Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), established in 1945, is a UN specialized agency that provides global data and expertise on agri­ culture and nutrition, fisheries, forestry, and other food and agriculture– related issues. FAO is the UN system’s largest autonomous agency, with headquarters in Rome, 78 country offices and 15 regional, sub–regional, and liaison offices, including one located in Washington, D.C. FAO’s highest policy–making body, the biennial General Conference, comprises all 183 FAO member countries plus the European Commission. The General Conference determines FAO policy and approves FAO’s reg­ ular program of work and budget. The 31st Conference, meeting in November 1999, re–elected Director–General Jacques Diouf (Senegal) to a second six–year term through December 2005. Each biennial Confer­ ence elects a 49–member Council that meets semi–annually to make rec­ ommendations to the General Conference on budget and policy issues. The North America region, which comprises the United States and Can­ ada, is allocated two seats on the Council and one seat each on FAO’s Program, Finance, and Constitutional and Legal Matters (CCLM) Com­ mittees. The United States holds the North American seats on the Finance and Joint Staff Pension Committees through December 2003. Canada holds the North American seat on the CCLM and Program Committees through December 2003. The United States participated at the World Food Summit: Five Years Later meeting held at FAO headquarters June 10–13, 2002, to discuss progress towards attaining the 1996 World Food Summit target of reduc­ ing the world’s number of hungry and malnourished by half by 2015. The United States presented new initiatives to improve agriculture productivity as a significant contribution toward meeting that goal. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman, leading the U.S. delegation, joined other min­ isters and heads of state and government in adopting a Declaration, “The International Alliance Against Hunger,” which reiterated the goals of the 1996 World Food Summit and stated, inter alia, “we are committed to