A/RES/54/269 Page 2 Recalling Security Council resolution 983 (1995) of 31 March 1995, by which the Council decided that the United Nations Protection Force within the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia should be known as the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force, Recalling also Security Council resolution 1025 (1995) of 30 November 1995, in which the Council decided to terminate the mandate of the United Nations Confidence Restoration Operation in Croatia on 15 January 1996, Recalling further Security Council resolution 1031 (1995) of 15 December 1995, in which the Council decided to terminate the mandate of the United Nations Protection Force on the date on which the SecretaryGeneral reported that the transfer of authority from the United Nations Protection Force to the Implementation Force had taken place, Recalling the letter dated 1 February 1996 from the President of the Security Council to the SecretaryGeneral3 informing him of the Council’s concurrence in principle that the United Nations Preventive Deployment Force should become an independent mission, Recalling also its resolution 46/233 of 19 March 1992 on the financing of the United Nations Protection Force and its subsequent resolutions and decisions thereon, the latest of which was decision 53/477 of 8 June 1999, Reaffirming that the costs of the combined Forces are expenses of the Organization to be borne by Member States in accordance with Article 17, paragraph 2, of the Charter of the United Nations, Recalling its previous decisions regarding the fact that, in order to meet the expenditures caused by the combined Forces, a different procedure is required from that applied to meet expenditures of the regular budget of the United Nations, Taking into account the fact that the economically more developed countries are in a position to make relatively larger contributions and that the economically less developed countries have a relatively limited capacity to contribute towards such an operation, Bearing in mind the special responsibilities of the States permanent members of the Security Council, as indicated in General Assembly resolution 1874 (S-IV) of 27 June 1963, in the financing of such operations, Noting with appreciation that voluntary contributions have been made to the combined Forces by certain Governments, Mindful of the fact that it is essential to provide the combined Forces with the necessary financial resources to enable them to meet their outstanding liabilities, 1. Takes note of the status of contributions to the combined Forces as at 30 April 2000, including the contributions outstanding in the amount of 622.7 million United States dollars, representing 13 per cent of the total assessed contributions from the inception of the United Nations Protection Force to the period ending 30 June 1997, notes that some 49 per cent of the Member States have paid their assessed contributions 3 S/1996/76; see Resolutions and Decisions of the Security Council, 1996. /...