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States is represented, elects eighteen members who form the Economic and Social Council, which enters into agreement with specialized agencies operating in the economic, social, cultural, health, and related fields. FAO was the first of these new functional bodies, coming into existence on 16th October, 1945, thus preceding its " mother " organization, United Nations, by eight days, because international organizations are, by constitution, deemed to be set up when a certain number of States have ratified the decisions of their Government representatives. In addition to FAO, there are the International Monetary Fund and Reconstruction Bank, which came into existence on 27th December, 1945, as a result of the Bretton Woods Agreement, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, and a number of temporary organizations set up to deal with situations arising out of the war, such as the International Emergency Children's Fund. Hot Springs and Quebec Conferences Problems of food and agriculture, currency and finance, trade and labour, and health and nutrition clearly are all closely interlinked, and the general plan is to coordinate the activities of agencies for the fulfilment of President Roosevelt's third freedom—freedom from want. It was with the object of fulfilling this great aspiration that the conference was called by the President at Hot Springs, Virginia, from 18th May to 3rd June, 1943. The conference stated that two-thirds of mankind suffered from malnutrition, including a proportion of even the advanced countries, and as causes of this state of affairs it advanced the following : (1) Insufficient purchasing-power; (2) Inadequate supplies of satisfactory foodstuffs at reasonable prices; and (3) Ignorance among the public and administrators about nutritional problems. An interim Commission was set up, one of its main functions being to formulate a specific plan for a permanent organization in the field of food and agriculture. This Commission, working in Washington, drafted a constitution and produced a number of reports describing the field of work of the proposed Food and Agriculture Organization. After acceptance of the constitution had been signified by at least twenty Governments, the interim Commission was able to call the first conference of the permanent organization. In the two years between the Hot Springs and Quebec conferences the Commission, with the assistance of the Governments of practically all the Allied Nations, did an immense amount of preparatory work, entailing not only the preparation of a constitution, but also preliminary studies of food and agriculture resources in various countries and similar studies in the field of nutrition and consumption requirements. At the conference held in Quebec in October, 1945, the representatives, after signing FAO's constitution, went on to give the new agency form and substance. They elected as first Director-General Sir John Boyd Orr, an eminent Scotsman known the world over for his research work in animal and human nutrition, and who owns and has operated a large general farm in Scotland. They appointed an Executive Committee of fifteen, which chose Professor Andre Mayer (France) as Chairman and Mr. Howard R. Tolley (United States of America) as Vice-Chairman. Finally, they adopted rules of procedure, financial regulations, and a budget which provided for 5,000,000 dollars for the first full financial year.

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