The UN Second Committee (Economic and Financial) approved on Friday an Israeli-sponsored resolution for encouraging entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship for Development, by a vote of 123-30, with eight abstentions, despite opposition from the Arab bloc.
The resolution was based on previous Israeli-sponsored resolutions on global entrepreneurship approved by the Second Committee. The new resolution highlights ways to enable UN members and the UN organizational apparatus to remove obstacles facing entrepreneurs, thereby taking advantage of the store of talent in each country.
The resolution calls for an improvement in the regulatory environment in each country, and for encouraging support for entrepreneurship in the national development plans of all UN members; removal of regulatory obstacles for businesses and access to financial services; providing more opportunities for women, minorities and disabled people; and encouraging education for entrepreneurship.
The resolution stated that entrepreneurship was likely to help attain objectives of sustainable development by creating new jobs, fostering innovation, and promoting economic growth. It added that entrepreneurs were agents of innovation who could help bring about simple and smart solutions to problems in various areas, such as producing food without any health risk, education, health services, and global warming.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon welcomed the resolution, which he said was further proof of Israel's contribution to the world as a leader and trailblazer in entrepreneurship and innovation. He said that the opposition and hypocrisy of Arab countries had been of no avail; many countries were showing great interest in Israel's successes, and he was glad to cooperate with them and share information with them for the sake of a better world.
The day before the resolution was approved, the Israeli UN delegation staged an event to highlight Israel's contribution to entrepreneurship and innovation. The event was held in cooperation with Israel Advanced Technology Industries (IATI). Participants included United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) chief Chantal Line Carpentier, IATI co-chairman Erez Tsur, Google VP engineering and Google R&D center in Israel managing director Yossi Matias; Danon, and representatives from ReWalk (which is developing technology to enable people with spinal column injuries to walk under their own power), Kaima (genetic engineering in agriculture), Novartis, Unistream, and Social Finance Israel, an investment house for financing non-profit organizations.
"We were glad to see that the innovation and entrepreneurship industry in Israel is a success story," Tsur said. "In view of recent proposals in UNESCO, which were not to Israel's advantage, it is good and important that we also have high-tech and innovation industries that arouse appreciation and curiosity around the world."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 20, 2016
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