CO-OPERATION BETWEEN THE UNION AND FAO

Resolution adopted without a vote by the Inter-Parliamentary Council at its 161st session
(Cairo, 16 September 1997)

The Inter-Parliamentary Council,

Recalling its resolution adopted at the Council's 160th session (Seoul, 15 April 1997) on the results of the Parliamentarians' Day held in Rome on 15 November 1996 on the occasion of the World Food Summit,

Further recalling the resolution of the 96th Inter-Parliamentary Conference (Beijing, 20 September 1996) on "Policies and strategies to ensure the right to food in this time of globalisation of the economy and trade liberalisation",

1. Welcomes the signing of the Co-operation Agreement between the IPU and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) on 12 August 1997, and looks forward to the full implementation of the Agreement leading to the strengthening of institutional links between the two organisations and enhancing their co-operation;
2. Reiterates its endorsement of the contents of the Declaration adopted by the participants in the Parliamentarians' Day, and calls on all IPU member parliaments to continue their work for the implementation of the Rome Declaration on World Food Security and the Plan of Action adopted at the World Food Summit, as well as the Declaration adopted at the Parliamentarians' Day;
3. Also reiterates its support of FAO's efforts to promote food security as well as rural and agricultural development through the Special Programme for Food Security in Low-Income, Food-Deficit Countries and through the "Food for All" campaign, and invites IPU member parliaments to support the "Food for All - TeleFood 1997" initiative launched by FAO at the global level within the "Food for All" campaign;
4. Welcomes FAO's initiative to prepare draft strategies for national agricultural development (Horizon 2010) for developing countries and countries in transition, and urges the countries concerned to review, amend and adopt these strategies as part of their efforts to fulfil the commitments undertaken in the Plan of Action adopted at the World Food Summit;
5. Looks forward to the holding of the Inter-Parliamentary Conference on "Agricultural production for attaining the objectives of the World Food Summit while respecting the environment" to be organised jointly by IPU and FAO and hosted by the Italian Parliament in Rome in November 1998, and urges IPU member parliaments to participate actively in this event.

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