BEIJING July 13, (AP) -- The United Nations is taking a final look at China's preparations for this fall's World Conference on Women and a separate meeting of non-government groups. The U.N. conference's secretary-general, Gertrude Mongella, arrived in Beijing on Wednesday with a 20-member delegation to inspect the sites and discuss preparations. This is the third and final U.N. inspection for the September meetings.

Mongella, who is from Tanzania, could not immediately be reached for comment. But the official China Daily quoted her as saying, "I am here to see where we are today in implementing the agreements reached in the previous two missions." Among her tasks will be to visit Huairou, the site of the NGO Forum, a meeting of non-government women's groups that overlaps with the U.N. conference and tries to influence its decision-making.

The Chinese government's decision to move the NGO Forum from central Beijing to Huairou, an hour's drive from the capital, drew strong protests from the organizers, who later backed down and accepted the site. Some have suggested that China moved the meeting out of the city because it did not want thousands of activists promoting causes such as human rights, gay rights and independence for Tibet in the streets of central Beijing.

Until now, Huairou was an obscure town known only as a stop on the drive to the Great Wall. Workers are scrambling to get it ready to host the 36,000 delegates expected for the NGO conference. Even when they are done, facilities will be lacking. The forum's daily plenary sessions will be held on two floors of an unfinished building with a roof but no walls. Other meetings and workshops will be held in tents. The town will have accommodations for only 10,000 of the delegates. The rest will be housed in Beijing and will have to commute.