A/RES/66/123 and overall socioeconomic impact of cooperatives at the national and international levels and promoting sound national policy formulation by harmonizing statistical methodologies; Invites Governments, in collaboration with the cooperative movement, to 8. develop programmes aimed at enhancing capacity-building of cooperatives, including by strengthening the organizational, management and financial skills of their members, while respecting the principles of gender equality and the empowerment of women, and to introduce and support programmes to improve the access of cooperatives to new technologies; Invites Governments and international organizations, in collaboration 9. with cooperatives and cooperative organizations, to promote, as appropriate, the growth of agricultural cooperatives through easy access to affordable finance, adoption of sustainable production techniques, investments in rural infrastructure and irrigation, strengthened marketing mechanisms and support for the participation of women in economic activities; 10. Also invites Governments and international organizations, in collaboration with cooperatives and cooperative organizations, to promote, as appropriate, the growth of financial cooperatives to meet the goal of inclusive finance by providing easy access to affordable financial services for all; 11. Encourages Governments to intensify and expand the availability and accessibility of research on the operations and contribution of cooperatives and to establish methodologies for the collection and dissemination of comparable global data on and the good practices of cooperative enterprises, in collaboration with all stakeholders; 12. Invites Governments, relevant international organizations, the specialized 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; 13. Requests the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the relevant United Nations and other international organizations and national, regional and international cooperative organizations, to continue rendering support to Member States, as appropriate, in their efforts to create a supportive environment for the development of cooperatives, providing assistance for human resources development, technical advice and training and promoting an exchange of experience and best practices through, inter alia, conferences, workshops and seminars at the national and regional levels; 14. Also requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution, including an overview of the activities that have been implemented during the International Year of Cooperatives. 89th plenary meeting 19 December 2011 3