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esulting from departments' draft proposals was low until 1980-81 and would not readily accommodate normal requirements and the extra sums required for aid/trade. The Chairman suggested that the contingency levels for later years should be reviewed after the detailed proposals had been considered. In the event the contingencies and unallocated margin resulting from the detailed discussions was considered adequate for the remainder of the framework period,
Multilateral Aid
6. Because of the advance nature of many multilateral commitments there was unlikely to be significant scope for altering departments' proposals. These showed that the proportion of the total to be allocated to multilateral aid would be constant at about 30% until 1980-81 when it dropped to about 28%. It was recognised that this apparent drop was probably misleading because it was associated with a larger proportion of unallocated funds at the end of the framework period; there was no reason to suppose that the proportion of aid going to multilateral institutions would in the event decrease in 1980-81. Multilateral allocations amounted to some 30% of the total available for allocation in 1977-78 compared with 27% for the same year in the last aid framework. This was consistent with Minister's policy to increase multilateral aid.
EXEC
7. EPS were anxious to obtain a better assessment of the uncertainty inherent in the department's proposals for the EEC group. It was recognised that the proposals were the department's best estimate based on information provided by the EEC.
It was agreed that there was little scope for changes in the context of the aid framework; but that the discussion had identified other aspects of the EEC component of the aid programme which required further consideration by Finance Department and FPS.
Bilateral Aid
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8. It was agreed that the level of aid to India should be that which would follow from the recommendations of the Rose Report and that the figure of £140m already agreed for 1977-78 should not be altered. Details of changes agreed in bilateral programmes are given in Annex A.
Aid to the Pacific
9. The meeting noted the relatively high level of aid proposed for the Pacific and accepted that this was an inevitable consequence of the independence shortly to be granted to several of the territories concerned.
Regional Technical Co-operation
10.
Some departments' proposals showed large increases in the provision for technical co-operation compared with 1976-77. It was recognised that much of this was due to increases in supplementation and students' fees. However, it was suggested that some proposals might reflect over-optimistic expectations of disbursement in 1977-78. The Chairman confirmed the high priority which should be given to technical co-operation; nevertheless, any proposals which were found to be unreasonably high. should be reduced.
Pensions
11.
The meeting noted that the particularly high pension requirements in some programmes in 1977-78 was due to the commitment to meet pension obligations when takeover arrangements for those countries were completed. The intention was to
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