96 13. International activities, international relations The wide-ranging professional connections and experiences of the National Preventive Mechanism were further expanded in 2016. In addition to attending various international events, staff members of the Department held consultations on professional issues on several occasions with our partners, in the framework of which they provided information to their counterparts primarily on the operation of the Hungarian National Preventive Mechanism. Among our partners, there were international organizations monitoring the activities of the national preventive mechanisms and organizations conducting similar activities. 13.1. International relations I submitted the first comprehensive, annual report on the performance of the tasks of the National Preventive Mechanism to the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture – the report is publicly available on the SPT’s home page.225 Reactions to the annual report were appreciative and positive. I maintained continuous contacts with some members of the Subcommittee on Prevention in 2016 as well. The numerous international conferences and meetings provided excellent opportunities for informal exchanges. Malcolm Evans and Mari Amos, members of the Subcommittee on Prevention, who had paid an unofficial visit to my Office on September 17, 2015, indicated on several occasions, through the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, their intention to pay another unofficial visit in 2016 as well. The aforementioned members of the SPT eventually called off the visit. On December 31, 2015, I turned to the Chair of the South-East European Network of National Preventive Mechanisms (hereinafter the “SEE NPM Network”) requesting to upgrade the status of the Hungarian National Preventive Mechanism from observer (as of May 2014) to full member. 225 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/OPCAT/Pages/AnnualreportsreceivedfromNPM.aspx