Jose TUBINO (Canada): The Canadian delegation would like to take the opportunity given in this forum to comment briefly on Canadian performance with respect to Guidelines 7, 8 and 12.
As stated in paper C 89/18, Canada has made progress in regard to Guideline 7 and continues to work actively towards enhancing trade liberalization in the multilateral trade negotiations. The Cairns Group is proposing a reform package for agricultural trade policy in a position paper that will be discussed in next week's Cairns Group meeting in Thailand. Approval by ministers would allow the position paper to be tabled at the November 27-28 meeting of the negotiating group on agriculture.
Regarding Guideline 8, Canada stresses that the economic environment in which international commodity agreements must currently operate differs greatly from what was originally anticipated. International markets have experienced large cyclical fluctuations brought on by both demand and supply forces. Equally important are large structural shifts in consumer demand for various commodities, increased export subsidies and growing protectionism. Many developing countries, burdened with heavy debt loads and policies which often do not encourage structural adjustment, have found it hard to respond to structural changes in the various commodity markets and the often fluid pattern of consumer demand. In addition, the various international commodity agreements have often found it hard to adapt their operations to the changes in market conditions and the important role that adjustment must play in responding to the evolving economic environment. Despite this situation, Canada continues to believe that international commodity agreements can play a useful role if they operate in a flexible manner which takes into account the long-term interests of both consumers and producers.
Canada takes a commodity-by-commodity approach in determining its participation in various agreements and how they can best meet the particular challenges facing each commodity. Canada recognizes the important role that commodity organizations have to play in their particular sectors because of the accumulated experience and in-depth knowledge of their staff members with regard to the respective commodities.
FAO can play a particularly useful role in supporting coordination between individual commodity groups and with other institutions to meet the challenges facing agricultural commodity markets. FAO can also assist commodity groups to increase their focus on efficient production practices and policies, in addition to the traditional focus on export development.
In cases where agreements use market intervention mechanisms, preference should be given to export quotas which contain provisions for frequent reviews of market shares and of price parameters that trigger variations in global and individual quotas.
An important constraint facing many commodity agreements is the lack of adequate financing. These should ease as the Comen Fund for commodities becomes operational. As a member of the Common Fund, Canada welcomes this development and is prepared to continue working in the preparations taking place in several intergovernmental commodity groups aimed at making the Common Fund implementable.
Finally, regarding Guideline 12, as Canada has already expressed in its address to the Conference Plenary/ agriculture has been at the heart of Canadian aid since the early days of the Colombo Plan. Over the years, our bilateral commitment to projects of a specifically agricultural character has grown to an annual level of roughly US$ 170 million. The total Canadian commitment is, of course, far greater when related programmes in rural development and multilateral commitments are taken into account. Canada's development cooperation programme is now entirely concessional rather than loans which add to external debt. In addition, Canada's new development cooperation strategy stresses poverty alleviation and food security.
Ms STTI BALKISH SHARIFF (Malaysia): My delegation thanks the Secretariat for the report on Guidelines 7, 8 and 12 which gives an overview of the rather slow progress made with respect to dissuading countries from imposing new tariff or non-tariff barriers, ensuring greater stability of world markets for agricultural products and increasing substantial investment in agriculture. We share the views expressed by some delegates yesterday that much remains to be done if we are to meet the full intent of these guidelines.
With respect to Guideline 7, the malaysian delegation would like to reaffirm our country's commitment to agricultural reforms in the spirit of the April 1989 Trade Negotiating Committee Agreement. Malaysia has always participated actively in the Uruguay Round of negotiations. We feel, however, that FAO can make an important contribution to these negotiations by undertaking an analysis on the full implications of tariff and non-tariff barriers on agricultural trade for the benefit of all member countries. Findings derived, we believe, will be useful in our ongoing efforts to improve world agricultural trade.
R.C.A. JAIN (India): It is a measure of the international community's concern that, while deciding on the change in the periodicity of the review of the progress on the implementation of the guidelines and targets for international agricultural adjustment from every two years to every four years, the 25th FAO Conference made an exception with regard to Guidelines 7, 8 and 12, the progress on which it decided to review at this Conference.
These Guidelines, as we know, mainly concern policies affecting international agricultural trade and market access, stability of world agricultural markets and access to food supplies of food importing developing countries, which are all so vital to free trade in agricultural products in the world and to the prevention of hunger and malnutrition.
The concern of the Conference further highlights the continuing problem of protectionism in the industrial world. As a matter of fact, document C 89/18 refers to the latest OECD annual review of agricultural policies, markets and trade, which reveals that agricultural support in OECD Member States continues to be high. If the quantum of subsidies has decreased for any particular commodity, it is only incidental and mainly because of the higher international market prices which that commodity fetched during that period. Persistent protectionism in these countries, both in its restrictive and distortive aspects, constitutes the principal problem. The policies and techniques of the developed countries have not only restricted export opportunities for the exporting countries but have serious negative implications for the growth and development of world agricultural trade and its stability. we maintain that elimination of such policies and integration of agriculture with the discipline of the General Agreement would lead to expansion and greater stability in world trade in agriculture. The developed countries should therefore take urgent steps to liberalize the markets by eliminating both domestic support programmes and export subsidies.
India welcomes the outcome of the Trade Negotiations Committee meeting of April 1989 and would call upon the developing countries to implement the long-term and short-term measures agreed upon by them. We hope that the agreed framework would provide a firm basis for tailoring the rules and disciplines during future negotiations. The long-term framework for trade in agriculture should ensure scaling down and finally the elimination of distortions and restrictions originating in the industrialized countries within a specified time-frame. We believe that the framework should include the elimination of all provisions for exceptional treatment, elimination of all subsidies and other government support measures having an impact on agricultural trade, prohibition on the use of non-tariff measures not specifically provided for in the GATT, binding of all tariffs on agricultural products at a low level and, finally, elimination of the trade-distoirting effects of sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
As far as the developing countries are concerned, the leadership role of the State in increasing domestic agricultural production and productivity should be recognized. In these countries, government measures to increase agricultural production and productivity and to ensure equity and stability are an integral part of the development programmes not having any effect on trade. Reduction of tariff on agricultural products in these countries should remain a voluntary exercise in accordance with individual development, financial and trade needs.
In regards to tropical products in the Uruguay Round, the Indian delegation would reiterate its position that the developed countries should be willing to extend concessions on tariff without insisting on reciprocal concessions from the developing countries. Such insistence, sometimes in the same sector, was a major impediment in the progress of the Montreal meeting in implementing the concessions envisaged in the Punta-del-Este Declaration. While seme progress in this area has been nade in respect of some tropical products, a lot more needs to be achieved in future negotiations in this area.
Coming to the progress on the implementation of Guideline 8, one finds that the recent years have been particularly bad for negotiations for new International Commodities Agreements. The fall in prices of some of the major tropical commodities made agreements difficult on any arrangements. Besides, some of the developed countries have also been favouring freer working of international markets much to the disadvantage of the developing countries. Even the working of the existing agreements has been seriously threatened and jeopardized on account of the stance taken by some of these countries. The developing countries are looking forward to the operationalization of the Common Fund Accounts which hold great promise through its buffer stocking provisions, and the market development efforts in respect of various ICAs.
India is concerned at the increasing balance of payment problems and the rising prices of cereals leading to limited access to food imports by the low income food deficit countries. The problem has further been compounded by the dwindling food aid which registered a new low in the year 1988 - the lowest in the last six year period and much below the minimum annual target of 10 million tons fixed by the World Food Conference in 1974. The resources position of IEFR and the WFP is also none too happy and warrants concerted action by the international community. It is a matter for further concern that during the year 1987, there was a net outflow of US$ 38 million from the developing countries on the long-term debts. This situation is further exacerbated when one hears Mr Dutia confirming that the external assistance to agriculture was the lowest at constant prices in the year 1987 since 1981. The guideline target of US$ 8.3 billion is nowhere in the picture let alone the target of US$ 11-12.5 billion at 1975 prices that the guideline indicates as the requirement of 1990.
While India welcomes the shift in the development assistance from the project aid, as also the decrease in the source-tied aid, it would urge the developed world and the international funding organization to make all out efforts to maintain the flow of adequate external assistance to the developing countries to accelerate the process of their agricultural development. They should also ensure financing of local costs as well as recurring costs to enhance the aid absorbing capabilities of the developing countries.
Thank you Mr Chairman and my fellow delegates for your patient hearing on my rather long intervention.
Paulo Estivallet DE MESQUITA (Brazil): I would like to start by thanking the Secretariat for its very useful and, overall, rather balanced report.
With regard to Guideline 7 the report may, if anything, err a little bit on the optimistic side. To start with we view the higher prices of some agricultural commodities in 1988 as a conjunctival situation, largely attributable to climatic conditions in certain areas such as North America. It may actually prove to have been a mixed blessing as it temporarily reduced the pressure for reform on some the most remittent protectionists.
In spite of the existence of the commitment to stand still and roll back trade barriers in the context of the Uruguay Round, old and new trade barriers in the major market continue to deny export opportunities to the developing countries. Moreover, the farmers of the South have been the casualties of the subsidies war between the European Economic Community and the United States. Brazil, for one, has been watching the reduction of its share of the sugar market both in the Community and in the United States for several years. More recently, Brazil's exports of soy beans have been displaced in third markets by American exports subsidized under the export enhancement programme.I must also mention the EEC quota for high quality beef, referred to in paragraph 18 of the Report, is very unevenly distributed. The quota allocated to Brazil is extremely small in view of the quantity and reliability of Brazilian supplies, and corresponds in fact to a denial of most favoured nation treatment.
In paragraph 4, the document mentions that "with the resumption of the Uruguay Round negotiations, certain progress has been achieved in the negotiations on tropical products". Lest we forget, Mr Chairman, the Brazilian delegation would like to recall that the Declaration which launched the Kennedy Round of multilateral trade negotiations in the 1960s, stated as its objective "the complete liberalization of trade in tropical products at the end of the Round". In the 1970s, the Tokyo Round set itself the same goal, again with very little consequence. The Punta del Este Declaration, which launched the Uruguay Round, once more listed the complete liberalization of trade in tropical products as a priority negotiating objective. Moreover, the developed countries should not request and should not expect reciprocity for liberalization in this area. Yet, so far the only thing which has been achieved is the provisional inclusion of disappointingly short lists of products in the Generalized System of Preference schemes of some countries. Besides, it must be pointed out that it is in the area of processed tropical products that some of the most glaring cases of tariff escalation are to be found.
