July 2011: The UN General Assembly has issued a Report of the UN Secretary-General on the outcome of the Fourth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC IV). It highlights the main elements of the outcome documents of LDC IV, which took place from 9-13 May 2011, in Istanbul, Turkey, and a possible way forward for implementation of one of those documents, the Programme of Action for the LDCs for the Decade 2011-2020 (also known as the Istanbul Programme of Action).

The Report (A/66/134) was requested by the General Assembly in resolution 65/171, for consideration at its 66th Session.

The Secretary-General recommends that LDCs, the most vulnerable group of countries, be given high priority by the UN system and international community, and that the priority actions agreed in the Istanbul Programme of Action must be pursued in a holistic manner. To this end – and bearing in mind the goal that half of the LDCs will reach the graduation criteria in the next decade – the report includes recommendations to: the UN system, including the funds and programmes and the Bretton Woods Instituions; national development planners and development partners of LDCs; civil society organizations; parliaments; the private sector; and academia. South-South cooperation and regional initiatives also should play an important role in the implementation of the priority actions.

On the UN’s part, the report notes that: the Secretary-General will continue to advocate for issues relevant to LDCs to be included in the agendas of Group of Twenty (G20) and other key international meetings; the UN system will undertake an analysis with the aim of establishing a technology bank and science, technology and innovation mechanisms; the UN Resident Coordinators and country teams will be tasked to support mainstreaming, follow-up and monitoring; regional commissions and agencies will undertake biennial reviews of the implementation of the Programme of Action; and the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, and Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS) will intensify its advocacy and outreach activities in order to raise public awareness about the priorities for the implementation of the Programme of Action, and coordinate the establishment of indicators and baselines for the objectives, goals and targets. Finally, the Secretary-General calls for strengthening the OHRLLS. [Publication: Report of Secretary-General] [Publication: Istanbul Programme of Action] [Website of LDC IV]