that, in accordance with Article VIII.3 of the FAO Constitution "in appointing the staff, the shall, subject to the paramount importance of securing the highest standards of efficiency and of technical competence, pay due regard to the importance of selecting personnel recruited on as wide a geographical basis as is possible",

that Conference Resolution 50/55 requested the to take the proper measures to re-establish the necessary equilibrium within the Secretariat, bearing the principles set out in Article VIII.3 constantly in mind when filling vacancies that might occur in the various categories of Professional staff and any new posts that might be established,

that under the framework set out by the above provisions, the of FAO, at its Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh sessions, in June and November 1957, formulated criteria for the combined implementation of the requirements of "the paramount importance of securing the highest standards of competence" and of "selecting personnel recruited on as wide a geographical basis as is possible" and that, in line with these criteria, the Organization developed selection procedures for the combined application of those requirements,

that the FAO had, on various occasions, stressed the need to redress gender imbalances within the Secretariat in order to attain the targets set by the for women in the Professional category,

in particular that, at its Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth sessions, in November 1989 and November 1991, when considering the Plan of Action for the Integration of Women into Agricultural and Rural Development, the asked the Organization to increase the access of women, especially those from developing and underrepresented Member Nations, to Professional posts in FAO, with a view to making progress towards reaching the target for female staff by 1995,

also that, at its Twenty-eighth session, in November 1995, the adopted the revised FAO Plan of Action for Women in Development (1996-2001) providing that the Organization would increase its efforts in order to reach the target for women in Professional posts in the ,

with appreciation that the had been carrying out actively a substantial effort to redress existing imbalances in equitable geographical distribution within the and that, since his appointment, notwithstanding the increase in the membership of the Organization, the number of non-represented Member Nations among the Professional staff had been reduced from 54 to 21 countries,

further with satisfaction that the was seeking actively to redress existing gender imbalances in the staff structure of the Organization in order to reach the target set by the ,

that, in line with long-standing practice of the Organization, current selection procedures, whereby the appointed Professional staff on the basis of recommendations of the Professional Staff Selection Committee, were designed to allow the Director-General to appoint staff meeting the highest standards of efficiency and of technical competence, while responding to geographical and gender distribution requirements,