A/RES/51/181 Page 2 Taking note of the progress report of the Secretary-General on the state of preparations for the 1997 special session,3 and taking into account the views and concerns expressed by delegations to the Commission on Sustainable Development at its fourth session, the Economic and Social Council at its substantive session of 1996 and the Second Committee of the General Assembly at its fifty-first session, 1. Decides to convene the special session envisaged in its resolution 47/190 for a duration of one week, from 23 to 27 June 1997, at the highest political level of participation; 2. Decides also that the Commission on Sustainable Development will devote the forthcoming meeting of its Ad Hoc Open-ended Inter-sessional Working Group, to be held from 24 February to 7 March 1997, to preparing for the special session, and that the Commission will devote its fifth session, to be held from 7 to 25 April 1997 as a negotiating meeting, to final preparations for the special session for the overall review and appraisal of the implementation of Agenda 21; 3. Recognizes the important contributions made by major groups, including non-governmental organizations, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and in the implementation of its recommendations, and the need for their effective participation in preparations for the special session, as well as the need to ensure appropriate arrangements, taking into account the practice and experience gained at the Conference, for their substantive contributions to and active involvement in the preparatory meetings and the special session, and in that context invites the President of the General Assembly, in consultation with Member States, to propose to Member States appropriate modalities for the effective involvement of major groups in the special session; 4. Decides to invite States members of the specialized agencies which are not members of the United Nations to participate in the work of the special session in the capacity of observers; 5. Stresses that there should be no attempt to renegotiate Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Non-legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of All Types of Forests4 or other internationally recognized intergovernmental agreements in the field of environment and sustainable development, and that discussions at both the preparatory meetings and the special session should focus on the fulfilment of commitments and the further implementation of Agenda 21 and related post-Conference outcomes; 6. Requests the Secretariat to provide all relevant reports called for in General Assembly resolution 50/113, including all other reports related 3 A/51/420. 4 Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992 (A/CONF.151/26/Rev.1 (Vol. I and Vol. I/Corr.1, Vol. II, Vol. III and Vol. III/Corr.1)) (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigenda), vol. I: Resolutions Adopted by the Conference, resolution 1, annex III. /...