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III. Procedure of the session

A. Election of the chairman and vice-chairmen of the conference
B. Appointment of the general committee and the credentials committee
C. Adoption of the agenda
D. Arrangements for the session and allocation of agenda items
E. Admission of observers

A. Election of the chairman and vice-chairmen of the conference

8. The Council nominated, and the Conference elected M. Rouhani (Iran) as Chairman of the Eighteenth Session of the Conference.

9. The Nominations Committee recommended, and the Conference approved the following appointments:

B. Appointment of the general committee and the credentials committee

10. The Nominations Committee recommended, and the Conference approved the following appointments:

C. Adoption of the agenda

11. The Conference adopted the Agenda given in Appendix A to this Report.

D. Arrangements for the session and allocation of agenda items

Establishment of commissions and appointment of their chairmen ant vice-chairmen
Resolutions committee of the conference
Right of reply
Verbatim records
Verification of credentials
Voting rights
Informal meeting of international non-governmental organizations

12. The Conference adopted the arrangements and timetable proposed by the Sixty-Sixth Session of the Council, as amended by the General Committee.

Establishment of commissions and appointment of their chairmen ant vice-chairmen

13. The Conference concurred with the Council's recommendation to establish three Commissions to consider and report upon Parts I, II and III of the Agenda.

14. In accordance with Rules VII.1 and XXIV-5(b) of the General Rules of the Organization (GRO), the Sixty-Seventh Session of the Council had nominated the following Chairmen of the Commissions:

15. The Conference appointed the foregoing officers and, taking into consideration the proposals of the General Committee, in accordance with Rule XIII-2GRO also appointed:

16. The Conference agreed with the recommendation of the Sixty-Sixth Session of the Council that it appoint a Rapporteur from Plenary to Commission I, to inform the Commission of the salient points made by Ministers and heads of delegation in their general statements. On the recommendation of the General Committee, it appointed E.O. Bayagbona (Nigeria) as Rapporteur from Plenary to Commission I.

Resolutions committee of the conference

17. The Conference endorsed the recommendation of the Sixty-Sixth Council Session to establish a Resolutions Committee composed of seven members one from each FAO Region, and appointed the following:

18. The Conference agreed to the recommendation of the General Committee that the Resolutions Committee should elect a chairman from among its own members.

19. The Conference approved the functions of the Resolutions Committee and the criteria for the formulation of resolutions, as set out in document C 75/12 Appendix D.

Right of reply

20. The Conference confirmed the decision taken at its four previous sessions to the effect that, when a delegate wished to reply to criticism of his Government's policy he should preferably do so on the afternoon of the day on which such criticism had been voiced, after all those wishing to participate in the discussion had had an opportunity to do so.

Verbatim records

21. According to Rule XVIII GRO, verbatim records were kept of all Conference Plenary and Commission meetings. The Conference endorsed the recommendation of the General Committee that statements might be inserted in the verbatim records when time did not permit them to be delivered

Verification of credentials

22. The credentials of delegations of 134 Member Nations were found valid. Two Member Nations did not send a delegation to the Conference.

23. The credentials of the Permanent Observer to FAO of the Holy See were found valid.

24. The names of the representatives of the International Organizations attending the Conference, including tile United Nations and Specialized Agencies, were duly deposited as prescribed by Rule III-2 GRO.

Voting rights

25. The Conference noted that two Member Nations which were in arrears in the payment of their financial contributions to the Organization would have had no vote in the Conference as the amount of the arrears equalled or exceeded the amount of the contributions due from them for the two preceding calendar years. The Conference nevertheless decided to permit these Member Nations to vote in accordance with Article III-4 of the Constitution, after having adopted two resolutions permitting the liquidation of their arrears over a period of ten years.

Informal meeting of international non-governmental organizations

26. The Sixty-Seventh Session of the Council had nominated Mrs. Jaya Arunachalam (IFAP) to chair the informal meeting of representatives of international non-governmental organizations admitted as observers to the Eighteenth Session of the Conference which was convened on Tuesday 11 November 1975.

E. Admission of observers

Applicants for membership
Liberation movements
Intergovernmental and international non-governmental organizations

Applicants for membership

27. As was customary, the Director-General had provisionally invited the applicants for membership (Bahamas, Cape Verde, Grenada and Papua New Guinea) to be represented by observers until their admission to the Organization had been decided upon. The Conference approved the Director-General's action

Liberation movements

28. The Conference approved the invitation issued by the Director-General, through the OAU, to African Liberation Movements to attend the Session.

29. The Conference also approved the request by the Palestine Liberation Organization to attend the Session in an observer capacity.

Intergovernmental and international non-governmental organizations

30. The Conference approved the list of international organizations to which the Director General had extended a provisional invitation to the Conference session and invited the representatives of these organizations to participate in the activities of the Conference in an observer capacity.

31. The Conference concurred with the recommendation of the General Committee, that, in accordance with Rule XVII-3 GRO, two international non-governmental organizations having consultative status with FAO (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and World Federation of Trade Unions) address Plenary. It also concurred with the recommendation of the General Committee that two international non-governmental organizations having specialized consultative status with FAO. (International Planned Parenthood Federation and World Federation of Agricultural Workers) be authorized to address the relevant Commissions.

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