8. The Secretary for the session, Ms. J. Robertson Vernhes, recalled the role of the Secretariat of the World Heritage Committee, concerning the processing of the nominations to the World Heritage List, the implementation of the decisions of the Committee concerning projects financed under the World Heritage Fund, as well as the promotional activities aimed at making the Convention better known and at stimulating contributions to the World Heritage Fund.
9. The Committee noted that the activities undertaken by the Secretariat since its eleventh session were described in detail in the working documents for the session. It took note in particular of the projects for international assistance financed under the World Heritage Fund which had been approved by the Committee, the Bureau and/or its Chairman since the eleventh session of the Committee and which were presented in Annex IX of document SC-88/CONF.001/7. The Committee was especially satisfied to note that the allocations for technical cooperation and for training under the World Heritage Fund were being put to maximum use by States Parties, which meant that the Convention and its Fund were fully operational. The Committee also drew attention to the fact that although in terms of numbers, the World Heritage List, with only 77 natural or "mixed" sites out of a total of 288, would appear biased in favour of the cultural heritage, the World Heritage Fund was in fact used in a well balanced manner for cultural and natural heritage.