A/RES/55/144 increase in gross domestic product estimated at 8.7 per cent, reflecting strong growth in the tourism and construction sectors, 1. Requests the administering Power, bearing in mind the views of the people of the Territory ascertained through a democratic process, to keep the Secretary-General informed of the wishes and aspirations of the people regarding their future political status; 2. Invites the administering Power to take fully into account the wishes and interests of the Government and the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands in the governance of the Territory; 3. Calls upon the administering Power and the relevant regional and international organizations to continue to provide assistance for the improvement of the economic, social, educational and other conditions of the population of the Territory; 4. Calls upon the administering Power and the territorial Government to continue to cooperate in countering problems related to money-laundering, smuggling of funds and other related crimes, as well as drug trafficking; 5. Welcomes the assessment by the Caribbean Development Bank in its 1999 report that the economy continued to expand with considerable output and low inflation; 6. Also welcomes the first country cooperation framework approved by the United Nations Development Programme for the period 1998-2002, which should, inter alia, assist in the development of a national integrated development plan that will put into place procedures for determining the national development priorities over ten years, with the focus of attention on health, population, education, tourism and economic and social development; 7. Takes note of the statement made by the elected Chief Minister in May 2000 that the Territory was in the process of developing diversified resource mobilization strategies, including joint ventures with the private sector, and that external assistance would be welcomed as part of that process; XI. United States Virgin Islands Taking note with interest of the statements made and the information provided by the representative of the Governor of the Territory to the Pacific regional seminar, held at Majuro from 16 to 18 May 2000, 14 Noting that although 80.4 per cent of the 27.5 per cent of the electorate that voted in the referendum on the political status of the Territory held on 11 October 1993 supported the existing territorial status arrangements with the administering Power, the law required the participation of 50 per cent of the registered voters for the results to be declared legally binding and therefore the status was left undecided, Noting also the continuing interest of the territorial Government in seeking associate membership in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and observer status in the Caribbean Community and the Association of Caribbean States, 14 A/55/23 (Part I), chap. II, annex, para. 31. For the final text, see Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-fifth Session, Supplement No. 23. 14