E/CN.4/2006/19 page 14 on good practices to assist Governments and other actors involved in programmes aimed at the social inclusion of people of African descent. 56. Taking the groundbreaking example of the last visit to Belgium, Mr. Jabbour considered country visits to be instrumental for examining the implementation of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of people of African descent; learning about relevant programmes and policies and their effectiveness and/or shortcomings; identifying good practices in the realization of the provisions of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action as they related to the social inclusion of people of African descent; interacting with civil society organizations and communities of people of African descent and assessing first- hand their situation; and recommending further specific measures fo r improving the situation of Afro-descendants. 57. Ms. Moroianu Zlatescu stressed the shortcomings and gaps in the implementation process of the Durban anti-discrimination agenda and underlined the need to form a broad coalition with Governments, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs and research and academic institutions in order to promote equal opportunity. 58. Mr. Frans stressed the importance of country visits as a way of identifying and disseminating good practices. The Working Group should move from an analytical phase to a more operational one. He presented the replies of Members States to a questionnaire elaborated by the Working Group during its third session. He thanked the 12 States that had sent replies to the questionnaire for their cooperation and highlighted the fact that some States provided detailed information that could potentially serve as promising practices in dealing with some of the issues involving people of African descent. A striking pattern emerging from States’ responses is the lack of relevant and comparable data on race and ethnicity as well as the rarity of specific legal and institutional frameworks. 59. An observer for a State made a comment on the need to interpret the mandate of the Working Group broadly, as intended by the Commission on Human Rights in resolution 2003/30. Some observers highlighted the importance for the Working Group of coordinating its on-site visits with the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and rela ted intolerance. 60. One observer commented on the fact that future annual sessions of the Working Group would be focused on the result of country visits and pointed out the necessity of keeping the thematic, research and analytical agenda of the Working Group. Mr. Frans replied to such a comment by explaining that country visits will only inform the annual session, which will remain thematic in nature. Indeed, good practices collected during country visits will inform the discussion during the annual sessions and instigate a deeper debate on how these practices could be adopted and adapted in policies of other countries. 61. In a declaration made on the behalf of the Group of African, Ethiopia expressed the appreciation of the African Group to the experts of the States Working Group and the panellists for their well researched and informative papers and recommended that the Working Group concentrate on the identification of good practices, through country visits, with the aim of disseminating them as widely as possible.