Third United Nations Conference on LDCs and its preparatory process

The Trade and Development Board,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 52/187 of 18 December 1997, in which the General Assembly decided to convene the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries at a high level in the year 2001, and Board recommendation 442 (XLIV) of 22 October 1997,

Welcoming the generous offer of the European Union to host the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in the first semester of the year 2001,

Recommends to the General Assembly for its adoption at its fifty-third session the following draft resolution entitled "Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries":

"The General Assembly,

Recalling its resolution 52/187 of 18 December 1997 in which it decided to convene the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries at a high level in the year 2001,

1. Welcomes and accepts the generous offer of the European Union to host the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in the first semester of the year 2001;
2. Designates the Secretary-General of UNCTAD as the Secretary-General of the Conference and requests him to make all necessary preparations for the Conference;
3. Decides to convene the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in the first semester of the year 2001 for a duration of seven days, at a venue and time to be determined by the Secretary-General of the Conference in consultation with the European Union;
4. Requests the Secretary-General of the Conference to organize the Intergovernmental Preparatory Committee (in two parts) and the three expert-level preparatory meetings referred to in paragraph 1 (b) of resolution 52/187;
5. Requests the Secretary-General of the Conference to organize, in consultation with member States and in cooperation with relevant organizations and agencies, well-focused sectoral and thematic or, where appropriate, country-specific round table meetings during the Conference to contribute to the work of the Conference;
6. Calls upon the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank to link the forthcoming Round Table and Consultative Group Meetings to the preparatory process of the Conference and to ensure that they make substantive contributions to the Conference;
7. Requests the Administrator of UNDP, in his capacity as Convenor of the United Nations Development Group, to ensure the full involvement in the preparations for the Conference of United Nations Resident Coordinators and country teams in the least developed countries;
8. Calls upon the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in consultation with the Secretary-General of the Conference, to convene an inter-agency meeting to ensure the full mobilization and coordination of all relevant organs, organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, as well as other relevant institutions, for the purpose of the preparations for, and the follow-up to, the Conference;
9. Invites the Secretary-General of the Conference to make arrangements, on the basis of consultations with member States, to facilitate the involvement of civil society, including non-governmental organizations and the private sector, in the preparatory process and the Conference;
10. Decides to defray the cost of participation of two government representatives from each least developed country in the work of the Intergovernmental Preparatory Committee meetings and the Conference itself through the use of extrabudgetary resources, and, should they prove to be insufficient, to consider all other options."

900^th plenary meeting
23 October 1998