years, the Committee had not observed a similar phenomenon, in terms of both its extent and the risks involved. Following its 2017 periodic visit to Belgium, the Committee concluded that the general lack of concrete progress over many years in establishing a viable system for the human rights of inmates to be upheld in all circumstances, in particular in the context of industrial action by prison staff, represented a serious failure to co-operate with the Committee and a public statement was hence issued. The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe subsequently held an exchange of views with the head of the Belgian parliamentary delegation on the CPT’s public statement. In late 2017, the Committee of Ministers noted that the Belgian authorities were preparing measures to address this problem. High-level talks with national authorities 14. It is standard practice for CPT visiting delegations to hold talks with the national authorities, at both the outset and the end of the visit. The end-of-visit talks usually involve the participation of Ministers and are the occasion for the delegation to present its preliminary observations. The CPT has also continued to seek to intensify its ongoing dialogue with certain states by means of high-level talks outside the framework of a given visit. 15. The CPT held talks in Tirana (Albania) on 11 December with the national authorities. The main objective of the talks was to discuss the situation of forensic psychiatric patients and mentally ill prisoners at Zaharia Special Facility for Ill Inmates in Kruja and the Prison Hospital in Tirana, in the light of the findings during previous visits by the CPT, and the implementation of the CPT’s longstanding recommendation to construct a forensic psychiatric facility in the country. 16. On 16 and 17 February, representatives of the CPT held consultations in Baku (Azerbaijan) with the national authorities. The objective of the talks was to discuss the state of co-operation between the CPT and the Azerbaijani authorities and, in particular, the implementation of the CPT’s longstanding recommendations concerning law enforcement agencies, prisons, psychiatric hospitals and social care homes. The meeting was also an opportunity to learn about other developments since the CPT’s last visit to Azerbaijan, in March-April 2016. 17. The objective of the talks held on 4 April in Vilnius (Lithuania) was to present to members of the new Government (formed after the October 2016 elections) the main findings of the report on the CPT’s periodic visit carried out in September 2016 and transmitted to the Lithuanian authorities in March 2017. More generally, discussions were held on the ongoing dialogue between the CPT and Lithuanian authorities and, in this context, on the implementation of some of the CPT’s longstanding recommendations. 18. The objective of the talks held in Skopje (“the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”) on 14 October was to learn about the action being taken by the new government to address the longstanding recommendations to improve the situation in prisons as set out in the CPT’s report on the December 2016 visit to the country. General Report of the CPT, 2017 ► Page 10