General Assembly


DEV/2892

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

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

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
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

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

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.

DEV/2883

ISTANBUL, 9 May — While the private sector was the main force behind diversifying national economies and spurring integration into the global economy, in least developed countries, it was dominated by small and informal enterprises, making the creation of an enabling business environment essential for their advancement over the next decade, said participants in the first of six high-level thematic debates to be held during the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries.

DEV/2882

ISTANBUL, 9 May — Declaring that they had lived up to their end of the development partnership bargain, leaders from developing nations called for renewed political will from donors to help them stimulate economic activity, create jobs, participate as equals in global trade and turn back the ravages of poverty, as talks on a new 10-year development programme for the world’s poorest countries got under way in Istanbul this afternoon.