A/RES/73/244 Eradicating rural poverty to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and poverty reduction strategies, including those focused on rural area development, and fostering rapid agricultural productivity growth, especially in developing countries, by increasing investment in agricultural and related rural off-farm activities; 7. Also recognizes the need to design, implement and pursue genderresponsive economic and social policies aimed at, inter alia, eradicating poverty, including in rural areas, and combating the feminization of poverty, ensuring the full and equal participation of rural women in the development, implementation and follow-up of development policies and programmes and poverty eradica tion strategies, supporting increased rural employment and decent work, and promoting the participation of women at all levels and sectors of the rural economy and in diverse on-farm and off-farm economic activities, including sustainable agricultural and fisheries production; 8. Emphasizes that, globally, 2 billion people, primarily in rural areas in developing countries, do not have access to formal financial services, and encourages further efforts of the international community to offer affordable ways to access finance for the financially excluded in rural areas; 9. Also emphasizes the need to increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure, especially in roads, water, sanitation and electricity; 10. Expresses its commitment to raising public awareness to promote the eradication of poverty and extreme poverty in all countries, to mobilizing the enthusiasm and creativity of all stakeholders, especially the rural residents living in extreme poverty, to fight against poverty, to promoting their active participation in the design and implementation of programmes and policies which affect them, and to providing quality education for the rural poor, with the aim of achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; 11. Stresses the need to enhance and expand access by developing countries to appropriate technologies that are pro-poor and raise productivity, and underlines the need for measures to increase investment in agriculture, including modern technologies, as well as in natural resources management and capacity-building of the developing countries; 12. Also stresses that the achievement of sustainable development and the eradication of poverty also hinge on the ability and readiness of countrie s to effectively mobilize domestic resources, attract foreign direct investment, fulfil official development assistance commitments and use official development assistance effectively, and facilitate the transfer of technology to developing countries, on mutually agreed terms, and further stresses that the resolution of unsustainable debt situations is critical for heavily indebted poor countries, while remittances have become a significant source of income and finance for receiving economies and their contribution to the achievement of sustainable development; 13. Recognizes the importance of addressing the diverse needs of and challenges faced by countries in special situations, in particular African countries, the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States, as well as the specific challenges facing many middle -income countries, and therefore requests the United Nations development system, the international financial institutions, regional organizations a nd other stakeholders to ensure that these diverse and specific development needs are appropriately considered and addressed, in a tailored fashion, in their relevant strategies and policies, with a view to promoting a coherent and comprehensive approach towards individual countries; 4/5 18-22622