FAO BIENNIAL CONFERENCE: U.S. ACHIEVES KEY OBJECTIVES,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 UN ROME 000069 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL EAGR EAID FAO UN SUBJECT: FAO BIENNIAL CONFERENCE: U.S. ACHIEVES KEY OBJECTIVES, INCLUDING BUDGET REF: USUN ROME 67 (SUMMIT CABLE) ¶1. (U) This message is sensitive but unclassified. Please handle accordingly. Summary -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The 36th Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization was held in Rome November 18-23, beginning a mere three hours after the closing of the World Food Summit. The United States achieved its main objectives of limiting FAO budget growth while guaranteeing funding for the comprehensive reform program, approving the previously negotiated reform plan of the Committee on Food Security (CFS),and approving the Port State Measures to Prevent Illegal, Unlicensed and Unreported Fishing. The U.S. won reelection to the FAO Council, and Frenchman Luc Guyau was elected Independent Chair of the Council. A last-minute attempt by elements of the G-77 to enlarge the Council from 49 to 61 seats was delayed for further study. ¶3. (U) The USG delegation, comprised of USDA, State, and USUN Rome senior staff, was headed by Agriculture Department Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan, who also chaired the Conference (the first woman to ever do so). The U.S. intervention (on USUN Rome website) was delivered by Ambassador Cousin. Overall, the United States image in FAO was greatly improved and our proactive involvement with all the players, especially in the developing world, was widely viewed as constructive, representing a renewed U.S. commitment to multilateralism. The Conference did reveal several FAO limitations that we will be addressing in the months ahead, including a need for better Secretariat support on legal and procedural issues as well as continued effort by the Office of the Director-General to exploit divisions between the OECD and the G-77 voting blocs. End Summary. Commission on Program and Budgetary Matters - U.S. Votes Yes on Budget -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The main item considered by the Commission on Program and Budgetary Matters was the Mid-term Plan and Program of Work and Budget for 2010-2011. The Director-General's proposed draft reflected a 13.5% increase in member assessments and included funding for only 50% of the Immediate Plan of Action (IPA) reform plan, significant operational cost increases, and several 
add-ons for financial health. The agreed budget increase of 6.7% was less than half this amount, comprising a 4% increase for funding the entire IPA reform program and an additional 2.7% for cost increases. The remaining financial health items - replenishment of the Special Reserve Account and increased contribution to the past After Service Medical Coverage, were deferred. For the first time in three biennia, the United States voted in favor of the FAO budget and an almost complete consensus was reached with 137 votes in favor; one against (Japan) and two abstentions without explanation (Armenia and Cambodia). Mexico could not support the level of the increase, but decided to only make a statement for the record and did participate in the vote. ¶5. (SBU) The U.S. Delegation succeeded in defeating the Director General's proposal to allow budgetary chapter transfers of up to 5% without previous approval by the Finance Committee, as now required, on the grounds that doing so would reduce members' control and oversight. UN ROME 00000069 002 OF 004 Plenary -------------- ¶6. (U) The majority of the Plenary Sessions were devoted to Member interventions following a report on the State of Food and Agriculture and the theme of the Conference, "Improved Preparedness for, and Effective Response to, Food and Agricultural Threats and Emergencies." Ambassador Cousin delivered the U.S. address to the Conference and welcomed USDA Deputy Secretary Merrigan as the first woman to chair the body. The Ambassador reiterated the U.S. strong support for promoting food security and reforming the FAO. Most of the other interventions expressed concern with the potential impact of climate change as well as the impact of the financial and food price crisis on vulnerable nations and populations. All expressed a desire to work together within FAO to help strengthen food security and to aid rural development. All donor countries spoke in support of FAO reform and the need to include all the IPA costs in the assessed budget, as was eventually done. The UK spoke at length regarding the World Food Summit Declaration and emphasized the significance of having the entire UN membership endorse the Rome Principles for Sustainable Global Food Security and the key role of the FAO in helping achieve food security. A number of developing nations, such as Haiti, Nepal, Somalia and the Maldives, discussed their domestic situations which included food riots, civil strife and potential rises in the sea level, respectively. They also stressed the importance of technical assistance and capacity building and urged even greater efforts to eradicate hunger and poverty. The statements by Cuba, Iran and Venezuela were relatively mild. Only the Lebanese delegate launched significant verbal attacks on Israel, blaming that country's so-called "barbaric aggression" for most of Lebanon's problems. Finally, the representative of FAO Staff made a moderately critical statement of the FAO and its administrative and personnel practices, ending by saying "We want to be able to say with commitment that we support the work of the FAO." Constitutional and Legal Matters -------------- ¶7. Extensive changes to the Constitution and to the General rules of the Organization (GRO),necessary to implement the reforms outlined in the