At a summit held in Dublin yesterday, the British-Irish Council decided to set up a permanent secretariat to co- ordinate its work and maintain continuity between formal gatherings.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who hosted the meeting at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, told a news conference the details would be worked out in time for the next summit, which takes place in Edinburgh in September.
"We have to just work out the structures, the staffing and some of the administrative issues around that and we will have that done well in time for the September meeting, so that's a done deal as far as we're concerned.
"We'll work out the mechanics of it," he said.
Pointing out that this was the tenth summit since the council's inception, Mr Ahern said: "We've now had nearly 20 ministerial meetings and 200 meetings overall since the council was created."
The British-Irish Council was established under Strand Three of the Belfast Agreement of 1998, "to promote the harmonious and mutually-beneficial development of the totality of relationships among the peoples of these islands".
Membership of the council comprises representatives of the Irish and British governments as well as the devolved administrations in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, together with representatives of the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey.
Describing the meeting as "excellent and free-flowing", the Taoiseach continued: "The very fact that we meet, that we're in touch with each other and engaging and collaborating with each other is of enormous benefit."
Ireland is designated the lead administration on the issue of drugs and Mr Ahern said the summit had engaged in "a comprehensive and detailed analysis across a range of areas on the misuse of drugs".
The North's First Minister, Rev Ian Paisley, welcomed the new administrative arrangements: "I believe that we need a strong secretariat to help us to do this work properly. This will be a very exacting job.
"We need to carry as many of our agreements together into our own private legislation in all our jurisdictions so that it can be seen that this particular body is moving as one, even with the separation that takes place locally."
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness welcomed the "very lengthy debate and discussion" on drug and alcohol abuse.
Scotland's first minister Alex Salmond, who was attending his second summit, said: "I'm very impressed indeed." He added: "These summit meetings are only part of the organisation. Ministerial meetings take place on a very regular basis, discussing these practical issues. There's one on demography in Edinburgh next month for example. There's bilateral meetings taking place, I'm going to be delighted to welcome Dr Paisley and Mr McGuinness to Edinburgh next week."
The various delegations were led by: Taoiseach Bertie Ahern; secretary of state for Wales Paul Murphy; First Minister Rev Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, from the Northern Ireland Executive; first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond; first minister of Wales Rhodri Morgan; chief minister of the Isle of Man, Tony Brown; chief minister of Guernsey, Mike Torode; and chief minister of Jersey, senator Frank Walker.
A joint communiqué released afterwards said: "The heads of administrations discussed the importance of supporting families to overcome the problems they face and the role families can play in the rehabilitation process."