danso. He is, I may add, the first African winner of a Sen award. This surely brings home to us the way in which the young nations of Africa are coming to play an ever more valuable part as contributors to the work of FAO and other international organizations. Thank you.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
A. SCHERER (FAO Staff): Mr Chairman, Director-Général of FAO, Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:
Please permit me to express my sincere thanks for the honour of being presented with the 1984 B.R. Sen Award. Although I feel that I have done nothing more than performing my duty, this recognition fills me with personal and professional satisfaction and encouragement.
However, I would like to accept this honourable award not on my behalf only. For me, this ceremony also represents an acknowledgement to three essential groups, on whose aid the performance of any FAO field officer depends.
I therefore dedicate the award:
- firstly to the numerous counterparts, the small farmers and the traders I had the honour to work with in Kuwait, Egypt, Uganda, Brazil and now in Nepal. Without their human and professional understanding and support, our small positive contributions would never have been possible.
- secondly to all the colleagues in the technical and administrative field at headquarters and at the UNDP/FAO field offices, whose guidance and day-to-day assistance have always been an essential help in our work.
I am particularly happy that my presence here highlights the importance of the agricultural marketing and management sector as well as the dedicated role of the Agricultural Services and Operations Divisions.
- and last but not least I would like to dedicate the award to all my family members and especially my wife and our children. I consider my family’s understanding and encouragement and their willingness to accept the varying and at times difficult life of an FAO Marketing Officer as the secret source which stimulates me in my professional endeavours.
I should like to close my expressions of thanks with the hope that in future I shall be given the strength to continue with the beautiful task of rendering small contributions to the noble goals and objectives of our Organization, being in essence to help the poor and hungry, who often cannot defend themselves in their efforts to achieve a better quality of life.
Thank you.Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
L.K. DANSO (FAO Staff): Mr Chairman, Director-General ot FAO, Your Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen: I am completely overwhelmed by the honour just bestowed on me and the project for which I am the Chief Technical Adviser; all I can say now is “Thank you very, very much”.
I also wish to thank firstly the Royal Thai Government, in particular the Directorate and Staff of the Royal Forest Department and also FAO colleagues both in the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific Region and here in Headquarters for the support they have given to my project. Secondly, I would like to thank the UNDP Bangkok, together with those other governmental and non-governmental collaborating agencies, without whose dedication the objectives of the project could have never been achieved. To all of them I give “a big thank you”.
Sir, since what the project has to show now is good but what it has to show in future is even more important than what we have at the moment, I wish with your permission to donate the $5 000 award to the Royal Forest Department, Thailand, to be deposited permanently in a bank in Thailand and to be used for annual awards to field staff members who show outstanding contribution to the management of similar forest projects in the North East of Thailand or in the whole Kingdom of Thailand as appropriate.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie vivement M. Danso pour son intervention et pour tout ce que vous avez entendu.
Je suis tout à fait dispose à passer en votre nom la parole aux distingués délégués des pays dans lesquels les lauréats ont travaillé, j’ai nommé le Népal, pour M. Scherer et la Thaïlande pour M. Danso.
A.N. RANA (Nepal): Mr Chairman, Director-General, Excellencies and distinguished delegates: On behalf of the Nepalese delegation I would like to make a brief comment on this award-giving ceremony.
His Majesty’s Government of Nepal recognizes the excellent work of Mr Scherer in his assignment as team leader and management adviser to the Nepal Food Corporation. Mr Scherer arrived in Nepal in November 1983 and he has made a significant impact on the operation of the Nepal Food Corporation. His project has in a relatively short period served to reorganize the operation of the Nepal Food Corporation in regard to management efficiency and to introduce an improved accounting and financial reporting system using local consultants. His approach has been one that has been practical and effective, emphasizing the need for improving the skills and motivation of management and operating personnel through extensive field level training.
Mr Scherer’s personality and the vast experience he has brought to Nepal has had a lasting impact on a key national institution that provides marketing services to small farmers and ensures the food security of my country.
I am glad to see that Mr Scherer’s services to Nepal and the other countries where he has served in improving the marketing services, especially for small farmers, has been given due recognition. On behalf of the Nepal delegation I congratulate him on receiving the B.R. Sen award which is being sponsored by FAO. With this I conclude my comments.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
N. SRISURAK (Thailand): Mr Chairman, Mr Director-General, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen: It is my great pleasure on this special occasion to address our feeling about Mr Lawrence K. Danso’s services in Thailand.
As the major beneficiary of Mr Lawrence K. Danso’s services within the FAO since 1980, I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the Thai Government to extend her warmest congratulations to him for the B.R. Sen award, which he so richly deserves. The Thai Government also wishes to extend her sincere gratitude to Mr Lawrence K. Danso for the past fruitful years of cooperation in the development of effective land and forest resource management in the rural Northeast of Thailand.