Immediate Plan of Action, were introduced in Plenary for approval by the Membership. These passed without contention. Similarly, the reform of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) required changes to the GROs. Also uncontested was an amendment to the Constitution introduced by the French, to move the CFS to Article III, making it a Committee of Conference rather than a Committee of Council, with the aim of raising the status of the CFS above that of the other technical committees. ¶8. In a last-minute attempt to yet again amend the constitution, a resolution that had been filed with the Director General in July, was introduced to the Conference by elements of the G-77, notably the Near East Group. This resolution proposed increasing the size of the Council from 49 to 61 members. The Near East Group decided to resurrect this proposal which had not been placed on the agenda, because it had been unable to agree among its members on a rotation of members to the Council, resulting in several countries occupying de facto "permanent" seats. The Dominican Republic chair of the G-77 offered a compromise resolution that would establish an open-ended working group to examine the issue of enlarging the Council along with other unidentified governance issues. The Near East Group itself had the only disputed election for Council seats, resulting in several rounds of balloting. UN ROME 00000069 003 OF 004 Fisheries: Port State Measures Agreement -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Also introduced under Legal Matters was the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent Illegal, Unlicensed and Unreported Fishing. Conference members rejected a last-minute amendment proposed by Costa Rica on behalf of several Latin American states, that would have referred the Agreement back to the Committee on Fisheries, and overwhelmingly voted to approve the Agreement without change. After lengthy debate in which all but a handful of Latin representatives spoke in favor of approving the Agreement, the vote tally was 106 in favor, two against, and 12 abstentions. Immediately following approval, Members were invited to sign the Agreement. The Ambassador, presented with Full Powers on behalf of the Secretary of State, signed the agreement on November 22. New Council Independent Chairman Elected -------------- ¶10. (SBU) On November 22, Members voted on candidacies for the Independent Chair of Council as well as two-thirds of Council seats. The French candidate for Independent Chair, Luc Guyau, narrowly won on the second ballot with strong French backing, defeating Gambian Fatou Ndeye Gaye and Vic Heard of the UK. On November 25, the Council will vote on membership on the Program and Finance Committees, the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Matters (CCLM),and seats on the Executive Board of the World Food Program. Commission on Substantive and Policy Matters -------------- ¶11. (SBU) The Commission on Substantive and Policy Matters considered and endorsed the reports submitted by the technical committees of FAO on Fisheries (COFI),Forestry (COFO), Agricultural (COAG),and Commodity Problems (CCP),which outlined the results of the meetings held during the biennium. The Commission stressed the urgent need for implementation of the Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, and supported the Funding Strategy developed to implement it, appealing to Members and international mechanisms to allocate predictable resources. The Global Strategy for Agricultural and Rural Statistics was welcomed as a high quality report that fully addressed a critical need of the organization and commended FAO for its leadership on this matter. The report on the reformed Committee on Food Security (CFS) was accepted without changes, and the Conference approved the CFS reform plan. In addition, Commission I reported to the conference on the United Nations World Food Program, where members emphasized WFP's increased commitment to enhance partnerships with other UN agencies and stakeholders. Finally Commission I reported on the results of the High Level Expert Forum on "How to Feed the World in 2050," noting that the documents of the conference provided a useful reference for the future work of FAO. ¶12. (SBU) COMMENT. Although successful in helping to change the U.S. image among FAO members, the Conference revealed some continuing FAO limitations. As Chair of the Conference, the Deputy Secretary was able to navigate contentious issues such as the Port State Measures Agreement, the attempt to enlarge the Council, and unclear voting procedures, with either poor or little FAO Secretariat support. Clearly, FAO needs to improve its legal department. The Conference also revealed lingering mistrust of the Secretariat on behalf of the membership, a situation not helped by the near total absence of the Director-General from the Conference proceedings - a situation that was likely in part a spillover from his unhappiness with the level of attendance of OECD countries at the Summit. UN ROME 00000069 004 OF 004 ¶13. (SBU) COMMENT CONTINUED. Clearly the reputation of the United States has changed for the better, leading to a more constructive atmosphere within the Conference. When the Ambassador mentioned to the plenary that the U.S. would join the majority in support of the budget, the room broke into applause. The once solid G-77 block continued to exhibit signs of division, particularly among the Latin Americans, some Asians, and members of the Near East Group. This may result in an easier working relationship between the U.S. and members of the once intransigent G77 block on FAO reform-related issues. ¶14. (U) This message was cleared by the Head of the USG Delegation, and Chairwoman of Conference, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Dr. Kathleen Merrigan. COUSIN