A/68/44 G. Activities of the Committee in connection with the Optional Protocol to the Convention 11. As at 31 May 2013, there were 68 States parties to the Optional Protocol (see annex V). As required by the Optional Protocol to the Convention, on 14 November 2012, a joint meeting was held between the members of the Committee and the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of the Committee against Torture (hereinafter “the Subcommittee on Prevention”). Both the Committee and the Subcommittee on Prevention (membership of the Subcommittee on Prevention is included in annex VI) further discussed the strengthening of the modalities for cooperation, such as the mutual sharing of information, taking into account confidentiality requirements. 12. A further meeting was held between the Committee and the Chairperson of the Subcommittee on Prevention on 16 May 2013, at which the latter submitted to the Committee the sixth public annual report of the Subcommittee (CAT/C/50/2). The Committee decided to include it in the present annual report (see annex VII) and to transmit it to the General Assembly. Postponement of the establishment of the national preventive mechanism of Romania 13. The Committee received a request from Romania under article 24, paragraph 2, of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, requesting an additional two-year extension of the postponement of the establishment of its national preventive mechanism (NPM), further to its declaration upon ratification that it would postpone the establishment of an NPM for three years, in accordance with article 24, paragraph 1, of the Optional Protocol. 14. At its forty-ninth session, on 23 November 2012, the Committee took a decision (see annex VIII), after consulting on the matter with the Subcommittee on Prevention, to accept the request of the State party and to invite it to the next session of the Committee in May 2013 (fiftieth session) to present status reports on the establishment of the NPM and on the progress made to submit its long overdue second periodic report to the Committee. 15. At its fiftieth session, on 13 May 2013, the Committee met, in public, with a delegation of Romania to discuss the postponement of the entry into force of its NPM and to hear the reasons why its long overdue report had not yet been submitted to the Committee. The delegation informed the Committee that the State party would make the utmost effort to ensure that the NPM would enter into force by the end of 2014, the delay being that the law had not yet been adopted. As regards its report to the Committee, the delegation stated that it would be submitted by September 2013, under the optional reporting procedure that the State party had accepted, which facilitated the preparation of the report. The Committee requested that the information on the NPM, in particular the schedule for its entry into force, be submitted in writing within six weeks, for presentation to the Subcommittee on Prevention. H. Joint statement on the occasion of the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture 16. A joint statement with the Subcommittee on Prevention, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence GE.13-46043 3