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that, further to the discussions held on the proposal of the Government of Argentina concerningthe drafting of a new convention against trafficking in minors, the political decisionreached at the seventh session of the Commission was that the additional instrumentto be drafted should address trafficking in women and children.In its resolution 53/111 of 9 December 1998, the General Assembly decided to establishan open-ended intergovernmental ad hoc committee for the purpose of elaborating acomprehensive international convention against transnational organized crime and of discussingthe elaboration, as appropriate, of international instruments addressing traffickingin women and children, combating the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms,their parts and components and ammunition, and illegal trafficking in and transporting ofmigrants, including by sea; welcomed the offer of the Government of Argentina to hostan informal preparatory meeting of the intergovernmental ad hoc committee at BuenosAires, so as to ensure the continuation without interruption of the work on the elaborationof the convention; and decided to accept the recommendation of the Commission on CrimePrevention and Criminal Justice to elect Luigi Lauriola (Italy) Chairman of the intergovernmentalad hoc committee.In addition, in its resolution 53/114 of 9 December 1998, the General Assembly calledupon the ad hoc committee to devote attention to the drafting of the main text of the convention,as well as of the international instruments mentioned above.In anticipation of the expected favourable action by the General Assembly, an informalworking group, established to assist the Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on theElaboration of a Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (the informal groupof Friends of the Chair), held its first session in Rome on 17 and 18 July 1998. The groupreviewed and endorsed the provisional agenda of the informal preparatory meeting of theAd Hoc Committee, which, as already mentioned, the Government of Argentina had generouslyoffered to host in Buenos Aires. The informal group also reviewed a provisionaltimetable for its work and the work of the Ad Hoc Committee, which had been preparedby the Secretariat. Furthermore, although the terms of reference of the group were orientedprimarily towards procedural issues, several substantive aspects began to be aired byMember States (see A/AC.254/2, para. 5).The meeting discussed the most appropriate way to structure the work of the Ad HocCommittee in order to allow it to fulfil its mandate, in particular with regard to the considerationof international instruments on trafficking in migrants, including by sea, traffickingin firearms and trafficking in women and children.The informal preparatory meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee was held in Buenos Airesfrom 31 August to 4 September 1998 (see A/AC.254/3). The meeting completed the firstreading of the outline of options for contents of the international convention against transnationalorganized crime (contained in the report of the Warsaw meeting), which had beenbegun at the seventh session of the Commission (see above), on the basis of a workingpaper submitted by Finland. After the completion of the first reading, the meeting discussedseveral outstanding issues that had been examined on a preliminary basis at thefirst meeting of the informal group of Friends of the Chair.The informal preparatory meeting also discussed the additional international legal instrumentsor protocols whose preparation the Ad Hoc Committee had been asked to consider.In that connection, the Governments of Austria and Italy submitted a working paper containingelements for an international legal instrument against illegal trafficking and transportof migrants. In relation to the proposed international legal instrument on the traffickingxxv