A/58/296 C. Additional information 119. By letter dated 10 March 2003, the Government of Georgia informed the Special Rapporteur of measures adopted by the authorities to address current problems of religious intolerance in that country, especially the Plan of Action for Strengthening Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms of Minorities Living in Georgia (2003-2005), which was approved by the President on 4 March 2003 and is intended to eliminate religious extremism, propagate tolerance through the press and electronic media, punish those responsible for offences relating to religious extremism and eliminate all forms of religion-based discrimination. 120. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of Georgia for this information and encourages the Georgian authorities to pursue their activities in that area. III. In situ visits and their follow-up 121. Since assuming his duties in 1993, the current Special Rapporteur has visited the following 15 States: China (1994), Pakistan (1995), Islamic Republic of Iran (1995), Greece (1996), Sudan (1996), India (1996), Australia (1997), Germany (1997), United States of America (1998), Viet Nam (1998), Turkey (1999), Holy See (1999), Bangladesh (2000), Argentina (2001) and Algeria (2002). 122. The Special Rapporteur’s choice of the aforementioned countries was determined by his wish to study in detail the situation regarding freedom of religion or belief. 123. The Special Rapporteur will visit Georgia and Romania in September 2003; requests for visits addressed to Indonesia (1996), Israel (1997), the Russian Federation (1998), the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (1999) and Nigeria (2000) have still not brought results. Reiterating his desire for cooperation and dialogue, the Special Rapporteur draws attention to resolution 2003/54, in which the Commission on Human Rights urges all Governments to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur and to respond favourably to his request to visit their countries so as to enable him to fulfil his mandate even more effectively. In the case of Israel, the Special Rapporteur reiterates the comments made in his previous reports and calls on Israel to improve its cooperation for the sake of freedom of religion or belief. 124. The Special Rapporteur has continued his mission follow-up procedure, initiated in 1996. Despite several reminders, he has yet to receive a reply from Australia, Germany, the Islamic Republic of Iran (which has not replied since 1997) and the United States of America. 125. The Special Rapporteur calls on all the States concerned to cooperate fully in the follow-up procedure, which is a natural extension of any visit and constitutes an essential means of cooperation that benefits both the States, non-governmental organizations and individuals concerned by his mandate and the United Nations human rights machinery as a whole. 20