Chapter VIII ORGANIZATION OF THE SESSION A. Opening and duration of the session 1. The Commission on the Status of Women held its thirty-seventh session at the Vienna International Centre from 17 to 26 March 1993. The Commission held 16 meetings. 2. The session was opened by the Secretary-General of the Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace. In her introductory statement, she said that by recommending to the Economic and Social Council that a world conference on women be held in 1995, the Commission had provided the international community with a mandate to pursue the development goals that remained elusive to many women all over the world. The reference point for the Fourth World Conference in 1995 would be the Nairobi Forwardlooking Strategies for the Advancement of Women, which remained the most detailed expression of the international community’s position on the advancement of women. It was also necessary to underscore the unprecedented changes that had occurred since 1985. Moreover, she stressed the importance of building into the preparations for the Fourth World Conference the work of the other conferences being held up until 1995. 3. The Fourth World Conference would draw up a Platform for Action, in order to ensure the implementation of the Forward-looking Strategies, which should spell out the practical steps required to bring about the necessary policy and societal changes to achieve the goals of equality, development and peace and should be a document that was both evolutionary and revolutionary. It should equip women to play their full and equal part in politics, economy and society then and into the twenty-first century. Furthermore, the Platform must reflect how the international community would be accountable to the world’s women for its implementation. It should be accompanied by clearly defined means of implementation by the year 2000. She stressed that a recognition of the contributions and the diversity of women should be underscored in national and regional preparations as they proceeded to identify the continuing obstacles and the most important priorities. B. Attendance 4. The session was attended by representatives of 40 States members of the Commission. Observers for other States Members of the United Nations and for non-member States, representatives of organizations of the United Nations system and observers for intergovernmental, non-governmental and other organizations also attended. A list of participants is contained in annex I to the present report. C. Election of officers 5. In accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1987/21, the officers of the Commission elected at its thirty-sixth session continued to serve as officers for the thirty-seventh session, with the exception of the Rapporteur, as Poland was no longer a member of the Commission. The following persons therefore served as officers: Chairperson: Mervat Tallawy (Egypt) -88-