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Excellencies, Distinguished delegates,

I wish to thank Chair, His Excellency Ambassador Julio Cesar Arriola, for inviting me to participate in this meeting and would also like to thank him for his tireless efforts and excellent leadership of the LLDC Group.

I understand that you have just elected a new Bureau for the period 2020 to 2021. I wish to congratulate the newly elected Bureau as well as new Chair on their election. I am confident that your leadership together with the elected Bureau will give a great impetus to the work of the Group in addressing the special challenges of landlocked developing countries. OHRLLS remains ready to work closely with you and accord you the necessary support during your tenure.

Excellencies,

The main issue in this year’s LLDC agenda is the midterm review of the Vienna Programme of Action and I wish to thank you for your full engagement and for your support during the preparatory process. In its resolution 73/243, the General Assembly mandated OHRLLS to coordinate the preparatory process of the Midterm Review. Allow me to give you an update on what has been achieved so far. Consistent with the mandate of the General assembly, OHRLLS organized three regional review meetings for Euro-Asia, Africa and Latin America regions. All the three regional meetings adopted forward looking outcomes, and these provided inputs to the draft outline of the outcome document that OHRLLS prepared and submitted to the co-facilitators. OHRLLS also prepared the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the Vienna Programme of Action which was also important background material for the negotiations.

As part of the preparatory process, OHRLLS, in collaboration with partners, has so far organized 22 thematic pre-conference events. We are still working on a few more pre-conference thematic events to be held in the month of October and these include a meeting on Best Practices in Corridor Development and Management for the Benefit of LLDCs and Transit Countries; Expert Group Meeting on Trade Facilitation; and a joint event with the World Bank Group to discuss priorities of the LLDCs. I encourage active participation of LLDCs in these meetings.

The meeting on Best Practices in Corridor Development and Management for the Benefit of LLDCs and Transit Countries will be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from 29 to 30 October 2019 and the meeting is being organized in collaboration with Government of Mongolia. Invitations to this meeting have been sent to LLDCs’ Ministries of Transport through the Missions. I encourage your countries to participate in this meeting and urge you to follow-up with your capitals and confirm participation. OHRLLS will provide funding for one capital-based official to participate in the meeting. I wish to thank the Government of the Russian Federation for their contribution towards organization of the meeting and the Government of Mongolia for hosting the meeting.

Regarding the outcome document of the Comprehensive high-level midterm review, I would like to thank the Chair and the LLDCs Group for your active participation in the informal consultations leading to a consensual document that passed silence procedure. The outcome document has a call for action, which, if fully implemented together with the VPoA, will greatly contribute to the desired socioeconomic transformation of LLDCs in the remaining five years and contribute to the acceleration of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Once again, I wish to thank the co-Facilitators Ambassadors of Austria and Bhutan for overseeing the negotiations of the outcome document of the Midterm Review.

Excellencies,

As you are all aware, the PGA circulated that the dates of the Comprehensive high-level midterm review are 5 and 6 December 2019 here in New York. We are now working closely with the PGA, the Chair and the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management in organizing the Midterm Review. We received contribution that will support the participation of delegates from the capitals and we will be working with the missions of LLDCs and some of the transit countries to facilitate the participation of the capital-based delegates.

I wish to emphasize that it will be important that the LLDCs participate in the midterm review at the highest possible level as stated in resolution 73/243 and the draft High-level Political declaration of the Midterm Review also indicates participation at Head of State level.

Excellencies,

Now getting to the events of the high-level week which will be starting in a few days, this year, in addition to the general debate, there will be a series of summits and high-level meetings. The 缅北禁地Secretary General will convene the Climate Summit and the General Assembly will convene one-day high-level meeting on Universal Health Coverage, High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, High-level dialogue on financing for development and the high-level meeting on the midterm review of the SAMOA Pathway. I encourage you to actively participate in these meetings. Your participation in the SIDS midterm review will be an important sign of solidarity to another vulnerable group.

The LLDCs meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs will also be held on 25 September 2019 and encourage all LLDCs to participate in this meeting.

In concluding my remarks, I would also like to bring to your attention some of the very important meetings to be held in 2020 which I encourage LLDCs to actively participate in and these include: the 12th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference to be hosted by the Government of Kazakhstan; the Second 缅北禁地Global Sustainable Transport Conference to be held in China; the 15th UNCTAD Quadrennial Conference to be held in Barbados, and the World Investment Forum in United Arab Emirates.

I wish to assure you of OHRLLS outmost support in these processes.

I thank you for your attention.