A/HRC/10/26 page 2 Introduction 1. In its resolution 7/3, the Human Rights Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to consult States and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations on ways and means to enhance international cooperation and dialogue in the United Nations human rights machinery, including the Council, as recognized by the General Assembly in the preamble of its resolution 60/251, and to present a report on his or her findings to the Council at the relevant session in 2009. 2. On 13 November 2008, the Council Secretariat addressed a note verbale to Member States and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, seeking their views and information as requested in resolution 7/3. As at 7 January 2009, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had received responses, summarized below, from the Governments of Greece, Lebanon, Spain and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), as well as from the United Nations Population Fund, the National Human Rights Committee of Qatar, the Office of the Salvadorian human rights Ombudsman, and the non-governmental organization Federation of Cuban Women.1 Responses from Governments 3. Greece [Original: English] [1 December 2008] (a) The Government of Greece reaffirmed that active participation of States and groups of States in the Human Rights Council as well as in the treaty bodies and relevant mechanisms leads to an enabling environment for active international cooperation in the field of human rights. (b) In the above-mentioned framework, regional cooperation between individual States and groups and between groups is a sine qua non condition for enhancing cooperation in this field, regardless of the groupings within the Council. Intraregional initiatives should be encouraged in the Council as much as outside its boundaries. (c) There is ample room for efforts to increase bilateral cooperation through the linkage of development cooperation to human rights. In this respect, Greece has funded programmes of international development cooperation in the field of human rights through official development assistance, allocating a total of 1,079,632.17 euros for the biennium 2006-2007. 1 The full texts of the submissions are available from the Secretariat.