PLAN TO BRING LANDLOCKED COUNTRIES ‘CLOSER’ TO SEA TO BE WORKED OUT AT ALMATY CONFERENCE, 28–29 AUGUST

PLAN TO BRING LANDLOCKED COUNTRIES ‘CLOSER’ TO SEA TO BE WORKED

OUT AT ALMATY CONFERENCE, 28–29 AUGUST

(Received from a UN Information Officer.)

ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN, 22 August -- Next week, the United Nations will address the specific needs of one of the most disadvantaged categories of the world’s nations:  low-income countries without territorial access to the sea.  The first global conference at the ministerial level on issues related to these largely impoverished nations takes place 28 to 29 August, in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The International Ministerial Conference of Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries will negotiate agreements on cutting red tape, time and costs in goods from landlocked nations reaching markets through transit access countries, as well as improving physical infrastructure in these countries and in the access countries that stand between them and the sea.

The world’s 30 landlocked developing countries currently expend an average of 15 per cent of export earnings on transport services alone -– for some African landlocked nations, as much as 50 per cent.  Given this palpable disadvantage in an era of globalization, it is not surprising that nine of the 12 lowest-ranking countries on the United Nations Human Development Index are landlocked, and that landlocked status is estimated to cost these countries about 0.7 per cent in rate of economic growth each year, with cumulative losses mounting over decades and even centuries.

Because these countries are remote and hard to reach, they are easy to forget.  But developments in recent years in landlocked nations such as Afghanistan show that the international community overlooks the situation of these countries at a steep cost.

A New Breed of Global Conference

Since its preparation began last year, a compact, action-oriented agenda and costs that are drastically low for a global conference at the ministerial level have characterized the Almaty meeting.

The draft programme involves cooperation between landlocked and transit access developing countries, the donor nations and international finance and development agencies.  It will be negotiated at a Preparatory Committee that is in session from Monday through Wednesday, 25 to 27 August.  The Almaty Programme of Action, as it is called, focuses on making progress in a number of areas:  emphasizing and clarifying landlocked countries’ right of access to the sea; streamlining the often cumbersome legal requirements associated with the passage of goods from landlocked nations through transit access countries; upgrading rail, inland river, highway, air and pipeline infrastructure; and improving market access for the landlocked nations.

According to United Nations officials, the results of the Almaty action plan will be monitored and evaluated in terms of measurable criteria, such as reductions in costs and days it takes products from specific nations to reach deepwater ports.

The Almaty Conference will be led by United Nations Under-Secretary-General Anwarul Chowdhury, and Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev will address the plenary on the 28 August opening day.

For more information, contact Tim Wall of the United Nations Department of Public Information, Almaty office; tel.:  7-3272-59-8189; cell:  7-300-799-2241; e-mail:  mediainfo@un.org.

Appendix

Landlocked Developing Countries

Afghanistan; Armenia; Azerbaijan; Bhutan; Bolivia; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Central African Republic; Chad; Ethiopia; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Lao People’s Democratic Rep; Lesotho; Malawi; Mali; Mongolia; Nepal; Niger; Paraguay; Rwanda; Swaziland; Tajikistan; The former Republic of Macedonia; Turkmenistan; Uganda; Uzbekistan; Zambia; Zimbabwe.

Transit Developing Countries

Algeria; Angola; Argentina; Bangladesh; Benin; Brazil; Cambodia; Cameroon; Chile; China; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Côte d’Ivoire; Djibouti; Eritrea; Georgia; Ghana; Guinea; India; Iran; Kenya; Mozambique; Myanmar; Namibia; Nigeria; Pakistan; Peru; Senegal; Somalia; Thailand; Togo; United Republic of Tanzania; Uruguay; Viet Nam.

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