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1. A General Commemorative Conference of FAO Member Nations and Associate Members convened for one day at FAO Headquarters in Rome on 16 November 1970, for the purpose of celebrating the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Organization and giving also appropriate recognition to the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the United Nations, in accordance with the terms of Resolution 24/69 adopted by the Fifteenth Session of the FAO Conference in November 1969.

2. This General Commemorative Conference was called under the Chairmanship of His Excellency Hernán Santa Cruz (Chile), with His Excellency Mahmoud A. Haroon (Pakistan) serving as Vice-Chairman. The Agenda of the Conference is reproduced as Annex A to this Report.

3. The morning's proceedings were honoured by the presence of His Holiness Pope Paul VI, and were attended by His Excellency Emilio Colombo, Prime Minister of Italy and Mr. Pedini, Secretary of State, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Two hundred and thirty-nine delegates from 94 Member Nations were in attendance. In addition, the Permanent Observers for the Holy See and 16 representatives from the United Nations and United Nations Specialized Agencies were present, together with 33 observers from intergovernmental and international non - governmental organizations in status with FAO. The List of Delegates and Observers may be found in Annex I.

4. Following the formal opening of the Conference by its Chairman, the Conference paid tribute to the victims of the recent cyclone which had devastated the coasts of East Pakistan, by observing one minute's silence. The Conference also paid tribute to the memory of the late General Charles de Gaulle (France), the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser (United Arab Republic) and the late Chairman of the FAO Council Maurice Gemayel (Lebanon).

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