PROGRESS REPORTED ON LANDLOCKED COUNTRIES GLOBAL ACTION PLAN;

MARKET ACCESS REMAINS STICKING POINT

NEW YORK, 7 August -- Satisfaction on progress towards the first global action plan on landlocked developing countries was expressed at a Preparatory Committee bureau meeting held today, in advance of the International Ministerial Conference that will take place late this month in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

“The draft Almaty Programme of Action is in good shape overall, and I believe with the cooperation of all partners we will emerge with a meaningful outcome”, United Nations Under-Secretary-General Anwarul K. Chowdhury told a United Nations information officer following the late-afternoon 7 August meeting.  “It is important for countries to recognize the need for preferential trade access for the geographically handicapped landlocked countries.  We want the fellow transit developing countries to be more supportive.”

Development efforts of these landlocked countries remain constrained without the support and cooperation of the developing countries that are involved in the talks as transit access countries, according to Mr. Chowdhury, who is the Secretary-General of the Conference.  (Transit access countries are those that are situated between landlocked countries and the sea.)  Observers have noted that among some developing countries, there is a reluctance to promote relatively open market access for selected groups of disadvantaged countries with very small export capacities -- such as, for example, landlocked nations -- while developing countries with larger populations and/or greater export potential must contend with higher barriers.

According to the draft Almaty text, “lack of territorial access to the sea, remoteness and isolation from world markets” have contributed to high poverty rates in the landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), and “the very high transport costs, which they must bear, constrain export development”.

The negotiations were initiated at the first Preparatory Committee Meeting, held 23 to 27 June in New York.  Points of contention centre on paragraph 37 (a) of the draft text, which calls for special assistance to LLDCs in accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and for particular attention to market access for LLDC exports in current WTO trade negotiations; and on 37 (c), which states that “market access facilitation programmes of the WTO should be extended to products of export interest” to LLDCs.

One third of the LLDCs are not members of the WTO.  The share of all LLDCs in total developing country exports has been a mere 2 per cent in 2000, falling every year by 2 per cent during the previous 10 years.  In contrast, the share accounted for by transit developing countries rose from 53 per cent to 60 per cent during that period.

Support for Improved Policies, Infrastructure

Other provisions of the Programme of Action, which have gained broad backing, call for:  simplification and streamlining of customs procedures for LLDC products passing through transit-access countries; partnerships among LLDCs, transit-access countries and donor countries and financial institutions to improve transport infrastructure; steps to encourage participation of the private sector in upgrading transport systems; and cooperation and coordination in approving the shortest and most cost-effective routes for oil and gas pipelines, taking into account the interests of both landlocked and transit-access nations.

The Preparatory Committee meets next in Almaty, 25 to 27 August. Immediately following, on 28 to 29 August, the International Ministerial Conference of Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries and the Donor Community on Transit Transport Cooperation will take place.

Key portions of the Conference will be Web cast, accessible at 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, www.un.org/ohrlls.

The Conference is a system-wide United Nations undertaking, organized by the Office of the High Representative with the support and active participation of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and the United Nationsregional commissions.

For more information, contact Tim Wall at tel.:  1-212-963-5851; e-mail:  wallt@un.org.

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