Food and Agriculture Organization

Extract

In the annual report on the work of the Food and Agriculture Organization for the year 1949/50, the Director-General, Norris E. Dodd, stated that FAO activities especially in technical assistance and farming methods could fill a great need in existing world conditions. Recent developments expected to have an influence on FAO were listed as the 1) Korean crisis, 2) expanded technical assistance program, 3) removal of FAO headquarters to Rome and 4) possibility of ECOSOC studies on full employment. There was to be a continued differentiation between the usual technical assistance program of FAO which was concerned with short-range projects and the expanded technical assistance program which would involve the assignment of technicians for lengthy periods; the two programs were to be subject to separate accounting. The removal of the organization's headquarters to Rome necessitated the establishment of a regional office in North America to maintain close contact with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Monetary Fund because with the expanded technical assistance program cooperation with these agencies was more important than ever. The Director-General proposed that four sub-regional offices for Latin America be established: one at Mexico City for Mexico and the Caribbean area, one at Rio de Janeiro for the eastern portion of South America, and another at Santiago for the western portion of South America, and finally one at Bogotá or Caraças for the Gran Colombian region.