The commission, which has just ended its two-week session urged industrialised nations and the private sectors to take steps for technological cooperation with the developing countries which would help environmental protection.

Recognising mutually reinforcing relationship between social and industrial development which has the potential to promote such social objectives as employment generation, it noted that eco-efficiency and cost internalisation are tools to make consumption and production pattern more sustainable.

The commission, charged with monitoring of the implementations of the decisions of Rio earth summit, discussed the issue of fresh water.

All agreed that these resources are limited but there were sharp differences on how to deal with thesituation.

Some of the developed countries wanted water to treated as an economic resource to reduce wastage. But the developing countries, including India, pointed out that it would not be prudent to provide safe drinking water only to those who can pay at a time when millions have no access to it.

Developing countries argued that it would cost much more to treat people who suffer from water-borne diseases than to provide them with the drinking water. Therefore, the first priority, they argued, should be to provide safe drinking water to all.

The commission merely reaffirmed that water resources are essential for satisfying basic needs of human beings and urged governments to address the gaps in its integrated management.

The commission, whose recommendations are yet to be released, acknowledged the importance of integrated water management as the availability of data for decision making, capacity building and participation of all stakeholders, technology transfer and research cooperation, financialresources and mechanisms and follow up and assessment.

For the first time, the commission organised a round table discussion among representatives of industry, trade unions, governments and non governmental bodies on how to achieve sustainable development. But they also pointed out that developing countries were under represented and wanted this deficiency to be corrected in future sessions. At the round table, speakers stressed on the corporate responsibility and accountability and urged governments to encourage voluntary intiatives by the businesses to improve their practices.