"2. Also decides that the special session should reaffirm the commitment to the Beijing Platform for Action and further focus, inter alia, on obstacles encountered in implementation, as well as on strategies to overcome those obstacles, with a view to fully implementing the Platform, as well as to taking further action and initiatives; "3. Recalls that, in keeping with General Assembly resolution 52/100, the Commission on the Status of Women will serve as the preparatory committee for the review and will be open-ended for the purposes of the preparations; "4. Decides that the preparatory work, which should be supported by inter-sessional consultations convened by the open-ended Bureau of the Commission on the Status of Women as needed, will be carried out by the Commission at its forty-third and forty-fourth sessions in the years 1999 and 2000, respectively, and that the forty-third and forty-fourth sessions will be extended by five days each to complete the preparations; "5. Calls upon the Secretary-General in collaboration with the regional commissions to develop a standardized questionnaire with a focused set of indicators on all critical areas of concern as a framework to assist national Governments in their assessment of and reporting on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action; "6. Encourages Governments, especially those that have not yet done so, to submit their national plans of action to the Division for the Advancement of Women of the United Nations Secretariat by September 1998 as an input to the start of the review during the forty-third session of the Commission and, in 1999, to submit information on their implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, focusing particularly on positive actions, lessons learned, obstacles, key challenges remaining and a vision for gender equality in the next millennium; "7. Invites Governments to prepare their national evaluations on the implementation of the Platform for Action with the involvement of civil society; "8. Requests the Secretary-General to invite all entities of the United Nations system, including the specialized agencies, funds and programmes, to be actively involved in preparatory activities and to participate at the highest level in the special session, including through presentations on best practices, obstacles encountered and a vision for the future to accelerate implementation and address new and emerging trends; "9. Encourages appropriate regional preparatory activities for the special session, inter alia, by Governments in cooperation with the regional commissions, and recommends submission of the results as an input to the Commission at its forty-fourth session, in the year 2000; "10. Invites the Secretary-General to submit to the Commission at its forty-third session, in addition to the documentation already foreseen in the long-term work programme of the Commission for the review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, suggestions on further initiatives and actions that might be considered during the review, with attention to mainstreaming gender equality and to common trends and themes across the twelve critical areas of concern; -2-