In the project for Development of Diversified Forest Rehabilitation in Northeast Thailand, Mr Danso introduced the concept and practice of integrated forest rehabilitation and rural development with popular participation.
He was responsible for advising and assisting in the overall planning, implementation, and direction of all project activities. In particular, he designed and helped execute various baseline surveys needed for project planning and formulation. At the stage of implementation, he gave unreserved assistance in the re-allocation of deforested land to farmers and to its rehabilitation, including the development of necessary infrastructures and farmer training programs in both agricultural and other income-generating activities. Even before the completion date in October 1986, the project has already contributed significantly to the socio-economic as well as the ecological development in the project area and its neighbourhood.
We share with Mr Lawrence K. Danso his moments of jubilation, and extend our heartiest congratulations and sincere gratitude to him for his invaluable contributions. Thanks also to Mr Lawrence K. Danso for the contribution of his award to Thailand’s forest project in the future.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
I.K. ADJEI-MAAFO (Ghana): I would like on behalf of the people of Ghana, and myself, to congratulate and thank you for the honour bestowed on my compatriot, Mr Lawrence K. Danso, in awarding the B.R. Sen award for 1985 for his contribution to forestry management in Thailand. In view of the rather alarming rate of desertification in Africa, FAO’s recognition of the importance of forestry is certainly in the right direction. The good work of Mr Danso, I think, is proper because in Africa we are most affected by desertification, it is my belief and hope that this achievement will spur us all on, especially those of us in Africa, to forestall the ever increasing menace of the desert. To Mr. Danso we say congratulations, we in Africa are proud of his achievements.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
LE PRESIDENT: Nous allons passer maintenant à la présentation du Prix A.H. Boerma pour le biennium 1984-85. Le Prix A.H. Boerma est décerné tous les deux ans. Il consiste en un parchemin décrivant les mérites du lauréat. C’est un prix en espèces de 10 000 dollars, plus un voyage aller et retour à Rome du lauréat et de son conjoint pour recevoir le Prix. Il est destiné à récompenser un ou plusieurs auteurs dont les écrits ou les productions utilisant d’autres supports de l’information, tels que la télévision, la radio ou autres, ont éveillé l’intérêt public au niveau international et suscité un soutien pour les mesures tendant à réduire le probl·ème alimentaire mondial. Je vais maintenant demander aux lauréats de se presenter mais le Directeur général a maintenant un complément à faire.
LE DIRECTEUR GÉNÉRAL: Simplement pour vous présenter les lauréats de ce quatrième prix, qui illustre parfaitement la multiplicité des médias qu’il entend honorer.
C’est en effet un écrivain bien connu, Mme Claire Brisset, de nationalité française, et uh caméraman et réalisateur de télévision remarqué, M. Mohamed Amin, de nationalité kényenne, qui cette année se partagent ce prix.
Mme Brisset reçoit le prix en hommage aux nombreux articles qu’elle a inlassablement publiés dans les journaux de langue française, et pour son livre “La santé dans le tiers monde”, remarquable tour d’horizon des graves problèmes sanitaires que doivent affronter les pays en développement.
Dans ses écrits, Mme Claire Brisset s’est sans cesse efforcέe d’expliquer avec clarté la complexité et la diversité des problèmes de développement.
A la rigueur et à la gravité de l’information qu’elle a fournie à ses lecteurs elle a toujours su garder en filigrane une dimension émotive, témoignage discret mais parfaitement perceptible de sen dévouement à la cause des plus déshérités de la planète. (Continue en anglais)
The award also goes to Mr Mohamed Amin for his widely televised news coverage of the famine in Ethiopia.
He was one of the first television journalists to make a documentary on this crisis.
His documentary film on the food crisis in Africa entitled “African Calvary: Uncertain Redemption” reached thousands of millions of television viewers and made known the extent of the famine in this country, which was to be termed a famine of “biblical proportions”.
Mr Amin’s coverage led the news bulletins of over 400 of the world’s televised stations, with a potential audience of over 470 million homes. The footage was transmitted by satellite to 98 countries. The impact on the general public was immediate and worldwide.
The Boerma Award is intended for a work which is “likely to increase international public awareness of the world food problem”.
From the figures I have just quoted, it will be clear to everyone, Mr Amin, that you have more than achieved your goal.
Mrs. Brisset and Mr Amin, I am sure that I speak in the name of all those present today, as well as in the name of all the readers and viewers who have had occasion to know your work, when I express to both of you my appreciation for your remarkable work in the field of information.
