Poor countries make slender progress

The Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) ended on 13 May in Istanbul with a new 10-year Programme of Action that sets the goal of halving the number of LDCs by 2020.

There are currently 48 countries – 33 in Africa, 14 in Asia, plus Haiti – that meet the conditions to be considered members of the group of least developed countries: an annual per capita income of less than 745 dollars; extreme economic vulnerability; and a marked lagging behind in human development (health, nutrition, schooling). Among other things, this status qualifies them for access to the preferential treatment introduced by the European Union in 2011 and known as ‘Everything But Arms’. This provides free access to the European market for LDC products with the exception of arms and munitions. 

Paradoxically, while a majority of the 9,000 conference participants presented a damning verdict on the little action taken since the last conference on LDCs, held in Brussels in 2001, Cheick Sidi Diarra, UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing Countries, announced that three Pacific islands were soon to leave the LDC group.

Human capital

Samoa, Tuvalu and Vanuatu should meet the conditions to leave the group within the next three to five years, the High Representative declared in Istanbul. Three other countries – Equatorial Guinea, Angola and East Timor – are set to follow. “These countries are still weak in terms of human capital development although their annual income exceeds the limit set by the United Nations for inclusion within the LDC group,” declared Cheick Sidi Diarra. However, he added that these countries should be in a position to exceed the human development index by 2020 if the action plan adopted in Istanbul is genuinely implemented.  Two other countries, Bangladesh and Nepal, should also be ready to leave the group within the next decade. 

Cheick Sidi Diarra sought to particularly welcome the presence, in the Programme of Action, “of a number of new elements that the Brussels Programme of Action did not mention”. He cited in particular the consensus reached on the need to set up a “technological bank and innovation mechanisms” to enable the LDCs to seize the development opportunities that stem from access to the new technologies. Mr Cheick Sidi Diarra also welcomed the decision to support the creation of companies active in the field of innovation and to replenish the Climate Change Fund for the Least Developed Countries

In terms of official development aid – just 0.1% of the gross domestic product of the donors at the present point in time – the aim is to reach between 0.15 and 0.20 % by 2020. “If this plan is put into action, it will change the lives of populations in the least developed countries,” remarked Jarmo Viinanen, Finnish ambassador to the United Nations and president of the conference preparatory committee.

Marie-Martine Buckens