Meetings Coverage and Press Releases

In progress at UNHQ

General Assembly: Meetings Coverage

DEV/2894

Suffering Will Continue in Least Developed Countries Unless They Unleash Women’s Power to Impact Development, Thematic Debate Hears in Istanbul

ISTANBUL, 12 May — As central managers of families and communities, women held the key to unlocking human development potential, but unless they were equally empowered to access financial, social and health services, and engaged — from the start — in decisions that affected their lives, least developed countries would remain powerless to unleash it, said participants in the last of six high-level thematic debates held during the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries.

DEV/2893

‘Here in Istanbul, as Chapter Closes on Brussels, We Have Opportunity to Rewrite Fate of Least Developed Countries,’ Conference Hears

ISTANBUL, 12 May — With negotiators edging towards consensus on the outcome of the United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, speakers today used the gathering’s penultimate plenary session to press for a 10-year action plan grounded in sound policies that ensured delivery on past pledges for development assistance and brought down the barriers blocking their paths to economic growth.

DEV/2892

Rethinking Approach to Managing Vulnerabilities of Least Developed Countries Focus of Thematic Debate, at Istanbul Conference

ISTANBUL, 11 May — An expert panel at the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries this afternoon considered the unique vulnerabilities of those countries and weighed strategies to help them rise above a raft of complex challenges, including geographical isolation, skyrocketing food prices, global warming, and lack of access to clean water.

DEV/2891

Indivisible Relationship between Good Governance, Durable Economic Growth in Least Developed Countries Subject of Thematic Debate in Istanbul

ISTANBUL, 11 May — The inexorable collapse of autocratic regimes in Africa, the stirring cries for free expression in the Middle East, and the demand for transparent political processes worldwide were vivid examples of why good governance practices should be encouraged –- and reinforced -- in all societies, experts said this morning during a high-level panel at the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries.

DEV/2890

‘Don’t Be a Crybaby,’ Urges ‘Graduate’ of Least Developed Country Category at Istanbul Conference; ‘We have to Fend for Ourselves’

ISTANBUL, 11 May — Broad agreement emerged today during the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries concerning the responsibility of the world’s poorest countries for their own development and the need for those recipient Governments to optimize international assistance, as the meeting continued into its third day.

GA/AB/3988

Budget Committee Takes Up Third Report on Restructuring of Peacekeeping Operations; Financing Proposals for Support Account for Peacekeeping, Brindisi Logistics Base

The Fifth Committee today heard the United Nations top officials responsible for peacekeeping and the mission support needed to sustain it review the successes and difficulties of the restructuring of operations begun in 2007, and lay out the approach they developed to ensure the support account for the operations strengthened the capacity to manage them in a changing world of greater financial constraints.
DEV/2887

High-Level Thematic Debate Considers Resource Mobilization to Break Logjam in Development, as Least Developed Countries Conference Continues

ISTANBUL, 10 May — Prodigious existing domestic and international flows of funds, as well as innovative financing methods, must be harnessed to fill the huge gap in infrastructure and human resources suffered by the poorest countries, a high-level panel said this morning at the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Istanbul.

DEV/2886

Delegations Seek to Realign Development Strategies for World’s Poor, as Conference on Least Developed Countries Continues in Istanbul

ISTANBUL, 10 May — Structurally transforming the world’s poorest countries over the next decade required investing in national productive sectors, building infrastructure to boost trade and, for many small islands, adopting measures to cushion against external shocks that often wiped out hard-won gains, senior Government officials said today as the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries moved into its second day.