Press release of the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Geneva, 12 August 1997
N° 65

INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION SIGNS CO-OPERATION AGREEMENT WITH FAO

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the world organisation of parliaments, today signed a Co-operation Agreement with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to pursue common objectives of peace and security and promote international co-operation in their respective areas of competence.

The Agreement was signed by the IPU Secretary General, Pierre Cornillon, and the FAO Director-General, Jacques Diouf, during a ceremony at FAO headquarters in Rome. At the ceremony, Mr Cornillon declared his "intense satisfaction" with the Agreement, which follows in the footsteps of the IPU-UN Co-operation Agreement, signed in July 1996. He said the Agreement with the FAO marked an important practical step forward which also carried a significant symbolic value.

The Agreement recognises that the IPU and FAO "pursue common objectives of peace and security by promoting international co-operation in their respective areas of competence and that these common goals and objectives can be effectively strengthened and advanced through co-operation and joint activities". It paves the way to regular consultations and exchange of information, joint action and new areas of co-operation, and representation and participation at each other's conferences and meetings.

The joint activities foreseen under the Agreement include the holding of special meetings on subjects within the competence of FAO and of particular relevance and interest to parliaments and their members, as well as giving a parliamentary dimension to major meetings organised by the FAO, such as the Parliamentarians' Day held during last November's World Food Summit in Rome.

A first measure to implement the FAO-IPU Agreement will be the holding in October-November 1998, on the premises of the FAO in Rome, of a specialized Inter-Parliamentary Conference on "Agricultural production for attaining the objectives of the Food Summit while respecting the environment". The aim of the Conference is to review and promote at parliamentary level implementation of the State commitments made at the Summit.

Mr Cornillon recalled the basic principle which had also been reiterated by the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Council, Dr Ahmed Fathy Sorour, at the World Food Summit, namely that the practical implementation of major political and economic State commitments, such as the results of the Summit, necessarily involved the support of parliaments representing the world's peoples.

The IPU's and national parliaments' contribution towards the implementation of the Summit's recommendations "will be greatly facilitated" by the Agreement, the Secretary General said, pledging the IPU's determination to do its part and in general fulfil the role of the consultative parliamentary assembly to the FAO.

For his part, Mr Diouf spoke of the substantial contribution which members of parliament had made to the preparation of the World Food Summit, and he very much looked forward to their effective and concrete contributions towards the implementation of the Summit's recommendations.

As a former MP himself, Mr Diouf said parliaments could be sure to count on his commitment to ensure that the Agreement would give concrete substance, such as through the joint IPU-FAO inter-parliamentary conference in 1998.

The Geneva-based IPU, founded in 1889, promotes contacts and exchange of experience amongst parliaments and parliamentarians world-wide. It works for peace and co-operation among peoples; contributes to the defence and promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, and promotes sustainable development in all its dimensions. Its membership is currently composed of 138 national parliaments and three international parliamentary assemblies.