In paragraph 6 of the report, reference is made to the proliferation of trade agreements among developed countries, such as the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement and the process of creation of a single market in the European Economic Community. We would have welcomed an analysis of the likely impact of these agreements on the agricultural exports of the developing countries. Past experience shews that these regional agreements often result in much more trade diversion, at the expense of the developing countries, than trade creation. We wish the FAO could in the future provide us with inputs and recommendations regarding this issue.
Under the circumstances, Mr Chairman, we pin our hopes on the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations. But the achievement of the Round and the implementation of its results are still some way ahead of us. We expect therefore the developed countries to display the necessary political will to comply with Guideline 7 as soon as possible. The distinguished delegate from Belgium made yesterday what amounts to a call for optimism and patience. Unfortunately, we cannot go along with that. Optimism and patience are luxury items for countries burdened by huge foreign debts, in good measure incurred by virtue of the deterioration of their terms of trade and the reduction of agricultural export earnings.
With regard to Guideline 8, the situation is even worse. During the last decade, we have seen the demise of most international commodity agreements. Brazil continues to view those agreements as an important and useful tool to stabilize prices and export revenues. They cannot however function properly unless the causes of price instability are tackled. Foremost among these are the very high interest rates prevalent throughout this decade, and the protectionism and subsidies in the major markets which have contributed to depress and destabilize international prices. For the developing countries, it is difficult to believe that the free play of market forces could by and of itself stabilize prices and arbitrage neutrally the losses and gains of consumers and producers in case of chance events such as crop failures, particularly in view of the fact that trade in the main agricultural commodities is concentrated in the hands of a small number of large transnational trading companies.
On the other hand, the entry into force of the Agreement establishing the Common Fund for Commodities is to be hailed as a significant event. We expect the Common Fund to play a major role in the achievement of the objectives laid down in Guideline 8.
As regards Guideline 12, I would like to make two brief comments. The first is to regret the low level and the declining trend of official commitments to agriculture. This is even more regrettable when seen against the background of negative net resource flows which constitute, as the head of my Delegation mentioned in his speech before the Plenary, a sort of Marshall Plan in reverse. Second, I would like to restate the position put forward by Brazil in different fora, against artificial distinctions being made between developing countries. These distinctions do not reflect accurately the reality of underdevelopment, which unfortunately is the persistence of large pockets of deep poverty across the whole of the Third World.
Finally, Mr Chairman, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that there is a close link between the three guidelines. Several years ago, the developed countries decided to stress that aid was not a solution, and the slogan "trade, not aid" was invented. But the years have shewn little disposition on the part of some countries to reduce protectionism. The situation is one in which both trade and aid fall far behind the needs and possibilities of the developing countries. This is not conducive to sustainable development.
Mauricio CUADRA (Nicaragua): Mi delegación desea agradecer a la Secretaria por la documentación tan valiosa que nos ha presentado. Hemos pedido el uso de la palabra en esta parte de nuestro débate para enfatizar, muy brevemente, algo que ya fue señalado por nuestro Ministro al intervenir ante el Plenario de esta Conferencia.
Se hacen esfuerzos, pero creemos que falta mucho camino por recorrer para cumplir con estas orientaciones. En primer lugar, queremos referirnos a la Orientación 7 y en ella, específicamente, al contenido del párrafo 6 del documento. Es correcto, señor Presidente, que hay preocupación entre países en desarrollo productores de banano que hoy sumistran fruta al mercado europeo por lo que va a suceder con la creación del Mercado Unico Europeo y las consecuentes medidas restrictivas para los productos de fuera del área. Dejamos planteada esta inquietud. Estamos seguros de que la Comunidad Económica Europea, cuya política hacia el área, en particular hacia Centroamérica, ha sido beneficiosa, especialmente en los últimos tiempos, va a tomar en cuenta estas situaciones y los planteamientos que aquí se han hecho incluso por otras delegaciones, en particular la Delegación de Colombia.
A nuestro país preocupan especialmente estas medidas restrictivas y queremos señalar que es muy particular nuestra situación, porque ya sufrimos un ilegal bloqueo comercial que impide el acceso de nuestros productos al mayor mercado del área, caso que ya es conocido de todos ustedes; de manera que cualquier medida adicional que restrinja el acceso de nuestros productos a otros mercados agrava más la situación. La Orientación 7 habla claro en el sentido de que los países desarrollados deben dar muestras de la necesaria voluntad política y abstenerse de aplicar medidas no arancelarias que perturben arbitrariamente el comercio.
Señor Presidente, el bloqueo que sufre mi país de parte de la mayor potencia continental viola no sólo esta orientación, sino el espíritu mismo del GATT. Nosotros creemos que es hora de que en un mundo en proceso de distensión se dejen de aplicar este tipo de medidas en contra de países del área, ya que somos varios los que sufrimos estas arbitrariedades. No creemos que se pueda hablar aquí de liberalización del comercio, cuando al mismo tiempo estamos fícente a medidas arbitrarias de restricción y bloqueo con fines políticos. Dejamos planteadas estas inquietudes.
Por otro lado, y atinente a la Orientación 8, reiteramos el llamado de atención a la crisis que se está viviendo en muchos países en desarrollo productores de café por la ruptura del Convenio Internacional del Café y la consiguiente caída de los precios del grano a la mitad o más. Esta crisis, vivida en países donde ya de por sí la economía está resquebrajada, tiene consecuencias graves. Señalamos que los países consumidores que han contribuido a romper el Convenio deben reflexionar y, en conjunto, buscar medidas correctivas. Nos sumamos también aquí a la preocupación manifestada por otras delegaciones, en particular por la Delegación de Colombia.
Finalmente, señor Presidente, no podemos dejar pasar la mención que se hace a la situación de la reducción que sufrirá la ayuda alimentaria y la merita de la Reserva Alimentaria Internacional de Emergencia.
Estas son preocupaciones que, junto con otras expuestas por numerosos colegas, deben quedar bien recogidas en nuestro informe.
Pascal BRIODIN (France): Sans revenir longuement sur la ligne d'orientation 7, je souhaiterais mettre en valeur trois des idées fortes qu'a exprimées le représentant de la Commission au nom de la communauté européenne et des Etats Membres: la première de ces lignes directrices est la politique courageuse suivie par la Communauté en matière agricole (baisse des prix de soutien, mise en place de stabilisateurs budgétaires, etc.); la seconde est la facilité d'accès au marché communautaire pour la très grande majorité des produits agricoles des pays associés; la troisième est la volonté de réussir les négociations comerciales en cours en s'attachant notamment à ce que les pays en développement fassent l'objet d'un traitement spécifique.
Cette Commission No 1 aura remarqué que, sur les sujets de compétence communautaire, les douze Etats Membres de la Communauté européenne s'expriment d'une seule voix.
La Communauté européenne est ainsi devenue un partenaire important dans la coopération internationale, et l'un des plus gros contributeurs de l'aide publique au développement.
La deuxième partie du document C 89/18 est consacrée à la ligne d'orientation 8 et dresse l'état des lieux dans le domaine des accords internationaux de produits. Notre délégation tient à souligner qu'elle déplore que l'époque soit défavorable à la plupart de ces accords. La France a souvent exprimé le souhait d'une meilleure coopération internationale pour la régulation des marchés de matières premières, et le maintien pour les pays exportateurs de prix rémunérateurs: à ce titre, mon pays a toujours exprimé une position de principe en faveur de ces accords internationaux de produits.
Nous nous joignons aux nombreuses dlégations qui déplorent les échecs des Accords cacao et café. Mais nous constatons que d'autres accords fonctionnent de manière plus favorable, notamment l'Accord caoutchouc; il faut donc, à notre sens, poursuivre dans la voie d'une meilleure régulation des marchés.
La mise en place du Fonds commun pour les produits de base est pour nous une source d'espoir. Ce fonds dispose de deux guichets. Le premier doit servir à soutenir les accords internationaux de produits. Le second, quant à lui, doit permettre de soutenir des actions propres à améliorer le fonctionnement des marchés.
Sans préjuger l'efficacité d'un outil qui ne peut à lui seul tout résoudre, nous nous réjouissons des voies nouvelles qu'il est susceptible d'ouvrir. Les marchés internationaux sont instables par nature; c'est pourquoi les solutions passent, de notre point de vue, par une organisation des marchés aux niveaux national et régional. Il faut promouvoir des dispositifs de angulation des marchés qui s'appuient sur une analyse complète des besoins nationaux, sur une meilleure maîtrise des flux aux stades de la production, de la transformation et de la distribution, sans se priver pour autant de la souplesse que procure le recours au marché mondial pour les produits les plus courants.
La troisième partie de ce rapport traite de l'aide extérieure fournie à l'agriculture des pays en développement. Ma délégation déplore la baisse considérable des transferts de ressources vers les pays en développement et regrette que l'objectif de 8,3 milliards de dollars E.-U. (aux prix de 1975) n'ait pas été atteint.
La France, pour sa part, n'a cessé d'accroître les transferts publics vers les pays en développement, et je veux insister sur le fait que le pourcentage de l'aide française accordée au secteur agricole et, plus généralement, au développement rural, est et restera élevé.
Enfin, je serais incomplet si je ne mentionnais pas plus particulièrement l'importance et l'originalité profonde du dispositif d'aide mis en place par la Communauté européenne. Comme l'a rappelé M. Ray Me Sharry, membre de la Commission des Communautés européennes, celle-ci gère un budget de plus de 2 milliards d'écus destinés à la coopération avec les pays en développement. J'ajoute que les sommes consacrées à l'agriculture représentent près du quart de ce montant; d'autre part, la Communauté privilégie l'aspect qualitatif de l'aide et offre une large gamme d'instruments. Deux de ces instruments concernent directement les produits de base: il s'agit du Stabex et du Stabex à destination des PMA. Nul ne peut nier l'effort consenti en ce domaine et il faut souhaiter que l'initiative européenne puisse être relayée par d'autres.
Je ne voudrais pas terminer sans souligner de nouveau l'ampleur de la tâche qui reste à accomplir et souhaiter que la communauté internationale sache tirer les leçons des échecs et des succès de la coopération dans le domaine abordé sous ce point de l'ordre du jour.
Joâo LUSEVIKUENO (Angola): Monsieur le Président, ita délégation, comme celles qui l'ont précédée, souhaite vous rappeler toute l'importance qu'elle accorde au Rapport intérimaire sur les lignes d'orientation 7, 8 et 12, relatif à l'ajustement agricole international.
