UN: SITUATION OF WORLD’S POOREST COUNTRIES NOT MUCH BETTER SINCE 2001

ECOSOC
17 July 2003



Halting progress in the world’s 49 least developed countries (LDCs) was reported this week to the UN Economic and Social Council, along with a call to set their plight higher on the international agenda.
Major challenges cited by UN 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 12.0 per cent, according to the UN World 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 his UN office to the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in Geneva.
Aid to LDCs has been insufficient and, over the past decade, in decline, but he noted that new donor pledges constituted a “positive trend that is emerging regarding the volume of Official Development Assistance”.
The report of the UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States 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 Organisation 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 UN Development 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 organisations, 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 Daphne Davies, coordinator of LDC Watch, an NGO coalition, in an interview with a UN 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 subsidised agriculture in the North”, said Ms. Davies.
Half or more of the population in the 49 least developed countries are estimated to live at or below the absolute-poverty line of one dollar a day. According to standards set by the Committee on Development Policy, countries designated as LDCs must have a per capita gross domestic product of no more than $900.
At its 16 July meeting, ECOSOC accepted the suggestion of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that LDC issues should serve as the main theme of its upcoming 2004 annual session, to be held in New York.
The report of the Secretary General on “Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries” [A/58/86 – E/2003/81] is available on the website of the UN 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 UN Department of Public Information, 1-212-963-5851, or Marie Heuzé, Director of the UN 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 Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Vanuatu, Yemen, Zambia.



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