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Commissioner Nielson's speech at the World Food Programme Board

Madame Executive Director,
Mr Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is with great pleasure that I respond to your kind invitation to address the WFP Executive Board here in Rome. I am here today in the context of a broader visit to the three Rome-based UN institutions with the double objective:

• First, to inform WFP, FAO and IFAD on the efforts that the Commission is deploying to review and to invigorate the European Commission's relations and collaboration with the UN system as a whole;
  
  
• And second, to address specific issues of mutual interest to the Commission and the Rome-based UN institutions and to enhance the current dialogue and practical collaboration between them.

Through its new approach, the Commission looks for complementarity and genuine partnerships with the UN-Organizations based on the particular strength and value added of each organization in the light of our development objectives and priorities.

This approach also applies to the World Food Programme, which the Commission, as the second largest donor, views as its key partner in the humanitarian field, at the frontline to combat hunger and malnutrition across the globe.

In the search for new opportunities and ways to further strengthen the co-operation between the EC and WFP, we need to look at both sides of our partnership.

For the Commission, I have to acknowledge that we are not only an important contributor to WFP but that we are at the same time not an easy partner. I refer in particular to the Commission's system of administrative and financial rules and regulations, difficult to match the needs and rules of the World Food Programme and specifically the mode of calculation of Indirect Support Costs. Discussion is still going on between the Commission and the WFP's Secretariat to find ways to overcome the remaining problems and to allow both institutions to concentrate on the real job. We will also discuss this with others so that a permanent and simple rule may apply to all. In any case, we find the rate of 7.8% to be too high. A solution to this problem has to be found at the latest in October.

Turning to the World Food Programme, I express the hope that the many discussions we had over the last two years have ironed out the existing differences on conceptual issues and that WFP understands and accepts the Commission's beliefs and priorities in the field of food security and food aid.

For the Commission, food security is at the heart of poverty reduction; it reflects our view that the best way to achieve food security is to implement a broad based policy for sustainable development and poverty reduction at the national level. Concerning more particularly food aid, there has been an important change in EC policy over recent years, which has led to a decrease in the delivery of food aid-in-kind. But this development has been more than compensated by growth in financial assistance and increased local and regional purchases. We do not regard food aid as an appropriate instrument to create long-term food security, but rather as an essential instrument for emergency and humanitarian interventions to linking relief, rehabilitation and development and as an element of safety net strategies for particularly vulnerable sections of the population.

Above and beyond the bilateral efforts of Member States, the European Commission manages a development aid portfolio of roughly 7.5 billion Euro annually, making it the world's fifth largest donor. A large share of these resources is devoted directly or indirectly to food security as a key objective of EC development co-operation. Roughly 500 million Euro is allocated each year to a food security budget-line specifically aimed at addressing situations of structural food insecurity, temporary food shortages and linking relief, rehabilitation and development, of which roughly 20% is channelled through WFP. EC development aid supports a large number of sectors relevant to food security, including agricultural production and research, infrastructure, private sector development, environment and natural resources management, marketing and trade development, regional integration, crisis management, emergency support and targeted safety net programmes.

This brings me to a couple of important aspects of WFP work.

The first point concerns the Protracted Relief and Recovery Operations. We believe that WFP should invest further thinking into this category, which proves to be increasingly important in the context of the rising number of natural and man made disasters. PRROs operating beyond immediate needs and emergencies could help pave the way leading to development. As it would reinforce the Commission's efforts to linking relief, rehabilitation and development, we feel that this category could be a field for closer co-operation between the EC and WFP. The country evaluations that you will discuss during this Board meeting could be a first step to look more closely into this matter and later on, a broader thematic evaluation might be a useful second step.

A second challenge that we see for WFP is the on going decentralization exercise. We believe that this process is a key step to strengthen WFP's effectiveness and the relevance of its work. It will bring you even closer to the field and will tremendously enhance co-ordination and collaboration with the Commission's field offices.

Finally, I would like to commend your efforts to introduce a more result-based management. This will not only require to improve the culture of learning from evaluations but also to make progress on indicators that would allow improved monitoring and impact assessment. Referring to the last point, I admit that most of the donors, including the EC have not yet delivered. Everybody is asking for indicators. We have to be careful not to pretend that the world is simpler than it really is.

Turning to the Commission's endeavors at the international level to promote conditions for sustainable and more equitable development, I would like to mention the Commission's efforts to strengthen the coherence between the European Community's aid, trade, agriculture and fisheries policies. These issues will be of capital importance in the context of the new round of WTO negotiations. We believe that the WTO process will be a new challenge for all the parties concerned and will inevitably include food aid and food security. The Commission will make sure that development aspects will be given appropriate attention in the trade agenda.

An important event will take place in Monterrey next March, which will hopefully set new ground for financing development required to make progress on the development goals. Monterrey will be followed by the "World Food Summit - Five Years Later" to be held in June here in Rome where we will look at the progress made and at possible means and actions to do better. Finally, the forthcoming World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg will be another opportunity to achieve what the Commission calls "a global deal". The Commission will make its contribution to Monterrey and Johannesburg public on Wednesday.

Ms Bertini, as you have just pointed out, the decade during which you have been at the helm of WFP has truly been one of tremendous change. Some changes have been for the better, but there are many, which were for the worse. The proliferation of complex emergencies continues to underscore the crucial need to link more firmly humanitarian aid with a broader development agenda. Over this decade, Ms Bertini, you have been able to leave your mark on the organization and I would like to pay tribute to both the devotion and energy with which you accomplished your tasks. I want to thank you for our good collaboration in these years.

Thank you

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Búsqueda avanzada

• Commission communication on FfD (Monterrey) (13/2/2002)
• Visit of Commissioner Nielson to Rome (11/2/2002)