The Unified Special Development Fund [SDF (U)] represents the principal pool of concessional resources available to the Bank and is usually replenished in four-year cycles. Contributors to the SDF(U) enter into negotiations with the Bank with the objective of agreeing on the priority areas and programmes which should be addressed and on the amount of SDF (U) resources which will be necessary to realise the agreed objectives. The first round of funding for the SDF (U) covered the four years ending in 1987, and subsequent replenishments were for 1988-91 (SDF II), 1992-1995 (SDF III), 1996-2000 (SDF IV), 2001- 2004 (SDF V), 2005-2008 (SDF 6), 2009-2012 (SDF 7), and 2013-2016 (SDF 8). Negotiations for the replenishment of the SDF (U) for a ninth cycle, covering the period 2017 - 2020 (SDF 9) will commence in March 2016 with a further two meetings planned for May and July 2016.