be reached in the context of negotiations, systematic discussions within the framework of the United Nations might help to clarify matters and would presumably promote progress towards negotiations. CHAPTER VI CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 155. The Group of Experts concludes: (a) That the construction of useful instruments for intertemporal and international comparisons of military expenditures, namely military price indexes and PPPs, IS feasible, given a sufficient availability of relevant statistical information and that good results can be obtained with a relatively limited amount of data, provided that necessary efforts are made to select and collect the information and to make the approprfate comparisons; (b) That military price indexes and PPPs tend usually to be different from ci,vilian or general price Indexes and exchange rates, respectively; (c) That the military measures reflect the real value of military expenditures better than the civilian, and that, therefore, their use is preferable / . . . A/40/421 English Page 59 for measurinCl and comParin9 real military expenditures in the context of international neqotiations on agreements to reduce such expenditures; (d) That the results in terms of price indexes and PPPS as obtained by this Group could be further improved if more time and efforts were devoted to the selection, collection and evaluation of information from participating States; (e) That the experience qained throuqh this exercise has been limited largely On EiCCOUnt Of a lack of participation by States with different budgeting and accounting systems and by countries at very different levels of economic development, and thus; (f) That valuable additional experience could be gained, if a larger number of countries including in particular such countries aa referred to above would Vohnt@er to participate, and therefore; (9) That, if such conditions of wider participation should evolve, a further exercise of the present kind would be worth consideration; 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the feasibility and potential benefits of creating standardized tools for comparing military expenditures between countries. It highlights the importance of considering the differences in budgeting and accounting systems, as well as economic development levels, when making these comparisons. The text suggests that this could be useful for international negotiations on reducing military expenditures.

**Category**
Economic development, International trade