A/HRC/42/39 B. Country visits 1. Requests for visits 35. During 2018, the Working Group made requests to visit Burkina Faso (19 February 2018), Cambodia (26 April 2018), Canada (11 May 2018), Chile (14 March 2018), Costa Rica (11 June 2018), Ecuador (11 June 2018), El Salvador (20 April 2018), Gambia (17 September 2018), Greece (5 September 2018), Lao People’s Democratic Republic (26 April 2018), Lebanon (11 June 2018), Pakistan (11 June 2018), Poland (22 March 2018), Qatar (23 February 2018), Rwanda (13 April 2018), Togo (14 June 2018), United Kingdom (23 February 2018) and Zimbabwe (5 April 2018). 36. Reminders of its earlier requests were also sent to Botswana (5 September 2018), Colombia (30 August 2018), Côte d’Ivoire (14 June 2018), Egypt (19 February 2018), Ethiopia (19 February 2018), Guatemala (9 February 2018), India (22 February 2018), Indonesia (22 February 2018), Japan (2 February 2018), Kenya (19 February 2018), Maldives (22 February 2018), Mexico (9 February 2018 and 18 December 2018), Nepal (11 June 2018), Philippines (22 February 2018), Republic of Korea (24 September 2018), Russian Federation (23 February 2018), Singapore (11 June 2018), South Africa (19 February 2018), Uzbekistan (5 November 2018), Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) (14 February 2018), Viet Nam (11 June 2018). 37. During the course of the year, the Working Group met with the Permanent Missions of Australia, Bhutan, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Poland, Qatar, Rwanda, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) and Viet Nam to discuss the possibility of a country visit. 2. Responses of the Governments to requests for country visits 38. In a note verbale of 13 December 2017, the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan conveyed the Government’s readiness to arrange a visit and proposed discussing the dates at a subsequent time. 39. In a note verbale dated 28 February 2018, the Permanent Mission of Indonesia stated that Indonesia had a number of prior commitments to receive special procedure mandate holders in 2018, and that it would further consult the capital on an appropriate time for the visit. 40. In a note verbale dated 21 March 2018, the Government of Chile stated that the request for a visit had been forwarded to the authorities and that it was unlikely that the visit would take place in 2018 in the light of other requests by special procedure mandates. 41. In a note verbale dated 26 March 2018, the Permanent Mission of Mexico stated that, due to the busy international agenda in the area of human rights in 2018, Mexico could not accommodate the visit. The Government reiterated its willingness to strengthen cooperation with the Working Group and to share relevant information. 42. In a note verbale dated 27 March 2018, the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation responded that, given the tight schedule of confirmed visits by human rights mechanisms, it was difficult to identify an appropriate period for a visit by the Working Group. The authorities also expressed their readiness to return to the discussion at a later stage. 43. In a note verbale dated 12 April 2018, the Permanent Mission of Poland stated that the Government would be pleased to welcome the Working Group, in accordance with its standing invitation. The Government requested a postponement of the visit due to the scheduled visits of two mandate holders in 2018 and in 2019. 44. In a letter dated 30 April 2018, the Government of Australia reaffirmed its readiness to facilitate a visit in early 2019. In a letter of 27 March 2019, the Government of Australia confirmed that the proposed period (February/March 2020) was acceptable. 24