United Nations Initiative on Opportunity and Participation

Invites Member States and relevant organizations and agencies of the United Nations system to consider the insights and the recommendations of the Panel, particularly the sections of its report related to the efforts to be made for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries as an effective measure for promoting opportunity and participation in the context of national development and the economic and social development of all peoples;

Invites the Commission for Sustainable Development, in the overall framework of trade, environment and sustainable development, alleviating poverty and promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development and small-scale fisheries development, to draw upon the work of the Panel;

Invites the Committee for Development Planning, in accordance with its mandate, to take into account the recommendations of the Panel in its work in 1996 in the context of the International Development Strategy for the Fourth United Nations Development Decade;⁴

Encourages the relevant agencies and organizations of the United Nations system, in particular the United Nations Development Programme and the regional commissions, to increase their efforts to promote opportunity and participation, and to develop those concepts and incorporate them into their strategies and programmes, including regional and national workshops and seminars;

Invites Member States and international organizations to make voluntary contributions to these efforts;