Strengthening the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice programme, in particular its technical cooperation capacity A/RES/74/177 Taking note of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the United Nations Development Programme Manual on Corruption Surveys and the development of methodological tools, standards and guidelines that can support countries in producing comparable and up-to-date statistics on corruption, including in the context of Sustainable Development Goal implementation, Bearing in mind that, pursuant to chapter V of the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the return of assets is one of the main objectives, an integral part and a fundamental principle of the Convention and that the States parties to the Convention shall afford one another the widest measure of cooperation and assistance in that regard, Recognizing that, thanks to their nearly universal adherence and wide scope of application, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime 10 and the United Nations Convention against Corruption offer fundamental legal bases for international cooperation to support the investigation and prosecution of crimes covered by those Conventions, including for extradition, mutual legal assistance and confiscation and asset recovery, and that they provide effective mechanisms that should be further implemented and utilized in practice, Reaffirming its resolution 73/191 of 17 December 2018, in which it decided to convene in the first half of 2021 a special session of the General Assembly on challenges and measures to prevent and combat corruption and strengthen international cooperation, and to adopt a concise and action-oriented political declaration agreed upon in advance, by consensus, through intergovernme ntal negotiations under the auspices of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption, and invited the Conference of the States Parties to lead the preparatory process for the special session by addressing all organizational and substantive matters in an open-ended manner, Recognizing the efforts of the Group of 20 in countering corruption at both the global and the national levels, taking note with appreciation of the anti -corruption initiatives outlined in the communiqué of the Summit of the Group of 20, held in Osaka, Japan, on 28 and 29 June 2019, and urging the Group of 20 to continue to engage other States Members of the United Nations and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in its work in an inclusive and transparent manner to ensure that initiatives of the Group of 20 complement or strengthen the work being undertaken by the United Nations system, Stressing the importance of strengthened international cooperation, based on the principles of shared responsibility and in accordance with international law, to effectively address the world drug problem, dismantle illicit networks and counter transnational organized crime, including money-laundering, illicit financial flows, smuggling of migrants, trafficking in persons, trafficking in arms and other forms of organized crime, all of which threaten national security and undermine sustainable development and the rule of law, and stressing also in this respect the importance of law enforcement cooperation and exchange of information, as well as of designated central authorities and effective points of contact dedicated to facilitating the procedures related to international cooperation, including for extradition and mutual legal assistance requests, as well as the importance of the coordinating role of relevant regional networks, Welcoming the high-level debate of the General Assembly held on 6 June 2019 on the theme “The role of regional organizations in strengthening and implementing crime prevention initiatives and criminal justice responses”, and taking note of the summary of the discussion prepared by the President of the General Assembly and __________________ 10 4/21 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2225, No. 39574. 20-22334