life of the indigenous communities, for which reason it would have been advisable to hold consultations and to produce an environmental impact study of those projects. For this reason, the INAI had offered its good offices to coordinate all the mechanisms available for fulfilling the constitutional imperative of recognizing indigenous community possession and ownership of the lands occupied by indigenous peoples (Article 75 (17) of the national Constitution), and to pursue mediation efforts among the parties. The State also declared that, without prejudice to the foregoing, it reserved the right to intervene in-depth in the handling of the questions of admissibility and of law posed in this petition. 53. During the hearing held in Washington DC at the 104th regular session of the IACHR, on October 1, 1999, the INAI representative indicated that in the present petition the State had indeed failed to consult the indigenous communities. For this reason, the State considered it essential to begin a friendly settlement procedure immediately. Nevertheless, and because the Supreme Court had decided that the question giving rise to the petition was not a federal latter but one for the Province of Salta, the INAI trusted that the government of Salta could be persuaded, through the friendly settlement procedure, of the need to back down and to stop construction while the procedure unfolded. 54. In light of the meeting held on November 1, 2000 with the petitioners, in the presence of the IACHR Rapporteur for Argentina, the government of the Province of Salta undertook, as part of the friendly settlement procedure, not to begin new works in the disputed area, except those planned for the police and the multiple use hall, and not to continue for the time being with the delivery of lands, until a broader framework for the distribution process could be agreed. Furthermore, with a view to the meeting held with the petitioners on December 4, 2000, the provincial government undertook to submit a proposal in writing to the petitioners to give effect to the right of the indigenous communities within the Lhaka Honhat Association to ownership of the lands they occupy, and this was submitted on December 5, 2000. 55. During the friendly settlement procedure, the State reported on a series of measures that it had taken, in consultation with the petitioners, to organize a Technical Group (the purpose of which would be to prepare a proposal for delivery of lands that would serve as a basis for dialogue with the indigenous communities and with the criollo families who had historically lived on fiscal lots 14 and 55), and an Expanded Negotiating Roundtable (consisting of national and provincial