INTRODUCTION - PROCEDURE OF THE SESSION

Introduction

The Hundred and Third Session of the Council was held in Rome from 14 to 25 June 1993 under the Chairmanship of Antoine Saintraint, Independent Chairman of the Council.
The Chairman welcomed the new incoming members and thanked its outgoing members.

The Council, after examining the Provisional Agenda and Timetable, noted the Declaration of Competences and Right to Vote presented by the European Economic Community and its Member States.
The Council was also informed that Item 6.1 would be entitled "Abolition of the Panel of Experts on Emergency Action Against the Desert Locust and Other Crop Pests and Abolition of the Advisory Panel on Epizootiology". With the above amendment the Council adopted its Agenda and Timetable. The Agenda is given in Appendix A to this Report.

The Council elected three Vice-Chairmen for its Session: Waleed A. Elkhereiji (Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of), T.A. Anumudu (Nigeria) and Joong In Chun (Korea, Republic of).
The Council elected Adel Mahmoud Aboul-Naga (Egypt) as Chairman of the Drafting Committee with the following membership: Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, France, Indonesia, Japan, Libya,Mexico, Spain, Sweden, Tanzania, United States of America and Zaire.

The Director-General delivered his statement to the Council. The full text of this statement is given in Appendix D to this Report.

The Council observed one minute of silence in memory of Dr B.R. Sen, former Director-General of the Organization who had died in Calcutta during the night between Friday 11 and Saturday 12 June 1993. Dr Sen had represented his Government at a number of FAO Conference and Council sessions before being elected Director-General at the Third Special Session of the FAO Conference on 18 September 1956, a post he occupied until the end of 1967. Mr Antoine Saintraint, the Chairman of the Council, the Director-General, His Excellency Adel Cortas, Minister for Agriculture of the Lebanon and His Excellency Shri Kuldip Sahdev, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to FAO, in turn, recalled Dr Sen's education which culminated in an honorary fellowship from Oxford University, his early career as a high ranking Civil Servant and a brilliant diplomatic career that included Ambassadorial postings in Italy and Yugoslavia (1950-51), the United States of America and Mexico (1951-1952) and Japan (1954-56). Dr Sen's ability to bring about change for the benefit of the Organization and its Member Nations was evoked through reference to the many innovations conceived during his term of office as Director-General, including the inception of the Freedom from Hunger Campaign (1960) and the first World Food Congress (1963). The indelible impression left by Dr Sen during his stewardship of the Organization was recalled together with his human qualities of warmth and understanding.

The Council requested its Chairman to send a message of condolence to Dr Sen's family on its behalf.

¹ CL 103/1-Rev.1; CL 103/INF/1; CL 103/INF/19; CL 103/PV/1; CL 103/PV/18.

² CL 103/INF/9; CL 103/PV/l; CL 103/PV/4; CL 103/PV/18.

³ CL 103/INF/5; CL 103/PV/l; CL 103/PV/19.

⁴ CL 103/PV/3; CL 103/PV/18.