Specific activities that assisted countries in relation to terrorism targeted at food products included: (a) capacity-building (training courses, projects) concerning food safety, animal and plant health, including promotion of risk analyses and developing base-level capacity to ensure national ability to monitor, diagnose, report and respond to pest and disease outbreaks; (b) the standard setting work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the International Plant Protection Convention; (c) the establishment of a Food Chain Crisis Management Framework for prevention, early warning, preparedness and response to food chain crises caused by transboundary animal and plant pests and diseases, food safety threats and emergencies, as well as nuclear and radiological threats and emergencies; and the organization of international forums to discuss biological risk management in relation to food and agriculture.

During their visit, the Working Group found that the challenges faced by people of African descent in Portugal related mainly to their lack of recognition as a specific group in the national policy and legal framework; the lack of recognition of their positive contribution throughout history to the construction and development of the country; the lack of qualitative and quantitative disaggregated data by racial or ethnic origin; the existence of a circle of poverty, unequal access to education, public services, employment, as well as discrimination in the administration and functioning of the justice system; existence of racial profiling and police violence; underrepresentation in political and institutional decision-making processes, as well as the lack of special measures or affirmative action policies in Portugal for people of African descent or other minorities.

(B) If any member shall surrender for cancellation a share certificate representing shares held by him and request the Company to issue in lieu two or more share certificates representing such shares in such proportions as he may specify, the Board may, if it thinks fit, comply with such request subject to the payment of such sum (not exceeding, in the case of any share capital listed on a stock exchange in Hong Kong, the maximum amount prescribed or permitted from time to time by such stock exchange, and, in the case of any other share capital, such sum in such currency as the Board may from time to time determine to be reasonable in the territory in which the relevant register is situate, or otherwise in each case such other sum as the Board may from time to time determine) for every certificate after the first, as the Board shall from time to time determine.

(F) Subject to the Companies Act and to the next paragraph of this Bye-law, no Director or proposed or intended Director shall be disqualified by his office from contracting with the Company, either with regard to his tenure of any office or place of profit or as vendor, purchaser or in any other manner whatever, nor shall any such contract or any other contract or arrangement in which any Director is in any way interested by liable to be avoided, nor shall any Director so contracting or being so interested be liable to account to the Company or the shareholders for any remuneration, profit or other benefits realised by any such contract or arrangement, by reason only of such Director holding that office or the fiduciary relationship thereby established.

A host of concrete proposals were suggested to the coordinators of the Dialogue, such as: dialogue and networking among universities; dialogue among young scientists, involving UNESCO chairholders in dialogue activities; dialogue among student journalists and seasoned media practitioners from both regions; the holding of youth forums; reactivation of the Committee for the Translation of Literary Works and increase in the translation of Arabic works into European languages; a comparative study of school textbooks; dialogue involving professionals from cultural industries; the organization of an interregional conference on the image of Arab-Islamic culture in European history books.

The net decrease reflects reductions under most objects of expenditure, including $242,800 under consultants, mainly as a consequence of the increased use of in-house expertise, where possible; $104,700 under experts, resulting mainly from concerted efforts to combine meetings or reduce the number of experts and the duration of meetings, whenever possible; $121,200 under travel of staff, mainly attributable to increased utilization of video conferencing, combining trips and/or reducing the duration of travel as much as possible; $460,800 under contractual services, primarily owing to increased utilization of electronic means of disseminating publications; $111,000 under furniture and equipment, reflecting reduced requirements for the replacement of furniture and office equipment resulting from extending the lifespan of furniture and equipment; and $781,600 under grants and contributions, mainly owing to the termination of the contract with the International Computing Centre.

It is noteworthy that programmes implemented by the Office in the area education focused on the following strategic areas of support, all directly responding to strategies and results contained in Kenya Education Sector Support Programme (KESSP), the education sector’s plan to materialize Vision 2030: strengthening the planning, monitoring and evaluation of the education system through EMIS; enhancing the education sector responses to HIV and AIDS; improving the quality of education for peace programme; and strengthening literacy development through advocacy and technical support to strategic planning.

In addition, Tajikistan reported that it is preparing to conduct a needs assessment of landmine and other ERW victims in mine affected districts with the main goal being to establish a functional victim information system (VIS), which would comply with the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) standards and become a systematic and reliable mechanism at the district and oblast level.

For Canada, those covered the terminal phase-out management plan for ODS in the refrigeration and air-conditioning sector in Saint Lucia and the terminal phase-out management plan for Annex A Group I substances in Uruguay; for Italy, the umbrella project for terminal phase-out of ODS in the solvent sector in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the phase-out of methyl bromide as a soil fumigant in Morocco, and the terminal CTC phase-out project in Serbia; and for Spain, the phase-out of methyl bromide in horticulture in Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

The concrete measures recommended by the Working Group include the adoption of specific legislation on non-discrimination; the development of a national campaign to promote multiculturalism and respect for the dignity of the Afro-Ecuadorian people; the adoption of measures to reduce the educational gap that exists between Afro-Ecuadorians and the wider population; the introduction of ethno-education for people of African descent; the strengthening of Afro-Ecuadorian civil society; measures to eliminate racism and discrimination in the media; further efforts to encourage participation of persons of African descent in public administration; the establishment of a centre for Afro-Ecuadorian studies; the further development of free legal aid services; the creation within the office of the Ombudsman of a sub-unit dedicated to issues related to people of African descent and the creation of special programmes to promote the education of women of African descent.

Chad was also grateful for all forms of assistance that would help in the implementation of the commitments it had made in the framework of the review.

