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NOTES on Estimates of Receipts

The amount of $2,500,000 is the amount set forth in Annex II of the Constitution as submitted to Governments by the Interim Commission in its First Report to Governmental

This figure is the total of the amounts allocated to members of the Interim Commission who have not as yet become members of FAO, plus the amount allocated for provision for new members. From this has been de" ducted $23,000 which wee paid to the Interim Commission by member governments who have not yet joined FAO.

This figure represents the amount expended by the Interim Commission less the amount paid by the Interim Commission toward the expenses of the Quebec Conference. The amount spent for the Conference has been included in Chapter I, Item 1.

NOTES on Estimates of Expenditures

The figure shown as the cost of the First Conference of FAO is estimated. We have received an audit report from the Canadian Government covering expenditures in the amount of 99,525 U. B. dollars, and the Interim Commission spent $12,855 toward the expenses of the Conference. However, the Canadian Government reports that there are at least two and possibly more outstanding accounts, so an amount has been allowed to cover any additional expenses.

$2,000 has been allowed to cover the cost of the first meeting of the Executive Committee where only the cost of per diem allowances was paid by FAO and $10,000 each has been allocated for two future meetings of the Committee.

On the assumption that there will be five ad hoe committees composed of approximately 10 persons each, of whom some would come from close proximity to the location of the meeting, $6,000 has been allocated to cover the cost of each.

The figure of $60,000 has been based on the assumption of three technical conferences of approximately 30 persons each.

The items in this chapter are based on the assumption that the Director-General will find it possible during the first financial year to arrange for commissions to visit Asia, Latin America, and Europe in order to discuss with governments the questions of setting up regional offices for FAO in these three areas. It is also based on the assumption that at least one mission will be requested by a government and that such a mission will be dispatched during the first financial year.

It is assumed that each of these commissions would be composed of about five members, together with one official from the FAO staff and one clerical assistant. It has been estimated that each commission might take approximately two and a half months to fulfill its functions. The relative costs of the commissions have been based on assumptions regarding travelling expenses.

The item " Other Missions " is based on the assumption that the countries receiving the missions would pay the costs incurred in local subsistence and travelling.

The amount for the Director-General and two Special Advisers includes both salaries and allowances for a period of eight months. The amount for Grade I estimates six persons for a period of approximately four months. The amount for Grades II to VI estimates eight persons in each grade for approximately six months. The clerical staff would be substantially expanded to service these professional people and to do the general work of the Organization.

Both official travel and removal expenses are difficult to estimate and both will depend upon the rate of progress made in the recruitment of staff. Removal expenses may become a substantial item during the main period of staff recruitment.

There figures are based on the size of the staff as indicated in Chapter III, with contributions from the Organization of 71/2 percent toward the Provident Fund.

These figures are based on data from the Interim Commission files and on information from other international organizations.

Because of the difficulty in estimating the items above, it is felt that this fund should be large enough to cover any probable contingency.

The Interim Commission in Annex II to the Constitution provided for the establishment of the nucleus of a Working Capital Fund and in its First Report to Governments suggested that in the first financial year a sum of about $1,000,000 might be available for this Fund. In the budget accepted by the First Session of the Conference, the anticipated transfer to the Working Capital Fund of the first financial year was $466,696. In the detailed budget the estimates under Chapters I and II are so substantially reduced that it is DO" estimated that a sum of some $950,000 may be available for transfer to the Working Capital Fund in the first financial year.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE ON BUDGET FOR FIRST FINANCIAL YEAR

Since this budget was drafted in January 1946 adjustment have resulted in charges in two of the figures as shown. The amount shown for allocations not yet taken up did not allow for the contribution due from Uruguay and should read $250,850. The amount shown for the expenses of the Interim Commission was an estimated figure: the total expenses of the Interim Commission amounted to $289,123.45.

These two changes result in a change in the anticipated amount available during the first financial year, which in turn affects the transfer to the Working Capital Fund. The estimated figures for these two items should now be $1,960,625.55 to be available during the First Financial Year and a transfer to the Working Capital Fund of $960,001.55.
29 March 1946

STATUS FOR CONTRIBUTIONS FROM MEMBER GOVERNMENTS
2 September 1946

*These Governments signed the Constitution ad referendum. **Appropriation made but payment not yet received.

Your Executive Committee, which was elected at the fires Conference met for the first time first immediately after the Conference and chose its Chairman and Vice-Chairman, M. André Mayer (France) was elected Chairman, and Mr. Howard Tolley (U,S,A.) Vice Chairman. The Committee appointed as its first Secretary Mr. Gove Hambidge, who was later succeeded by Mr. F. L. Wormald.

