A/RES/58/131 4. Encourages Governments to keep under review, as appropriate, the legal and administrative provisions governing the activities of cooperatives, with a view to ensuring a supportive environment for them and to protecting and advancing the potential of cooperatives to help them to achieve their goals; Urges Governments, relevant international organizations and specialized 5. agencies, in collaboration with national and international cooperative organizations, to give due consideration to the role and contribution of cooperatives in the implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the World Summit for Social Development, the Fourth World Conference on Women, the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) and their five-year reviews, the World Food Summit, the Second World Assembly on Ageing, the International Conference on Financing for Development and the World Summit on Sustainable Development by, inter alia: (a) Utilizing and developing fully the potential and contribution of cooperatives for the attainment of social development goals, in particular the eradication of poverty, the generation of full and productive employment and the enhancement of social integration; (b) Encouraging and facilitating the establishment and development of cooperatives, including taking measures aimed at enabling people living in poverty or belonging to vulnerable groups to engage on a voluntary basis in the creation and development of cooperatives; (c) Taking appropriate measures aimed at creating a supportive and enabling environment for the development of cooperatives by, inter alia, developing an effective partnership between Governments and the cooperative movement, promoting and implementing better legislation, training, research, sharing of good practices and human resources development; Invites Governments, in collaboration with the cooperative movement, to 6. develop programmes to promote and strengthen the education of members, the elected leadership and professional cooperative management, where appropriate, and to create or improve statistical databases on the development of cooperatives and on their contribution to national economies; Invites Governments, relevant international organizations, specialized 7. agencies and local, national and international cooperative organizations to continue to observe the International Day of Cooperatives annually, on the first Saturday of July, as proclaimed by the General Assembly in its resolution 47/90; Requests the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the relevant United 8. Nations and other international organizations and national, regional and international cooperative organizations, to render support to Member States, as appropriate, in their efforts to create a supportive environment for the development of cooperatives, to continue to provide assistance for human resources development, technical advice and training, and to promote an exchange of experience and best practices, through, inter alia, conferences, workshops and seminars at the national and regional levels; Also requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at 9. its sixtieth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution, focusing on the role of cooperatives in the eradication of poverty. 77th plenary meeting 22 December 2003 2