Following a discussion, the Executive Committee decided to approve the pilot project for validation of methyl formate as a blowing agent in the manufacture of polyurethane foam (phase I) in Brazil at a total cost of US $401,500 plus agency support costs of US $30,113 for UNDP, noting that the project was consistent with decision 55/43(e) and that it had been designed to disseminate the results from the validation of methyl formate technology in rigid and integral skin polyurethane foam applications globally, and on the understanding that the project would be the final validation project for methyl formate in the manufacture of rigid and integral skin polyurethane foams, and that approval of the project was without prejudice to consideration of the future funding request for phase II of the project by the Executive Committee.

Assistance focuses on (a) establishing legal and policy frameworks consistent with international standards and norms; (b) strengthening the capacity of domestic institutions, in particular anti-corruption bodies and criminal justice institutions, to effectively prevent and control corruption in an integrated and coordinated way; (c) enhancing integrity, accountability and transparency in public and private sectors, including the management of public resources; (d) supporting relevant Government institutions in international cooperation and the recovery of assets at the domestic and international levels; (e) development of strategic and thematic partnerships with members of the international community and United Nations system to ensure coherency in the delivery of technical assistance; and (f) supporting the establishment of networks and platforms for policy dialogue and peer learning among Member States at the regional and international levels.

In section V, paragraph 11, of the same resolution, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to seek a more effective strategy to fill current and future language post vacancies at all duty stations in a timely manner, took note of paragraph 92 of the report of the Secretary-General on the pattern of conferences (A/63/119 and Corr.1), and also requested the Secretary-General to hold the competitive examinations for the recruitment of language staff referred to in that paragraph, as well as other examinations beyond 2009, well in advance so as to fill current and future language post vacancies at all duty stations in a timely manner, and to inform the Assembly at its sixty-fourth session of efforts in that regard.

Regarding women’s rights, it was reiterated that Afghanistan had ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and had in place a law to protect women from violence, in conformity with the Convention, in order to give women an appropriate share in the Government and social life in Afghanistan.

The inordinate length of translation times, especially in cases of selfrepresented appellants, calls for greater explanation than suitable for a report of this size, but it can be said that efforts are under way to more effectively liaise with the supervisors in the Conference and Language Services Section on a continual basis in order to assess progress and determine the need for requesting prioritization of specific translations, and to readdress the internal requirement of the Conference and Language Services Section that the revision process for translation of a judgement must be accomplished as a whole, rather than volume by volume (which would allow for gradual release of translated portions).

The Commission was informed of initiatives that were being undertaken by Pacific island developing countries to protect biodiversity and the maintenance of ecosystem services, such as the Phoenix Islands Protected Area in Kiribati, the largest marine protected area in the Pacific Ocean, and the Coral Triangle Initiative, which covered a number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region, included the greatest extent of mangrove forests in the world and provided a critical spawning and juvenile growth area for tuna and other globally significant fish species.

It considered that the recommendation did not identify clearly the nature of the requested flexibility, the quantitative parameters of a small number of believers and the form of discrimination to be avoided.

(b) To enter into any guarantee, contract or indemnity or surety and in particular (without prejudice or secure, with or without consideration, whether by personal obligation or by mortgaging or charging all or any part of the undertaking, property and assets (present and future) and uncalled capital of the Company or both such methods or in any other manner, the performance of any obligations or commitments, of, and the repayment or payment of the principal amounts of and any premiums, interest, dividends and other moneys payable on or in respect of any securities or liabilities of, any person including (without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing) any company which is for the time being a subsidiary or a holding company of the Company or another subsidiary or a holding company of the Company or otherwise associated with the Company.

The Company may by ordinary resolution, before the issue of any new shares, determine that the same, or any of them, shall be offered in the first instance, and either at par or at a premium, to all the existing holders of any class of shares in proportion as nearly as may be to the number of shares of such class held by them respectively, or make any provisions as to the issue and allotment of such shares, but in default of any such determination or so far as the same shall not extend, such shares may be dealt with as if they formed part of the capital of the Company existing prior to the issue of the same.

The five factors with the most potential to cause slippage in projected estimates for completion of judgements on appeal are the delays associated with or caused by: (a) the nature of multi-appellant cases; (b) the inordinate amount of pre-appeal motions; (c) the inordinate length of time for translation of trial judgements into Bosnian/Croatian/ Serbian, as well as for translation of written submissions into one of the Tribunal’s working languages and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, especially in cases of selfrepresented appellants; (d) amendments to grounds of appeal, especially following translation of the trial judgement (mainly for represented appellants); and (e) understaffing and/or lack of experience in appeals support.

(c) That the Country had submitted annual implementation reports in the form of Appendix 4-A (“Format of Implementation Reports and Plans”) covering each previous calendar year; that it had achieved a significant level of implementation of activities initiated with previously approved tranches; and that the rate of disbursement of funding available from the previously approved tranche was more than 20 per cent; and (d) That the Country has submitted an annual implementation plan in the form of Appendix 4-A covering each calendar year until and including the year for which the funding schedule foresees the submission of the next tranche or, in case of the final tranche, until completion of all activities foreseen.

Five major themes of convergence between these three authors were identified during that first informal reflection process: (i) the place of pedagogy in their work, especially through education, experimentation and learning; (ii) nature, in the form of the desire for the search for a new covenant of solidarity between humanity and its environment; (iii) scientific and technological progress, enriched by dialogue with all forms of knowledge; (iv) human rights and democracy in response to colonialism, discrimination and political, economic, social and cultural exclusion; and, lastly (v) art and, in particular, poetry as a form of unique mediation between people and nature, and between individuals and their fellows.