secretariat and not from FAO.)
order to adopt an integrated approach towards their solution'. Special attention
would be given to the problems of the poorest and most seriously affected coun-
tries. In conducting its work, WFC would `maintain contact with, receive reports
from, give advice and make recommendations to, United Nations bodies and
agencies, regarding the formulation and follow-up of world food policies'. This
would include receiving periodic reports from the UN agencies concerned with
food security issues, including: FAO's Committee on World Food Security, the FAO
Commission on Fertilizers, FAO on progress in implementing it Global Inform-
ation and Early warning System, WFP, IFAD, the CGIAR, and from the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on the world food
trade situation and on progress to increase trade liberalization and access to inter-
national markets for food products exported by developing countries. WFC would
also work `in full co-operation' with regional bodies to formulate and follow-up
policies approved by the Council.
between those who did not want any new UN machinery to address the prob-
lems of world food security and the proposals for a World Food Authority or a
World Food Security Council. It was the only UN body to be specifically set up
at the ministerial or plenipotentiary level, reporting directly to the UN General
Assembly through ECOSOC, with members serving for three years. This was care-
fully calibrated to give geographical and political balance between developing and
developed countries and reflected the concern of the G77 that the Council should
not become a tool of the powerful developed nations.
days, preceded by a preparatory meeting of a similar period, usually at the location
of the Council's headquarters in Rome. The Council's first session was held in
Rome in June 1975 at which its `Rules of Procedure', drafted by the secretariat of
ECOSOC after consultation with the UN Office of Legal Affairs, were considered.
A working group was set up to review and revise the draft, which was approved
at its second session in 1976 (UN, 1977). A bureau, consisting of a president
and three (later four) vice-presidents and a rapporteur, was elected by Council
members for a biennium. In electing the WFC bureau, `due respect should be paid
to the principle of rotation and equitable geographical representation'. An exec-
utive director would be appointed by the UN secretary-general, in consultation
with WFC members and with the FAO director-general, for a period of four years
`with due regard to the principle of geographical rotation'.