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The convention budget is agreed upon for the applicable triennium. The decisions related to the financial regulations and the core budget are taken during the ordinary meetings of the Conference of Parties. The COP reviews the budget for the next triennium at each of its ordinary meetings. The Swiss Franc has been agreed upon as the official currency of the convention. The budget is prepared by the Ramsar Secretariat and is submitted to the standing committee for its endorsement. The standing committee further reviews the budget and submits it before the COP during ordinary meetings.

For the formal approval, there has to be an agreement among the contracting parties regarding the triennial budget. The final decision is taken by way of voting among the contracting parties which are present at the ordinary meeting. As per Article 6.5 of the Convention, if a formal vote is required, a two‐thirds majority is needed for approval and adoption of the budget. Every contracting party has to contribute to the core budget of the Convention. The contribution is primarily made to the budget of the United Nations and the UN takes a decision on the percentage of the contribution which would be provided to the Ramsar budget and this is decided based on a scale approved by the UN. In addition to the contributions made by the member countries to the core budget, the Ramsar Secretariat also receives voluntary contributions from the contracting parties, NGOs, and other donors for special projects or other contractual agreements (Matthews 1993; Ramsar Convention Secretariat 2011, 2016).