If poverty in the world´s 48 least developed countries (LDCs) is not reduced substantially in the coming decade, international targets for halving poverty worldwide will remain an empty slogan, warned the Chairman of a committee preparing for the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries. Jacques Scavee of Belgium said that the LDCs were the "test case" in meeting that goal, which was set by the Millennium Summit last September. The first major follow-up to the Summit will be undertaken at the Conference.
The Intergovernmental Preparatory Committee for the Conference is meeting here from 5 to 9 February to review a draft Programme of Action to be adopted at the Conference (Brussels, 14-20 May 2001). The draft, and the Conference itself, will focus on a number of crucial areas for the LDCs´ development: good governance, strengthening human and productive capacities, globalization, conserving the environment, and financing LDCs´ development. Aid, debt, trade and investment are among the salient issues before the Conference. The draft Programme of Action (A/CONF.191/IPC/L.4) proposes a series of national policies and external support measures around these main areas.
The ultimate test of the Programme´s effectiveness, according to the Committee Chairman, will be its success in improving the living conditions of the poor, including women. The draft posits that market forces and private initiative facilitate sustained socioeconomic growth and poverty eradication - as long as it is the LDCS themselves that are "in the driver´s seat", and as long as their development partners provide substantial financial, trade and technical support.
While the LDCs are primarily responsible for their own development, the international community and a wide range of actors also must contribute, concurred speakers at the meeting´s opening sessions. An "enabling external environment" is part of that process, involving increased access by poor countries to the markets of developed and other developing countries, and a growing role for the private sector to offset declines in public, or official, aid. Good governance - the rule of law, transparent democratic processes, and respect for human rights - is essential as well.
The text proposes targets in such areas as school enrolment and literacy, access to safe water and sanitation, and reducing mortality and HIV/AIDS. In addition, the document calls for ensuring reproductive rights "in the broader context of health-sector reforms" and for improving access to essential medicine and vaccines. It proposes that the multinational pharmaceutical companies play an active role in developing "life-saving drugs at affordable and/or no cost".
Economic diversification, in particular through the development of the informal sector; small and medium-sized enterprises; tourism, transport and business services; and agriculture and manufacturing are also advocated in the document. It further proposes the removal of all trade barriers to LDC exports; honoring the ODA targets agreed at the Second LDC Conference (Paris, 1990); and a moratorium on LDCs´ debt service payments pending full cancellation of their debt.
The proposed commitments take into account the outcomes of major global conferences; multilateral policy developments, including by the UN and the Bretton Woods institutions; and input from country-level preparations. In parallel with preparatory work on the draft Global Programme of Action, committees have been working in each least developed country to develop national programmes geared to the specific problems of individual countries and regions. A series of meetings is also being held worldwide on such topics as trade, commodities, investment, energy, tourism, gender, health and education to feed into discussions and decisions at Brussels. Numerous UN agencies and civil society organizations are involved.
In reviewing the draft Programme, some governments, including the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, the LDC group and the European Union, considered it to be a good basis for future work. Some government representatives and UN agency officials emphasized the role of employment in poverty eradication and the demographic implications of accelerated development. Some felt that the draft contained overly specific commitments that prejudged negotiations under way in other forums. Anwarul Chowdhury of Bangladesh, who is also Coordinator of the Least Developed Countries, called for more emphasis on capacity-building aspects of LDCs and for an effective and workable follow-up mechanism for the Programme.
The meeting, which is continuing its readings of the draft Programme throughout the week, is being attended by representatives of over 115 countries. A number of NGOs are meeting in parallel to prepare the NGO Forum, which will be held at Brussels from 10 to 20 May. For background, see also the report of a high-level panel established to review progress in implementing the previous programme of action (A/CONF.191/IPC/16) and a compendium of major constraints on development and desirable actions for the coming decade, as identified in the country-level preparations for the Conference (A/CONF.191/IPC/18).
