A/RES/53/59 Page 4 measures regarding information and communications,5 encourages him to develop further his proposals for the reorientation of United Nations activities in the area of public information and communications, taking into account the views of Member States in this regard, and requests him to submit his detailed plan thereon to the Committee on Information for consideration at its twenty-first session in 1999; 6. Emphasizes that, through its reorientation, the Department of Public Information should maintain and improve its activities in the areas of special interest to the developing countries and others with special needs, including countries in transition, and that such reorientation should contribute to bridging the existing gap between the developing and the developed countries in the crucial field of information and communications; 7. Takes note with appreciation of the efforts of the Secretary-General to strengthen the public information capacity of the Department of Public Information for the formation and day-to-day functioning of the information components of peacekeeping and other field operations of the United Nations, and requests the Secretariat to continue to ensure the involvement of the Department of Public Information at the planning stage of such future operations through interdepartmental consultations and coordination with other substantive departments of the Secretariat; 8. Encourages the Secretary-General to strengthen consultative arrangements further, as appropriate, between the Department of Public Information and other substantive departments of the Secretariat, in particular those dealing with development issues; 9. Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General regarding the review of major publications by the Department of Public Information, submitted to the Committee on Information at its nineteenth session,6 and urges the Secretary-General to exert all efforts to ensure timely production and dissemination in all official languages of the United Nations of all its major publications; 10. Emphasizes that the publications should fulfil an identifiable need, should not duplicate other publications inside the United Nations system and should be produced in a cost-effective manner; 11. Urges the Secretary-General to exert all efforts to ensure that publications, as well as other public information products of the Department of Public Information, contain comprehensive, objective and equitable information about the issues before the Organization and maintain editorial independence, impartiality, accuracy and full consistency with resolutions and decisions of the General Assembly; 12. Calls upon the Secretary-General to ensure full and direct access for the representatives of Member States to the briefings organized at Headquarters by the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General and to ensure wider dissemination of the outcome of such briefings; 13. Also calls upon the Secretary-General to exert all efforts to ensure that information to be presented to the media is made available to delegations fully and in a timely fashion; 5 A/AC.198/1998/2. 6 A/AC.198/1997/3. /...