1. The Eighty-sixth Session of the Council was held in Rome from 19 to 30 November 1984 under the Chairmanship of M. S. Swaminathan, Independent Chairman of the Council.
2. The Council welcomed the fact that seven Ministers or Deputy Ministers were at the head of delegations attending the session. Their names are given in Appendix B to this report, and their statements are reproduced in the verbatim records of the session.
3. The agenda and timetable of the session, with amendments, were adopted unanimously. The agenda as adopted is given in Appendix A to this report.
4. The Council elected three Vice-Chairmen for its session: Lyle Everette Williams (Trinidad and Tobago), Sjarifudin Baharsjah (Indonesia) and P.S. McLean (United Kingdom).
5. The Council elected the following as members of the Drafting Committee: Argentina, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Italy, Lebanon, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Philippines, Sierra Leone and Tunisia. The Drafting Commitee elected Javed Musharraf (Pakistan) as its Chairman.
6. The Director-General began by stressing that all should continously keep in mind the human tragedy which was taking place in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa. The Director- General reviewed the main causes of the current food situation, recognizing the difficulties of both developing and developed countries. He recalled his efforts and initiatives over the last two years to alert the international community to the serious situation in Africa and to mobilize help, through such measures as increased food aid, prepositioning of stocks for emergency food aid, increased contributions to the International Emergency Food Reserve (IEFR), more speedy delivery of emergency food aid, and higher priority for rehabilitation of agriculture and increased food production.
7. The Director-General reviewed important developments during the year, including visits of Heads of States of Costa Rica, Italy, Panama, Senegal and Spain, international Conferences and FAO's Regional Conferences. He referred particularly to the Harare and Buenos Aires Declarations which had been prepared by Ministers themselves and had constituted acts. of unusually high policy significance, which now had to be translated into action. Of out- standing significance was also the World Conference on Fisheries Management and Development, particularly as it had reached unanimous agreement on a Strategy and five Action Programmes.
8. The Director-General reviewed the reports of the various' Committees of the Council. In regard to the deliberations of the recently concluded session of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes (CFA), he informed the Council that the Secretary-General and himself had decided to set up a joint UN/FAO Task Force to review various problem areas regarding relations with the World Food Programme (WFP). As regards relations with the Host Government, the Director-General expressed the continuing concern of the Governing Bodies and himself, and advised that the Finance Comittee and the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Matters (CCLM) had proposed lines of action for endorsement by the Council.
9. The Director-General pointed out that World Food Day in 1985 would mark the 40th Anniversary of the founding of FAO. He would be consulting the Council on ways of celebrating the occasion in due course.
10. In dealing with future programme priorities, the Director-General indicated that he was aware of the ever growing need for increased help from FAO. These requirements would be taken into account in preparing the Programme of Work and Budget for 1986-87. In view, however, of the continuing climate of austerity which affected developed and developing countries, he would be prudent. The full text of the Director-General's statement is given in Appendix D to this report.
11. The Council expressed its appreciation for the good work accomplished by the Director-General and the staff of FAO.
1 CL 86/1-Rev. 1; CL 86/INF/l-Rev. 2; CL 86/PV/l; CL 86/PV/16.
2 CL 86/PV/l; CL 86/PV/2; CL 86/PV/5; CL 86/PV/16.
3 CL 86/PV/l; CL 86/PV/16.
