Agriculture ministers and high-level officials from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO)'s members will review wide-ranging reform proposals for the UN agency during its annual conference scheduled to open here on Saturday.

The Conference will examine the latest report on the world's state of food and agriculture and the preparations for an international conference on agrarian reform and rural development to be held in Brazil in March 2006, according to FAO.

It will also review a progress report on implementing a gender plan of action as well as several other development issues.

The Conference will elect a Director-General for a new six-year term beginning next January and will decide the level of funding the Organization will be given to carry out its work through the 2006-2007 biennium.

Jacques Diouf, who has headed the Organization since 1994, is the sole candidate for the post of Director-General.

Diouf has submitted to the Conference proposals for reform entitled "FAO Reform, A vision for the twenty-first century".

The proposals emphasize the need to adapt the Organization to changing contexts and new demands, particularly with regards to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals.

The Conference will vote on application for membership from one country: the Republic of Belarus.

Admission of this country will bring total FAO membership to 188 States plus one Organization, the European Community.

A series of special events will take place during the Conference,which ends on November 26. They will focus on: Avian influenza; Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and their increased vulnerability due to global warming; Water for agriculture in Africa, the Near East and SID.

Source: Xinhua