1. The Ninetieth Session of the Council was held in Rome from 17 to 28 November 1986 under the Chairmanship of Lassaad Ben Osman, Independent Chairman of the Council.
2. The agenda and timetable of the Session were adopted. The agenda is given in Appendix A to this report.
3. The Council elected three Vice-Chairmen for its session: Tan Sri Dato’ Alwi Jantan Malaysia ), Temel Iskit ( Turkey ) and Paul A. Bomani ( Tanzania ).
4. The Council elected José Ramon López-Portillo Romano ( Mexico ) as Chairman of the Drafting Committee with the following membership: Australia , Bangladesh , Bulgaria , Cameroon , Colombia , Egypt , France , Gambia , Italy , Lebanon , Mexico , Philippines and United States of America .
5. After welcoming Mr. James C. Ingram, Executive Director of the World Food Programme: (WFP), and Mr. Gerald Ion Trant, Executive Director of the World Food Council (WFC), the Director-General recalled the unfavourable economic climate which prevailed world-wide, in spite of the slight upturn of a few economic indicators.
6. In reviewing the current food situation, the Director-General informed the Council that globally it could be described as satisfactory for 1986. However, he highlighted the adverse consequences of food surpluses in many developing countries, which had led to depression of the’ domestic markets, and the paradox of widespread malnutrition in a world burdened with food surpluses, which proved that food security was not just a problem of production but of income as well.
7. The reduction in development aid and the arrears in payments due from Member Nations, and from the main contributor in particular, were sources of concern to the Director-General who said that the Organization faced a very serious financial situation. He reviewed the measures proposed to avert cash flow problems during the current biennium. He also expressed his anxiety for the future and put forward preliminary proposals for Council consideration.
8. In reporting on important developments during the year, the Director- General was pleased that he had not had to give priority to emergency operations for famine control, and that FAD, with a generous response by donors, had been successful in its fight against locusts. He recalled the immediate arrangements to establish programmes to define standards of contamination of agriculture by radioactivity, referred to the Tropical Forestry Action Plan, and to the success of the FAO Regional Conferences.
In connection with the Fourteenth Regional Conference for Africa (Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire, 2-11 September 1986), he referred more particularly to the FAO study on African agriculture. Based on the study FAO had prepared, a Programme of Action was adopted by the Regional Conference. This could be considered as the first concrete application of the resolution of the Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly (May 1986).
9. In concluding his statement, the Director-General appealed for an expansion of aid-in-kind on a global scale. The full text of the Director-General’s statement is given in Appendix D to this report.
10. The Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Mr Ingram, said that he was personally strongly committed to working very closely with FAO and its Director-General in the years ahead and thanked Mr Edouard Saouma for his personal support and for his welcome. The Executive Director of the World Food Council, Mr Trant, conveyed best wishes for success to the Council, on behalf of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
1 CL 90/1; CL 90/INF/1; CL 90/PV/1; CL 9O/PV/18.
2 CL 90/PV/1; CL 90/PV/2; CL 90/PV/3-Rev.1; CL 90/PV/5; CL 90/PV/7; CL 90/PV/18.
3 CL 90/INF/5; CL 90/PV/1; CL 90/PV/19.
