9 June 2015
LLDCs Call for Implementing Vienna Programme of Action
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Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) adopted the Livingstone Call to Action at the close of a three-day conference, calling for urgent implementation of the six priorities of the Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries for the Decade 2014-2024 (VPoA), including to enhance structural economic transformation, facilitate trade and improve regional integration and transit policies.

UN-OHRLLS4 June 2015: Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) adopted the Livingstone Call to Action at the close of a three-day conference, calling for urgent implementation of the six priorities of the Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries for the Decade 2014-2024 (VPoA), including to enhance structural economic transformation, facilitate trade and improve regional integration and transit policies.

The High-Level Meeting on the Follow-up to the Second UN Conference on LLDCs took place in Livingstone, Zambia, from 2-4 June 2015, organized by the UN Office for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS).

Gyan Chandra Acharya, High Representative for LDCs, LLDCs and small island developing States (SIDS), said strengthened multi-stakeholder partnership will be needed to turn LLDCs into “land-linked developing countries.” A UN-OHRLLS press release noted that LLDCs’ share of international trade in 2014 was just 1.2%.

In the Livingstone Call to Action, delegates call on the international community to ratify the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement in their own countries, to ensure it will enter into force by the time of the WTO’s Tenth Ministerial Conference in December 2015. They also call for: providing preferential access for LLDC exports; concluding the Doha Development Agenda to create new market access opportunities for LLDCs; doubling investments into infrastructure development in LLDCs; and meeting previous commitments on official development assistance (ODA). They affirm that UN Member States should mainstream the VPoA into sectoral and national plans, and create an enabling environment for infrastructure investment.

The Livingstone Call to Action notes the need to reflect VPoA priorities in the ongoing intergovernmental negotiations regarding: the post-2015 development agenda; financing for development; climate change; and global trade.

Countries adopted the VPoA in November 2014 as a ten-year blueprint for LLDC development. [UN Press Release] [UN-OHRLLS Press Release] [Vienna Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries for the Decade 2014-2024] [List of LLDCs] [Conference Documents]


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