expenditures. It has also tested and suggested a number of methods that might be used by negotiating Parties to arrive at sufficiently accurate comparisons, thereby serving the purpose of facilitating future negotiations. / .*. A/40/421 English Page 56 148. Until now, United Nations groups of experts working in this field under appropriate General Assembly resolutions have concentrated mainly on statistical, technical and methodoloqical issues which are of the greatest importance in the context of possible negotiations. As it has been pointed out before, there are, however, other aspects that are eaually important. 149. Two such aspects are, for instance, the important impact of political elements in a context of negotiations and possible modalities of agreements to reduce military expenditures. 150. There is, for instance, no doubt that the political and technical aspects of international and intertemporal comparisons of military expenditures are closely and continuously interrelated. Furthermore, the political aspects may even be the fundamental ones, The Parties must show the political will and firm determination to arrive at agreed solutions and to provide the data and other assistance needed for comparison and verification purposes. Since several procedures for constructinq appropriate price indexes and conversion rates may be used, a common understandinq would be needed on the construction of relevant military deflators and PPPs. Given such an understanding, it should be possible to resolve the technical problems in a way satisfactory to all Parties. It might be said, in fact, that beyond a certain point a “technical” issue becomes “political” and vice versa. 151. As for the modalities of agreements to reduce military expenditures to which above-mentioned tools could be applied, such agreements could be bilateral, regional, multilateral or universal. They could include all members of opposinq defence orqanizations or only States of major economic and/or military significance. 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the comparison and reduction of military expenditures between countries, focusing on the technical and political aspects of this process. It mentions the use of various tools and methods to facilitate negotiations and agreements, as well as the importance of political will and determination among the parties involved. This suggests that the category should be related to international relations, diplomacy, and conflict resolution.

**Category**
International trade, Employment