1. Introduction
At the Mid-Term Meeting (MTM) in May 1997 in Cairo, the Group
endorsed Centre proposals and TAC recommendations on medium-term resource
allocation 1998-2000. At that time, the Group also agreed that Centre
Medium-Term Plans (MTPs) should be three-year plans with a rolling annual
horizon. To this end, every year, centres should submit a revised plan, thus
ensuring a regular update of the relatively short-term financial forecast while
maintaining their longer-term research perspective. Subsequently, Centres
submitted their proposed programmes and budgets for 1999, along with their
intentions for 2001, for discussion at TAC 74 that took place during the last
week of March 1998. This document reports on the results of TAC's deliberations
at that meeting and is divided into four sections, the first being this
introduction. The second section deals with the criteria used in TAC's analysis.
Section three provides: (a) an overview of changes in each Centre's agenda for
1999 as compared to the 1998-2000 MTP which had been endorsed by the Group; (b)
a synthesis of Centres' initial proposals for the year 2001; and (c) TAC's
assessment of, and recommendation on, each Centre's proposals. Finally, the
fourth section provides a brief overview of the implications of Centre proposals
for CGIAR priorities, particularly with respect to undertakings, production
sectors and
commodities.