1. The Seventy-ninth Session of the Council was held in Rome from 22 June to 2 July 1981 under the Chairmanship of Bukar Shaib, Independent Chairman of the Council.
2. The agenda and timetable of the session, slightly amended, were adopted unanimously. The agenda as adopted is given in Appendix A to this report.
3. The Council elected three Vice-Chairmen for its session: M. Dernaika (Lebanon), J. Tchicaya (Congo), and W.A.F. Grabisch (Federal Republic of Germany).
4. The Council elected Ramadhar (India) as Chairman of the Drafting Committee, and the following as members: Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, France, Lebanon, United States of America, Zambia.
5. The Council heard a statement by the Director-General reviewing the world economic and social situation, giving a broad assessment of the serious state of food and agricultural production and trade, and summarizing the broad policy lines along which the present problems needed to be faced. He drew attention to the action taken by FAO in meeting challenges which provided the context for the Organization's further action and his proposed Summary Programme of Work and Budget 1982-83. The Director-General's statement is given in Appendix D to this report.
6. The Council heard a statement of His Excellency Francisco Merino Rábago, Secretary of Agriculture and Hydraulic Resources of Mexico, in his capacity as President of the World Food Council, which was delivered on his behalf by Mr. Abelardo Amayo Brondo, Under-Secretary of Agriculture and Hydraulic Resources of Mexico.
7. The President of the World Food Council conveyed in this statement the main results of the recent session in the World Food Council held in Novi-Sad. He expressed his concern that the unrealized objective of eradicating hunger within a decade was clearly fading away before our eyes, and this objective would not only require more time but also concrete, immediate and energetic actions. He mentioned that food security rests on the policies of developing country governments, which should aim at building up food self-sufficiency, more equitable distribution and more adequate consumption. He stressed that this involved an unavoidable internal effort, through some form of food system, strategy or plan. This was essential to tackle food problems effectively and to stimulate increased external support. He further called on developed countries to revive their commitment and reiterate their support to multilateral development and technical assistance agencies which he stated had recently been threatened by some countries' restrictive economic and political policies. He expressed his enthusiasm at the initiative taken by various countries to call for an inter- national meeting on cooperation and development. He expressed his satisfaction at the col-laboration of FAO, and indicated his intentions and hopes for continuing the closest cooper-ation between the World Food Council and FAO. The Council welcomed the statement of the President of the World Food Council.
8. Following a brief statement by the Independent Chairman, the Council observed a minute of silence in tribute to G.N. Vogel, Executive Director of the World Food Programme, who had died in April 1981.
1 CL 79/1; CL 79/1 (a); CL 79/INF/l; CL79/PV/1; CL 79/PV/16
2 CL79/PV/1; CL 79/PV/2; CL 79/PV/16
3 CL 79/INF/5; CL79/PV/1; CL79/PV/16
4 CL 79/PV/2; CL79/PV/17
5 CL 79/PV/3; CL 79/PV/16
