REVIEW OF PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROGRAMME OF ACTION FOR THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES FOR THE DECADE 2001–2010

The Trade and Development Board has reviewed the UNCTAD-wide activities of implementation of the Programme of Action for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) for the Decade 2001-2010 and, in this context,

1. Takes note of the background reports submitted by the UNCTAD secretariat as contained in documents TD/B/50/3 and TD/B/50/5 as well as of the progress report on the implementation of the Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance for LDCs (IF) as contained in document CRP/B/50/CRP.1;
   
   
2. Urges the secretariat to work together with donors with a view to reversing the declining share of LDCs in the technical cooperation resources of UNCTAD and intensifying its activities in support of the LDCs within its mandates, and to continue to report to the Board at its regular sessions on UNCTAD´s activities in favour of these countries, including on activities related to the IF; and emphasizes the need for UNCTAD to continue to contribute to the mandated reviews by ECOSOC and the General Assembly of the implementation of the Programme of Action for LDCs for the Decade 2001-2010;
   
   
3. Bearing in mind the challenges faced by LDCs, recognizes the efforts of their Governments to promote political stability and create conducive macro-economic conditions for investment so as to exploit market access opportunities, and urges them to continue these efforts;
   
   
4. Recognizes the potential contribution of preferential market access to the sustained economic growth and development of LDCs, including for poverty reduction, through employment creation and income generation in these countries;
   
   
5. Expresses appreciation for the efforts of the development partners of LDCs, particularly those who have taken further initiatives to improve market access conditions for LDCs, and urges others who are in a position to do so, to take similar measures and implement market access commitments in favour of LDCs;
   
   
6. Recognizing initiatives taken so far, invites developing countries, in the context of South-South cooperation and including through the Global System of Trade Preferences among Developing Countries (GSTP), to make further efforts to improve market access for LDCs;
   
   
7. Calls on development partners to give high priority to enhancing LDCs´ supply capacities and to address remaining bottlenecks hindering their market entry so as to enable them to derive full benefits from the market access offers and from other international support measures accorded to them;
8. Encourages the UNCTAD secretariat to intensify its activities for strengthening country ownership of the IF process, inter alia through the preparation of pre-Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) activities, as well as follow-up to the DTIS Action Matrices, and calls on bilateral and multilateral donors to continue to provide support and financial contributions, including through the IF Trust Fund;
   
   
9. Notes with concern the continued decline in many commodity prices, which results in a substantial loss of export earnings for the majority of the LDCs, and requests the UNCTAD secretariat, in cooperation with other relevant agencies, to explore ways of strengthening activities in the fields of commodity diversification, technical assistance and capacity building so as to bring about greater value added in the commodity sector of LDCs;
   
   
10. Encourages the UNCTAD secretariat to undertake further work on how to enhance the benefits to LDCs from preferential market access and from other international support measures; in this context, requests the secretariat to perform analyses concerning the consequences to LDCs of the possible erosion of preferences resulting from further trade liberalization and, as appropriate, recommend measures to assist the LDCs to mitigate the adverse consequences;
    
    
11. Further requests the secretariat, in the run-up to UNCTAD XI, to identify, in collaboration with other relevant agencies, pilot projects and countries to address the issues of supply capacities and diversification with a view to enabling LDCs to benefit more effectively inter alia from preferential market access initiatives;
    
    
12. Calls on the UNCTAD secretariat, in cooperation with the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other relevant agencies, to continue to assist LDCs in their participation in the post-Doha Work Programme through, inter alia, trade negotiations and commercial diplomacy programmes as well as through accession-related activities, with special attention to their problems and needs as primary-commodity-exporting countries;
    
    
13. Expresses appreciation to bilateral donors for their continued support and financial contributions to the UNCTAD Trust Fund for LDCs and invites them to regularly replenish the Trust Fund, which is the main source of executing and sustaining technical cooperation programmes in LDCs;
    
    
14. Requests the UNCTAD secretariat to mobilize adequate extrabudgetary resources for the participation of LDCs in the preparatory process for UNCTAD XI and in the conference itself, and invites donors to earmark contributions for this purpose;
    
    
15. Welcomes the ongoing cooperation between UNCTAD and the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States as demonstrated by the successful convening of the International Ministerial Conference of Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries and Donor Countries and International Financial and Development Institutions on Transit Transport Cooperation in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in August 2003; and emphasizes that such cooperation should be further strengthened, including with other programmes and agencies of the UN system, the Bretton Woods institutions and the WTO so as to ensure that LDCs derive full and effective benefit from such cooperation.

952^nd plenary meeting
17 October 2003