A/RES/50/51 Page 3 Recalling also the Security Council's intention expressed in the statement of the President of the Security Council of 16 December 1994 10/ as part of the Council's effort to improve the flow of information and the exchange of ideas between members of the Council and other States Members of the United Nations that there should be increased recourse to open meetings, in particular at an early stage in its consideration of a subject, Stressing that in the formulation of sanctions regimes, due account should be taken of the potential effects of sanctions on third States, Stressing also in this context the powers of the Security Council under Chapter VII of the Charter and the Council's principal responsibility under Article 24 of the Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security in order to ensure prompt and effective action by the United Nations, Recalling that, under Article 31 of the Charter, any Member of the United Nations which is not a member of the Security Council may participate, without vote, in the discussion of any question brought before the Security Council whenever the latter considers that the interests of that Member are specially affected, Recognizing that assistance to third States affected by the application of sanctions would further contribute to an effective and comprehensive approach by the international community to mandatory sanctions imposed by the Security Council, Recognizing also the importance of taking into account in international mechanisms of cooperation and of economic and financial assistance special economic problems of States arising from the implementation of sanctions imposed under Chapter VII of the Charter, 1. Underlines the importance of consultations under Article 50 of the Charter of the United Nations, as early as possible, with third States which may be confronted with special economic problems arising from the carrying out of preventive or enforcement measures imposed by the Security Council under Chapter VII of the Charter and of early and regular assessments, as appropriate, of their impact on such States, and, for this purpose, invites the Security Council to consider appropriate ways and means for increasing the effectiveness of its working methods and procedures applied in the consideration of the requests by the affected countries for assistance, in the context of Article 50; 2. Welcomes the measures taken by the Security Council aimed at increasing the effectiveness and transparency of the sanctions committees, and strongly recommends that the Council continue its efforts further to enhance the functioning of those committees, to streamline their working procedures and to facilitate access to them by representatives of States which find themselves confronted with special economic problems arising from the carrying out of sanctions; 3. Requests the Secretary-General, within existing resources, to ensure that the Security Council and its sanctions committees are able to carry out their work expeditiously, and to make appropriate arrangements in 10/ S/PRST/1994/81. /...