Intergovernmental negotiations on a programme of action for the sustainable development of the least developed countries (LDCs) over the coming decade ended in New York on 6 April, paving the way for the text to be finalized and adopted in Brussels next month at the Third United Nations Conference on the LDCs.
"We made extremely good progress", said John Cuddy, Executive Secretary of the Conference, at the close of the third and final session of the Intergovernmental Preparatory Committee. The Committee has been discussing the language and substance of the draft programme, which is structured around seven commitments to be undertaken towards the development of the LDCs by those countries and their various development partners. Delegates "almost entirely" cleared the commitments on building human and institutional capacities and on reducing vulnerability and protecting the environment, Mr. Cuddy said, and were "well on the way" to clearing the commitment on building productive capacities. They had reached "substantial agreement" on enhancing the role of trade in development, but "some hard-core issues" remained on governance and financial resources.
Negotiations on the "bracketed" texts will continue in Brussels.
Pre-Conference events highlighted
Also at the meeting, delegates heard presentations on several pre-Conference events held over the past few months on subjects to be taken up at Brussels. The events had been organized in conjunction with the national Governments concerned as well as other UN bodies. There had been an international policy dialogue in Bonn, on attracting private sector participation in infrastructure development in the LDCs; the dialogue had been preceded by a related symposium, in Oslo, on how the private sector can enhance LDCs´ productive capacity. In Bonn, innovative mechanisms for removing fundamental weaknesses in the infrastructure and institutional framework of these countries had been discussed. A high-level ministerial round table in London, on trade and poverty, had looked at how development partners could work together to enhance LDC capacities to maximize the poverty reduction benefits of trade. Proposals had been put forth for consideration at Brussels on extending duty-free access for all LDC goods to all OECD markets, and on binding trade preferences in the World Trade Organization.
A workshop in Cape Town, South Africa, had focused on the links between poverty eradication, development and the need to mainstream gender equality into national policies and programmes in the LDCs. It had urged that gender equality and the empowerment of women be made an integral component of the economic agenda, particularly in the areas of trade, finance and investment. A meeting in Bangkok had considered the role of the UN regional commissions in implementing the current and future programmes of action for the LDCs. Three regional seminars had been organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), aimed at articulating policy and intellectual property issues that would contribute to knowledge-building. The new direction for the millennium should encompass the transfer of knowledge to the LDCs, the seminars had stressed.
There had also been a workshop, in Geneva, on enhancing productive capacities and diversification of commodities in the LDCs, which had examined such issues as competitiveness, commodity market development and financing, price risk management and foreign direct investment. A workshop on tourism in the LDCs, held in the Canary Islands, had underscored the actual and potential importance of the tourist sector in those countries. Energy had been the subject of yet another workshop, in Vienna, which had emphasized the differences in the energy situation in urban and rural areas. A meeting on health, in Ottawa, had concluded there was a need to refocus the discussion of health issues in the LDCs on the relationship between good health on the one hand and economic well-being at the level of individuals and at the broader macroeconomic level, on the other.
Minister "facilitators" announced
At Brussels, ministers from developed and least developed countries (LDCs) will co-chair thematic sessions at which they will announce initiatives to be undertaken by their respective countries in honouring the commitments contained in the Programme of Action. The list of these "facilitators" was announced in New York, as follows:
- Governance, peace and stability: Norway and Mozambique
- Enhancing productive capacities: the agricultural sector and food security: Italy and Nepal
- Education: United States/Belgium and Burkina Faso
- Enhancing productive capacities: the role of health: Canada and Malawi
- Energy: Austria and Mali
- International trade, commodities and services/tourism: European Commission and Tanzania
- Enhancing productive capacities: the role of investment and enterprise development: Germany and Cambodia
- Human resources development and employment: France and Ethiopia
- Infrastructure development: Japan and Senegal
- Transport: Portugal and Djibouti
- Financing growth and development: Netherlands and Rwanda
A new thematic session will be held, on intellectual property rights for the LDCs, it was announced. The lead agency for the round table, to be held on Tuesday, 15 May, is WIPO.
The weeklong meeting of the Preparatory Committee, which began on 2 April, was preceded by an intersessional informal meeting from 26 to 30 March.
(For background, see press releases TAD/INF/PR01, 02, 03, 08, 09, 10 and note to correspondents TAD/INF/NC05.)
