A/RES/53/174 Page 3 (d) In line with Agenda 212 and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development,3 Governments should have as their objective to ensure that trade and environmental policies are mutually supportive so as to achieve sustainable development; in so doing, their environmental policies and measures with a potential trade impact should not be used for protectionist purposes; (e) Effective financial cooperation to facilitate the management by commodity-dependent countries of excessive fluctuations in commodity export earnings should be maintained and further pursued; (f) Technical cooperation in the areas of transfer of new technologies in production processes and training for technical, managerial and commercial staff of developing countries is of paramount importance for quality improvements in the commodity sector; (g) Expansion of South-South trade and investment in commodities enhances complementarities and offers opportunities for intersectoral linkages within and among exporting countries; (h) There is a need to promote research and development, to provide infrastructure and support services and to encourage investment, including joint ventures in developing countries engaged in the commodity and commodity-processing sectors; 7. Encourages the Common Fund for Commodities, in cooperation with the International Trade Centre, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and other relevant bodies, to direct its commodity development programmes more towards commodity sector diversification projects, as well as to promote commodity market development in developing countries, with particular focus on the needs of least developed countries, and to explore effective ways and means of using the resources of the First Account of the Common Fund; 8. Invites the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, within its mandate, to provide assistance to developing countries in the financing of commodity diversification and to include issues related to commodities in the provision of analytical support and technical assistance to developing countries in their preparation for effective participation in multilateral trade negotiations and in formulating a positive agenda for future trade negotiations; 9. Also invites the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to consider issues related to commodities in the preparation for its tenth session, to be held in Thailand in the year 2000; 10. Requests the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to report to the General Assembly at its fifty–fifth session on world commodity trends and prospects; 11. Decides to include the question of commodities in the provisional agenda of its fifty-fifth session. 91st plenary meeting 15 December 1998 2 Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3–14 June 1992 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigenda), vol I: Resolutions adopted by the Conference, resolution 1, annex II. 3 Ibid., annex I. /...