A/RES/57/259 9. Notes with appreciation the increased number of developing countries that are parties to the Convention and that have adopted their national, subregional and regional action programmes, and urges the affected parties that have not yet done so to accelerate the process of elaboration and adoption of their action programmes, with a view to finalizing them as soon as possible; 10. Invites affected developing countries to place the implementation of their action programmes to combat desertification high among their priorities in their dialogue with their development partners; 11. Notes with satisfaction the steps being taken by affected developing countries that are parties to the Convention, with the assistance of international organizations and bilateral development partners, to implement the Convention and the efforts being made to promote the participation of all actors of civil society in the elaboration and implementation of national action programmes to combat desertification, and in that regard encourages countries to cooperate at the subregional and regional levels, as appropriate; 12. Welcomes the strengthened cooperation between the secretariat of the Convention and the Global Mechanism, and encourages further efforts in that regard for the effective implementation of the Convention; 13. Calls upon the international community to continue to contribute to the implementation of action programmes through, inter alia, the conclusion of partnership agreements as well as the bilateral and multilateral cooperation programmes that are available to implement the Convention, including contributions from non-governmental organizations and the private sector, and to support the efforts of the developing countries to implement the Convention; 14. Invites all parties to pay promptly and in full the contributions required for the core budget of the Convention for the biennium 2002–2003, and urges all parties that have not yet paid their contributions for the year 1999 and/or the biennium 2000–2001 to do so as soon as possible in order to ensure continuity in the cash flow required to finance the ongoing work of the Conference of the Parties, the secretariat and the Global Mechanism; 15. Notes the ongoing work of the liaison group of the secretariats and officers of the relevant subsidiary bodies of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 5 the Convention to Combat Desertification and the Convention on Biological Diversity, 6 and encourages continuing cooperation to promote complementarities among the three secretariats while respecting their independent legal status; 16. Invites the United Nations Development Programme to implement decision 2000/23 of 29 September 2000 of its Executive Board, 7 pertaining to the cooperation between the secretariat of the Convention and the United Nations Development Programme, in order to mainstream activities to combat desertification at the national, subregional and regional levels; 17. Calls upon Governments, and invites multilateral financial institutions, regional development banks, regional economic integration organizations and all _______________ 5 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1771, No. 30822. Ibid., vol. 1760, No. 30619. 7 See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 2000, Supplement No. 15 (E/2000/35), part four. 6 3