PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT MISSION OF ARGENTINA TO THE UNITED NATIONS

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT MISSION OF ARGENTINA TO THE UNITED NATIONS

Juan Carlos Vignaud, Adjunct Professor at the University of Georgia (USA) and Ambassador of Argentina to Sweden, was introduced to correspondents at a United Nations press conference this afternoon by Alejandra Ayuso, a representative of the Argentinian Mission, as the Argentinian candidate for Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with a concrete proposal for the organization.

Mr. Vignaud, who has devoted most of his career to the work of the FAO, has been the Permanent Representative of Argentina to the FAO at Rome and Director of the FAO office at Geneva among other positions. He has also been adviser to the President of Argentina at the rank of Secretary of State.

Following a brief welcoming statement, Mr. Vignaud opened the floor to questions.

A correspondent asked why the campaign for the position of Director-General was being pursued outside of the usual diplomatic channels.

Mr. Vignaud said that because of the FAO's important mandate, the campaign for the position of Director-General should be based on proposals and not on slander. He regretted that, lately, the level of the campaign had sunk with the circulation of anonymous letters and attacks on the ethical values of the present Director-General. Whenever the moral integrity of a person was in doubt, he should call for an inquiry. It should be clear to all that anyone pursuing the leadership of an international institution was above suspicion.

Asked about his proposals for the FAO, Mr. Vignaud said the organization had been marginalized both for donor and developing countries. In the last six years, funds invested in field activities had decreased by almost 50 per cent. At the same time, the amount of money spent for the functioning of the organization had increased. In other words, there were increased expenses, but a decreased presence in the field.

Ideally, he said, the FAO should operate as a centre of excellence, a world repository of information on such things as agriculture, food, forestry and fishery. It should be a neutral forum

Argentina Press Conference - 2 - 29 October 1999

for the discussion of policies and problems. The FAO should be a normative centre for concepts such as food safety. It should work on environmental problems as they related to agriculture, in close cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to avoid duplication. The environmental problem was one of the main challenges to be faced in the new millennium.

He expressed concern that, unless the FAO carried out programmes at the field level, it could become something like a research institution or an ivory tower for thinkers not being in touch with the reality of the developing countries or, the reality of those in need.

To regain the confidence of the donor community, he said, his first proposal would be to streamline the organization and to start working in a more cost-effective manner -- to do more with fewer resources. Other items of importance would be accountability and transparency. They were essential requirements for encouraging the donor community.

Continuing, he said that to become more efficient, it would be important to review the scope of the organization's activities. Currently, the FAO had a shopping list of activities that tried to do everything for everybody, resulting in no impact on anything. It should, however, have a clear list of priorities referring to programmes as well as geographical areas where the FAO must be present. In his opinion, the FAO should be interested in the Sahel, South-East Asia and areas in the Carribean and Central America. He would like to discuss with each country concerned a short list of priorities and to call for a donor conference to obtain funding. If the organization could assure efficiency, transparency and accountability, it could get the money it needed, he said.

Also, he said, the organization should review overhead costs which, at 17 per cent, were the most expensive in the entire United Nations system. Other institutions operated for less than half that amount.

When asked how many countries supported his candidacy, he said “I am pleased to tell you that we are going to win the election”. Although he did not know exactly how many countries would be voting, he was optimistic. There were more than 10 days left and his message and proposals were widely accepted by the developing countries, in particular, the Latin countries.

Asked if the United States and Canada would vote for him, he suggested that the correspondent ask the representatives of those countries. He said the United States and Canada would vote for the candidate who would make the organization more cost effective and who would help more efficiently those in need. He recalled that Henry Kissinger had said in 1974, when he was Secretary of State, that in 10 years no child should go hungry. He hoped that the United States remembered that that had been the position of the Government 25 years ago.

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