Avant de commencer l'examen de ce point, ma délégation souhaite présenter quelques observations d'ordre général sur le document. Quand on parle de l'ajustement structurel, ma délégation sous-entend "une révision de la structure d'un système, lequel peut être monétaire, commercial, agricole ou autre". Dans ce cas précis, il s'agit de la restrurturation d'un système mondial agricole où la tendance qui se dessine actuellement est celle qui consiste à prendre des mesures à caractère conjoncturel sur des problèmes d'ordre structurel. Ma délégation considère que ces mesures sont palliatives, sinon éphémères, du fait que les véritables causes structurelles n'ont jamais été démantelées; à ce titre, si on ne fait pas très attention, les résultats obtenus jusqu'à présent, bien que substantiels, risquent d'être effacés.
Heureusement, en dépit de tous les défis, le système des Nations unies a survécu à toutes les épreuves de notre temps et même ceux qui voulaient ignorer l'Organisation des Nations Unies en tant que tribune pour l'action collective des Etats réalisent de plus en plus que l'Organisation mondiale constitue un instrument irremplaçable de régulation des relations internationales et de solution des problèmes internationaux qui nous concernent tous. Sans les Nations Unies, il ne serait pas possible de parvenir à la démocratisation la plus profonde et la plus vaste possible des relations internationales. Cela nous pousse à nous poser la question suivante: sans la FAO, quel serait l'avenir de l'humanité d'ici l'an 2000, surtout celui des pays les plus démunis?
Ma délégation profite de cette occasion pour rendre hommage au Secrétariat qui nous a présenté un document complet et très riche d'enseignements, bien que ne comportant pas de recommandations. Je comprends que la FAO ne soit pas l'enceinte appropriée pour résoudre un certain nombre de problèmes.
S'agissant de la ligne d'orientation 7, ma délégation manifeste sa préoccupation du fait que, migré les engagements répétés des principales nations marchandes de maintenir le statu quo et de refouler le protectionnisme, l'encadrement du commerce international s'est plutôt accentué. Un quart des exportations des pays en développement de produits autres que les combustibles vers les pays développés à économie de marché est en butte à une vaste gamme de mesures non tarifaires telles que les mesures paratarifaires, les restrictions quantitatives, la surveillance des quantités importées et des prix, le régime des licences non automatiques et les limitations volontaires des exportations.
A la différence des droits de douane qui s'appliquent de la même manière à tous les partenaires commerciaux, les mesures non tarifaires, et en particulier les limitations volontaires après négociation des exportations, peuvent être employées à l'encontre de tel ou tel partenaire commercial. L'abandon progressif du multilatéralisme en faveur du bilatéralisme pour la solution des conflits commerciaux est lourd de conséquences pour les exportations des pays en développement et l'absence de négociation est un handicap évident dans les négociations bilatérales. De ce fait, ma délégation exprime sa profonde inquiétude quant au déséquilibre naissant dans la série de négociations de l'Uruguay Round, à cause de la finalité inadéquate donnée aux domaines intéressant spécialement les pays en développement ainsi qu'aux pressions croissantes exercées sur eux pour qu'ils acceptent de nouvelles obligations et fassent des concessions incompatibles avec leurs besoins de développement, financiers et commerciaux.
Sur le plan de l'agriculture, il importe que des mesures adéquates soient prises pour libéraliser le commerce international en éliminant progressivement les subventions à l'exportation pour les produits agricoles, en n'imposant pas de nouvelles restrictions et en facilitant l'accès aux marchés pour les produits des pays en développement. Etant entendu que l'agriculture est d'une importance capitale pour les pays en développement et que, dans ces pays, la mjorité de la population en dépend pour ce qui est de l'emploi et de la subsistance, il importe que les pays développés honorent les engagements relatifs au statu quo et au démantèlement pris dans la Déclaration sur la série de négociations commerciales multilatérales (NCM) et l'examen à mi-parcours.
Concernant la ligne d'orientation 8 et plus particulièrement les accords de base, ita délégation souhaite rappeler que, suite à la baisse drastique des prix, les pays en développement exportateurs de produits de base connaissent depuis dix ans un important déclin de leurs recettes d'exportation, ce qui détériore leur situation économique, provoque une stagnation de leur développement/ alourdit le fardeau de leur dette et dégrade le niveau de vie de leur population.
Toutefois, la délégation angolaise se félicite de l'entrée en vigueur, le 19 juin 1989, du Fonds commun de base et du fait que sa mise en oeuvre imprimera une forte impulsion à la recherche d'une solution durable aux problèmes de produits de base; elle profite de cette occasion pour lancer un vibrant appel à tous les Etats Membres qui ont signé et n'ont pas encore ratifié l'Accord sur le Fonds commun, en particulier les grands exportateurs et consommateurs de produits de base, pour qu'ils adhèrent sans délai à ce Fonds commun et contribuent de façon constructive à l'établissement de conditions stables sur le marché mondial des produits de base qui profiteraient éventuellement aussi bien aux producteurs qu'aux consommateurs.
Josef FOJTL (Czechoslovakia) : Allow me to comment briefly on the fulfilment of the individual guidelines in Czechoslovakia.
On Guideline 7, the access to markets, Czechoslovakia is a traditional importer of a number of agricultural commodities which do not grow in our conditions. Access to the Czechoslovak market is promoted in favour of the developing countries. The 42 least developed countries have duty-free access. Other developing countries are free from 75 percent or, for some products, from 85 percent of import duties. This policy was simple to follow in the old centrally planned system. As is known, however, economic reconstructions are being implemented, and elements of the market system are being introduced. In addition, a policy leading to a continuous limiting of subsidies is being practised. This creates a new situation. In the new conditions Czechoslovakia wants to continue to apply the preference system favourable for developing countries.
On Guideline 12, concerning external assistance, Czechoslovakia well understands and supports the desire of developing countries for diversification of their economies and especially of the agricultural sector. We support the desire of those countries for a larger participation in processing, marketing and distribution of agricultural products. Czechoslovakia is aware of the problems and difficulties which affect a number of developing countries in this area.
That is why we give assistance to developing countries which is focused on the field of granting credits under favourable conditions, completion of investment projects, delivering Czechoslovak experts and training people from developing countries in Czechoslovakia.
In our opinion, the human factor is the most important one. Good knowledge, organization and management are the keys to development. Technical assistance should lay more stress on this area in the future, in our view. We shall probably discuss this point in detail this afternoon. Especially in this field Czechoslovakia is interested in further extension of technical assistance and of cooperation with FAO.
Paul R. ERYDEN (Australia): My delegation has made its views on the GATT Uruguay Round in our earlier intervention on that item. We do welcome the intervention of the United States, with much of which we agree, and I generally associate my delegation with the sentiments of the interventions by
Colombia and Argentina. There are some developed countries, such as those in the Cairns Group, which very much share the interests of the developing countries in meaningful agricultural liberalization and adjustment. In my delegation's view, the pace of agricultural adjustment, as outlined in document C 89/13, has been disappointingly slow, particularly in the developing countries.
While the paper is essentially a list of policy reforms in developed countries, the agricultural policy reforms recently undertaken by Australia, have been overlooked and for us this is a serious deficiency.
Our comments on specific paragraphs in the document can be summarized as follows : paragraph 3 - it is not clear whether the FAO considers that input support prima facie distorts trade. These policies affect domestic consumption, and production, and thus trade flows. The cost of trade distorting policies can include significant losses arising from the misallocation of resources within a country, in addition to budgetary costs. This point is not nade. In general, budgetary costs are a poor measure of the true efficiency cost of the support programme, as these tend to fluctuate with world price and exchange rate changes. In addition, relatively low support levels in large countries are more likely to distort international trade to a greater extent than similar support levels in smaller countries.
Regarding the suggestion of a footnote on the total costs listed in paragraph 3, presumably that footnote would note that the figure might indeed be larger.
Pragraph 4 states that certain industrialized countries have introduced changes in agricultural policies, which have the effect of reducing barriers to trade, reducing subsidies on production and limiting growth of agricultural support expenditures. This is not the case for cereals.
The EEC has introduced measures aimed at constraining budgetary expenditure and production through reducing support prices. However, translation of these price reductions through the green currency system often means increases in prices in domestic terms. The EEC import levies which reflect internal support prices remain high. The United States has recently increased the area wheat growers are permitted to plant to 115 percent of their base acreage and still remain eligible for programme benefit. For both, export subsidy programmes are still distorting world cereal trade.
In paragraph 9 there is some debate as to the effectiveness of EEC "stabilizers". In particular, Australian research authorities have argued that the policy controls could be weakened by the lack of fully binding expenditure limits and the existence of loopholes which could result in a circumvention of agreed disciplines over time. It is also argued that the net effect of stabilizers on production and exports will be limited in many cases, and that changes in green currency exchange rates have the potential to further weaken stabilizers. In our view, there has been a disappointing response to the set-aside programme, underlining the need to lower price support before land set-aside programmes become attractive.
In paragraph 10, the first sentence seems to contradict the last. ïhe first one states that "significant steps to reduce price support for wheat and coarse grains" have been taken by the EEC, Canada and the United States, If this assertion is based on reduction in PSEs, these were significantly influenced by higher world cereal prices, rather than reductions in assistance.
Paragraph 10 also states that land farmed was reduced under the United States' Area Reduction Programme in 1989-90, In the 1990.91 season, land allocated to wheat fanning was increased to 115 percent of the base rate.
Paragraph 11 indicates that a number of countries have cut their quotas and a tariff arrangements for certain grains. We are not aware of any. Perhaps the Secretariat could clarify that.
Paragraph 12 ignores entirely the significant liberalization of wheat-support arrangements in Australia during 1988-89 and 89-90. ïhese include the elimination of the Australian Wheat Board's monopoly of the domestic market, the termination of administrative pricing arrangements, determination of guaranteed miniimum pricing arrangements, and the phasing down of the level of guarantee to 90 percent of the net pool.
Paragraph 20 - again recent reforms in the Australian dairy sector have been overlooked; for example, the removal of the product levy on cheese and butter.
Paragraph 22 addresses Guideline 8 and indicates slow progress on the negotiation of international commodity agreements to stabilize agricultural product markets. Australia is not in favour of such agreements, which seek to defend designated prices. Australia supports the GATT position, that international negotiations should aim establishing a market-oriented agricultural system.
Paragraph 25 - while purchases and sales through the buffer stock under the International Natural Rubber Agreement may have been profitable, this does not imply that the Agreement promoted an efficient allocation of resources.
Paragraph 40 talks about increasing Third World debt. We reiterate previous comments that low agricultural prices have limited the export earnings of developing countries and increased their indebtedness.
In summary, progress in adjustment has been disappointing, but the opportunity is now there in the GATT Round to make progress. We must not let that last chance slip by.
Janusz ROWINSKI (Poland): Poland shares the opinions expressed in the document and by many previous speakers, that in the last years the trade liberalization process has been slow and uneven. Therefore, we attach great importance to the Uruguay Round of Negotiations, and especially to the essays to achieve multilateral regulation of international trade in food and farm products.
Poland is an active participant in these negotiations. At the same time, we are rapidly transforming our economic system. One of the most important parts of the programme of reforms is the opening of the Polish economy, inter alia, through the liberalization of imports as well as of financial flows and direct foreign investment. The principal regulator of foreign trade is to be the exchange rate of the Polish currency. We also intend to negotiate the protocol of Poland's access to GATT, changing the obligation to increase the volume of imports to tariff liberalization. As a result of this, the position of Poland would be identical to that of the other GKTT members.
The effect of all the transformations will be the liberalization of our foreign trade, food and farm products included.
Crispus R.J. NYAGA (Kenya): The Kenyan delegation wishes to commend the Secretariat for preparing a very informative and impartial document on the progress in the implementation of the Guidelines on International Agricultural Adjustment. These Guidelines are very important to us, and Kenya, like other developing countries, looks forward to their speedy implementation. Therefore, we appreciate the efforts made by the Secretariat to bring forward the progress report for discussion during this year's Conference. we concur with the Secretariat and with many other delegations who have spoken before us, that implementation of these Guidelines has been very slow.
Regarding Guideline 7, my delegation has already expressed its views and strong desires to see the removal of the barriers to agricultural and agro-based products, particularly from developing countries, in order to improve their access to international markets. Ihis calls for the goodwill of the developed countries, deliberately to encourage trade in agricultural products from developing countries, in order to help them to overeóte their econcmic difficulties. Kenya, as an agricultural country, relies heavily on agriculture for the livelihood and the future development of its people. Currently 50 percent of the total export earnings are derived from the sale of agricultural products, including coffee, tea, horticultural crops and other minor agricultural commodities. These export earnings enable the country to import industrial goods, machinery and agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides, none of which are manufactured in the country.
The recent rapid decline of coffee prices following the break-down of the international coffee agreement has therefore dealt a hard blow to the economy of our country and no doubt other countries similarly placed. The overall incomes and profitability of this enterprise has been reduced drastically. This in turn has made it difficult for farmers to purchase necessary inputs and rendered it irrational to apply good husbandry techniques in many cases. The repercussions of this situation are beginning to be felt in the area of employment and the overall economy of the country and will, if it continues longer, bring about long-tern negative influx on the general performance on agriculture and the economy.
This situation, I am quite sure, obtains in most of the developing countries which depend on coffee. Coffee prices, as weall know, have fluctuated widely for many years, crossing corresponding fluctuation and uncertainties in the economies of producing countries. It is the opinion of my delegation that the long-term solution to this problem lies in the diversification of our agricultural export commodities which will bring about more stable incomes.
While we appeal for the cooperation and goodwill of the producers and consumers of this commodity to urgently work out a new agreement designed to restore and stabilize coffee prices at an acceptable level, we would also appeal to the developed countries, the FAO and other international donor agencies to assist our countries to establish new alternative enterprises which in the long run will diversify our exports and stabilize our incomes. We are sure many opportunities exist which could be exploited towards this end.
Mahmoud SAMY (Egypt) (original language Arabic): I shall try to be very brief as far as I am able in reviewing document 89/18. I would like first to express our disappointment because, as you all know, we are very soon going to be starting on the decade of the '90s, whereas the Guidelines which are the main subject of this document have not yet been agreed upon and the indications for the '90s are not optimistic, and in spite of the efforts which have been made, countries have not taken into account the criterion which is of assistance and help to others. We must stress the present economic circumstance which is, of course, as usual the developing countries who suffer from these unacceptable situations. Developed countries, of course, speak frcm time to time of the free market and from time to time they speak of protectionism, and this depends on the commodity to be imported or exported and, this disrupts the international market.
I must also underline the lack of progress in applying Guideline number 8, because the food-importing countries have not been in a position to meet their need totally, and as underlined in paragraph 36, the price of cereals for import is increasing, and this worsens the debt problem for developing countries. It must also be remembered that developing countries are suffering from a lack of demand for their national commodities, and my delegation still hopes that developed countries will make greater efforts to make progress in applying the Guidelines which are mentioned in the document, and this will help us to achieve international balance in agricultural trade which will be of great help to everybody.
Y.K. ATTA-KONADU (Ghana): The Ghana delegation shares with other delegations in deploring the snail progress made so far in imnting Guideline 7 as contained in document C 89/18. Of course, we are not unaware of the fact that budgetary and agricultural policies differ from country to country and from one regional grouping to another. We are therefore not surprised at the somewhat "free-rider" trading behaviour exhibited by some countries and regional groupings. As set out in paragraph 4 of the document C 89/18, industrialized countries have brought about some changes in their agricultural policies which have the effect of reducing barriers to trade and reducing subsidies on production and slowing down the growth of agricultural support expenditures. However, it is regrettable to observe that the level of suport still being provided to agriculture through the policies of most of the industrialized countries remains high and market failures and distortions stemming from unfair competition continue to create problems for importing countries, especially the developing countries.
The problem of market access in agricultural trade involving processed and tropical horticultural products from the ACP countries remains unresolved. The Single European Market concept is of concern to exporters of tropical fruits, especially from West Africa, my delegation believes that this concept ought to be reviewed to harmonize with the provisions in Guideline 7.
Ghana believes that animal production in Africa, particularly west Africa has been suffering for many years from cheaper, subsidized imports of meat and skim powdered milk. The traditinal natural markets for these are at present over-supplied with cheap meat and skim milk powder (some of which are of doubtful quality and wholesomeness) from the EEC and some countries in South America. The effect has been not only reduction of meat and milk production in these countries, but also strangulation of meat and milk production in these countries, and of domestic development of the industry. The reason is that this has a disincentive effect on local production and frustrates efforts at innovation and intensification among the affected African livestock producers My delegation would therefore urge that the implementation of Guideline 7 be effected unconditionally in order to help develop our livestock industry.
We have a few comments to make on Guideline 8. Ghana has demonstrated its comparative advantage in the production of such industrial crops as coconut, palm oil, rubber, cotton, and tobacco and other products such as coffee and timber. But after encouraging rapid growth from small pockets of communal production in the mid-70s output collapsed in the deteriorating economic environment.
Regaining the prior growth trends and injecting new dynamism into the sub-sectors under the export diversification programme is an achievable and important priority because of the contributions such crops can make to rural incomes, existing under-utilized processing industries and export earnings. But we believe that development in these areas of Guidelines 7, 8 and 12 will determine the exent of our success.
The crucial contributions of cocoa, not only of rural incomes and domestic savings mobilization, but also to fiscal and foreign exchange, makes it a keystone in mapping out an agricultural growth strategy for my country.
However, prices of cocoa and coffee have fallen precipitously during the past two years as a result of the markets remaining heavily in surplus. In the face of the mounting surpluses we urge the FAO to look into the economics of introducing for the first time quality related price differentials for cocoa and sell the idea to the participants of the cocoa agreement negotiations. With supply outstripping demand, and the dwindling exports earnings from the crops, there is an urgent need to accommodate new consumers from the non-traditional consuming countries, so that the cocoa market will be widened and pave the way to reach an equitable agreement before the current International Cocoa Agreement expires in September 1990.
Finally, our recovery efforts continue to depend to a significant extent on the mobilization of adequate external resources to make the investment capital requirements. External resource mobilization has acquired even greater importance with the unprecendented collapse of primary commodity prices. Given our high dependence on these primary commodities for export earnings and the increase in production resulting from the initial rehabilitation emphasis on our recovery programme, it would be a cruel irony if Africa's efforts at national recovery should fail because of the current trends in the international primary commodity markets. We therefore urge all consumers of goodwill to make the necessary concessions that would lead to early conclusions of primary commodity agreements.
As we have said in the Plenary, FAO can make a great contribution to ease the situation by re-activating the Inter-governmental Group on Cocoa.
Ghassem TEHRANI YAVARI NEJAD (Iran, Islamic Republic of): We are all aware the four-year round launched in 1986 in Uruguay aims to fight increasing protectionism and update GAIT's 40 year old World Trade Rules. But facts and figures show all these rules are more in the favour of western industrialized countries than developing countries. However, the ongoing meeting of 27 Ministers of countries participating in Tokyo in the Uruguay Round of talks under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) has not yet reached the conclusion, but during recent years in which some countries have taken into account to some extent the Guidelines 7, 8 and 12, Terms of Tradfor Developing Countries, has declined to 19.6 percent in 1986, particularly for the Middle East to 48.6 percent in the sane year, and to 15.6 percent 1988 (Table 1-1 C 89/2).
The overall value of exports by developing countries expressed in Terms of Special Draw Right (SDR), increased only slightly in 1988, but their Terms of Trade deteriorated because of the sharp fall of world oil prices.
In many developing countries, 1987's high inflation accelerated in 1988, particularly in Latin itterica, where stabilization programmes in several countries encountered severed difficulties and consumer prices reached historic heights.
The currencies of most developing countries continued to depreciate in 1987, though more slowly than in previous years. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the real effective value of their currencies declined by 31 percent during the three years ending October 1987.
All these events show unfavourable conditions for the Third world. Nevertheless, some people hoped that the Tokyo meeting would help break a stalemate over tariff cuts, the most fundamental area of negotiation in the 97-nation GATT.
For the time being, most countries advocate tariff reduction by a mathematical formula for all participants, but the United States prefers direct bargaining between trading partners.
Another issue vital to the success of the Uruguay Round is extension of GATT's rules to cover services such as banking and tourism, intellectual property rights such as copyrights and patents, and regulations governing foreign investment. Moreover, the final position reached on this issue would decide the extent to which developing countries committed themselves to GATT.
One point which has vital importance is that industrialized nations are eager to extend GAIT's rules, but many Third World countries fear that open competition in services and tighter control of copyrights and patents could damage their infant industries.
