I move:
That Dáil Éireann approves the terms of the Agreement Establishing the International Fund for Agricultural Development adopted in Rome on 13th June, 1976.
In November, 1974, the World Food Conference proposed that an International Fund for Agricultural Development be established to finance agricultural development projects, primarily for food production, in the developing countries and that the Secretary-General of the United Nations be requested to convene urgently a meeting of all interested contributing developed countries, principally the OPEC states, and potential recipient countries in order to establish the fund. This proposal was endorsed by a United Nations General Assembly resolution in December, 1974.
Following a series of preliminary meetings of interested countries, a plenipotentiary conference was convened in June, 1976, for the purpose of getting the fund under way. The conference adopted the text of the agreement establishing the fund but it was not possible at that time to open the fund for signature. This was because a provision of the agreement, which required that the total of contributions pledged to the fund should amount to at least one billion dollars, could not be met at that stage. The Government pledged £500,000 to the fund at the plenipotentiary conference, subject to parliamentary approval, and later increased this amount to £570,000. This additional contribution was made in response to an urgent appeal by the Secretary General of the UN addressed to the Taoiseach—and to the heads of other governments contributing to the fund—that we make an increase in our proposed contribution so that the target of one billion dollars could be reached as soon as possible. As other governments—and particularly our EEC partners—also responded to the Secretary-General's request the target was reached on 20th December, 1976, and the agreement was, accordingly, formally opened for signature on that day. Ireland signed the agreement on 28th April.
The opening clause of the preamble to the agreement establishing the fund states that "the continuing food problem of the world is afflicting a large segment of the people of the developing countries and is jeopardising the most fundamental principles and values associated with the right to life and human dignity". One of the chief objectives of the fund is to promote agricultural development, primarily food production, in developing countries, and thereby gradually to curtail if not, ultimately, obviate the necessity for short-term action such as food aid. The World Food Conference resolution which called for the establishment of the fund referred to the need for "a substantial increase in investment in agriculture for increasing food and agricultural production in developing countries" and went on to say that the "provision of an adequate supply and proper utilisation of food are the common responsibility of all members of the international Community".
The content of that resolution corresponds to Ireland's traditional policy in this field. We have consistently taken the view that food aid is of its nature a temporary measure: the solution to world food problems lies primarily in a rapid increase of food production in developing countries. This is why we believe that the establishment of the International Fund for Agricultural Development is the most far-reaching attempt yet undertaken by the international community to come to grips with this problem and we trust that it will be a success.
Membership of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, which is open to any member State of the United Nations, is divided into three categories. Category I comprises the developed countries, Category II the OPEC countries, and Category III the non-OPEC developing countries. The provision of a special membership category for OPEC countries is one of the novel aspects of the agreement. It reflects the new importance of these countries in international councils. It reflects also their commitment to international development co-operation, as can be seen by the relatively high share of their GNP which many OPEC countries devote to assisting the poorer developing countries. The total of their pledged contributions to the fund amounts to approximately 435 million dollars, which is only a little less than half the overall pledged figure. The fund will therefore, be an instrument for development created in large measure by the developing countries themselves rather than the traditional type of fund financed solely by the developed countries of which the developing nations were passive beneficiaries.
According to Article 2 of the agreement the "objective of the fund shall be to mobilise additional resources to be made available on concessional terms for agricultural development in developing Member States". Article 7 of the agreement stipulates that the fund "in allocating its resources should be guided by the following priorities: (1) the need to increase food production and to improve the nutritional level of the poorest populations in the poorest food deficit countries; (2) the potential for increasing food production in other developing countries. Likewise, emphasis shall be placed on improving the nutritional level of the poorest populations in these countries and the conditions of their lives".
These objectives and priorities provide the basis on which the fund's lending policies and criteria will be evolved.
As regards the organisation and management of the fund, article 6 of the agreement provides for the setting up of a governing council and an executive board, and for the appointment of a president and such staff as may be necessary to carry out the functions of the fund. Each member state will be represented on the governing council, while the executive board will consist of 18 members elected by the council. These 18 members of the executive board will consist of six members from each of the three categories of countries members of the fund.
Pending the entry into force of the agreement the administrative structure of the fund is being elaborated by a preparatory commission, which was set up last year at the plenipotentiary conference to which I referred at the outset. When the agreement enters into force this preparatory commission will be replaced by the executive board. In the meantime, the composition of the preparatory commission is the same as that prescribed for the executive board, that is, 18 members, six of whom belong to each of the three categories. The Catagory I countries members of the preparatory commission are Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden and the USA. Members of the preparatory commission represent "constituencies" in which other countries contributing to the fund participate. Ireland is a member of the Netherlands constituency together with Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
The preparatory commission has met on three occasions; the most recent meeting took place earlier this month in Rome. A large part of the commission's meetings in 1976 was devoted to the question of mobilising the additional funds necessary to enable the fund to attain the one billion dollar figure of pledged contributions required before the agreement could be opened for signature. Since this important condition was met in December last the preparatory commission have been considering such questions as, for example, the draft rules of procedure of the governing council and of the executive board; the draft relationship agreement between the United Nations and fund—since the fund will be a specialised agency of the UN; and the lending policies and criteria of the fund. A large measure of agreement on these questions has now been reached and it is hoped that this work will be completed very shortly so that the commission can hand over their functions to the executive board once the agreement enters into force.
To date the agreement has been signed by 44 countries, who like ourselves, are now taking steps to have it ratified. The agreement will enter into force upon receipt by the Secretary General of the UN of instruments of ratification from at least six states in Category I, six states in Category II and 24 states in Category III provided that the aggregate of initial contributions by donor countries which ratify the agreement amounts to at least $750 million, and provided also that the entry into force takes place within 18 months, of the date on which the agreement was opened for signature, that is, from 20th December, 1976. If the operational figure is not reached within the 18 months stipulated, such states as have deposited ratification instruments may decide by a two-thirds majority of each category to determine a later date and to notify the Secretary General of the UN accordingly. The agreement provides that members' contributions may be made in a single sum or in three equal annual instalments; Ireland will avail of the latter course. The single sum or the first annual instalment shall be due on the 30th day after the agreement enters into force with respect to any particular member; second and third instalments shall be due on the first and on the second anniversary of the date on which the first instalment was due.
As Ireland's participation in the fund will involve a charge on public funds, the approval of the agreement by Dáil Éireann is required before ratification. From the outset Ireland has taken a favourable attitude towards the establishment of the International Fund for Agricultural Development and it is the Government's view that we should arrange to ratify it as soon as possible. I therefore recommend the motion to the House.