International trade and development

Notes that the Trade and Development Board recommended that the General Asembly change the name of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Restrictive Business Practices to the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy and convene a 4th UN conference on the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices, as well as a diplomatic conference to consider and adopt a convention on arrest of ships, endorses the aforementioned change of name of the Intergovernmental Group, and stresses that the 2 conferences, as agreed by the Board, should be absorbed within the budget level proposed by the Secretary-General for the biennium 1998-1999; notes that UNCTAD is making increasing use of information technology to enhance further its effectiveness, and urges the Conference to assist developing countries in fully benefiting from these new technologies; recognizes that UNCTAD should continue to facilitate the integration of developing countries and countries with economies in transition into the international trading system, in a complementary manner with the World Trade Organization; requests UNCTAD to continue to identify and analyse the implications for development of issues relevant to investment, taking into account the interests of developing countries; recognizes that the objective of Governments should be to ensure that trade and environmental policies are mutually supportive; reaffirms the need to give priority to the problems facing the least developed countries; requests Governments, organs, organizations and bodies of the UN system and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to take concrete measures to implement fully and as a matter of urgency the UN New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s.

Adopted without vote, 77th meeting

6 p.

Adopted at the 77th plenary meeting, 18 Dec. 1997.