You have been able to make public opinion aware of the serious problems affecting the Third World, and thereby contribute to mobilizing international solidarity in favour of the ideals which FAO had embodied for the last 40 years.
This award adds up to a much bigger one, a priceless one, which is to have helped save millions of people from starvation through your work. On behalf of all of them, I thank you both.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
LE PRESIDENT: Je voudrais maintenant inviter les lauréats à se presenter à la tribune, Mme Claire Brisset et M. Mohamed Amin.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
Mme C. BRISSET (France): Monsieur le Président, Monsieur le Directeur général, Mesdames et Messieurs les délégués, Mesdames, Messieurs, je voudrais tout d’abord remercier l’ensemble de l’Organisation, la FAO, qui vient de me décerner, en compagnie de mon confrère Mohamed Amin, le quatrième Prix Boerma. Ma reconnaissance s’adresse à vous tous qui ici représentez la FAC et les pays Membres. Elle s’adresse à vous, Monsieur le Directeur général, qui témoignez depuis de longues années à la fois de la ténacité, de la patience et de la générosité sans lesquelles une tâche comme la vôtre serait une mission impossible.
Mais mes remerciements s’adressent aussi aux responsables des jouгnaux dans lesquels je travaille et ai travaillé depuis quinze ans: le Figaro d’abord, puis le Monde et le Monde Diplomatique et enfin aujourd’hui la Tribune de l’Economie, qui tous, m’ont^encouragée et aidée à défendre la cause du tiers monde. Je voudrais souligner devant vous que la FAO distingue aujourd’hui à travers moi l’esprit de toute une équipe et toute une conception même de l’information.
Cette distinction survient à point nommé et me sera pour l’avenir un encouragement inestimable pour deux raisons que je voudrais brièvement évoquer devant vous.
En premier lieu parce que surgit en ce moment même, dans les pays industrialises et en raison de la crise économique qu’ils traversent, un doute, une interrogation sur le bien-fondé et l’utilité même de l’aide au développement. Cette interrogation, nous devons y répondre, en particulier en montrant, comme vous le faites, M. le Directeur général, que les interventions d’urgence ne sont pas incompatibles avec l’aide au développement.
La deuxième raison pour laquelle cette distinction nous sera particulièrement encourageante est qu’elle survient à un moment où une autre interrogation surgit, elle aussi dans les pays industrialisés, sur le bien-fondé de l’action, et meme parfois de l’existence des Nations Unies.
Or, si les journalistes que nous sommes peuvent effectuer leur travail dans des conditions parfois très difficiles, c’est parce qu’il se trouve sur leur chemin des fonctionnaires internationaux qui mènent dans le tiers monde une tâche extrêmement ardue dont nous pouvons témoigner.
Je citerai à cet égard les cas du Viet Nam, du Yemen et de nombreux pays d’Afrique, en particulier d’Afrique noire, où j’ai vu des fonctionnaires de l’ONU se dévouer sans compter, aux côtés de leurs homologues nationaux.
Enfin, laissez-moi vous dire pour terminer à quel point je suis heureuse que cette distinction encourage, à travers moi, l’ensemble des journalistes francophones. Il y a parmi eux bon nombre d’Africains. Or nos yeux se tournent particulièrement vers l’Afrique, en ce moment continent sinistré, mais continent de la joie de vivre, et dont l’autosuffisance alimentaire n’est pas à portée de la main. Participer au développement agricole de l’Afrique comme vous avez participé
à celui des autres régions du monde, c’est là l’une des missions pour lesquelles l’Opinion mondiale que nous représentons ici, nous journalistes, compte sur la FAO.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
Mohamed AMIN (Kenya): Mr Chairman, Mr Director-General, distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen! To receive awards is usually a cause for celebration. But while I am deeply honoured to share the 1984-1985 A.H. Boerma Award, I am not celebrating.
The work which brings me this high honour is a series of reports and documentaries about one of the most terrible - and surely unnecessary - disasters in history.
At this point in the 20th century — when we can spend millions of dollars each day on hideous and sophisticated weapons — two thirds of mankind goes to sleep hungry.
In the last 12 months, half a million people have died in Ethiopia alone simply because they had no food. Or it arrived too late to save them.
All because the world took no notice of the many warnings given years before by the FAO and other organizations.
If the world had listened when it was told, I would not have had to record those horrifying images of death last year which were seen in about 500 million homes around the world. They were transmitted by satellite by the company I work for, Visnews, the world’s largest television news agency.
My fellow reporters in Africa and I have been encouraged beyond words by the response that burst forth so spontaneously across the world when these reports were seen on television.
If a daunting amount remains to be done let us not despair of doing it. This last year has shown what can be accomplished.