In agriculture, the United States, which has proposed ending subsidies which distort trade in farm products, remains far apart from the 12-nation European Community, which is still committed to its common agricultural policy.
All these discrepancies should be deliberated by developing countries.
Mohamed Saeed HARBI (Sudan) (original language Arabic) : On behalf of my delegation, I should like to thank the Secretariat for the document containing guidelines and which appeals to all countries to eliminate tariff barriers and make easier the access of agricultural products to markets, especially as these are so important for developing countries. This appeal might enable the international market to improve.
As far as my country is concerned, we should point out that our main crop is cotton. Cotton irakes slow progress, but the meat we produce encounters difficulties, and this affects our balance of trade. As far as livestock exports are concerned, there is a slight improvement. After the desertification in the Sahel countries, of which Sudan is one, we are aware of the difficulties which natural resources have suffered. Our government has accepted its responsibility and has paid compensation to all those affected. It should be said that FAO has made every possible effort to help our country.
I vjelccme what is said in Guideline 8 which appeals to the international cannunity to take measures to protect importing countries, expecially those with low incomes, such as my country, to ensure the establishment of acceptable conditions, especially when, as now, there is food deficit. We should point out that Sudan has encountered these difficulties during the 1980s.
Makhtar NAANANI (Maroc): Ma délégation est satisfaite de l'évaluation faite par la FAO au sujet de l'application des trois lignes d'orientation, 7, 8 et 12. Si la Conférence, à sa 24ème Session, avait retenu de suivre plus particulièrement les progrès accomplis dans les domaines couverts par ces orientations, c'est que celles-ci revêtent un caractère prioritaire et urgent.
Ma délégation se félicite de la tendance prise par les pays iustrialisés quant à l'application de ces orientations, et notamment celle relative aux politiques du commerce extérieur. Néanmoins, comme il est bien souligné dans le document C 89/18, l'application de l'ajustement s'effectue à un rythme très lent, et de ce fait son impact sur le commerce international, et plus particulièrement sur les exportations des pays en développement, est insignifiant.
Ma délégation se réjouit de voir certains pays développés adopter des programmes visant à supprimer les restrictions quantitatives applicables aux importations des pays agricoles. Ce sont là des mesures encourageantes qui vont dans le sens de l'assainissement du commerce international.
Toutefois, nous déplorons que le soutien apporté par un grand nombre de pays industrialisés à l'agriculture demeure extrêmement important. Le document cite que pour certains grands produits la concurrence à coup de subventions à l'exportation est restée acharnée et s'est même parfois exacerbée.
Ma délégation espère voir plus de progrès accomplis dans le domaine couvert par les trois orientations. A cet effet, nous lançons un appel pour accélérer l'application des mesures relatives plus particulièrement aux échanges commerciaux de produits agricoles.
Giuseppe VASTA (Observateur de l'OCDE): Je vous remercie pour avoir bien voulu me donner la parole. Je vous félicite pour votre élection et je remercie le Secrétariat pour l'excellente documentation qu'il nous a fournie.
Le problème que nous sommes en train de traiter est d'une importance primordiale et vitale, et les distingués délégués qui m'ont précédé n'ont pas manqué de mettre le doigt sur certaines plaies qui restent encore ouvertes malgré les efforts déployés jusqu'ici.
Le Conseil de l'OCDE, réuni à Paris au niveau des ministres le 31 mai et le 1er juin 1989, a passé en revue la situation économique générale et a examiné les activités de l'action gouvernementale nécessaire au progrès éconemique et social dans la zone OCDE et dans les pays en développement.
Les ministres ont déclaré que la coopération éconemique internationale sera intensifiée sur le plan des politiques aussi bien macroéconemiques que structurelles afin de soutenir, entre autres, le processus d'ajustement extérieur.
Ils ont pris note du rapport conjoint du Comité de l'agriculture et du Comité des échanges de l'OCDE et ont souscrit à ses conclusions. La baisse de la production résultant principalement de la sécheresse en Amérique du Nord mais aussi, dans une certaine mesure, de l'action gouvernementale, a contribué à la réduction des aides en 1988, telles qu'on peut les évaluer au moyen des ESP/ESC (Equivalents des subventions à la production et Equivalents des subventions à la consommation) • Les aides à l'agriculture supportées par les contribuables et les consommateurs ont atteint, comme cela a déjà été dit, environ 270 milliards de dollars. Ce chiffre est inférieur à ceux de 1986 et 1987 mais dépasse ceux de 1985 et des années précédentes. Il faut reconnaître que l'accès aux marchés a été amélioré dans une mesure encore medeste. Par conséquent, les ministres ont confirmé que le processus de réforme de l'agriculture doit être poursuivi énergiquement. Ils ont aussi déclaré que la réforme devrait être assurée sur le plan national comme sur le plan international.
L'OCDE poursuivra son travail de suivi de la réforme agricole, lequel consistera surtout en l'amélioration des indicateurs quantitatifs (notamment les ESP et les ESC) et en l'analyse des tendances des marchés à moyen terme et des mesures spécifiques.
Les travaux en cours sur les politiques de développement rural seront poursuivis pour aider à déterminer les mesures propres à stimuler dans les zones rurales des activités éœnomiquement viables afin de favoriser le développement et la croissance dans le respect de l'environnement. Les ministres ont reconnu que la détérioration continue de l'environnement compromettra la réalisation d'un développement économique durable et l'amélioration de la qualité de vie de tous et que les pays industrialisés ont une responsabilité particulière à cet égard. Il faut reconnaître que tout le monde a intérêt à résoudre les problèmes très graves que nous venons d'évoquer mais, comme cela a été répété plusieurs fois, cette réforme dont on a beaucoup parlé ne pourra être réalisée que progressivement et, par conséquent, prendra du temps. Il faut donc faire usage d'une certaine prudence.
Je suis peu convaincu de l'efficacité de la politique des petits pas mais j'ai pu aussi constater que, dans certains cas, pour accélérer la guérison d'un malade, on lui a administré une dose excessive de médicaments qui a fini par le tuer. Je me permets donc de penser que, dans l'intérêt de tous, il faut éviter de se précipiter sans avoir bien étudié les pas à faire. J'ai confiance dans les négociations du GATT et je concorde avec les déclarations faites par les délégués du groupe des pays de l'OCDE et avec celles de l'observateur de la CEE.
J'espère de tout coeur que cette Conférence constituera un grand pas en avant sur la voie d'un développement général équitable et durable, porteur de bien-être, de paix et de sérénité pour tous. Mais pour arriver à cela, il faut surtout faire preuve de compréhension et de solidarité réciproques afin d'avancer min dans la main sur un chemin qui peut aussi présenter des obstacles.
CHAIRMAN: To conclude our débate, we shall hear the answers to the queries and points raised by delegates. These will be presented by Mr Dutia of the Secretariat.
B.P. DUTIA (Assistant Director-General, Economic and Social Policy Department): Mr Chairman, I have a few specific questions that have been raised by the distinguished delegates during the debate to which I will now try to respond.
The distinguished delegates of Colombia yesterday asked for information on the FAO's activities which are geared to the promotion of International Community Agreements. There are several ways in which FAO's activities have a bearing on the work of the International Community Agreements. Considerable analytical work is undertaken by FAO, that is diagnostic analysis on the reasons for the failure or lack of success of International Community Agreements which would serve as a basis for learning lessons for the future. One example of this, was the work we did a few years ago on the International Sugar Agreement, which was done incidentally in full collaboration with the staff of the International Sugar Organization. Another example is the comparative analytical work done in the past and published in the Community Review and Outlook on the performance of different International Community Agreements.
The second type of activity which we undertake is to have a close liaison with the Secretariat of the International community Councils. We have maintained very close contact in terms of providing and exchanging information, and also to attend and participate and provide such information as is needed in many of the meetings and in re-negotiation sessions. These include the meetings held on sugar, coffee, cocoa, natural rubber, etc., and, of course, wheat also.
Lastly, Mr Chairman, the activities of FAO's intergovernmental community groups themselves also include the analysis in technical terms and the drawing up of options for the international community arrangements. This has been attempted, for example, for bananas and tea in recent year years and through cooperation with the UNCTAD Secretariat in the context of the integrated programme for communities.
In some cases, it has been very clear that international cooperation in the form of formal community agreements could not have been developed, and in such cases certain of our community groups have developed voluntary guidelines for international cooperation in the communities concerned, and examples of this are the guidelines on rice, oilseeds, oils and fats, and the meat and livestock sector.
I would now like to respond to some of the observations made by the distinguished delegate of the United Kingdom regarding the estimates of the total net resource flows to developing countries. We have included data only up to 1987 and we know that the estimates have been made by the Development Assistance Committee for the total net resource flows to developing countries for the year 1988. We have not included that information in the document because the estimates made by the Development Assistance Committee for 1988 do not include the estimates of external assistance to agriculture. In fact, such estimates are not made by the Development Assistance Committee, nor are such estimates available as yet cm the OECD. In view of this, we have not been able to provide complete estimates for 1988, but we do hope that in our future reports we shall be in a position to report on that information.
Another question that was raised by the distinguished delegate from the United Kingdom was regarding the inclusion or non-inclusion of the value of food aid in our estimates. It is true that the value of food aid is not included in our estimates for the external assistance to agriculture because it is not possible to have complete and adequate information on the share of food aid that has been allocated to agriculture. However, food aid is included in the figures presented in the documents for the total net resource flows to developing countries.
The distinguished delegate of the united Kingdom also mentioned that the structural adjustment credits are not included in the data provided by us. I would like to point out that the FAO data bank on external assistance to agriculture includes sector structural adjustment loans, and they are included, therefore, in the figures which are presented in the document, but I must agree that we have not been able so far to determine the share of general structural adjustment loan that is in support of agriculture, and therefore, this element of the resource flow is not included in the data of external assistance to agriculture.
The distinguished delegate of Australia also raised a number of questions. Firstly, he wanted to have our views on the input subsidies, whether they have a trade distorting impact or not. One can recognize that there is a prima facie case that input subsidies can affect trade through their effect on stimulation of production. Whether they distort production patterns or not depends on whether such subsidies are commodity specific or general in their applicability.
A major consideration which should be taken into account is the usefulness of such subsidies in promoting production and productivity and hence, agricultural development and rural incomes, and this has been recognized in the study of price policy which was undertaken by FAO some time ago. One can even concede that the input subsidies by raising incomes and consequently demand for products, including agricultural products and including demand for imports, can have some positive impact on trade in the longer term.
