In his response the Secretary-General said that the IPU was committed to keep contributions for the next two financial years at the same level. He also thanked Mr Selfe for his analysis of the budget and the proposals he had raised. He stated that the IPU had drafted an action plan which largely addressed the recommendation of the Africa Geopolitical Group to make greater use of information and communication technologies such as video conferencing to reduce costs. He also noted that the scale of contributions to the IPU was based on the United Nations scale for 2006 and that a working group would meet in Panama to look at the situation around contributions.