A/RES/54/248 Page 5 17. Reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to assist the aforementioned bodies in improving this situation, and requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its fifty-fifth session, through the Committee on Conferences, on the actions taken to that end; 18. Takes note with appreciation of the decision of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs to hold the Fifth Expert Group Meeting on Financial Issues of Agenda 21 in December 1999 at the United Nations Office at Nairobi; 19. Encourages other departments, intergovernmental bodies and regional and other major groupings to follow the example set by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs; 20. Also encourages all United Nations bodies and expert groups not subject to the headquarters rule to hold some of their meetings at the United Nations Office at Nairobi; 21. Reaffirms the general principle established in the headquarters rule, and in particular, that all meetings related to environment and human settlements that are organized by the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), respectively, should be held at Nairobi, being the headquarters of the Programme and Habitat; 22. Discourages strongly any invitation for hosting meetings which would violate the headquarters rule, in particular for United Nations centres with a low utilization level; 23. Requests the Committee on Conferences to consider the possibility of holding its 2000 substantive session at the United Nations Office at Nairobi; 24. Decides to establish a permanent interpretation service at the United Nations Office at Nairobi no later than January 2001; 25. Also decides to strengthen the interpretation service at the United Nations Office at Vienna; 26. Encourages the Secretariat to continue further the active dialogue between conference services and the secretariats of intergovernmental bodies, with a view to improving the provision of conference services; 27. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure an increase in the utilization of the regional centres in future work programmes and to report thereon to the General Assembly at its fifty-fifth session; 28. Reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to update the administrative instruction of 8 May 1987 on guidelines for the preparation of host Government agreements falling under General Assembly resolution 40/243 of 18 December 1985;9 29. Notes with appreciation the renovation of the Economic and Social Council Chamber with the voluntary contribution of a Member State; 9 ST/AI/342. /...