A/RES/52/182 Page 2 I 1. Reaffirms the role of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development as the focal point within the United Nations for the integrated treatment of development and interrelated issues in the areas of trade, finance, technology, investment and sustainable development; 2. Also reaffirms its political will and responsibility with respect to implementing the agreed commitments reached at the ninth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, held at Midrand, South Africa, in particular the document entitled "A Partnership for Growth and Development",2 and, in this regard, welcomes the convening of a special high-level mid-term review meeting in 1998, which will contribute to the preparations for the tenth session of the Conference, to be held in Thailand in 2000; 3. Welcomes the efforts by the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to build a lasting partnership for development with non-governmental actors, including through the "Partners for Development" initiative, to be held at Lyon, France, in 1998; 4. Takes note of the reports and the agreed conclusions of the fifteenth executive session3 and the forty-fourth session4 of the Trade and Development Board, and notes the important contribution that the Trade and Development Report, 1997, the World Investment Report and the Least Developed Countries, 1997 Report make to the work of the Board; 5. Notes that the Trade and Development Board recommended that the General Assembly change the name of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Restrictive Business Practices to the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Competition Law and Policy and convene a fourth United Nations conference on the Set of Multilaterally Agreed Equitable Principles and Rules for the Control of Restrictive Business Practices, as well as a diplomatic conference to consider and adopt a convention on arrest of ships, endorses the aforementioned change of name of the Intergovernmental Group, and stresses that the two conferences, as agreed by the Board, should be absorbed within the budget level proposed by the Secretary-General for the biennium 1998-1999; 6. Expresses its support for the efforts of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development to implement fully the far-reaching reforms embodied in the outcome of the ninth session of the Conference; 7. Notes that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development is making increasing use of information technology to enhance further its effectiveness, and urges the Conference to assist developing countries in fully benefiting from these new technologies; 8. Also notes the increasing importance and application of electronic commerce on international trade, and urges the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, in cooperation with other relevant bodies of the United Nations system, to assist developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, and in this regard further notes the needs of the countries with economies in transition; 2 Proceedings of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Ninth Session, Midrand, Republic of South Africa, 27 April-11 May 1996, Report and Annexes (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.97.II.D.4), part one, sect. A. 3 See A/52/15 (Part I). For the final text, see Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-second Session, Supplement No. 15. 4 See A/52/15 (Part II). For the final text, see Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-second Session, Supplement No. 15. /...