May 2011: The UN Secretariat has launched a Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Information Portal, aimed at improving the capacity of LDCs to access and benefit from the special international support measures adopted by the international development community for LDCs. The Portal is a project of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP), a subsidiary body of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

In addition to enhancing LDCs’ access to information and use of existing LDC-specific international support measures provided by development and trading partners, the portal also offers interactive online networking and forums to share experience and discuss questions related to the use of support measures, case studies about specific aspects of the support measures, and online training modules to increase knowledge and understanding.

The portal also aims to: provide stakeholders with a comprehensive overview of existing international support measures for LDCs, provide LDCs with the tools to improve their understanding and access to these measures, and draw lessons from past experiences for enhancing the effectiveness of the new Istanbul Programme of Action adopted at the Fourth UN Conference on the LDCs (LDC IV) in Istanbul, Turkey in May 2011. [LDCs Information Portal]