A/HRC/7/9 page 12 40. The mandate-holder should also work closely with the Working Group on the Right to Development and its high-level task force. The Working Group has been mandated to monitor and review progress made in the promotion and implementation of the right to development, which involves consideration of the many issues that also fall within the ambit of public finance. The new mandate-holder should take into account the plans of the Working Group in defining workplans and the focus of intervention in order to ensure complementarities. 41. The new mandate-holder should also call for greater engagement by the stakeholders, notably States, international financial institutions, other United Nations bodies and non-governmental organizations. For example, the World Bank and IMF have both developed expertise in the areas of social impact assessment and social policy and protection. It is important to acknowledge that efforts have been made by a variety of organizations and individuals to look into the impact of public finance on human rights. Seeking collective wisdom will be essential to produce recommendations, which can be accepted and implemented by the parties concerned. In this context, the consultation organized in July 2007 was extremely helpful in bringing together different viewpoints, and a similar mechanism should be contemplated to continue to support the work of the mandate. IV. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 42. The independent expert is submitting to the Human Rights Council at its session the draft he has been working on for the general guidelines to be observed by States and by private and public, national and international financial institutions in the decision-making and execution of debt repayments and structural reform programmes, including those arising from foreign debt relief. They are aimed at ensuring that States’ compliance with the commitments derived from foreign debt will not undermine their obligations to ensure the realization of fundamental economic, social and cultural rights for their citizenry, as provided for in international human rights instruments. The draft general guidelines reflect the independent expert’s core recommendations concerning economic reform policy and foreign debt. 43. The independent expert encourages States to define country-specific minimum standards or core content in the areas of economic, social and cultural rights. Such standards must be coherent with the provisions of international human rights law, in particular the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and take into account the relevant general comments of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The existence of such standards would be an important step towards the implementation of the general guidelines. 44. Shareholders and member States of organizations such as the World Bank and IMF are bound by international human rights law. They should therefore review their own internal procedures and institutional set-ups, including their articles of agreement if necessary, in order to harmonize them with international human rights law. Integration of human rights obligations within the overall objectives of all multilateral organizations would reduce the risk of conflicting and contradictory policy advice to developing countries.