SITUATION OF WORLD’S LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES NOT MUCH BETTER SINCE 2001

SITUATION OF WORLD’S LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES NOT MUCH BETTER SINCE 2001

GENEVA, 17 July (UN Information Service) -- Halting progress in the world’s 49 least developed countries (LDC’s) was reported this week to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), along with a call to set their plight higher on the international agenda.

Half or more of the population in the countries in the category known as “LDCs” are estimated to live at or below the absolute-poverty line of one dollar a day.

Major challenges cited by United Nations Under-Secretary-General Anwarul Chowdhury include the widespread prevalence of diseases in the LDCs, slow progress in debt relief and continuing low levels of foreign investment and trade.  With 11 per cent of the world population, LDCs account for a bare 0.42 per cent of global trade, he said.

Several LDCs have demonstrated the capability of achieving high economic growth rates in recent years (in 2002, Angola by 10 per cent, Chad by 11.3 per cent and Mozambique by 12 per cent, according to the United NationsWorld Economic and Social Survey 2003). But at least 15 of these countries suffered a drop in per capita income last year, Under-Secretary-General Chowdhury said, presenting a report of the Secretary-General to ECOSOC in Geneva.  Aid to LDCs has been insufficient and, over the past decade, in decline, but he noted that new donor pledges constitute a “positive trend that is emerging regarding the volume of official development assistance”.

The United Nations report reviews implementation of an action plan that was agreed at a May 2001 global meeting in Brussels.  That month, the European Union announced elimination of tariffs on LDC imports, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development set new guidelines to improve aid efficiency.  Shortly after, however, terrorist strikes, Middle East tensions and military incursions swung world attention sharply to security issues.

Adjusting the agenda

With the release this month of the United NationsDevelopment Programme’s report on challenges in reaching the Millennium Development Goals, and a renewed focus on Africa, recognition of the extent of poverty in the hardest hit countries, as well as their vulnerability to exploitation by terrorist organizations, now appears to be rising.  Thirty-five of the LDCs are situated in sub-Saharan Africa.

“The LDCs seem to have slipped off of everyone's agenda -– it’s time to put them back”, said Arjun Karki, Chair of LDC Watch, a non-governmental organization (NGO) coalition, in an interview with a United Nations information officer.

An LDC Watch report, issued at a 15 July NGO forum in Geneva, endorses a “bottom-up” approach to development and maintains that additional training of civil society leaders will enhance the contributions currently being made by NGOs in the poor countries.  The report notes that some governments have been nervous about civil society playing a role in development efforts, but says that they should be reassured that NGOs are playing “a constructive role in making policies work on the ground and being engines for change”.

One obstacle to grassroots efforts is the large scale of farm subsidies in the rich countries, according to LDC Watch.

“There is no point in trying to stimulate agriculture in LDCs, when they face unfair competition from subsidized agriculture in the North”, said Arjun Karki.

The report of the Secretary General on “Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries” (document A/58/86 – E/2003/81) is available on the Web site of the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS), at www.un.org/ohrlls

For more information, contact Tim Wall at the United Nations Department of Public Information, 1-212-963-5851, or Marie Heuze, director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, 41-22-917-2300. 

List of Least Developed Countries (as of July 2003)

Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, Samoa, Sao Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu, Yemen, Zambia.

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