1998 BUDGET OF $4.7 MILLION PRESENTED TO SEABED COUNCIL

29 August 1997

Press Release
SEA/1566

1998 BUDGET OF $4.7 MILLION PRESENTED TO SEABED COUNCIL

19970829 KINGSTON, 28 August -- The Finance Committee of the International Seabed Authority presented to the Council this morning its report and recommendations (document ISBA/3/A/6-ISBA/3/C/8) on the 1998 budget of the Authority and related financial matters.

The Committee recommended a budget totalling $4,703,900 for the operation of the Authority. It also recommended the establishment of a working capital fund of $392,000, which is one twelfth of the total annual budget.

The Chairman of the Finance Committee, S. Rama Rao (India), reported that the Committee had not resolved one matter affecting the scale of assessments governing the amounts that member States will pay to finance budgetary expenditures. Differing views were held on the question of the contribution by the European Community (a member of the Authority), so that the Committee had made no recommendation.

On this matter, the Finance Committee reported that some members believed the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea obliged entities such as the Community to contribute, and favoured a rate of up to 2.5 per cent as applied in some other international bodies. Others objected to "double-counting" and favoured solutions adopted in bodies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Trade Organization.

To resolve this issue, the President of the Council, Lennox Ballah (Trinidad and Tobago), adjourned the meeting until 3 p.m. today so that negotiations could continue in a small group.

The 1998 budget of the Authority is the first to be funded by assessed contributions of its member States. Since its inception in 1994, the Authority has been financed by the United Nations.

On another matter, the President announced an agreement among regional groups that the nominee for its next President would come from the Group of Western European and Other States. At the start of this morning's meeting, the outgoing President noted "a general understanding", reached in 1996 when he had been elected to the post, to choose his successor from that Group. However, the representative of Nigeria said the African Group knew only of an indication of intent by the Western European and Other Group States to vie for the post. He said such an understanding should have been based on consultations with all regional groups.

- 2 - Press Release SEA/1566 29 August 1997

Australia, Russian Federation, Brazil and the Philippines supported the statement by the President, who invited the chairmen of the five regional groups to meet and bring the matter to a speedy conclusion.

Following a recess for consultations, the African Group supported the proposed Western European and Other Group candidacy for the next President of the Council, contingent upon the expectation that the President for the 1999 session would come from that Group. Meanwhile, the Eastern European Group expressed concern that it had not yet had an opportunity to serve in that capacity.

* *** *