SEABED ASSEMBLY ADOPTS BUDGET, CONCLUDES WORK AFTER SETTING TWO-PART SESSION FOR 2000
Press Release
SEA/1650
SEABED ASSEMBLY ADOPTS BUDGET, CONCLUDES WORK AFTER SETTING TWO-PART SESSION FOR 2000
19990830(Received from the International Seabed Authority.)
KINGSTON, 27 August -- The Assembly of the International Seabed Authority ended its 1999 session in Kingston this morning after adopting a budget of $5,275,200 for the year 2000 and deciding to meet twice next year in order to complete work on a mining code for polymetallic nodules in the deep seabed.
Secretary-General Satya N. Nandan announced that the dates for the first part of next year's session will be 20 to 31 March and the second part, also of two weeks, will take place at dates to be specified between 3 and 21 July, both in Kingston.
Also at the meeting, the Western European and Others Group said it intended to nominate Liesbeth Lijnzaad (Netherlands) as President of the Assembly for 2000. As previously announced, the Council President will be from Asia, as the Eastern European Group decided to defer its turn to the following year.
Commenting on the work of the Authority during its fifth session, Assembly President José Luis Vallarta-Marrón (Mexico) said some very important steps had been taken and issues clarified. Pending issues to be resolved include confidentiality in meetings of the Legal and Technical Commission, protection of the marine environment and the right of coastal States to participate in meetings of the Commission to address environmental emergencies.
Regarding the budget, Secretary-General Nandan recalled a commitment he had made yesterday afternoon to the Council that he would try to reduce the amounts members would have to pay next year through savings if possible and also by utilizing payments for 1998 due from States in arrears. He said this commitment would be included in the final text of the Assembly's decision on the budget.
Budget for 2000
The figure of $5,275,200 approved by the Assembly this morning for the Authority's 2000 budget had been recommended yesterday afternoon, 26 August, by the Council (ISBA/5/C/8). The Council's decision had been held up since Tuesday, 24 August, by disagreement over whether the Authority should meet once or twice next year to conclude work on the mining code. In a compromise reached among regional groups in the Council, a two-part session was agreed, with each part lasting two weeks, along with a commitment to streamline procedures. As recommended by the Council, the Assembly decided today to fix as a goal for the second part of the session "the conclusion and adoption of the draft mining code".
Regarding next year's meetings, the Assembly, in according priority to the Council's work on the code, specified that the decision to meet twice for two weeks each was "without prejudice to the future work pattern of the Authority". The Authority had been meeting twice a year until, last August, it decided for financial reasons to hold only one three-week session in 1999.
The agenda for the first part of the session would be devoted to the code, according to today's decision. To advance the work, the Secretary-General is to consult with the incoming Council President and with regional and interest groups with a view to identifying the main areas of difficulty and the most efficient work method that would enable outstanding issues to be resolved. The agenda for the second part of the session would include elections to the organs and offices of the Authority, the work of the Finance Committee and the conclusion and adoption of the code.
To enable the Authority to meet twice next year, the Assembly authorized the Secretary-General to transfer funds between the administrative and conference-servicing parts of the budget and to shift funds within sections of the administrative part, in amounts up to 30 per cent of each section.
The approved budget for 2000 consists of $4,065,200 for administrative expenses and $1,210,000 to service the two-part session. The main component of the administrative part is $2,064,300 for the salaries of 37 staff members, one more than had been authorized for 1999. Recruitment for three posts is frozen in 1999, so the actual increase in staff on board would be four. The budget for 1999, approved last August, totals $5,011,700.
On other financial matters, the Assembly authorized the Secretary-General to establish a scale of assessments for members' contributions to the 2000 budget, based on the United Nations scale for 1999. The Council asked the Assembly to appeal to its members, as well as to States that were provisional members until that status terminated last November, to pay their arrears as soon as possible. The firm of KPMG Peat Marwick was appointed to audit the Authority's accounts for 1999.
The budget originally proposed by the Secretary-General in June (ISBA/5/A/2 - ISBA/5/C/2) totaled $5,679,400. After the Finance Committee recommended reductions earlier this week (report in ISBA/5/A/8 - ISBA/5/C/7), the Secretary-General lowered his figure, first to $5,439,200 and yesterday to $5,275,200.
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