Havana, 13th December, 1996

The Ministerial Council:

Pursuant to Articles IX (b) and XII (1,3,4) of the Convention establishing the ACS, as well as Agreement No. 2/95 of this Council, has agreed:

1. To maintain a total budget for the Association for 1997 of US$1.5 million.

2. To maintain the distribution in sections and sub-sections as foreseen in the 1996 Budget, except in the following cases:

a) to reduce the item in respect of Contracting of Overseas Staff (1.3) from US$151,844.00 to US$44,485.00

b) to increase the item in respect of Equipment (4.3) from US$16,700.00 to US$124,059.00

3. To approve the breakdown of costs included as Appendix I, for which the following ratios have been fixed

-Ministerial Council 5.33% of the budget

-General Secretariat

Overseas Staff 48.30% of the budget

Local Staff 5.10% of the budget

Official Trips 6.71% of the budget

General Administrative Costs 18.83% of the budget

Meetings 15.73% of the budget

4. To stress that the level of Staff Recruitment for the Secretariat must be adjusted in accordance with the availability of funding within the Association, in order to avoid incurring a budget deficit.

5. To maintain the structure and composition of the Secretariat as outlined in Agreement No. 2/95 of this Council (Appendix II).

6. To empower the Special Committee on Budget and Administration so that at the first meeting in 1997 it may analyse and make decisions on proposals submited by the Secretariat in respect of the adjustment of staff requirements. Should the study of the proposal give rise to an increase in staffing, the Committee may endorse it, provided that said increase does not result in changes to the budget which has already been approved.

7. To maintain the distribution of quotas and contributions by Members in accordance with that which is outlined in Appendix III.