Mr. Tolley, on his recent appointment to the staff of FAO, handed in to the Chairman his resignation as a member of the Committee. A new member must therefore be appointed in his place.

Since the first Conference the Executive Committee has held four meetings and has sat on sixteen days. Minutes of these meetings were kept and have been approved by the members of the Committee. These minutes are at the disposal of the Conference. The Executive Committee has drawn up its rules of procedure, which are also at the disposal of the Conference.

The principal questions dealt with by the Committee are set out below.

It is essential that FAO possess a solid administrative, scientific, and technical organization. The Executive Committee has dealt with this problem of organization at each of its meetings.

As regards direction, the Director-General was entitled to ask for the appointment of not more than three Deputy Directors-General. He wished, however, to defer the appointment of permanent Deputy Directors-General and preferred to be assisted in the preliminary stages by two Special Advisers. The Executive Committee agreed to his request.

After a period of experiment the Director-General proposed to establish at least temporarily the following technical divisions: Nutrition, Agriculture, Economics, Statistics, Forestry, and Fisheries. The establishment of these divisions was approved. A Rural Welfare Division, the desirability of which was recognized at the Quebec Conference, remains to be created. In addition there is an Information Services Division.

The Director-General has submitted to the Executive Committee proposals regarding the staff regulations of FAO, the grading of staff, and their salaries and allowances. These proposals have been studied, amended, and approved.

The Executive Committee approved, on the recommendation of the Director-General the creation of the following standing advisory committees: on nutrition, agricultural research, agricultural production, economics ,statistics, fisheries, and forestry. The members of these committees were appointed in the first instance for one year only. The Committee also approved at various times the establishment of a number of ad hoc committees for the study of questions relating, for example, to forestry and fisheries. These committees met in Washington. The holding of an informal meeting in London of experts on statistical, scientific, and technical information services wee also approved. The committees have provided useful advice on the organization of the divisions dealing with fisheries, forestry, information, and statistics and have expressed their views on the work to be undertaken by the various divisions.

On several occasions the Executive Committee members have exchanged views on the question of the permanent seat of FAO. Rule XXXII of the Rules of Procedure provides that " The seat of the Organization shall be situated at the same place as the headquarters of the United Nations Organization. " But the Quebec Conference attached to the rule a note stating: "It is assumed that the headquarters of the United Nations Organization will include the headquarters of the Economic and Social Council, that part of the United Nations Organization with which the Food and Agriculture, Organization will be most closely associated. " It has also been pointed out, both in the discussions of the Executive Committee and during the negotiations with the Economic and Social Council, that it is desirable that the seat of FAO should be as near as possible to that of the specialized agencies with which FAO must establish continuous relations (the International Labour Organization, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, World Health Organization, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the future trade organization, etc.). The seat of several of these organizations is not, or in all probability will not be, in the same place as that of the United Nations.

The question of the permanent seat of FAO is linked in certain respects with that of regional offices. In spite of the financial burden which their creation would impose upon FAO, it is certainly desirable to set up such offices. The Executive Committee has approved the taking of preliminary steps toward establishing regional offices.

The Executive Committee, acting as the Committee on Financial Control, has examined the accounts of the Organization and studied and approved drafts of the budget. It has taken decisions regarding the administration of funds standing to the credit of FAO. Special reports on these points will be submitted to the Conference.

The Executive Committee has studied at length on different occasions the questions raised by the absorption of the International Institute of Agriculture, and those that arise out of the absorption of the international bodice dealing with forestry and forest products. It has followed the negotiations undertaken in this matter and approved the decisions taken up to the present, together with the estimated expenditure involved. Special reports on these questions will be submitted to the Conference.

The Committee was requested by the Director-General to waive for this year the rule providing that the date of the Conference should be in October or November. This date had been chosen so that the Conference. might before it each years the results of the harvests in the Northern Hemisphere. As the Conference. will be aware, the Director-General was invited at the Washington Meeting on Urgent Food Problems to present to the United Nations draft proposals on permanent organizations de. signed to continue the work of those brought into being by the war and the postwar crisis. This plan must be discussed by the Conference of FAO before the meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations and be. fore the International Trade Conference. The Committee agreed that these exceptional circumstances justified the calling of the Conference. before the prescribed date.

The Committee also agreed that the same circumstances justified the holding of the Conference. away from the temporary seat of the Organization and gladly recommended that the Director-General accept the invitation of the Danish Government to hold it in Copenhagen.

