Page image
Page image

A— 1

The Committee further recommends — That the Governments ofjthe United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada arrange without delay for a meeting of the Combined Food Board to which shall be invited representatives of the Governments eligible for membership in the proposed] International Emergency Food Council in order that this Council may be organized. The original Agenda for Committee 111 included study of a long-term plan, and the Committee passed the following resolution: — The Committee, convinced that present emergency action in the field of food and agriculture should be carried on further by providing at an early date for longer-term machinery to deal with certain practical international problems connected therewith, Requests the Director-General of FAO — (1) To submit to the Conference of FAO at its next session a survey of existing and proposed intergovernmental organizations designed to meet longterm problems concerned with the production, distribution, and consumption of food and agricultural products, including the risk of accumulating surpluses. (2) To make proposals to the Conference on any extension of the functions of existing organizations or on any new organizations which the survey may indicate as necessary. (3) In preparing such proposals to bear in mind—- (<») The necessity of securing the widest possible co-operation between nations and between the intergovernmental agencies concerned with increasing the production and consumption of food and agricultural products; (b) The need for effective measures to prevent a recurrence of shortages or the accumulation of surpluses of food and agricultural products and for dealing with such shortages or surpluses should they develop; and (c) The proposals made by the representatives of Governments and organizations during the course of the special meeting; (4) In carrying out the above request, to maintain close contact with the other intergovernmental organizations concerned, and especially the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The Committee recommends— That any conclusions of the Conference of FAO concerning the extension of the functions of existing organizations or the establishment of new organizations should be referred to the United Nations in order that guidance may be obtained on the proper relations which should be established and maintained between the various existing or proposed bodies in this field. There can be little doubt that the new body now proposed is a distinct improvement on the existing arrangement, but it must be recognized that it is an improvement with very distinct limitations. The fact that the distributing authority now rests on a much broader basis will, it is believed, give added authority to its decisions and added efficiency to its discussions. But in the broad result the power of deciding the destination of foodstuffs will still remain where, in essence, it has always lain—namely, with the country producing and owning the surplus. Supplying countries and importing countries will have the fullest opportunity of expressing their views, and the new organization should provide every possible facility for reconciling those views. But in a situation where starvation threatens so many peoples it can scarcely be expected that commodity Committees or the Central Committee or the Council itself will be able to agree upon the most equitable distribution of

13

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert