UN Member States have agreed on plans to adopt a new ten-year programme of action for the least developed countries (LDCs). The framework will succeed the Istanbul Programme of Action for the LDCs (IPoA), which concludes in 2020. 

On 11 August 2020, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution on the scheduling of the Fifth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC-V), which originally was planned for March 2021. In recognition of disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Assembly agrees in resolution 74/232 B that the Conference will take place instead from 23-27 January 2022, “at the highest possible level, including Heads of State and Government,” in Doha, Qatar. The intergovernmental preparatory committee will meet from 24-28 May 2021, and from 26-30 July 2021. 

In addition, the text invites the UNGA President and the President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to hold a half-day dedicated thematic event during the 75th UNGA session, to provide substantive input to the Conference.

The Conference is expected to yield a programme of action to build upon the IPoA for 2011-2020, adopted at the Fourth UN Conference on LDCs (UNLDC-IV) in 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey. The goal of the that ten-year Programme was to overcome LDCs’ structural challenges in order to eradicate poverty and achieve internationally agreed development goals. The 2022 conference is expected to appraise the results and adopt a new, strengthened framework to support LDCs.

The UN Office of the High Representative for the LDCs, the Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS) notes that the new LDC programme of action will be adopted at “a critical time, as it will coincide with the last 10 years of implementation of the 2030 Agenda.”  

In July 2020 the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) adopted a resolution expressing concern about persistent gaps between the goals of the IPoA and achievements made to date. It notes that 80% of the world’s poor will live in fragile contexts by 2030, which poses “a major global threat to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” It also urges intensified cooperation to “contain, mitigate and defeat” COVID-19 and stresses the LDCs’ particular need for support.

Conference preparations, including a road map updated in April 2020, are reported on this OHRLLS webpage. Budgetary implications of the planned conference are outlined in this statement. [UNGA Resolution] [Meeting Summary]