Global Policy Forum

By Allen Nacheman

A week-long UN conference on Sunday set out a 10-year "action plan" aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty and despair of the world poorest countries and bringing them into the economic mainstream. The UN Conference on Least Developed Countries (LCDs), co-hosted by the European Union, was the third of its kind, following ones in Paris in 1980 and 1991, whose goals, according to an introductory statement to the conclusions, "have not been achieved.

"LDCs are being by-passed by the process of globalization, leading to their further marginalization," it said, adding that results of reform efforts since 1991 "have been below expectations." The 49 LDCs, the poorest countries of the developing world, most in sub-Saharan Africa, continue to be plagued by an "unsustainable debt burden..., volatile commodity prices..., complex trade barriers" and lack of market access for their key exports.

These and a host of other factors, including climatic conditions, poor health and sanitation, lack of education, armed conflict and, in many cases rampant corruption, have "seriously affected the growth and development prospects of LDCs," said the document. The world's highest rates of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis were also crippling factors for the LDCs, the conference heard.

The overall goal of the conference that began last Monday was to halve the number of people living in abject poverty worldwide by 2015. The conference drew delegations from 157 nations, 114 non-governmental agencies (NGOs), and 33 inter-governmental agencies including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Health Organization (WHO), and the Organization for African Unity (OAU),

Also here at European Parliament headquarters, turned over to the conference for the entire week, were groups as diverse as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Meteorological Organization.

The 57-page "action plan," to be officially approved by the conference later Sunday, targets "reduction in extreme poverty..., growth and sustainable development..., expansion of domestic markets and employment generation." It includes measures aimed at large-scale debt relief for "high indebted poor countries"(HIPCs), reducing malnutrition, securing duty-free market access for LDC exports to world markets, and "building productive capacities to make globalization work for LDCs."

There were also commitments from the industrialized world to held LDCs build infrastructure, technology, attract private investment and development their agro-industries and development of tourism. The action plan notably included measures aimed at assuring that the accession process to the WTO "is more effective and less onerous" for LDCs, "tailored to their specific economic conditions."

The EU, had announced earlier in the week it was formulating concrete measures, with its three partners in the so-call Qaud group -- the United States, Japan and Canada -- to fast-track accession of many of the LDCs into the World Trade Organization. "What we're trying to do is to move a critical mass of industrialized countries ... to create a situation where 90 percent of world trade would not apply anti-dumping to the least developed countries (LDCs)," European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said.

He said the 15-member EU had already promised duty-free access to its markets for all LDC exports except arms. And it was now urging other industrialized nations to follow its lead and give LDCs wide latitude on anti-dumping restrictions to which WTO members must adhere. But Lamy stipulated that there was no question of lowering technical, health and safety standards on LDC imports. Instead, he said, the West aimed to help LDCs raise their own standards to meet those of industrialized nations.

Speakers had earlier told the conference there was no point in opening markets to LDC exports if the exporting countries lacked the transport, ports, refrigerated storage and other infrastructure to reap the benefits. Iddi Simba, Tanzanian Minister of Industry and Trade, said the LDCs were "very grateful to the EU for opening their markets to our goods. But, he added, "despite all the efforts that have been made by both sides, the LDCs are still poor -- poorer now than they were decades ago, and the number of LDCs is increasing."

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