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___________________________________________________________________ 2008/MRCWG/012 Agenda Item: 3 Concept Note on Project Approval and Fund Disbursement Process Purpose: Information Submitted by: APEC Secretariat Forum Doc No.: 2008/SOM1/005 21st Marine Resource Conservation Working Group Meeting Piura, Peru 14–18 April 2008 Executive Summary Background Under the recent trend of increasing contributions and project proposals (over 140 proposals submitted at BMC2 last year), existing arrangements for the approval of projects through two BMC meetings annually has proven burdensome and create a lengthy time lag before projects can be implemented. Most projects are approved almost 12 months after priorities have been set and then are implemented only after the following year’s Leaders’ and Ministers’ priorities have been identified. Some projects are still being implemented 18 months or two years after project approval resulting in an even longer lag between the announcement of a priority by Leaders and Ministers, and its delivery as a project outcome. As part of an ongoing focus on reform in APEC, the Secretariat recommends that a more timely and efficient project approval process be introduced. This will involve BMC’s intersessional consideration and approval of projects up to three/four times a year with disbursement, where possible, to occur from the date of approval. Physical BMC meetings can then be held more independently from the project consideration cycle and focus on more strategic budget and management issues. Required Action/Decision Points Senior Officials to: a. Note the proposal and the additional fora/member economies comments received since ISOM. b. Support the concept of the proposal, in principle, and intersessionally submit comments, if any, to the Secretariat by 15 March. Comments should include any specific areas where Members would like to see more details about the proposal. c. Subject to BMC’s consideration of the proposal, agree th