The creation of a new FAO country office is a rare event. However, as could be the case, instructions are provided to optimize the government`s use management process. When external votes are held in several countries, the host country`s agreements often vary from country to country. A degree of standardization between agreements is essential to ensure the transparency and integrity of the electoral process, particularly on sensitive issues such as voting authorization and registration. However, if elections are held in several countries at different levels of development, some procedural and logistical differences may be inevitable. The process of establishing an FAO presence in a country is triggered by a formal request from the Member State and is subject to an agreement on the host country to be signed by the government and FAO (HCA). Therefore, the host country agreement allows parties to the dispute located in or near the host country to fully exploit the flexibility and effectiveness of PCA-managed procedures within the host country. While FAO`s first country offices were created by a simple exchange of letters, the HCAs currently have the following: first, all parties must guarantee the secrecy, neutrality and transparency of the external voting programme, without any local political or state influence or interference. The agreements of the host country must also protect the integrity of the Constitution and the electoral laws of the country of origin.

External voting programmes should be designed to reflect as accurately as possible the administrative activities of the country of origin. The actors who help implement campaign voting programmes and the parties who sign formal agreements with the country that organizes the elections are different. Agreements can be signed with host governments, UN missions, local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or third parties. Examples of agreements on host countries include the agreements related to the 2004 presidential elections in Afghanistan – the largest external electoral programme to date in terms of the number of registered voters and external participation. The Afghan government and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) have signed two agreements with the governments of Iran and Pakistan. These proposals provided that the two host governments would largely support the external electoral programme, including the security of registration and voting centres, monitoring the transport of election materials, and support for civic education and public information campaigns. In addition, the host country`s agreements should ensure that participation in external votes does not affect the political, social or economic integration of participants in their country of residence. Some of the host country`s agreements resulting from the Iraqi elections of January 2005 clearly state that a person`s right to vote or the exercise of that right does not affect the legal status of the person in the host country. The CPA and the host country cooperate to ensure that adjudicators, pcA staff and participants in the procedure (. B, for example, lawyers, agents and witnesses) may perform their duties under conditions similar to those guaranteed by the CPA`s headquarters agreement with the Kingdom of the Netherlands.