1. On Monday 26 January 1998 a meeting was held, inter alia, to provide an overview of the offers of assistance made so far, to identify the types of assistance for which no offers have yet been made, to identify the advantages of coordinating the provision of assistance from several Member States, and to discuss the need for more detailed information on the assistance offers. A review of the proceedings of the first meeting to coordinate assistance under Article X is contained in document S/38/98, dated 5 February 1998.

2. In order to ensure that the OPCW is able to react rapidly and adequately to an appeal for assistance, it is necessary to continue to coordinate offers of assistance and to plan how the Voluntary Fund for Assistance can be used to procure assistance of types which have so far not been offered by the Member States.

3. By 10 April 1998, a total of 38 States Parties had provided information on which measure(s) they had elected to take under paragraph 7 of Article X of the Convention. Some of the offers made under subparagraph 7(c) have been very specific in nature, whereas in other cases the States Parties have described only in general terms the kind(s) of assistance they might provide in response to an appeal. However, on the basis of statements made during the first meeting to coordinate assistance, more specific offers are expected in the near future.

4. A second meeting to coordinate assistance under Article X will be held on Monday 15 June 1998, from 09.00 to 18.00 hours, in the Executive Council Chamber of the OPCW Headquarters in The Hague, preceding the Tenth Session of the Executive Council (16 - 19 June 1998).

5. The purposes of the meeting are, inter alia, to provide an overview of the offers made so far, to identify the types of assistance for which no offers have yet been made, to discuss how the provision of assistance from several Member States can best be coordinated, to consider whether it would be possible to insure personnel and equipment, and to discuss possible guidelines for the use of the Voluntary Fund for Assistance.

6. It is expected that, to a considerable extent, the discussions at the meeting will be technical in nature. Hence the meeting would benefit from the presence of technical experts on the provision of assistance, as well as on various forms of protective measures. To facilitate the planning of the meeting, Member States are requested to inform the Secretariat, if possible not later than 9 June 1998, of the name(s) of their representatives who will attend the meeting.