Business and Development

A/RES/54/204No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 98bBusiness and development, published in 2000.

What other versions does this mandate have?

4 versions · 1996–2002

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/56/185

2002A/RES/56/185Business and developmentLatestCompare with previous version
2000A/RES/54/204Business and developmentCompare with previous version
1998A/RES/52/209Business and developmentCompare with previous version
1996A/RES/50/106Business and development

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

7 topics

Business Enterprises Entrepreneurship Microcredit Private Sector Small and Medium Enterprises Sustainable Development Technology Transfer

What does this mandate say?

19 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;

Encourages Governments, multilateral institutions and the private sector, including corporations engaged in international business activities, to strengthen partnerships so as to advance sustainable development through, inter alia, supporting the stable functioning of the international finance and trade system and investment flows, particularly in support of the development efforts of developing countries, as well as countries with economies in transition;

Encourages Governments to create an environment that enables businesses to conduct their activities in a humane, sustainable and socially responsible way;

Urges all Governments to create an enabling environment for business and investment, including through sound macroeconomic, fiscal and development policies, the rule of law, anti-corruption and anti-bribery efforts, and transparent business practices that promote efficiency, fairness and competitiveness in international commercial transactions, taking into account the needs of developing countries;

Urges the private sector, including corporations engaged in international business activities, to pursue orderly and fair business practices while adhering to and promoting the principles of honesty, transparency and accountability in international commercial transactions, with a view to contributing to efforts to create an enabling environment for business and investment;

Requests the international community, including the business community and relevant international bodies, to consider ways and means of promoting such principles and practices and respect for those practices by multinational companies in their operations in all countries;

Emphasizes the importance of a supportive international economic environment, including investment and trade, for the promotion of entrepreneurship and privatization;

Strongly stresses the need for adequate resources, including the provision of new and additional resources from all sources, and transfer of technology on favourable terms, inter alia, on concessional and preferential terms as mutually agreed, to developing countries, particularly to Africa and the least developed countries, for developing appropriate infrastructure and business services to promote entrepreneurship;

Recognizes the special development priorities and concerns of developing countries, and in this regard calls for international support for the realization of their development goals, inter alia, through the promotion of business and entrepreneurship;

Stresses the importance of micro-finance, including micro-credit, to people living in poverty, in allowing them to undertake the establishment of micro-enterprises, which in turn generate self-employment and contribute to the achievement of empowerment, particularly of women, and calls for the strengthening of institutions supportive of micro-financing, in particular micro-credit;

Values the promotion of entrepreneurship, inter alia, through the informal sector and micro-enterprises, in the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and industries by various actors throughout civil society, and of privatization, demonopolization and the simplification of administrative procedures;

Stresses the importance, in the context of establishing and maintaining adequate social safety nets, including assistance to workers, of encouraging investment in human resources through programmes devoted to health, education and job training, and recognizes that such efforts are an integral part of overall poverty reduction strategies;

Encourages the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to continue to provide a forum for intergovernmental discussions concerning issues related to private sector development and international flows of investment, with input from representatives of the private sector;

Invites the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and other relevant United Nations bodies to strengthen further their activities, in particular those concerning Africa and the least developed countries, in the promotion of entrepreneurship development, especially with respect to small and medium-sized enterprises, and calls upon the international community to lend its support, where appropriate, to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in this regard;

Calls upon the United Nations funds and programmes, in accordance with their mandates, to continue to strengthen support for the promotion of entrepreneurship and, in their work in implementing the present resolution, to give due consideration to the role of the business sector in development, taking into account the priorities set by each country, while ensuring a gender perspective;

Calls upon the relevant bodies of the United Nations system, within their respective mandates and agreed work programmes, to continue to assist Member States, at their request, in implementing national programmes to create an enabling environment for business, investment and development;

Stresses the need to continue to assist developing countries and countries with economies in transition, at their request, in strengthening their capacity to encourage wider participation of the private sector in their economies;

Invites relevant United Nations organizations, within their mandates and in consultation with Governments, to promote meaningful contributions by business, in both the public and the private sectors, in support of economic growth and sustainable development;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-sixth session the item entitled “Business and development”, and requests the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the relevant United Nations organizations, to submit at that session a report on the implementation of the present resolution.

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