The treaties establish the following institutions, as prescribed by article 2 of the agreement between the Irish and British governments, which was the annex to the Belfast Agreement:
1 A North-South Ministerial Council
2 The implementation bodies in the Strand Two section of the Belfast Agreement
3 A British-Irish Council
4 A British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference
Three of the treaties are purely technical, providing the institutions are constituted and will operate as described by the Belfast Agreement.
The treaty on the implementation bodies is more substantial, running to almost 50 pages. It specifies the six bodies agreed last December 18th, to cover inland waterways, food safety, trade and business development, special EU programmes, languages (Irish and Ulster-Scots), and aquaculture and marine matters. The other institutions will work as follows:
The Intergovernmental Conference: to co-operate on security matters and address the issues of rights, justice, prisons and policing, unless responsibility is devolved to the executive. The North-South Ministerial Council: to bring together ministers from the Irish Government and the Northern executive on matters of mutual interest. The council to meet in plenary format twice a year and in "sectoral" formats on a regular basis. The British-Irish Council: to promote the totality of relationships between the people of these islands. Summits twice a year and sectoral meetings more regularly.