ORGANIZATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT (OECD) - ORGANISATION DE COOPERATION ET DE DEVELOPPEMENT ECONOMIQUES - ORGANIZACION DE COOPERACION Y DESARROLLO ECONOMICOS

Mr. Gérard Viatte, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

Mr. Johnston, the Secretary-General of OECD, would have liked to deliver his speech as planned, but the change in the schedule of speakers made it impossible. Unfortunately, he was personally unable to come from Paris yesterday or today, so he asked me to deliver the speech on his behalf.

The consensus reached in the Rome Declaration and Plan of Action is a very good omen for future action and I underline the words "future action" because it is obviously what is required now. I would like to congratulate very warmly the Director-General and his staff and all who have contributed to the success of the agreement on the Plan of Action up to now.

The elimination of hunger is an achievable goal, but this will depend on how we order human affairs through policies, institutions and people's actions, in particular actions by farmers. I would like to offer you briefly four key messages based on the work of the organization and then identify some of its future contributions to our common goals. The four key messages could be summarised as follows:

First, economic growth and development is a vital shared interest for all our countries. Poverty lies at the root of food insecurity. Sustainable global economic growth is, therefore, the first foundation for raising incomes and guaranteeing access to food.

Second, it is essential to ensure a macro-economic environment that is conducive to private investment and private initiative in the agro-food sector. Micro-economic policies will need to focus on eliminating structural impediments to growth and employment.

Third, policies must provide the right incentives for agriculture. Through the development of research and improved techniques, we can meet the growing demand for food while safeguarding the environment. But this dual goal will only be met if policies that distort markets are eliminated.

Fourth, countries should make full use of trade and international markets. Trade is a key element for food security - as is recognized in the Rome Declaration and Plan of Action - as it stimulates economic growth. It permits the efficient transfer of food supplies from surplus to deficit regions. It allows countries to become self-reliant rather than trying to become self-sufficient, regardless of cost. Of course to meet food crises, food aid will remain necessary but will have to be used in a very judicious way and, whenever possible, it should be provided from local and regional commercial sources.

Let me now move briefly to the OECD contribution for the future activities that you have defined.

The traditional aim of the OECD is to identify the most effective and efficient mix of policies to achieve economic and social objectives. It is our mission in OECD to ensure coherent policies for our own countries and to help support other countries achieve coherence as well. Thus, the OECD seeks to stimulate broad-based economic growth, the expansion of economic growth, the expansion of international trade, promotion of social development, a more efficient public sector and good governance.

Let me just mention five examples of OECD activities which are relevant to the goals defined by the Summit:

First, the OECD monitors and assesses the impact of agricultural and fisheries policies. Each year, we then evaluate the policy development against the principles of agricultural policy reform which were agreed upon within the OECD. The key principle is to improve market orientation. The planned meeting of OECD Ministers of Agriculture, in early 1998, will discuss further policy reform at the domestic and international levels.

Second, we make five-year projections for demand and supply, and the last exercise has already predicted a sharp increase in world grain production.

Three, OECD has developed policy dialogue with non-member countries, and we are using that as a forward-looking sharing of experience and analysis on all aspects of interest to the Summit, such as trade, finance, economic policy and agriculture.

Four, in collaboration with Sahelian countries and their aid donors, the Club du Sahel drew up a Code of Conduct for food aid operations, the so-called "Food Aid Charter", which sets out principles about the most effective use of food aid. We are drawing on the success of the Charter to find lessons for adaptation to food aid operations in other low-income food-deficit countries.

Five, and the last point, the members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), recently adopted a strategic 20-year framework for working with partner countries and institutions towards the goal of sustainable and people-centred development. A central goal is that of reducing the proportion of people living in extreme poverty.

In conclusion, to achieve the goal of food security requires a global perspective. Food security cannot be pursued in isolation. The OECD is committed to extending its efforts in this direction through an integrated policy approach. Our work will complement action by others, including FAO. As the OECD-DAC strategy points out, "we will need to change how we think and how we operate, in a far more coordinated effort than we have done until now".