Geneva, 2 June 2010 -- The United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) concluded its 13th session on 21 May, recommending to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for adoption two draft resolutions and three draft decisions.
The draft resolution on "Science and technology for development" encourages governments to develop appropriate policy instruments to encourage private sector participation in development and deployment of renewable energy technologies (RETs), and take steps to enhance local innovative capabilities in the area of new and emerging technologies.
The draft resolution encourages the CSTD to continue serving as a platform for sharing examples of good practices and promoting North-South and South-South partnerships, especially in new and emerging technologies and RET transfer and deployment.
The same draft resolution calls on UNCTAD to significantly increase its efforts to conduct science, technology and innovation policy (STIP) reviews, in response to a high demand from member countries. It further recommends that UNCTAD continue its work on RETs and carry out a number of related activities, including reviewing national experiences of developing local innovative capabilities and carrying out research on how developing countries can integrate the deployment of RETs into their national development strategies, as well as their science, technology and innovation strategies.
The second draft resolution on "Assessment of the progress made in the implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society" calls upon all stakeholders to prioritize bridging the digital divide and highlights a number of priority areas, including sound strategies that contribute to E-government development, pro-poor ICT policies and applications including access to broadband at the grass roots level.
The draft resolution expresses appreciation for the role of the CSTD in assisting ECOSOC as the focal point in the system wide follow up of WSIS, and invites the Chair of the CSTD to establish a working group, to seek inputs from all UN member states and all other stakeholders on improvements to the Internet Governance Forum and report to its next substantive session in 2011.
The draft resolution further invites the UN Secretary General to convene consultations involving all member states and all other stakeholders to proceed with the process towards the implementation of enhanced cooperation on public policy pertaining to the Internet before the end of 2010, and submit the outcome to the 66th General Assembly of the United Nations.
As part of its 13th session, the Commission also held a special panel session on "Gender, science and technology", at the request of the President of ECOSOC, as a contribution to ECOSOC´s 2010 Annual Ministerial Review on "Implementing the internationally agreed goals in regard to gender equality and empowerment of women".
The 13th session of the CSTD also recommended to ECOSOC for adoption, three draft decisions, which will facilitate the participation of civil society entities, non-governmental organizations, academic entities and business sector entities in the work of the CSTD next year.
