The Amazon Cooperation Treaty (ACT) was signed on 3 July 1978 by the Republics of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela, in order to promote joint actions for the sustainable development of the Amazonian Basin. In 1995 the 8 nations decided to create the ACTO to strengthen and to implement the aims of the agreement. The amendment to the ACT was approved in 1998 and the Secretariat was established in Brasilia in December 2002.