PHILIPPINES WINS WFP EXECUTIVE BOARD SEAT

28 November 2006 — Philippine Ambassador to Italy and Permanent Representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization Philippe J. Lhuillier reported to the DFA Secretary Alberto G. Romulo that the Philippines won a seat for membership in the World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Board at elections held during the 131^st meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Council on 23 November 2006.

Ambassador Lhuillier said, “This is a significant milestone for us for two reasons. We have never been a member of the WFP Executive Board and this gives us an opportunity to sell to the WFP rather than get aid form them and the WFP Executive Board will have a strategic role to play in the ongoing reforms of the United Nations.”

The seat won by the Philippines will cover the period 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2009.

Ambassador Lhuillier reported that four countries vied for the two seats contested during the 49-member FAO Council for the Asia Region.  Pakistan, an incumbent, received 30 votes while the Philippines had 29 votes out of the 44 votes cast.  The majority required was 23 votes.

The Philippines could have gotten more than 29 votes but five of the total of 49 ballots were declared defective and therefore not counted.

The incumbent Bangladesh lost with 17 votes.  Iraq, with 12 votes, did not qualify as well.

The WFP is the world's biggest United Nations organization that deals with emergency and humanitarian assistance.  The WFP reopened its country office and operations in the Philippines last July after an absence of ten years. Its last operations in the Philippines were in 1996.

During the middle of this year, the WFP approved an Emergency Operation for the Philippines covering around 2,106,000 beneficiaries in Mindanao with a total budget of US$27,218,615 for a duration of 12 months, from 1 March 2006 to 28 February 2007.

“Whenever people hear of WFP, they only think of emergency assistance. They never realize that it is also the world's biggest food buyer. Our Filipino food exporters can have this opportunity of selling to the WFP, products like canned sardines, dried fish, mungbeans, and even bottled water – items that are needed during an emergency,” Ambassador Lhuillier noted.

“We campaigned hard for this election so that the Philippines can sell to the WFP rather than receive aid from the WFP,” he explained.

Finally he cited that in the recent Report of the High-level Panel on UN System-wide Coherence in the areas of Development, Humanitarian Assistance and the Environment, entitled ‘Delivering as One,’ the WFP will have a strategic role to play.

The Report recommended the establishment of a UN Sustainable Development Board to oversee the One UN Country Programmes.

A coordinating Board is necessary to provide oversight for the One UN Country Programme, to provide system-wide coherence, ensure coordination, and to monitor performance of global activities.

The High Level Panel proposed that the existing joint meetings of the Boards of UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WFP be merged into this strategic oversight body – the UN Sustainable Development Board (The Board) – reporting to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

The UN reform process is ongoing and this aims to make the delivery of services of the United Nations at the country level more coordinated and coherent.  END

/epa

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