The Conference of the Parties (COP) at its fifth session, pursuant to decision 8/CP.5, decided to establish the Consultative Group of Experts on National Communications from Parties not included in Annex I to the Convention (CGE), with the objective of improving national communications from non-Annex I Parties, in accordance with the annex to this decision. The CGE organized and conducted three meetings, three regional workshops and one interregional workshop between June 2000 and March 2001 to facilitate the exchange of experiences and information on the preparation of national communications. This report focuses on the analyses provided by the regional and interregional workshops, the CGE task groups and the CGE members on various elements of the national communication. These elements are outlined as follows: national circumstances; national GHG inventories; vulnerability and adaptation assessment; research and systematic observation; GHG abatement analysis; education, training and public awareness; information and networking; and financial and technical support programmes. This report contains the recommendations, based on the issues analysed in part two by the CGE relating to the financial and technical support, improvement of the IPCC methodologies and other models, and the improvement of the UNFCCC guidelines