- 13 The information meetings and training sessions focussed on either the inner workings of one of the aforementioned types of places of detention and how best to organise the visit to such a place or on general issues such as the techniques for interviewing detainees or the authorities in places of detention. 38. In addition to oral presentations, discussions and simulation exercises, the CPT members have viewed a number of documentary films on prisons and other establishments. Furthermore, thanks to the co-operation of the Swiss authorities, the CPT had the opportunity before starting its visits proper, of visiting for training purposes a prison in Geneva as well as the medical service attached to that prison. 39. The training of Committee members must be an ongoing process: in order to carry out their functions thoroughly and professionally, they need continual updating and fresh in-depth exchanges of views with experts in the various areas relevant to the CPT's work. The CPT therefore intends to continue to hold information meetings and training sessions on a regular basis, the more so as new members of the Committee, elected by the Committee of Ministers following the gradual acceptance of the Convention by other States, may find them particularly helpful. Of course, these new members will also draw much benefit from the experience that CPT members are themselves accumulating in the course of their work in the field. e) Relations with the Governments of Parties to the Convention 40. As early as November 1989 the CPT decided to invoke Article 8, paragraph 2b, of the Convention (i.e. provision of "full information on the places where persons deprived of their liberty are being held") vis-à-vis all the Parties and also to request those Parties which had not already done so to inform it of the authority competent to receive notifications to its Government (cf. Article 15 of the Convention). Further, it decided to draw the attention of the Parties to the importance of the appointment of one or more liaison officers. Unfortunately, certain Parties did not respond to the above requests with the expeditiousness one would have expected. More than one year later, some Parties have still not provided all the information in question. 41. The CPT also indicated to the Parties that it would be desirable for them to issue circulars or instructions to the relevant national authorities with a view to disseminating knowledge about the Convention and the Committee (see also paragraphs 91 to 93). The CPT is pleased that some (albeit not very many) Parties have taken up this suggestion and trusts that the others will follow suit in due course. f) The establishment of working relations with other international institutions 42. Shortly after the commencement of its activities, the CPT established working relations with the European Commission and European Court of Human Rights, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations Committee against torture, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on questions relevant to torture and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The Committee has also entered into contact with certain non-governmental organisations.