The secretariat was requested to seek to present, in its analyses was raised. statistics that showed trends over time using of reports of States parties, Concern was expressed that, in some selected and comparable indicators. cases, so many statistics were being presented that they obscured the main trends. Xt was noted that there was a continual problem of being able to -discern whether the information being presented by a State party provided a complete and accurate picture of the situation of women in the country. 389. The potential of non-governmental organisations to collaborate with the Means of involving non-governmental organisations, Committee was stressed. given the resource constraints, were especially from developing countries, The role of international non-governmental organieations in ~discussed. facilitating such an involvement was noted and the work of the International Women’s Rights Action Watch to encourage the development of national non-governmental organisations in developing countries was cited. The Committee requested the secretariat to include in its publications Wm and w an invitation to non-governmental organieations to provide ~~Pmembers of the Committee with information for their use and requested-the mm; ~-secretariat ~to send information thus received to Committee members. 390. Consideration was given to the types of questions to be posed to States parties during the review of second and nubsequent periodic reports. Beyond a concern was expressed that the =the matter of the number of questions, -questions developed should be more focused and should centre on specific areas where a State party was found to have made a particularly useful initiative, in order that the Committee could examine ---or was facing a particular problem, those aspects in depth. It was suggested that such an approach would be -particularly relevant for the consideration of third and subsequent reports. It was suggested that, apart from the members of the pre-session working group, other members who wished to pay particular attention to specific .aountries, especially those presenting initial reports, might undertake special px’eparaXory -work. 391. The effectiveness of having a representative of the national office in of implementation of plans of action for equality to present the report was stressed, as well as the problems that ensued when a report was presented by someone less knowledgeable. The secretariat was requested to include in the letter to States parties inviting them to present their reports the Conusittee’s preference for that type of presentation. Furthermore, the ~vfew was expressed that, while many States parties had resource constraints, it was important’that they assign appropriate priority to the Convention. charge 392. Concern was expressed that the Committee had not been able to make summary conclusions and recommendations to individual States parties after -their presentation that might highlight particularly noteworthy achievements or suggest areas to which States parties might wish to consider addressing special attention in order to overcome a particular obstacle. A suggestion was put forcoard by a member for possible consideration that, for the eleventh session, a short closed meeting be held at the end of each of the presentations in order to prepare substantive conclusions. The possibility of the representative of the State party participating in such a meeting or joining it later was also suggested by another member, -82-