Brussels, 11/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - In a Communication it adopted on Wednesday, the Commission defined what is set to be the EU's contribution to the third UN conference on the least developed countries. This is due to be held from 14 to 20 May, at the European Parliament's premises. The aim of the conference is to enable the international community to consider the problems and interests of the weakest and most vulnerable group of countries (48 countries corresponding to the UN definition of "least developed countries" - LDC) and to work out an agreement on practical and meaningful steps that could help these countries to boost their levels of economic growth and development.
The Commission Communication lists the EU's recent commitments towards these countries. These commitments, it is felt, could guide the action programme the conference is supposed to develop with a view to lifting the main obstacles to the development of the LDC (lack of institutional capacities, not enough national resources secured, shortage of public health services, inefficient educational systems, structural shortcomings, reduced production capacities and limited market access opportunities, strong dependency on outside resources and heavy debts). Here are the main proposals in this area:
1. Placing more emphasis on poverty when preparing development co-operation initiatives, which implies granting priority to allocating resources to the LDC and low-income countries;
2. Helping the LDC to derive maximum advantage from their products being allowed to enter the European market free of duty and restrictions and to do so by way of measures linked to trade, such as: a) an international initiative to facilitate the promotion of investments in the LDC ; b) more technical assistance to the countries to help them take part more effectively in the multilateral trading system and to strengthen their capacities in this area ; c) improving technical assistance to these countries to help them meet health and plant health measures applied on export markets ; d) launching an international initiative seeking to facilitate these countries' membership of the WTO ; e) the international community's commitment to consider proposals for applying WTO agreements likely to allow a specific advantage to these countries ; f) a multilateral initiative for phasing out the use of anti-dumping instruments against these countries ;
3. Applying the new political framework and the action programme for combating the main transmissible diseases (HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis) which affect the LDC in particular.
4. Stepping up debt relief for the LDC as part of the IMF/World Bank initiative for heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC).
Preparations for this conference, organised by the UN in 1997, are being made at national, regional and international level. Each LDC has prepared a specific action programme applying to its own circumstances. The draft comprehensive action programme was negotiated within the conference's inter-governmental preparatory committee in New York. The Brussels conference will be tasked with finalising and adopting it. The European Parliament has already stated what it wants the conference to achieve (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.13). On the sidelines of the conference there will be a civil society forum (the NGO 2001 forum), which is to be financed by the European Commission and organised by the Liaison Committee of Development NGOs to the EU