On April 12-14, a high-Level Asia-Pacific Policy Dialogue on implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action and other Development Gaps faced by Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC) was held in Ulaanbaatar. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Government of Mongolia jointly organized the meeting.
With the Almaty Programme of Action adopted in 2003, the international community has acquired a comprehensive, universally agreed platform to collectively address specific development issues faced by landlocked developing countries.
The APA has outlined 5 important priorities including fundamental transit policy, infrastructure development, and trade. The main objective of the meeting is to facilitate assessment of the progress made so far in the implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action in the context of fast evolving regional and global economic environment and identify key issues and development gaps that would
require global and regional cooperation to further advance the objectives of the Almaty Programme of Action, with special reference to other internationally agreed goals including MDGs. The policy dialogue is set to assess the current implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action (APA) within the context of the overall MDG progress.
Senior government policymakers and other stakeholders from 12 LLDCs i.e. Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan,Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Nepal, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, as well as other ESCAP member countries,as well as delegates from the UN system, relevant regional organizations,development partners and civil society from Asia and the Pacific region took part in the meeting.
Noeleen Heyzer, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP, who is paying an official visit to Mongolia,attended the meeting and gave a speech.
“Hopefully, the Almaty Programme of Action can be part of the solution to the development challenges faced by our region’s landlocked countries. Progress has been achieved at the national,sub-regional, and regional levels for the implementation of the Almaty Programme thus far, and recognizing the challenges that remain, we seek to expedite our work.
The first two priorities of the Program, Fundamental transit policy issues and Infrastructure development and maintenance, deal head-on with the LLDC’s geographical isolation and
remoteness from world markets. I am pleased to note that since the adoption of the Almaty Programme of Action in 2003, landlocked developing countries have made substantial progress to overcome the barriers to international transit transport and trade. Transport infrastructure improvements across the region have been effectively boosted by ESCAP’s regional institutional framework embedded in the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Asian Highway Network and the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway Network. Many landlocked developing countries are parties to these agreements.
ESCAP is taking the next steps towards building an international integrated intermodal transport and logistics system for Asia and the Pacific, working with member States to promulgate an intergovernmental agreement on dry ports. LLDCs reap immediate benefit from efficient intermodal transport and logistics.Dry ports also spur local and area economic growth, promoting inclusive and sustainable economic and social development in the region”.
Noeleen Heyzer also noted that the ESCAP secretariat continues its efforts to join the skills of public and private sectors to identify and implement transport projects through public-private partnerships and ESCAP promotes regional transportation cooperation through legally binding infrastructure network agreements in the framework of its Asian Highway, Trans-Asian Railway and dry ports initiatives. The geographical isolation of LLDCs prevents them from reaping the full economic development benefits of international trade. The LLDCs’ trade competitiveness suffers from border delays, cumbersome custom procedures and higher transaction costs.ESCAP has also launched an initiative to mobilize regional cooperation in trade facilitation.
Despite recent positive economic growth rates, ESCAP analysis shows most LLDCs in the region are not on-track to reach the Millennium Development Goal targets by 2015.Poverty, hunger, children not in school,high maternal and child mortality rates and environmental degradation continue to haunt these most vulnerable countries.The Almaty Programme of Action is believed to be part of the solution to the development challenges faced by the region’s landlocked countries.
PM S.Batbold said “My Government’s development priorities include a number of substantial measures that are in line with those of the Almaty Programme of Action.Mongolia’s National Program ‘Transit Mongolia’ and the ‘Millennium Roads’ Project, designed to foster trade and transport facilitation in the country, have been successfully implemented. In its Program of Action for 2008-2012, the Government has put forward ambitious plans to improve the country’s transport infrastructure in order to meet the growing demand for minerals’ export.The period of 2011-2013 will be peak years for construction of new railroads and auto roads and the improvement of quality of existing roads to match the minimum requirements for the Networks of Asian Highways and Trans-Asian Railways. In addition, they will open new export gateways to access the sea at new ports in China and Russia. We are working with our neighbors to secure a concessional tariff regime for transit transportation of our export goods’.
As an active member of the LLDC group, Mongolia has put forward a number of initiatives to improve the countries’ capacity for joint actions and cooperation. One of them is the establishment of the International Think Tank in Ulaanbaatar for the purpose of enhancing the analytical capability of landlocked developing countries. As you know, in today’s globalized knowledge economy, translating knowledge into policy and practice is a serious challenge for our countries. Therefore,the proposed Think Tank is called upon to help us conduct far-reaching studies and bridge the research-practice gap.
The institution will assist us to embrace evidence-based decision-making; the principle strongly advocated by the Executive Secretary” said PM S.Batbold and invited countries to consider signing and ratifying the Intergovernmental Agreement establishing the Think Tank as soon as possible in order to operationalize the institution in the near future.PM S.Batbold also proposed some ideas for consideration of the participants.He suggested, landlocked developing countries will have specific economic and ecological vulnerability indicators to evaluate their geographic disadvantages
and transport-related costs relative to the rest of the world. LLDC should look for policy alternatives that would help offset the high cost of transportation and transit, including e-commerce; the countries also should be assisted in negotiating with transit countries on concessional terms and conditions of bilateral and regional agreements for transit traffic; the landlocked developing countries may wish to start working on the next steps after 2013; it could be an extension of the Almaty Programme of Action; the expeditious facilitation of the International LLDC Think Tank is essential to equip us with evidencebased,pragmatic solutions for our developmental needs.
During the meeting, the LLDCs presented country reviews on their respective implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action and other development challenges faced by them and expressed their views and made recommendations. The delegatesstressed that regional cooperation and integration initiatives can effectively facilitate participation of landlocked and transit developing countries in the global economy, and affirmed their belief in a multilateral trading system for achieving a non-discriminatory, rules-based, and predictable trade environment which provides every country with the opportunity to effectively participate in global trade. LLDCs stand to gain from the ‘Aid for Trade’ initiative in their efforts to benefit from international trade by building supply-side capacity and diversifying their economies. They urged international partners of LLDCs to implement the initiative as early as possible, and stressed the need to provide such aid independently from the final outcome of the ongoing Doha round of negotiations. They also emphasized that by adopting and enforcing relevant legal frameworks, the international community needs to guarantee the right of free access to international waters by LLDCs.
At the end of the meeting, the Ulaanbaatar declaration was adopted which reflected the priorities and interests of Asia-Pacific LLDCs. In May 2011, the declaration will be presented to the 67th annual ESCAP Commission session in Bangkok.
In the declaration, Ministers and officials from the LLDCs and development partners stressed the enormous capacity building needs in the area of trade and transport facilitation and urged developed partners to provide generous technical assistance and capability building support. They expressed strong support to the Government of Mongolia for undertaking the necessary steps to facilitate the International Think Tank for LLDCs and invited donor countries, relevant UN bodies, agencies,international and regional financial institutions, organizations, private sector and academic institutions to support LLDCs in realizing the start-up of operation of the proposed international think tank.
D.Tsogtbaatar, State Secretary of Foreign affairs Ministry told the press that the International Think Tank will be first inter-governmental institute established in Mongolia and an agreement for establishing the institute is ready to be signed.