- 10 18. During its meeting in November 1997, the CPT elected its new Bureau for a period of two years. The Committee elected Mr Ivan Zakine (Presiding Judge at the Court of Cassation in France) as President, renewed the mandate of Mrs Ingrid Lycke Ellingsen (a Norwegian psychiatrist) as First Vice-President and elected Mr John Olden (former Assistant Secretary in the Irish Department of Justice) as Second Vice-President. C. Administrative and financial questions 19. In its 7th General Report, the CPT set out a number of measures designed to ensure that the Committee can meet the challenge of the widening circle of Parties to the Convention (increase in the number of visit days; rationalisation of the Committee's working methods; reinforcement of the Committee's Secretariat). In particular, the CPT indicated that it wished to be in a position to organise 200 days of visits per year as from the year 2000, which would enable the Committee to ensure that the average period between periodic visits to a given country does not exceed four years. As a result of the difficult budgetary climate, the number of visit days in 1998 has had to be limited to 135 (an increase of 15 days as compared to 1997). The CPT remains confident that the 200-day target will be attained, though reaching it will probably take one or two years longer than had initially been hoped. 20. The CPT is grateful to the Secretary General and Committee of Ministers for having made provision in the 1998 Budget for a further grade A4 post in its Secretariat. This has made it possible to reorganise the Secretariat into three operational units responsible for visits, supported by a central section (cf. Appendix 2B). The CPT is also very pleased that the retainer system previously applicable only to members of the Bureau has now been extended to cover all Committee members. This is a major step towards meeting the objective of ensuring that CPT members are in a position to carry out their functions effectively. 21. As in the past, the CPT shall strive to be modest in its future budgetary requests, and continue to seek ways to enhance the cost-effectiveness of its operating procedures. Nevertheless, in view of the significant geographical expansion of its activities, the CPT will be obliged to request in due course that the resources placed at its disposal be further augmented. In this connection, the CPT appreciates the support expressed in Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1323 concerning requests for increases of the Committee's resources. Moreover, the declaration made by the Heads of State and Government of the Member States of the Council of Europe at the Second Summit in October 1997, in which they proclaimed their determination "to reinforce the means to prevent and combat torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment", reassures the CPT about the future.