A/RES/73/346 Multilingualism official languages of the United Nations, in order to inform and raise awareness of their history, culture and use, encourages the Secretary-General to provide communication about each language day in the six official languages and further strengthen this approach in a cost-neutral manner, if needed through the participation of partner organizations, including Member States and institutions such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and also encourages the Secretary-General to consider extending this important initiative to other non-official languages spoken throughout the world; 17. Welcomes with appreciation the inclusion, in 2018, of a new category of the United Nations Secretary-General Awards aimed at honouring a staff member or team for their best practices and innovative approaches to fostering multilingualism at the United Nations; 18. Welcomes the efforts made by international organizations based on a shared language to increase their cooperation with the United Nations regarding multilingualism; 19. Also welcomes the activities of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Member States, entities of the United Nations system, other international organizations and all other participating bodies aimed at fostering respect for and the promotion and protection of all languages, in particular endangered ones, linguistic diversity and multilingualism; 20. Reaffirms that linguistic diversity is an important element of cultural diversity, stresses the importance of the full and effective implementation of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, 8 which entered into force on 18 March 2007, and recalls the Recommendation concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace of 15 October 2003; 9 II Role of the Department of Global Communications in multilingualism 21. Reaffirms that the primary mission of the Department of Global Communications of the Secretariat is to provide, through its outreach activities, accurate, impartial, comprehensive, balanced, timely, relevant and multilingual information to the public on the tasks and responsibilities of the United Nations in order to strengthen international support for the activities of the Organization with the greatest transparency; 22. Requests the Secretary-General to ensure the full implementation of existing mandates in the area of multilingualism as they relate to information and communication, and in this regard encourages the Secretariat to explore the opportunities offered by the new information and communications technologies; 23. Also requests the Secretary-General to ensure that any decisions made by the Department of Global Communications, including those justified by budget limitations or reductions, do not undermine the principles of multilingualism; 24. Emphasizes the importance of making use of all the official languages of the United Nations, ensuring their full and equitable treatment in all the activities of the Department of Global Communications, with the aim of eliminating the disparity between the use of English and the use of the five other official languages, and in this __________________ 8 9 4/12 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2440, No. 43977. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Records of the General Conference, Thirty-second Session, Paris, 29 September–17 October 2003, vol. 1, Resolutions, sect. IV, resolution 41, annex. 19-15935