include the oldest and most venerable among all the communities of
the Baha'i world, and whose members in their aggregate constitute the
overwhelming majority of the followers of Baha'u'llah, are called upon, in
close association with four other Baha'i communities in the Western
Hemisphere, to undertake in the course of the coming decade:

First, the construction of the first Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar in
Baha'u'llah's native land, in the city of Tihran, surnamed by Baha'u'llah
"Mother of the World."

Second, the purchase of land for the future construction of three
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kars, one in the city of Ba_gh_dad, enshrining the "Most
Great House," the third holiest city of the Baha'i world, one in New
Delhi, the leading city of the Indian subcontinent, and the third in
Sydney, the oldest and foremost Baha'i center in the Antipodes.

Third, the formation of no less than eleven national spiritual assemblies,
one each in Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon, under the aegis of the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of India, Pakistan and Burma; one in
Turkey and one in Af_gh_anistan, under the aegis of the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of Persia; one in Japan, under the aegis of the
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States of
America; one in New Zealand, under the aegis of the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of Australia and New Zealand, as well as four
regional national spiritual assemblies, one in the Arabian Peninsula,
under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of
Persia; one in southeast Asia, under the aegis of the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of India, Pakistan and Burma; a third in the South
Pacific, under the aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is
of the United States of America; and a fourth in the Near East, under the
aegis of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of 'Iraq.

Fourth, the opening of the following forty-one virgin territories and
islands: Andaman Islands, Bhutan, Daman, Diu, Goa, Karikal, Mahe, Mariana
Islands, Nicobar Islands, Pondicherry, Sikkim, assigned to the National
Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of India, Pakistan and Burma; Caroline
Islands, Dutch New Guinea, Hainan Island, Kazakhstan, Macao Island,
Sakhalin Island, Tibet, Tonga Islands, assigned to the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States of America; Brunei, Chagos
Archipelago, Kirgizia, Mongolia, Sol