A report providing a comprehensive assessment of the progress made on the implementation of Istanbul Programme of Action for the least developed countries (LDCs) and published by the Commonwealth Secretariat has been launched by LDC IV Monitor.
A report providing a comprehensive assessment of the progress made on the implementation of Istanbul Programme of Action for the least developed countries (LDCs) and published by the Commonwealth Secretariat has been launched by LDC IV Monitor.
Entitled 'Istanbul Programme of Action for the LDCs: Monitoring Deliverables, Tracking Progress', the report was launched in New York on 16 October 2014 at an event jointly organised by the United Nations Foundation, Permanent Missions of Turkey and Benin, which is the LDC Coordinator in the United Nations, and LDC IV Monitor partners.
Since 1981, the United Nations has convened a special conference every 10 years to consider global action programmes and to support development in LDCs, currently a group numbering 48 countries deemed most highly disadvantaged in the development process and as facing the greatest risk of failing to overcome poverty.
The Commonwealth Secretariat and seven other organisations came together forming the LDC IV Monitor with the purpose of undertaking objective assessments of the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action for LDCs that were adopted in the fourth UN Conference, held in Turkey, in 2011.
Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, H. E. Mr Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu was present as the guest of honour to formally launched the report, while praising the initiative as a laudable one.
Speaking during the launch, Dr Mohammad Razzaque, Head of International Trade Policy at the Commonwealth Secretariat, said that the monitor was truly a collaborative initiative to provide an independent evaluation and to support the official monitoring mechanism. He also highlighted the importance of ensuring synergy between articulation of post-2015 development framework and the implementation of IPOA.
Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, the Chair of LDC IV Monitor, highlighted various findings and recommendations of the report.
The LDC IV Monitor Report consists of 12 scholarly contributions resulting in insightful recommendations on such issues including articulation of a composite IPoA index, building of productive capacity, trade in goods and services, delivery of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), flows of different forms of development finance and consequences of climate change.
Writing in the foreword of the report, Commonwealth Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma notes that by being a global endeavour the LDC IV Monitor is able to make a significant contribution towards enhancing transparency and accountability in relation to the implementation of the IPoA. Mr Sharma says the initiative strengthens ownership of the process both by individual LDCs and by development partners.
“This initiative benefits immensely from the collaboration that is possible when vision for the global good is shared, and diverse expertise is pooled,” he says.
A major objective of the LDC IV IPoA is that by 2020 the number of countries categorised as LDCs should be halved from 48 to 24.
At present 13 Commonwealth countries are members of LDCs. These are: (1) Bangladesh, (2) Kiribati, (3) Lesotho, (4) Malawi, (5) Mozambique, (6) Rwanda, (7) Sierra Leone, (8) Solomon Islands, (9) Tuvalu, (10) Uganda, (11) Tanzania, (12) Vanuatu, and (13) Zambia.
Samoa graduated from the group earlier this year, while another Commonwealth member, Maldives, graduated in 2011.