A/RES/55/13 9. Requests the Secretary-General, with the support of the Joint United Nations Programme on the human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), acting as the substantive secretariat of the special session, to provide substantive input to the preparatory process; 10. Also requests the Secretary-General to present, in a timely manner, in order to facilitate and focus the preparatory consultations, a comprehensive report describing both the status of the epidemic and the status and level of national, regional and international response and cooperation as well as other issues, including the developmental impact of the epidemic, its long-term social and economic manifestations, national achievements to date, best practices in prevention and care and identification of major gaps and challenges, taking into account all relevant information and inputs, including relevant findings from previous appropriate conferences; 11. Encourages regional bodies and organizations, as well as the regional commissions, to make available to the preparatory process and to the special session the outcomes of respective subregional, regional and global level initiatives addressing a range of HIV/AIDS issues; 12. Recognizes the importance of the contribution of civil society actors in the response to the epidemic at all levels, and in this regard underlines the need for the active involvement of civil society representatives in the preparatory process and the special session; 13. Invites to the special session and to the preparatory process activities, apart from the informal consultations of the General Assembly to which only Member States and observers are invited, in accordance with paragraph 14 below, non-governmental organizations which enjoy consultative status in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31 of 25 July 1996, or are members of the Programme Coordination Board of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, requests the Executive Director of the Joint Programme to prepare, not later than 15 February 2001, for consideration by Member States, on a non-objection basis during the preparatory process, for final decision by the Assembly, a list of other relevant civil society actors, in particular associations of people living with HIV/AIDS, non-governmental organizations and the business sector, including pharmaceutical companies, along with relevant background information to be made available to Member States, and invites those civil society actors to the special session and to the preparatory process activities for the special session, according to the modalities defined above; 14. Invites, in this context, the President of the General Assembly to make recommendations, for consideration by Member States during the preparatory process, for final decision by the Assembly as soon as possible, but not later than 2 March 2001, as to the form of the involvement of such civil society actors, in particular associations of people living with HIV/AIDS, non-governmental organizations and the business sector, including pharmaceutical companies, in the special session and, to the extent possible, in the preparatory process; 15. Stresses the importance of the full and active participation of all States, including the least developed countries, in the preparatory consultations in order to provide substantive input to the special session, invites Governments to make appropriate voluntary contributions to a trust fund to be established by the 3