•  united nations
• Thursday, May 19, 2011
• Inter Press Service

'I think the challenges we face are to make sure that we fully implement what we have agreed on,' the Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group, Ambassador Gyan Chandra Acharya, told IPS after a press briefing Tuesday on the results of the recently-concluded Fourth UN Conference on LDCs. The Conference, which took place in Istanbul, Turkey, adopted a 10-year programme of action for the decade 2011 to 2020.

He called for an action plan that with 'vigourous partnership can help half of the LDCs meet the criteria of graduation by 2020. He stressed there should be a 'mutual compact between the LDCs and development partners'. Currently, there are 48 nations on the list of least developed countries.

'All of the countries are going through very difficult economic circumstances, so given the circumstances we believe that the commitment to even implement the official development assistance (ODA) commitments, going to the LDCs, is a substantial commitment.' he said.

Acharya also said there is a commitment from the development partners to fully deliver on the ODA promises made by the donor countries by 2015 and further enhance resources to LDCs after 2015.

If fully realized, the sum is going to increase from the 38 billion dollars this year to 70 billion dollars in 2015, he said.

'We believe that the full and effective implementation of this comprehensive action programme will result in a substantial change in the lives of the people. I believe that this conference has rightly put the issues of the LDCs high on the international agenda…' he concluded.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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