It is the foundation document for the ALMA partnership, and will include as Annexes the project book, table of tasks and values, management plan, etc. An agreed draft should be ready by December 2000, and the document should be signed by the end of 2001. He also reported that a formal petition to the Chilean government covering site access and the legal aspects is being prepared, with the objective of approval by January 2002. The funding process in the U.S. is underway now. Report from ALMA Liaison Group, including Compact Array R. Kurz reviewed the ALG issues.
Work is currently underway on the costs of the enhancements.
The tasks may be somewhat re-distributed when Japan enters the partnership. It was commented that there must be ASAC input to the 3-way Agreement. Y. Fukui reported that the Japanese funding prospects are quite positive, but stressed that a high visibility for the enhanced ALMA is necessary, and that Japan must be a full, equal partner, providing an equal number of antennas. S. Guilloteau discussed aspects of the Compact Array. He concluded that the ACA should be able to work as a stand-alone array.