A/RES/63/219 15. Notes the adoption by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention of decision IX/25, on South-South cooperation on biodiversity for development,11 and the ongoing efforts of the Executive Secretary in that regard; 16. Notes also the development of the gender plan of action under the Convention, and invites parties to support the implementation of the plan by the Convention secretariat; 17. Takes note of decision IX/16 of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, on biodiversity and climate change, and the annexes thereto,11 by which the Conference, inter alia, established an Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Biodiversity and Climate Change with a mandate to develop scientific and technical advice on biodiversity in so far as it relates to climate change; 6H 18. Also takes note of the ongoing work of the Joint Liaison Group of the secretariats and offices of the relevant subsidiary bodies of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, and the Convention on Biological Diversity, and further encourages continuing cooperation in order to promote complementarities among the secretariats, while respecting their independent legal status; 19. Encourages all parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to contribute to the discussions leading to an updated strategic plan for the Convention to be adopted at the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties, bearing in mind that this strategic plan should cover all three objectives of the Convention; 20. Invites the countries that have not yet done so to ratify or to accede to the Convention; 21. Invites countries to consider ratifying or acceding to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture; 12 1F 22. Invites the parties to the Convention that have not yet ratified or acceded to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to consider doing so, reiterates the commitment of States parties to the Protocol to support its implementation, and stresses that this will require the full support of parties and of relevant international organizations, in particular with regard to the provision of assistance to developing countries in capacity-building for biosafety; 23. Invites the secretariat of the Convention to report, through the SecretaryGeneral, to the General Assembly at its sixty-fourth session on the work of the Conference of the Parties and to include in the report information on the preparation of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly referred to above; 24. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its sixty-fourth session, under the item entitled “Sustainable development”, the sub-item entitled “Convention on Biological Diversity”. 72nd plenary meeting 19 December 2008 _______________ 12 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Report of the Conference of FAO, Thirty-first Session, Rome, 2–13 November 2001 (C 2001/REP), appendix D. 5