A/RES/54/142 Page 4 13. Calls for the participation of associate members of the regional commissions in the special session, subject to the rules of procedure of the General Assembly, and in the preparatory process for the special session, in the same capacity of observer that applied to their participation in the Fourth World Conference on Women; 14. Encourages Member States to include relevant actors of civil society, especially non-governmental organizations and representatives of women’s organizations, in their national preparatory processes as well as in their delegations to the preparatory committee and the special session; 15. Emphasizes the important role of non-governmental organizations in implementing the Platform for Action and the need for their active involvement in the preparations for the special session as well as the need to ensure appropriate arrangements for their contributions to the special session; 16. Decides that non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council, as well as the non-governmental organizations that were accredited to the Fourth World Conference on Women, may participate in the special session without creating a precedent for future sessions of the General Assembly;7 17. Also decides to defer consideration of all the modalities for participation of non-governmental organizations in the special session until the next session of the preparatory committee; 18. Invites the Bureau of the Commission on the Status of Women, acting as the preparatory committee for the special session, to convene informal open-ended consultations, as appropriate, to consider preparations for the special session; 19. Recommends that the major portion of the three weeks scheduled for the forty-fourth session of the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2000 be allocated to the Commission acting as the preparatory committee for the special session of the General Assembly. 83rd plenary meeting 17 December 1999