The problems of Ethiopia are reflected in many countries throughout Africa. The causes of famine are not drought and soil erosion alone but a combination of many things — as the world is now beginning to realise.
Chief is the lack of long-term development and rehabilitation of farmland and farming methods.
Better than we in the media, you, Mr Director-General and the FAO, know only too well what needs to be done to resolve Africa’s cycle of famine and despair.
If the world can spend millions of dollars a day on armaments then surely it can spare a fraction of this to ensure that no person need die again of hunger.
In accepting this Award I do so with the fervent wish that it will bring more attention to bear upon the plight not only of Ethiopians, but of all those everywhere who go hungry to their beds, and starved to their graves. It would be the most grievous crime for us now to relax our efforts.
The tide of hunger in Africa has been checked -- not turned. As one who has seen for himself I ask all concerned: Please, don’t stop now. Let’s go on. Let’s make it possible that one day no child or adult need go to bed hungry.
By this token, you should know that the prize money which I have received today is being devoted to a community water project in the arid north of Kenya together with money which I have been raising for just such a purpose during the past year.
In this way it will go to those who need help the most.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
LE PRESIDENT: Deux orateurs sont inscrits sur ma liste, à savoir le délégué de la France et du Kenya, qui sont les pays respectifs d’origine des deux lauréats. Aussi je passe la parole à l’honorable délégué de la France.
M.J. POSIER (France): Monsieur le President, Monsieur le Directeur général, s’agissant de Mme Claire Brisset, c’est à la fois un plaisir et un honneur pour moi que de prendre la parole à l’occasion de la remíse du Prix qui vient de lui être décerné.
Ainsi que M. Edouard Saouma, Directeur général de l’OAA, l’a fort bien dit, Mme Claire Brisset s’intéresse depuis de longues années aux problèmes du tiers monde. Elle a soutenu avec beaucoup d’énergie et de dévouement la cause des populations mal nourries et démunies, en particulier celle des enfants.
Dans son livre “La santé dans le tiers monde”, elle expose avec beaucoup de clarté et de compétence les problèmes d’alimentation, de santé des populations auxquels le tiers monde doit faire face. Elle a done choisi parmi les domaines si vastes et si variés qui sont ceux du journalisme, un secteur particulièrement noble, utile et qui touche aux problèmes humains fondamentaux. Nous nous réjouissons done très vivement de la distinction qui lui est ainsi conférée, distinction qui, à travers Mme Brisset, honore la France et la délégation française lui adresse ses chaleureuses felicitations.
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
W. Odongo OMAMO (Kenya): Mr Chairman, Mr Director-General, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen: On behalf of the Kenyan Delegation I would like to assure you that we have been greatly moved by the A.H. Boerma Award to our citizen, Mohamed Amin. If you look carefully at the biography and the personal data which are presented here, you will notice that he was born in 1943 - a rather difficult year. Kenyans thought deeply, and gave him the name of a prophet, “May Peace be upon him” -Mohamed Amin.
It is not always easy in public life to provoke anybody by writing, by speaking, or least of all by photographs - but Mohamed Amin has succeeded very well in being provocative through the eye of the camera. He so provoked the international community that “all roads led to Ethiopia”. Even then, in Kenya, we did not know that but when we were provoked by Mohamed Amin - “all roads led to Ethiopia”. The response of the international community was excellent - and I would like to say that this is the kind of international citizen that we would want to commend to you, Mr Chairman, to the Director-General, to the United Nations system, to become a citizen of the world - not just a citizen of Kenya, but a citizen of the world. Back home, Mohamed Amin has been a good boy, a very good boy.
Did you hear him say that he will use the funds to support self-help projects in the Northern part of Kenya, a semi-arid area? He is responding to the national call.
I do not want to bore you, but if you look at his personal data you will notice what I mean when I say that he is a good boy. Do you know that in Kenya the rate of population increase is too high? Everyone is involved, everyone is concerned, and the Kenyan Government has now made a policy that the high.growth-rate of population in Kenya must be halted, and every good Kenyan citizen must obey. I would like to draw your kind attention to the fact that Mohamed Amin and his dear wife have only been able to bring forward for us one child - Mohamed Amin is highly commended!
Applause
Applaudissements
Aplausos
LE PRESIDENT: Excellence, Mesdames et Messieurs, vous vous êtes tous réjouis de ce magnifique trait d’humour qui caractérise le distingué délégué du Kenya, lequel a réussi à nous détendre à la fin de notre réunion de ce soir.
La quatrième seance plénière est levée.
The meeting rose at 17.30 hours
La séance est levée à 17 h 30
Se levanta la sesión a las 17.30 horas
