PROBLEMS OF LANDLOCKED COUNTRIES GET LATIN LOOK, AS SEVEN NATIONAL MINISTERS MEET ON 12-13 MARCH IN PARAGUAY

PROBLEMS OF LANDLOCKED COUNTRIES GET LATIN LOOK, AS SEVEN NATIONAL MINISTERS

MEET ON 12-13 MARCH IN PARAGUAY

Two South American countries surrounded by land -– Paraguay and Bolivia –- and the nations that stand between them and the sea -- Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Uruguay -– will talk about how to reduce the physical, legal and technical obstacles that typically hamper trade and economic advance in the landlocked countries, in Asuncion, Paraguay, from 12 to 13 March.

The ministerial-level meeting also kicks off the preparatory process leading to Almaty, Kazakhstan, where ministers at an August United Nations conference will negotiate transit transport solutions for the world’s 30 landlocked developing countries.  Legal trade facilitation expenses entailed in transporting products from landlocked nations to coastal ports are estimated by the United Nations to eat up on average 14 per cent of the export earnings of these countries.

Hosted by the Government of Paraguay, the Asuncion meeting will review transport systems in the Southern Cone region and formulate improved policies and programmes that will further the integration of landlocked and transit countries with each other and within the global economy.

President Luis Angel Gonzalez Macchi of Paraguay will be at the opening of the meeting, which takes place at the Excelsior Hotel.  Also taking part will be:  foreign ministers from the seven participating countries; UN Under-Secretary-General Anwarul K. Chowdhury, who serves as the UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States and has been designated the Secretary-General of the International Ministerial Conference; UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Executive-Secretary Jose Antonio Ocampo; and representatives from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

Other regional meetings will be held from 22 to 23 April in Bangkok and from 5 to 7 May in Addis Ababa.  Regional meeting outcomes will be submitted to the first session of the Intergovernmental Preparatory Committee, which meets from

23 to 27 June in New York.  The New York Preparatory Committee meetings pave the way for a second PrepCom in Almaty from 25 to 27 August, immediately before the

28 to 29 AugustInternational Ministerial Conference on Transit Transport Cooperation.  The Conference is mandated by UN General Assembly resolution A/57/242.

The global conference and three regional meetings are organized by the

UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS).

For more information, contact Sandagdorj Erdenebileg of the Office of the High Representative at e-mail:  erdenebileg@un.org.  From 12 March on, contact Tim Wall of the Development Section of the UN Department of Public Information at tel.:  1-212-963-5851 or e-mail:  wallt@un.org.

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