Baku, July 4 (AzerTAc). FAO`s governing Conference has unanimously approved a regular programme budget of $1,005.6 million for the Organization for the 2012-13 biennium, equivalent to a 1.4 percent increase over the current biennium.
The budget provides for full implementation of the proposed programme of work as well as the Immediate Plan of Action for FAO renewal. Recognizing the need for FAO`s programmes to be financially protected, Members called on the Director-General to make efficiency gains and one time-savings of $34.5 million beyond the economies that he had already programmed.
The level of the budget and its unanimous adoption was considered an expression of confidence in the Organization by the Conference, which last week elected José Graziano da Silva, a national of Brazil, to be the next Director-General, starting on 1 January 2012.
In addition, FAO expects some $1.4 billion of voluntary contributions from members and partners over the next biennium. The fact that such extra-budgetary resources exceed the regular budget is further evidence of Members` confidence in the Organization, Diouf said in his closing speech to the Conference.
Hailing Diouf`s "remarkable achievements in the course of his three successful terms" as Director-General, the Conference announced that following the recommendation of the 26th FAO Regional Conference for Africa (Angola, 4-7 May 2010), it has established a "Jacques Diouf Award for Food Security" as a continuing tribute to his stewardship of the Organization.
The $25 000 dollar prize will be awarded every two years to the individual or institution considered by the Selection Committee as having made the most significant contribution to the improvement of global food security in the previous biennium.
In a resolution the Conference recalled "the eminent services rendered by Dr Jacques Diouf to the Organization ... over a period during which the world was faced with food insecurity, food price instability and climate change challenges of exceptional magnitude and unprecedented complexity".
Under Diouf`s guidance the Organization has taken major steps towards resolving these problems by ensuring that agriculture is back on the global agenda, the resolution said.