A/RES/52/198 Page 3 in Africa, and the United Nations, in accordance with the offer made by the Secretary-General and as accepted by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention at its first session;3 2. Requests the Secretary-General to review the functioning of the institutional linkage, including the financing arrangements, not later than 31 December 2000, in consultation with the Conference of the Parties, with a view to making such modifications as may be considered desirable by the General Assembly and the Conference, and to report thereon to the Assembly; 3. Notes that the Conference of the Parties has decided to accept the offer of the Government of Germany to host the Convention secretariat at Bonn,10 and expresses its appreciation for the support offered by the future host Government with respect to the relocation and effective functioning of the Convention secretariat; 4. Expresses its appreciation to the Government of Switzerland, which hosted the interim secretariat, and to the Government of Canada and the Government of Spain, which offered to host the Convention secretariat, and invites them to continue to support the permanent secretariat and to contribute to the implementation of the Convention; 5. Welcomes the selection by the Conference of the Parties at its first session of the International Fund for Agricultural Development to house the Global Mechanism and, in accordance with the decision of the Conference, 11 invites the Fund, as the lead organization, to cooperate fully with the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank; 6. Takes note of the statement of the President of the Conference of the Parties at the closing of the first session, and, in this context, invites the Conference to facilitate the elaboration of an additional regional implementation annex to the Convention for the countries of the eastern and central European region to be launched at the second session of the Conference in 1998, in accordance with the goals and objectives of the Convention, and with a view to finalizing it as soon as possible; 7. Urges Governments and all interested organizations, including non-governmental organizations and the private sector, to make promptly the voluntary contributions necessary to ensure that the Global Mechanism can begin operating on 1 January 1998; 8. Requests the Secretary-General, bearing in mind the decision taken by the Conference of the Parties at its first session:12 (a) To authorize the interim secretariat established pursuant to resolution 47/188 to act as the secretariat for the transition period following the first session of the Conference of the Parties until the permanent secretariat designated by the Conference begins operating by 1 January 1999; (b) To maintain the arrangements within the current programme budget for the interim secretariat to support the Convention until the permanent secretariat begins operating by 1 January 1999 and to maintain the arrangements relating to extrabudgetary funds; 9. Notes with appreciation the contributions made to the Trust Fund established pursuant to resolution 47/188, and invites Governments, regional economic integration organizations and other interested organizations to continue to make voluntary contributions to the Trust Fund to support the interim secretariat 10 ICCD/COP(1)/11/Add.1, decision 5/COP.1. 11 Ibid., decision 24/COP.1. 12 Ibid., decision 6/COP.1. /...