A UNITED NATIONS General Assembly Distr. GENERAL A/RES/53/7 26 October 1998 Fifty-third session Agenda item 158 RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY [without reference to a Main Committee (A/53/L.8 and Add.1)] 53/7. World Solar Programme 1996–2005 The General Assembly, Aware that one of the priority tasks of the United Nations for the benefit of present and future generations is the elimination of poverty and the improvement of the quality of life of the millions living in misery, Recalling, in the context of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development,1 that sustainable development is one of the main goals of the United Nations system and that one of the key elements for attaining it is the application of sustainable energy systems, which includes the wider use of environmentally friendly, renewable energies, Recalling also that the Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21, adopted by the General Assembly at its nineteenth special session,2 recognized the need to promote efforts in research on and development and use of renewable energies at the international and national levels, 1 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 I. 2 Resolution S–19/2, annex. 98-77521 /...