Constitution of Host Committee for Group of 77 ECDC Meeting of Experts on Food Security Reserve Scheme

March 2, 1982

LETTER OF INSTRUCTIONS NO. 1205

Creation of the Philippine Host Committee for the Group of 77 Economic Cooperation among Developing Countries (ECDC) Meeting of Experts on Food Security Reserve Scheme, and the First Meeting of the ECDC Intergovernmental Follow-up and Coordination Committee on mid-1982, Manila. cd

WHEREAS, the Foreign Ministers of the Group of 77 in 1980 decided to convene the High Level Conference on Economic Co-operation among Developing Countries (ECDC) in Caracas on 13–19 May 1981;

WHEREAS, this High Level Conference decided to expand ECDC to include cooperation in the area of food and agriculture in view of the critical food situation facing developing countries and a lack of assured sources of food supply from developed countries;

WHEREAS, the Conference recommended, inter-alia that urgent and concrete measures should be taken to make full use of potential production capacities of developing countries with a view of accelerating food production and attaining national and collective self-reliance; that a scheme for acquiring and maintaining food reserves should be established; and that a group of experts should be convened to prepare a project on a scheme for acquiring and maintaining food reserves;

WHEREAS, the Conference decided to establish the Intergovernmental Follow-up and Coordination Committee as the mechanism for coordination, monitoring follow-up actions, and evaluation of the Caracas Programme of Action; cdt

WHEREAS, the Foreign Ministers of the Group of 77 during its September 1981 annual meeting in New York accepted the offer of the Philippines to host the first sectoral meeting on agriculture; meeting of group of experts on food security reserves scheme; and on December 1981 accepted again the Philippine offer to host the First Meeting of the ECDC Intergovernmental Follow-up and Coordination Committee;

WHEREAS, the Philippines is totally committed to ECDC;

WHEREAS, the hosting of these Meetings shall serve as the first concrete follow-through action of the Philippines in the spirit of the Cancun Summit;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order and direct the following:

1. The abovementioned officials shall constitute themselves into a Host Committee for the Group of 77 ECDC Meeting of Experts on Food Security Reserves Scheme and the First Intergovernmental Follow-up and Coordination Committee with the Minister for Foreign Affairs as Chairman, the Minister of Finance as Co-Chairman, the Minister of Agriculture as Vice-Chairman and the Minister of Trade and Industry as Co-Vice-Chairman and the others as members.

2. The Host Committee shall prepare the groundwork and preparations for the hosting of the Meetings and shall call upon the assistance of other officials and agencies of government and the private sector including non-governmental organizations concerned with convention matters, food production, trade, technology transfer, and finance to ensure the successful convening of the Meeting. cd

3. The Host Committee shall organize working groups to ensure smooth implementation of its work and decisions, including a Group on Substantive Matters for agriculture. The ECDC Committee on Substantive Matters of the Cabinet Council on ECDC and the Group on Substantive Matters for Agriculture will formulate the Philippine positions on the various agenda items of the Meetings and assist in the preparation of working documents and the final report of the Meetings, respectively.

4. An organizing Secretariat is hereby created to serve as the support staff of the Host Committee and the Meeting with the Assistant Minister for United Nations and International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as Secretary-General and the Assistant Minister for Agriculture and the Assistant Minister for Trade and Industry as Deputy Secretaries-General. cdt

5. The Minister of Tourism shall take charge of providing hospitality functions including tours and hotel accommodations for the delegates.

6. The Director-General of the Budget and Management is hereby directed to release the amount of Twelve Million Five Hundred Seventy Eight Thousand Pesos (P12,578,000.00) from the International Commitment Fund for the financial requirements of the Host Committee and the Organizing Secretariat.

For immediate implementation.

DONE in the City of Manila, this 2nd day of March, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Two.