The distinguished delegate of Australia referred to paragraph 10 and observed that there was some contradiction between the first sentence and the last sentence of that paragraph. We feel that there is no contradiction because while the support has been reduced in a number of countries, such as the EEC cut support in terms of ECU, and US also cut the loan rates, and Canada also did so so far as 1988 initial payments are concerned, the last sentence refers to the weather. Of course, while these supports were reduced, at the same time because of the drought, the impact of the drought, the prices in the world markets increased, and therefore the reduction in the PSEs has been much sharper than what it would have been if the prices had remained the same.
The distinguished delegate of Australia also wanted to have information on the countries which are reported to have reduced their import quota arrangements, or increased their import quota arrangements and have cut their tariffs. There are a number of countries which have done so. The information for example of Colombia which increased the wheat import quota; the Republic of Korea put up the grains animal feeds, and Sri Lanka lifted restrictions on rice and so on.
Instead of taking the time of the Conferenoe, I would share this information with the distinguished delegate of Australia at a convenient time.
CHAIRMAN: I thank Mr Dutia for his answers and clarifications, and this concludes for now our discussion of item 6, with the debate on item 6.2 International Agricultural Adjustments: Progress Report on Guidelines 7, 8 and 12. Of course, we will have to resume the discussion on item 6 when we address the two drafting resolutions which are now being scrutinized by the Resolutions Committee.
During the debate on item 7 you will be pleased to note that the Vice-chairman, Mr Detraux, will replace me in the chair. I ask Mr Detraux to come and preside over our deliberations.
E. Detraux, Vice-Chairman of Commission I, took the chair
E. Detraux, Vice-Président de la Commission I, assume la présidence
Ocupa la presidencia E. Detraux, Vicepresidente de la Comisión I
7. Preparations for an International Development Strategy for the Fourth UN Development Decade - FAO's Contribution
7. Contribution de la FAO à la préparation d'une stratégie internationale du développement
7. Preparación de la nueva Estrategia Internacional del Desarrollo para el Cuarto Decenio de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo - Contribución de la FAO
B.P. DÜTIA (Assistant Director-General, Economic and Social Policy Department): Mr Chairman, as you and the distinguished delegates already know, the United Nations General Assembly has embarked upon lei and interrelated activities in the field of development. The first is the decision to convene in April 1990, a Special Session devoted to international economic cooperation, in particular to the revitalization of growth and development of the developing countries. The second activity concerns the preparation of the International Development Strategy for the fourth UN Development Decade; that is, the decade of the 1990s, and this international strategy is to be considered by the UN General Assembly towards the end of 1990. The preparatory work for both these events, which is carried out by Committees of the Whole of the General Assembly, draws on, among other things, appropriate contributions from the entire UN system, including FAO. Indeed the General Assembly Resolution on the International Development Strategy requests specifically the specialized agencies of the UN to include in their agendas during 1989 items regarding their contribution to the preparation of the International Development Strategy.
The Director-General responded positively to this request, both at the inter-secretariat level in the context of the ACC and its appropriate subsidiary bodies, by arranging for FAO participation in the sessions of the two Committees of the Whole of the General Assembly and by supplying appropriate information to the Secretariat of the United Nations.
The Director-General informed the Council at its Ninety-fifth session of these developments. The Council emphasized the particular importance of FAO's contributions. Given the vital role of the food and agriculture and the rural sector in development and in achieving the objectives of both the Special Session and the International Development Strategy, the Director-General has decided to prepare a "Long-Term Strategy for the Food and Agriculture Sector", on the basis of which further FAO contributions to these two events can be made.
The Strategy itself would be a synthesis of the findings of a number of recently completed FAO global and regional studies, such as the "Agriculture: Toward 2000,' and the Regional Studies on Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe. Additionally, the Strategy to be developed by FAO would draw upon existing FAO or FAO-sponsored sectoral strategies, plans of action and undertakings, for example Guidelines and Targets of the International Agricultural Adjustment, the WCARRD Programme of Action, the Tropical Forestry Action Plan, etc. A FAO-wide Task Force has been set up to prepare the Strategy. The document to be discussed under the present agenda item is the Outline and Preview of Contents of this Strategy. After its discussion, and taking into account the Conference recommendations on this document, we intend to revise it and develop it further.
The document which the Conference is about to discuss is structured around a number of central themes, namely revitalization of economic growth in the developing countries, development of human resources and poverty alleviation, and issues of natural resources, environment and sustainability. These are indeed the nain themes which, together with their manifold ramifications, have received particular attention and emphasis in the preparatory work undertaken so far, at both the inter-secretariat level as well as in the two Committees of the Whole of the General Assembly. I should, however, add that in the session held so far by these two Committees, no final decisions have been taken on the structure of the two documents to be prepared for the General Assembly, let alone on the detailed contents. Both the Committees of the Whole in the United Nations have decided to continue their work in the form of informal consultations to be held between their respective chairmen and the regional groups and delegates, pending their further planned sessions. It is to be noted that the delay in reaching agreement so far reflects essentially differences of position of the different country groups and delegations as to the relative emphasis and priority that should be given to each one of the above-mentioned themes and their manifold ramifications.
I will now give a brief account of the key strategy :recommendations that are contained in the document before you.
This document emphasizes agricultural growth as an important component of the total strategy to revitalize economic growth in the developing countries. There is indeed a close interdependence between policies to stimulate agricultural growth and policies pursued for improving the macro-economic situation and the external environment. The agriculture-specific policies must continue to emphasize the four "i's", as we call them - that is, achieving progress in the areas of inputs, incentives, institutions and infrastructure.
The document recognizes that progress towards the objectives of poverty alleviation and human resources development has much to do with the macro-economic policies required for revitalizing economic growth and achieving internal and external balance. In particular, the austerity measures in the stabilization and structural adjustment policies need to be formulated, sequenced and implemented in ways that would minimize their adverse effects on poverty, and that such policies do not undermine efforts to upgrade the human resources via their adverse effects on nutrition, health and education. In the more specific area of agriculture and rural development, the document enphasizes the WCARRD policies to achieve objectives of access to productive resources, inputs and services, people's participation and enhancing the role of women in development.
Finally, the area of natural resources, environment and sustainability, the document recognizes that progress depends greatly on success in tackling the related problems of human needs satisfaction and poverty alleviation. The main thrust is that agricultural development must be promoted, recognizing that the use of resources on a sustainable basis is in the self-interest of the people depending on agriculture, forestry and fisheries. It is also emphasized that an important factor in meeting this objective is the extent to which alternative employment and income-earning opportunities are created outside agriculture, particularly in the context of equitable rural development. The Conference has already gone over the issues of sustainble development and natural resources management in the discussions under the agenda item 6.1, State of Food and Agriculture.
Mr Chairman, as I said earlier, we shall revise and further develop this document and the strategy contained in it, with the benefit of the Conference discussions and recommendations. As requested by the Council at its Ninety-fifth Session in June 1989, the revised Strategy document will be presented to the Council at its Ninety-eighth Session in November 1990. Also, the Strategy document, as revised in the light of the Conference comments and recommendations, will serve as a framework for FAO's contributions to the International Development Strategy and to the Special Session which will need to be made during the course of 1990.
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie M. Dutia pour l'introduction qu'il a bien voulu faire relativement à ce point qui est particulièrement important pour ce qui concerne l'avenir.
J'invite maintenant les délégués à intervenir sur ce sujet, étant donné, comme l'a dit M. Dutia, que leurs commentaires seront tenus en compte pour la révision dans les perspectives de ce document.
John PONTOPPIDAN (Denmark): I have the honour to make this statement on behalf of the five Nordic countries, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
The Nordic countries welcome the quality of document C 89/19, prepared by the Secretariat for the discussion taking place under this item. We are in full agreement that food, agriculture and the rural sector in general have a vital role to play in achieving the most important objectives of the new International Development Strategy, namely growth, development of human resources, reduction of poverty and deprivation, and the promotion of sustainable development.
The Nordic countries also adhere to the notion that structural adjustment, stabilization and sustainable development will continue to be very important policy issues at both national and international levels, and that recognition of the interdependence between these two levels is crucial to the implementation of the new Strategy.
We note the specific recommendations in paragraph 123 in the document and look forward to the discussion of the full strategy document to be submitted to the Council meeting in November next year.
Reverting to the objective of accelerated economic growth, the Nordic countries acknowledge the fact that growth is a pre-requisite for the development of human resources and for poverty alleviation. However, this forum in particular should pay special attention to the interrelation between economic growth and sustainability: it is of utmost importance that short-term progress is not made at the cost of medium- and long-term economic and environmental sustainability. Developed and developing countries alike must make all efforts in order that the pursuance of immediate results does not further hamper the basis of development for future generations.
As the ultimate responsibility for economic policy rests within the sovereign states, it is important that domestic policies be growth-oriented and sound, with a greater reliance on the private sector, thus achieving a more effective functioning on markets through competition. Especially with regard to production and distribution of food and agricultural products the release of individual initiative is important to achieving accelerated output, thus the enhancing of the private sector is essential. The Nordic countries do, however, recognize that sound domestic policies alone cannot bring about economic growth. A favourable international economic climate is necessary as open multi-lateral trade, finance and investment systems, and effectively working international markets contribute powerfully to successful development.
The question of debt and financial flow and the question of further reducing the former for the highly indebted developing countries and increasing the latter for all developing countries should be addressed, especially for the poorest developing countries official development assistance programmes specifically designed to strengthen the base of hurtan institutional and infrastructural capacities of these countries are of great importance. The fulfilment of the 0.7 percent target for official development assistance remains a crucial objective in this regard.
Investing in people is critical in development, as the strengthening of human capacities is the basis for self-reliant development. Developing human resources through education and training therefore ore must be one of the main elements of the new development strategy and should be presented as such. The issue of women in development is basically an issue of hard development economics - making the best use of econcmic potentials in order to obtain growth and development. One major shortcoming of previous development strategies has been the failure to take into account the important role that women play - especially within the process of producing and distributing food - and to realize the even greater potential of the women in developing countries. Popular participation in the development process - and in political and econcmic decision-making - is vital to the success of this process, and the Nordic countries believe that respect of human rights must be an essential element in the new strategy. Finally, the issue of population growth will need to be addressed in the coming decade, as will the issues of health and nutrition.
