May 27, 2016 The United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries opened on May 27 in Antalya, a Turkish coastal city. This three-day conference will assess the progress made by 48 of the world's least developed countries in the past five years and look forward to how these countries can accelerate their progress on the road to sustainable development.
The "Mid-term Review Conference of the Istanbul Programme of Action" is another important international conference held in Turkey following the World Humanitarian Summit last week.
Five years ago in 2011, the UN member states held a conference on the least developed countries in Turkey and adopted the Istanbul Programme of Action. This 10-year plan aims to inject impetus into the economic and social development of the most vulnerable countries in the world. The purpose of this Antalya meeting was to assess the progress made by these countries over the past five years. More than 2,000 representatives from various governments, international and regional organizations, civil society, the private sector, foundations, think tanks and the media attended the conference.
In his speech to the General Assembly, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for the revitalization of the global partnership for development cooperation and urged the donor countries to honor their pledge to use 0.2% of foreign aid to support the least developed countries.
Gyan Chandra Acharya, UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Countries and Small Island Developing States, pointed out that the least developed countries have made remarkable progress in the past five years and have the manpower needed by the world. And natural resources, but the international community needs to take more measures to support the development of these countries.
Acharya: "The least developed countries still have a long way to go. One in four least developed countries is suffering from the impact of the conflict. Even if it is in countries that have not been affected by the conflict, they have not. As much progress has been made, and commodity prices have fallen. On the whole, the world’s mechanisms for supporting the least developed countries are also weakening. This has also affected the development of these countries.”
Director of the United Nations Development Program, Helen Clarke, also attended the opening ceremony and pointed out that the least developed countries have a population of 850 million, which is equivalent to 12.5% of the world’s population, but 51% of them still live in extreme poverty. As many as 18 million school-age children are not enrolled in school; in addition, these countries account for less than 2% of the world's gross domestic product and less than 1% of global trade.
The review meeting will focus on the progress made by the LDCs in poverty reduction, child mortality, gender equality, access to the Internet and mobile networks. In the past 10 years, the economy of the least developed countries has shown a growth trend, but the growth rate has fallen below the world average and has fluctuate greatly.
The least developed countries are among the lowest in the world in socioeconomic indicators. At present, there are three criteria for the classification of least developed countries: First, in 2015, GNI per capita is less than US$ 1,035. Higher than US$ 1,242 can “graduate” from underdeveloped countries. Second, it is based on the nutritional status and health of the population. Assessment of data on education, adult education, adult literacy, and human resources are weak. Third, the economy is fragile, including unstable agricultural output, unstable export of products and services, economic dependence on traditional industries, single export goods, and small economic aggregates. The lack of capacity and the high proportion of displaced persons caused by natural disasters.
According to these standards, before 2011, only Botswana, Cape Verde and Maldives graduated from underdeveloped countries. The only country that graduated in 2011 is Samoa. Seven countries met the graduation criteria in March 2015, including Bhutan, Kiribati, Nepal, Sao Tome and Principe, Solomon Islands, East Timor and Tuvalu. Equatorial Guinea, Vanuatu and Angola are about to graduate.
The United Nations General Assembly established the category of least developed countries in 1971 in order to attract special attention from the international community and support the most vulnerable countries in these large United Nations families. At that time, there were only 25 least developed countries in the world. At present, there are 48 least developed countries in the world, of which 34 are in Africa, 13 are in Asia and the Pacific, and there is only one least developed country in Latin America. The newest member of the least developed countries is South Sudan.