A/RES/53/72 Page 2 Expressing its appreciation to the Secretary-General for providing Member States with the reports on military expenditures in standardized form reported by States and on the guidelines and recommendations for objective information on military matters, Welcoming the decision of many Member States to exchange and to publish information annually on their military budgets and to implement the guidelines and recommendations for objective information on military matters, as appropriate, Noting the decision taken by the Conference on Disarmament to reappoint a Special Coordinator on transparency in armaments to seek the views of the members of the Conference on the most appropriate way to deal with the questions related to this item,2 Noting also the efforts of several regional organizations to promote transparency of military expenditures, including standardized annual exchanges of relevant information among their member States, Reaffirming its firm conviction that a better flow of objective information on military matters can help to relieve international tension and contribute to the building of confidence among States and to the conclusion of concrete disarmament agreements, Convinced that the improvement of international relations forms a sound basis for promoting further openness and transparency in all military matters, Recalling that the guidelines and recommendations for objective information on military matters recommended certain areas for further consideration, such as the improvement of the United Nations system for the standardized reporting of military expenditures, 1. Recommends the guidelines and recommendations for objective information on military matters to all Member States for implementation, fully taking into account specific political, military and other conditions prevailing in a region, on the basis of initiatives and with the agreement of the States of the region concerned; 2. Welcomes the resumption on 23 April 1998 by the Secretary-General of consultations with relevant international bodies with a view to ascertaining the requirements for adjusting the present instrument to encourage wider participation; 3. Expresses its appreciation to the Secretary-General for providing Member States with a report1 on the outcome of those consultations containing, inter alia, recommendations on ways and means to enhance the participation in the standardized reporting instrument; 4. Calls upon all Member States to report annually, by 30 April, to the Secretary-General their military expenditures for the latest fiscal year for which data are available, using, preferably and to the extent possible, the reporting instrument as recommended in its resolution 35/142 B or, as appropriate, any other format developed in conjunction with similar reporting on military expenditures to other international or regional organizations; 2 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-third Session, Supplement No. 27 (A/53/27), para. 8. /...