Poverty continues to be a basic phenomenon in most developing countries. We would like simultaneously to stress the issue of reducing poverty and deprivation as well as the importance of recognizing that the poor segments of any population have a considerable production potential which is not being realized presently.
Even though the number of people living in extreme poverty is high in all regions, and numerically places Asia as the region most severely affected, the number of poor is increasing more rapidly in sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else. Priority to redress the situation in sub-Saharan Africa is bound to be reflected in the new international development strategy.
It is a fact that the majority of the poor are living in rural areas. The creation of job opportunities and a more equal distribution of farm land for the benefit of the poor will be crucial, if efforts to reduce poverty in rural areas are to suceed.
The basic relation between growth and reduction of poverty remains simple: a more equal distribution of income and assets - of the benefits of growth - is necessay if poverty is to be reduced and the development potential of the poor is to be released. Investments in reduction of poverty are likely to provide a very high rate of return.
The Governing Council of UNEP last May recommended that sustainable and environmentally-sound development should be a central guiding principle in the new development strategy. The Nordic countries fully support this recommendation.
It is of utmost importance that environmental concerns be integrated into the development planning and decision making processes in all countries, thus penetrating all sectors of the economy. These efforts at country level, must be supported by technical assistance, where needed, and supplemented by strengthening of international cooperation in the 'field of environment.
The Nordic countries agree and there will be a need for additional resources from the donor community to assist the poorer developing countries in addressing their environmental concerns and participating in the efforts to combat the global threats. It is important, however, that this issue is not seen only in the context of " compensation" of developing countries responding to calls from donor countries and financial institutions and requesting these to cover additional costs. We believe that especially our organization should look more closely into the potential for economic development inherent in environmental efforts in the area of food and agricultural production and the potential longer-term returns of investments in this area.
These are the four main considerations that in our view should form the basis of an international development strategy for the 1990s, and indeed FAO's contribution to the preparatory process of IDS. The Nordic countries firmly believe that FAO, within its mandate, can offer a substantial input to the preparatory process.
Josef FOJTL (Czechoslovakia): The Czechoslovakian delegation welcomes the item concerning forced participation in preparing and implementing the international development strategy for the UN for the last decade of the century and its inclusion in the agenda of this Conference. Evaluating the results obtained in implementing the objectives of the past decade, we cannot avoid the feeling of disappointment when seeing in the majority of indicators the gap between the planned objectives and the results actual obtained. It should be mentioned here that even the task in the field of food and agricultural development laid down for the third UN Development Decade are far from being fulfilled. If all the causes which have led to these disappointments were to be considered, the nain phenomena of the past and present periods would have to be analyzed as characterizing the development of the international, political and economic situation. It is important, in our view, for the successful implementation of the fourth International Development Decade of the UN to know what are the conditions and prerequisites that already exist, or that are or should be gradually graded already now in the stage of preparing the decade.
It is new widely :recognized that new views and non-traditional approaches based on the priority of general human values and on the philosophy of the new political thinking are essential for the survival and future development of human civilization. Now, under the conditions of multiple global threat Which mankind has to face, we are convinced that when considering the problems associated with the UN Decade for the last period of this century, it is our duty to make maximum use of the improved conditions of political climate in the world and also the vast potential offered by the UN and its specialized agencies.
There is a whole range of proposals and views concerning the fields and objectives that should form the basis of the prepared international development strategy of the UN. The opinion of the Czechoslovakian delegation is that the strategy should be focused on a solution to problems associated with the spreading of the areas of poverty and under-development and with the crisis caused by external indebtedness, chronic unemployment in many countries, deteriorating environment, lack of food and non-stability of energy supply. At any rate, this strategy should point out realistic objectives, and this is the only way to attract the interest and active participation of the highest possible number of countries in making the strategy a reality.
In the view of the Czechoslovakian delegation, special attention in elaborating the strategy should be paid to general development of human resources, education and training of personnel, organization of various training courses, seminars and meetings, exchange of experience and information on the latest advances in research and development associated with the most urgent scientific and technological problems. All these are important requisites for implementing the objectives and intentions involved in the strategy itself.
In the view of the Czechoslovakian delegation, environmental conservation should be another area of top priority. This problem is particularly important considering the need to secure the nutrition of mankind. It is obvious that there is concord and mutual agreement among members of the international community as far as the need for environmental conservation is concerned. However, differences in views arise when considering actual measures aimed at environmental conservation and securing acceptable development. Czechoslovakia is of the opinion - and experience confirms this view - that thinking of a balanced social and economic development without due respect to environmental conservation would be illusory and harmful both nationally and internationally. In this connection, we agree with the view that it is incorrect to seek short-term benefits to the detriment of long-term objectives.
Shamim AHMED (Bangladesh): First, let me congratulate the Secretariat for producing this excellent paper C 89/19.
The Bangladesh delegation is happy to note, as mentioned in the document, that, in view of the need to contribute FAO inputs to both the Special Session and IDS, the Director-General has initiated work for the preparation of a long-term strategy for the food and agriculture sector for the 1990s and beyond. We heartily welccme this initiative and hope that the FAO will successfully accomplish the tasks that it has set for itself.
The document under review covers extensively almost all major issues related to agriculture under broad headlines, current issues and prospects for the 1990s and for strategies for the 1990s.
We have noted that would agricultural production grew rather unevenly during the current decade. Many countries suffered serious setbacks in their agricultural sectors due to natural calamities. As we prepare ourselves to enter the next decade, it is necessary for us to work together to render strong support to FAO in its endeavour to improve the world agricultural situation.
While my delegation will follow with great interest the deliberations of other delegations on the prospects and strategy for the 1990s, I should like to say a few words on these aspects with regard to agriculture in Bangladesh.
The agricultural production system, which is often closely interlinked with other agro-systems, is often complex and diverse. It is also influenced by agro-climatic and socio-econcmic factors which can lead to significant variations from traditional and improved agricultural technology. In spite of the serious constraints, there is considerable development potential in Bangladesh. The country is endowed with abundant water resources, while its soils are generally productive. The climate is conducive to continuous cropping throughout the year. Agriculture is still the largest source of employment for the labour force in Bangladesh, and thus the high growth rate in agriculture can alleviate rural poverty to a very large extent.
The strategy for agricultural development in Bangladesh will have three broad themes: growth in agriculture, rural poverty alleviation and environmental development and sustainability in agriculture.
My delegation has been pleased to note that the document under review covers at length the environmental issue while dealing with the prospects and strategy for the 1990s. Bangladesh attaches great importance to the environmental and ecological issues. Being a country with a dense population and limited land, we have reasons to be alert.
Mohamed Saeed HARBI (Sudan) (original language Arabic): I have some very brief comments to make on what was said by the delegate of Denmark, who spoke in the name of the five Nordic countries. When he spoke of poor countries in need of support, he spoke of the countries of Asia and South-East Asia. I believe that there are countries in Africa - East, West or Southern Africa -which are as much in need of assistance as are the people of Asia. Therefore, when we talk about a fair distribution of assistance, it would be desirable that FAO should be able to follow up and review the situation in poor countries which have enormous needs and that the aid should be distributed on a fair basis.
Jose TUBINO (Canada): The Canadian delegation congratulates the Secretariat on the preparation of this important document and the establishment of a task force to consider the findings and recommendations of FAO's global and regional studies for the formulation of a long-term strategy for the food and agricultural sector. We believe that this initiative will allow the UN General Assembly to make good use of the specialized knowledge accumulated in FAO in the formulation of the UN Fourth Decade Strategy. On the other hand, it will also allow FAO to elaborate a long-term strategic framework to guide its operations. The emphasis placed on the goals of economic growth, poverty alleviation, human resources development and sustainable development coincides with the first of the Canadian international aid strategies.
Furthermore, the Canadian delegation concurs with the policy issues identified in paragraphs 25-32 inclusive. However, we consider that the implications of sectoral adjustment and energy supply for rural areas are also policy issues worth considering in Chapter II.
Concerning the contributions of the agricultural sector to economic growth, Canada recognizes the importance of improved economic incentives for farmers and the critical need for ensuring that macro-econcmic policy does not discriminate against the agricultural sector. We concur with the assessment made of the importance of improving support services and agricultural infrastructure. We approve the recommendations for policies designed to encourage rural savings and to increase the efficiency of public expenditure in rural areas.
Because of the key role which producer organizations play in Canadian agriculture, we particularly support a strategy which puts emphasis on the strengthening of producer organizations to provide farmers with bargaining power, appropriate coordination, economies of scale, direct channels for the transfer of information and innovation and other benefits.
In the context of international agricultural trade, the document wisely recommends several remedial steps that agriculture-supporting countries should undertake, such as diversification of agricultural exports, enhancement of export marketing skills, opening of access to markets and competitiveness through research and development.
We see it as particularly important that the strategy for growth and structural adjustment addresses the issues of poverty, income distribution, human resources and other special dimensions of development.
The objectives of agricultural growth and rural poverty alleviation are mutually supportive, but, as the document notes, there are also trade-offs. This is an important area where the FAO contribution to the IDS is critical and warrants careful study by the task force. In this context, Canada would like to see more emphasis on secondary agricultural industries as an important source of rural income generation, especially for women and youth.
In the section on poverty alleviation, the document also notes that emergency food aid, on a more predictable basis, must continue to provide a buffer for cushioning the effects on nutrition caused by climatic conditions and man-made disasters. The Secretariat has, in the past, suggested a legally binding annual contribution of emergency food aid, which Canada has opposed on the grounds that, by its very nature, emergency food aid requirements are unpredictable and that the donor community is already doing its best to respond to emergencies when they arise.
On the issue of environmental aspects of development, Canada supports the view that the strategy should prevail around considerations of human needs, poverty alleviation, natural resource management and conservation and incentives to promote sustainable practices and approaches.
while supporting the contents of the document, it is Canada's view that the FAO contribution to the IDS must not stop with the formulation of the strategy but that FAO must provide, according to its comparative advantages, the means for the implementation of the UN Strategy in the agricultural sector.
CHAIRMAN: Distinguished delegates, if the Commission so agrees, we will hear a brief statement by Dr Rafael Moreno on the World Food Day. It is a communication from the Secretariat for the information of this Commission and not an item on our agenda, and therefore, we are not expected to engage in a debate. However Dr Moreno is prepared to answer any questions that the delegates wish to submit, and provide further clarification if the delegates so desire.
