E/CN.4/1995/91 page 6 In a letter of 31 August 1993 addressed to the Permanent Representatives of Greece, India, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan, the Special Rapporteur announced his wish to visit their countries to obtain information from their authorities and other parties concerned on various matters falling within his mandate. In a letter of 31 August 1993, the Special Rapporteur also wrote to the Government of the Sudan to confirm that he was pleased to accept the invitation extended to his predecessor to visit the Sudan. The choice of the above-mentioned countries was determined by the Special Rapporteur’s concern to study in detail a number of problems of religious intolerance which had been brought to his attention, while maintaining an appropriate geographical balance. The Special Rapporteur recalls his wish to visit the Governments of India, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Sudan and is still awaiting their replies. The Government of Greece, in a letter of 14 April 1994, agreed in principle to a visit in situ by the Special Rapporteur. However, the visit was postponed to a more convenient date. The Government of Pakistan, in a letter of 15 February 1994, agreed to a visit by the Special Rapporteur, but has still not confirmed the dates of the visit. The People’s Republic of China, in letters of 9 May, 30 June, 8 August and 2 November 1994, took the initiative of inviting the Special Rapporteur to visit China from 21 to 30 November 1994. The report of his visit to China is given in chapter III of this report. The Special Rapporteur strongly encourages all Governments wishing to do so to invite him to visit their countries in order to strengthen mutual cooperation and understanding, for the sake of eliminating all forms of intolerance and of discrimination based on religion or belief. He is also considering asking some Governments to allow him to visit their countries. He considers that, while it is still worth attaching importance to traditional visits, it would also be useful, in some circumstances, to make contact visits for the purpose of establishing a dialogue with some Governments and furthering understanding. Moreover, the Special Rapporteur wishes to maintain and strengthen the cooperation already established with other special rapporteurs or independent experts responsible for special procedures with a bearing on his mandate by, among other things, examining specific problems with them in greater detail. Another possible method of collaboration, in the context of specific situations, would be to organize joint in situ visits by several special rapporteurs and/or independent experts. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur took part in the meeting of special rapporteurs, representatives, experts and chairpersons of working groups on the special procedures of the Commission on Human Rights and on the advisory services programme, held in Geneva from 30 May to 1 June 1994, and endorses the meeting’s recommendations (see note by the High Commissioner for Human Rights E/CN.4/1995/5).