Forty Years Of The Coordinating Committee For Geoscience - CCOP

annum, in addition to Thailand’s annual cash contribution of $30,000. There was, however, an
unforeseen delay in construction of the new building and eventually it was decided that an
approach to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand would be made through ESCAP, with a
request for premises in the old ESCAP building. Meanwhile, pending further developments, the
Project Office was instructed to stay in the ESCAP rented accommodation known as the ‘White
Inn'. A new home would have to wait.
In 1985, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand made it clear that the legality of CCOP as an
intergovernmental organisation had to be clarified before any Headquarters Agreement could be
reached under which ‘host country’ facilities could be extended by Thailand to CCOP. Although
UNDP had said they believed that the existing Terms of Reference of CCOP were adequate to
legalise CCOP as an intergovernmental organisation, nevertheless, CCOP, acting on the advice
of ESCAP, decided to accept the services of a legal adviser from UNDP who was to hold
discussions with Member Countries and the Thai Government and draft revised Terms of
Reference. The search for new and more permanent premises had thus activated an important
process that was to change the face of CCOP for the foreseeable future.
For the Secretariat of CCOP, the immediate upshot of the actions outlined above, which were
subsequently to have diverse and profound consequences, was that in 1986 they moved into new
‘temporary’ accommodation on the second floor of the Thai Offshore Mining Organisation
building (Figure 9) generously provided by the Thai Government. From this ‘temporary’
accommodation they were in fact to operate efficiently for the next fifteen years. The Thai
Government’s generosity was to continue in the future and in 2001 CCOP moved into more
spacious accommodation on the twenty-fourth floor of the strikingly modern Thai CC Tower in
Bangkok (Figure 10).
Coming of Age and the Hopes of Independence
Nineteen eighty seven was a watershed year for CCOP; it was not only the twenty-first birthday
of the organisation but also, as befits a ‘coming of age’, it saw a radical change in CCOP’s
international status.
Although UNDP support for projects was set to continue until 1991, the question of what should
happen after UNDP financial support for the institutional costs of CCOP ended in 1987 had
already been debated for some time. At the Annual Session of 1986 there had been a lengthy
discussion on the future legal status of CCOP. There seemed to be two alternatives; either it
should be incorporated into ESCAP, or it should become an independent organisation. Japan
strongly supported the former option as for many years they had been contributing very
substantially to ESCAP with part of the contribution channelled to CCOP. Such an arrangement
might be threatened if CCOP became independent. Other Member Countries tended to favour the
route to independence and the Director pointed out that though previously it had been CCOP’s
intention to be part of ESCAP this was not compatible with continued UNDP support.
Because of the problems posed by any decision concerning the future, a meeting between the
Director of CCOP, a CCOP legal consultant provided by UNDP and officers of the Japanese
Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already taken place in Tokyo. The main purpose of the meeting
was to brief the Japanese officials on the draft Memorandum of Understanding and new Terms
of Reference of CCOP, prepared with the legal consultant’s help, in order to establish CCOP as
an independent organisation. It was important to hear the views of Japan on the current drafts and
on how CCOP should proceed to solve its legal problems. Japan was strongly in favour of CCOP
continuing under the ESCAP umbrella and following the meeting a report by the legal consultant
suggested several alternative ways forward. These were either for Member Countries to proceed
to signing the new MoU and Terms of Reference for CCOP as soon as possible, or to attempt to
reverse ESCAP policy and include CCOP under ESCAP without any ESCAP funding
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A World of Difference