WORLD FOOD DAY
JOURNEE MONDIALE DE L'ALPŒNTATION
DIA MUNDIAL DE IA ALIMENTACION
Rafael MORENO (Presidente del Cernité Asesor del Director General sobre el Dia Mundial de la Alimentación): Señor Presidente, en los momentos en que nos acercamos a la conclusión de la discusión del tema 6 de nuestra agenda, dedicado a analizar el "Estado Mundial de la Alimentación y la Agricultura" le ha parecido oportuno a la Secretaría realizar una declaración respecto del Día Mundial de la Alimentación. Materia que en el pasado ha sido tratada bajo este mismo punto en pasadas Conferencias.
Como seguramente algunos de los delegados presentes recuerdan, el día 20 de noviembre se cumplirá exactamente una década desde que los representantes de los países miembros de la FAO aprobaron la Resolución 1/79 que instituyó el Día Mundial de la Alimentación para que fuese celebrado el 16 de octubre, en coincidencia con la fecha de la fundación de la FAO.
Cuando el Día Mundial de la Alimentación fue establecido en 1979, pudimos escuchar más de una voz, escéptica sobre la utilidad que podría tener el celebrar un día que sólo una vez al año recordara a la opinión pública mundial el derecho básico a la alimentación que asiste a todos los seres humanos. Hoy, en cambio, podemos decir que el objetivo propuesto no sólo ha sido cumplido, sino que ha sido superado on creces en las expectativas que lo originaron.
Resulta inposible y no es el propósito en estos mementos enumerar la infinidad de iniciativas llevadas a cabo por los países miembros de la FAO por contribuir, tanto a sensibilizar a sus respectivas opiniones públicas sobre la naturaleza y las dimensiones del problema del hambre en el mundo, como a estimular acciones concretas a fin de asegurarles a sus poblaciones un acceso permanente y seguro a los alimentos que necesitan para desarrollar una vida digna.
A pesar de ello, queremos mencionar muy brevemente algunos de los aspectos más relevantes que tuvo la celebración en el año 1989, la cual fue desarrollada bajo el tema: la alimentación y el medio ambiente.
En primer término, la ceremonia internacional que se realizó aquí en la sede central de la FAO el día 16 de octubre, contó con oradores principales que acompañaron al Director General en el uso de la palabra: el Excelentísimo Señor Ruud Lubbers, Primer Ministro del Reino de los Países Bajos, el Excelentísimo Presidente del Consejo de Ministros de la República Italiana, Onorevole Giulio Andreotti, el Excelentísimo Señor Henri Nallet, Ministro de Agricultura y Bosques de Francia, -el cual a su vez habló a nombre de todos los países de la Communidad Económica Europea-, y la Señora Tina Anselmi, Miembro del Parlamento y Presidente del Comité Italiano Permanente del Día Mundial de la Alimentación. La Asamblea también escuchó la lectura del mensaje enviado a nombre de Su Santidad Juan Pablo II por el Cardenal Agostino Casaroli.
Al dia siguiente, el 17 de octubref se realizó en la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas una ceremonia especial para conmemorar el Dia Mundial de la Alimentación, cuyo orador principal fue el Ministro de Agricultura de los Estados Unidos, Su Excelencia el Señor Clayton Yeutter. En dicha oportunidad además de los discursos del Presidente de la Asamblea y del Presidente del ECOSOC, se escucharon los mensajes del Secretario General de las Naciones Unidas, Señor Pérez de Cuellar y el mensaje del Director General de la FAO.
El tercer punto que quisiéramos reiterar, y que ya ha sido mencionado en algunas de las intervenciones del Plenario de esta Conferencia, es el gesto de lo que ocurrió en Djakarta (Indonesia) el día 16 de octubre, en la cual con la participación y presencia del Presidente de la República, Soeharto, los representantes de la Asociación de Pequeños Agricultores de Indonesia donaron a la FAO en esta oportunidad un millón de dólares en efectivo para que fuese destinado a financia proyectos en beneficio de los campesinos pobres del Tercer Mundo. Esta donación, que se surta a los seis millones de dólares que en fecha anterior habían sido entregados por la misma Asociación de Pequeños Agricultores, es una muestra, es un gesto humanitario que proviene de los sectores probablemente más necesitados, y crea una solidaridad entre los más pequeños, lo cual le da, obviamente, una dimensión desconocida a lo que puede ser este tipo de colaboración entre los sectores más pobres del medio rural.
Finalmente quisiera citar, que con motivo del Día Mundial de la Alimentación, y quiero expresar muy especialmente la satisfacción y el reconocimiento del Director General de la FAO, a la iniciativa que se llevó adelante para organizar una exposición de pintura y escultura contemporánea, organizada en Roma y que gracias a la generosidad de más de 160 artistas italianos y extranjeros que donaron sus obras, obras que fueron sacadas a una subasta pública, que se celebró en uno de los lugares más prestigiosos y bellos de Roma, y cuyos fondos fueron destinados a financiar actividades de la FAO.
Es altamente reconfortante leer los informes que en este memento nos están llegando desde todos los países miembros de la FAO y que detallan el impacto que ha logrado el Día Mondial de la Alimentación en todos ellos. Deseo, por lo tanto, agradecer desde esta tribuna a todos los miembros de los Comités Nacionales que este año organizaron actividades alusivas a este día en sus respectivos países, y felicitarlos por el ito alcanzado.
Especial mención requieren también las innumerables organizaciones no gubernamentales que se han sumado a esta iniciativa de manera tan creativa, y en particular aquellas que participarán a fines de este mes en la Segunda Reunión Internacional sobre el Día Mundial de la Alimentación que se realizará aquí en la ciudad de Roma. Tenemos la certeza de que hoy, mejorando aún lo hecho en años anteriores, se está llegando a través de esta red de iniciativas espontáneas, a los lugares más apartados de la tierra llevándoles a ellos el mensaje de esperanza en relación a lo que son los objetivos del Día Mundial de la Alimentación.
Es ésta una nueva comprobación de que esta idea, así como la presencia de la FAO, está significando un testimonio real de reconocimiento a quienes trabajan y contribuyen en el medio rural a generar los alimentos para toda la humanidad.
En este mismo sentido quisiera recalcar que no fue casual la decisión del Director General de la FAO de seleccionar para 1989 el tema de "La Alimentación y el Medio Ambiente", ya que tenemos plena conciencia y ha sido reiteradamente repetido en esta Conferencia, que los efectos negativos que la propia acción de los seres humanos está provocando en el equilibrio ecológico del planeta, es uno de los puntos que no podemos ignorar. Es este un tema de validez universal. Producto de esta interdependencia y de la gravedad que el desafío ambiental ha alcanzado, el Director General ha decidido que el tema para 1990 sea denominado: Alimentos para el futuro, Food for the future,, en la lengua inglesa, Nourrir pour l'avenir, en la lengua francesa, Cibo per il futuro, en la lengua italiana, Alimentos para o futuro, en la lengua portuguesa.
Por la importancia que la FAO le atribuye a la Conmemoración Internacional del Día Mundial de la Alimentación, quisiéramos reiterar nuestra firme decisión de seguir apoyando en todo el mundo la celebración de este día, en línea con las resoluciones aprobadas por la Conferencia de la FAO 1/79, 7/81, 5/83 y 2/87 y con los contenidos del documento C 87/29 que recibió un consenso tan positivo y unánime en la última sesión de esta Conferencia.
Permítasenos en esta oportunidad, señor Presidente invitar a los gobiernos miembros y a las organizaciones no gubernamentales a unirse aún más a la FAO para seguir desarrollando los máximos esfuerzos por dar a la celebración de este día la significación y contenidos necesarios en cada país.
En este sentido le asignamos gran importancia al fortalecimiento del futuro de la Confederación Internacional de Organizaciones no Gubernamentales del Día Mundial de la Alimentación, en tanto estructura que está llamado a dar una gran contribución al reforzamiento de la colaboración tripartita que debe existir entre los gobiernos, las organizaciones no gubernamentales y la FAO, para aumentar el impacto del Día Mundial de la Alimentación a nivel internacional, regional y nacional en todo el mundo.
Por último, quisiéramos que todos los organizadores del Día Mundial de la Alimentación, sean ellos representantes de gobierno, organismos no gubernamentales, organizaciones internacionales o personas individuales, se sumasen con entusiasmo y con espíritu de solidaridad a la conmemoración del Día Mundial de la Alimentación de 1990 que, como ya lo he dicho estará dedicado al tema de "Alimentos para el futuro" para que entre todos asumamos la responsabilidad que nos corresponde en la protección del medio ambiente, que asegurará la continuación de la vida de la especie humana en este planeta.
CHAIRMAN: Would any members of the Commission like to address any questions to Mr Moreno?
Gerard VAN DER GRIND (The Netherlands): First I should like to thank Mr Moreno for his explanation about World Food Day activities in Rome and also in different countries. I have one question. Mr Moreno mentioned the item for next year "Food for the Future". I am very pleased that he has done so at this moment, because it is very important for countries to begin soon with their preparations for next year's item. Is it possible, however, for him to give us a little further explanation of the meaning and the goal of the item?
Rafael MORENO (Chairman, Director-General's Advisory Committee on World Food Day): I can give some details. Obviously, as we normally do, there is an annotation on the justification for the topic or the theme. The main reason for selecting this topic is that the environment, ecological considerations, poverty and the challenge for the future are the predeminant factors of influence, and FAO should highlight to the world community the importance of this topic. This theme will allow governments to link the theme from 1989 to selected realities in each specific country.
As you know, World Food Day is just a suggestion to governments, and it is up to them how they observe it and how they present the topic in each respective community. Consequently, "Food for the Future" is very much in line with the concept of sustainable development, with the concept of environmental protection, as well as with the main basic challenge for the future which is producing and providing food for mankind.
Briefly, that is the basic justification for the selection of the topic this year.
CHAIRMAN: Are there any further questions? Are there any clarifications required? I see none, so I should like to thank Mr Moreno for his communication to the Commission.
I think that special reference should be made to the very generous gesture by the Indonesian peasants to commemorate World Food Day. It is suggestions like that which give us faith in humanity and faith in this Organization.
I should like also personally to thank Mr Moreno for the small reference in my own language. I think the delegates from Portugal, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Angola, Sao Tome and Principe and Guinea-Bissau will allow me to do so in our name. We so seldom hear our language here that it is a joy to hear it, even if they were only three words.
The Meeting rose at 12.30 p.m.
La séance est levée à 12 h 30
Se levanta la sesión a las 12.30 horas