The Executive Committee has studied the question of the financial contributions to be made by member nations, and a proposal will be presented to the Conference concerning contributions in arrears. It has also looked into the creation of national FAO committees and the form that reports of member nations should take. The Committee recommended that for the first year these reports should be as full as possible, on the understanding that there would not be time to make them as comprehensive as they should be in future.

The Director-General has received requests for admission to the Organization from certain nations that are not yet members. This question has been studied by the Executive Committee. Although these requests were received within a shorter period before the opening of the session than prescribed by the Rules of Procedure, the Committee came to the conclusion that they should be considered at this session in view of the fact that the date of the Conference had been advanced.

In conformity with the Rules of Procedure the Committee has also studied the question of the contributions that should be required of those nations, and its proposals will be submitted to the Conference.

The Constitution of FAO foresees the need for the Organization to take its place in the general framework of international institutions. For that reason the Committee approved the idea of opening negotiations on this subject with other organizations of the United Nations. It examined a draft agreement to be concluded between FAO and the United Nations and set up a negotiating committee which met in New York to discuss the draft agreement with a delegation of the Economic and social Council. A special report on this subject will be presented to the Conference.

The Committee has discussed on several occasions the relations to be established with the other specialized agencies and also those which might appropriately be created with a certain number of governmental and nongovernmental international organizations. Proposals approved by the Committee will be submitted to the Conference. by the Director-General

After the Quebec Conference. it appeared that the administration of FAO needed to concern itself chiefly with equipping the Organization for its long-term tasks, Unforeseen and dramatic circumstances, however, confronted FAO with the obligation of playing a part in more immediate action.

It is common knowledge that in 1946 the world found itself faced with a state of famine. The problem presented by this situation was brought before the General Assembly of the United Nations. The organizations set up during the war which were capable of bringing temporary aid to peoples menaced with famine were due to cease their activities at the end of the year; moreover, it was a matter of doubt whether their structure was capable of adaptation to the new circumstances. The General Assembly adopted a resolution urging governments and international organizations to find prompt means of meeting the crisis. It was under these conditions that the question arose whether FAO should intervene. The Director-General took the step of proposing that FAO should accept the responsibility of calling a conference of international organizations and of governments with a major contribution to make to the solution of the problem.

The Executive Committee had to consider this step Two questions were at issue: a preliminary question on the constitutional position and a question of principle.

On the first question, the power to convene special conferences resides under the Constitution in the Conference of FAO, but at the same time the Rules of Procedure confer on the Executive Committee the power of representing the Conference. in this as in other matters and of acting in its name between annual sessions. The Committee therefore judged that it was constitutionally entitled to discuss the problem and, if it so decided, to approve the Director-General's proposal.

On the fundamental question, it seemed that the intentions and resolutions of the nations represented at the Hot Springs Conference, on the Interim Commission, and at the Quebec Conference. imposed on FAO, whatever risks might be entailed, the duty of taking action in a situation where the food supplies and the agricultural production of the world were in question. In this situation FAO was bound to take its proper place as the organization that must provide the most sound and reliable technical information and must formulate impartially the most equitable and humane resolutions. It seemed that, in any ease, by acting and acting wisely, FAO could only strengthen its technical and moral status. This opinion has been justified by events. For that reason the Executive Committee hopes that the Conference will approve its decision to endorse the action taken by the Director-General.

After only ten months' activity it is natural that FAO should not yet have assumed its final shape. It has, however, begun the process of building its own structure. It has carried out an initial survey of the nutritional position and the agricultural production of the world, as a necessary foundation for all its tasks, scientific, technical, and social. It has made a start on some of these tasks. It has assured a smooth transition between the activities of international institutions established before the war and its own activities. In response to the appeal of the world it has acted great in a situation of extreme urgency. Your Executive Committee, which was en. trusted by the Conference with the duty of ensuring that the activities of FAO should be carried on in accordance with the instructions given by the Conference, has spared no pains in the fulfillment of that task and trusts that it has justified your confidence.

WHEREAS, certain of the liberated countries expect to have difficulty during 1947 in financing their minimum import requirements, and

WHEREAS, the major contribution to the solution of this problem will be by the maximum use of their own resources, and

WHEREAS, at least certain phases of this problem involve reorganization and reestablishment of their agricultural resources, and

WHEREAS, the Food and Agriculture, Organization of the United Nations has among its aims the provision of technical assistance in improving food production and nutritional standards, it is therefore

RESOLVED:

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