SEABED COUNCIL RECOMMENDS $4.7 MILLION BUDGET FOR 1998
Press Release
SEA/1567
SEABED COUNCIL RECOMMENDS $4.7 MILLION BUDGET FOR 1998
19970829 KINGSTON, 28 August -- The Council of the International Seabed Authority this afternoon recommended approval of a budget of $4,703,900 for the Authority in 1998 and the establishment of a working capital fund of $392,000. Before concluding its work for the year, the Council also agreed on a scale of assessments governing the contributions to be made by member States to finance these budgetary expenditures.The Council acted on a report by the Finance Committee (document ISBA/3/A/6-ISBA/3/C/8). Its recommendations, contained in a decision circulated by its President and adopted without objection (document ISBA/3/C/L.6), will go before the Assembly at its closing meeting of the session, at 9 a.m. tomorrow, 29 August.
Echoing an appeal made this morning by the Finance Committee Chairman, S. Rama Rao (India), Council President Lennox Ballah (Trinidad and Tobago) stressed the need for members to remit their contributions in full and in a timely manner; otherwise, the Authority would not be able to function. The deadline for the payment of contributions would be 1 January 1998.
The 1998 budget is the first to be financed by assessed contributions of members of the Authority. Since its inception in 1994, the budget has been funded through the regular budget of the United Nations, but as of next year it will not have access to any of these funds.
Regarding the scale of assessments, Secretary-General Satya N. Nandan explained that it was based on the United Nations scale until such time as the Authority agreed on its own scale. As such, the largest contribution, payable by the United States, was limited to 25 per cent, while the smallest contributions amounted to 0.01 per cent each.
A final point relating to the contribution of the European Community -- a member of the Authority in its own right -- was resolved this afternoon during small group meetings in an agreement whereby the Community would contribute $75,000 to the regular budget and $4,000 to the working capital fund.
The budget figure reflects a reduction in the original estimate of $5,375,200 submitted by the Secretary-General of the Authority earlier this
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month (document ISBA/3/A/5-ISBA/3/C/5), but represents a slight increase from the revised figure of $4,697,100 which he presented last week. The main change between these two amounts was a reduction of conference-servicing costs from a tentative estimate of $1,786,100 to $1,375,800. The remaining $3,328,100 in the budget would support substantive and administrative activities.
The original budget proposal had called for the creation of nine new posts in the secretariat, but the Secretary-General's revised figure reduced this to five. However, the Finance Committee agreed to reinstate the position of Budget/Treasury Assistant. This addition, less the Committee's $10,000 cut in contingency funds (to $20,000), accounts for the slight increase in the Committee's total. Contingencies would cover the Authority's share in the cost of jointly financed activities in the United Nations common system of salaries and benefits, such as the International Civil Service Commission, the Consultative Committee on Administrative Questions and the United Nations Office of the Security Coordinator.
The budget would also finance two workshops, to help develop guidelines for controlling the environmental impacts of seabed mining and to examine progress in seabed mining technology.
By today's decision, the Secretary-General would be authorized to draw temporarily from the new working capital fund such sums as might be necessary to finance expenses pending the receipt of contributions. In addition, he could also utilize, on a reimbursable basis, available funds now held in trust with the United Nations, up to a limit of 20 per cent of the approved budget. In response to a question by Argentina, Secretary-General Nandan explained that these funds, totalling about $1.3 million, came from the $250,000 fees that each pioneer seabed investor paid when applying for approval of its plan of work.
On another matter, the Council agreed to defer to its next session, planned for March 1998, issues concerning the draft headquarters agreement between the Authority and the Government of Jamaica. The President expressed the hope that all the remaining difficulties would be resolved then. In particular, article 2 of the draft agreement, relating to the permanent location of the headquarters of the Authority within Jamaica, remains pending.
The meeting ended with tributes to the outgoing President from representatives of regional groups and of Jamaica. Mr. Ballah was elected in August 1996 to serve for 1997.
Subject to a final decision by the Assembly on the schedule of meetings, the Council will next meet at Kingston from 16 to 27 March 1998.
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