THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

CONSIDERING that the Secretary General, in his note to the Permanent Missions indicated that his budget proposal for 1997, would not be available in February as required by the General Standards and that he has requested extension of the deadline for its submission;

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT that the Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Affairs (CAAP) recognized the special circumstances that justify an extension of the term for presenting the proposed program-budget in this instance;

HAVING SEEN the Report of the Permanent Council on the Date for the presentation of the 1997 proposed program-budget to the Permanent Council (AG/doc.7/96) and the Note of the Secretary General related to the carry-over of appropriations from one fiscal period to the next (CP/doc.2670/95);

BEARING IN MIND that Article 117 of the Charter of the OAS establishes that the General Secretariat shall prepare the proposed program-budget of the Organization on the basis of programs adopted by the Councils, agencies and entities whose expenses should be included in the program-budget and, after consultation with the Councils or their permanent committees, submit it to the Preparatory Committee of the General Assembly and then to the Assembly itself;

CONSIDERING that Article 70 of the General Standards establishes that the Secretary General shall present the proposed program-budget to the Councils and to the Preparatory Committee at least one hundred and twenty days before the opening date of the General Assembly session;

MINDFUL of the document "A New Vision of the OAS" which was considered by the twenty fifth regular session of the General Assembly through resolution AG/RES. 1361 (XXV-O/95) of which operative paragraph 2 instructs the Permanent Council, in conjunction with the Secretary General, to continue examining the above-mentioned document and to adopt the relevant decisions; and

TAKING INTO ACCOUNT that Article 42 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly establishes that the Preparatory Committee must submit, no later than 30 days prior to the opening date of the regular session of the General Assembly a report on the proposed program-budget to each of the member states pursuant to Article 59.b of the Charter,

RESOLVES:

To authorize the Secretary General, as an exception to Article 70 of the General Standards, to present the 1997 proposed program-budget to the Permanent Council, no later than March 15, 1996. 

AG00293.E(4)