缅北禁地

Distinguished Co-Chairs,  
Excellencies, 
Distinguished Delegates,

Allow me to congratulate the distinguished Co-Chairs and other members of the Preparatory Committee Bureau once again on their well-deserved elections. 

I am confident that given their expertise, experience and dedication, the bureau will be able to effectively lead the work of the Preparatory Committee to its successful conclusion. 

I also take this opportunity to thank the Government of Rwanda for offering to host the Conference. 

This will be the first time that the 缅北禁地Conference on LLDCs will be held in Africa, home to half of the LLDCs. We must seize this opportunity to make this Conference a great success and a truly transformative one.

My presentation will focus on the organizational and substantive preparations for the Third 缅北禁地Conference on LLDCs. 

Co-Chairs, Excellencies, 
 
The 缅北禁地General Assembly in its resolution 76/217 designated my Office as the 缅北禁地system-wide focal point for the preparatory process of the Third 缅北禁地Conference on LLDCs.  The Assembly also mandated that the Conference should be preceded by national and regional-level reviews, as well as thematic preparations. 
 
Accordingly, my Office, in collaboration with different stakeholders has embarked on an extensive preparatory process at national, regional, and global levels.  
Preparations have been taken on three broad streams: 

First: national and regional reviews, and thematic meetings. 

Second: reports and analytical works. and 

Third: advocacy and outreach activities.  

Under the first stream, I am pleased to inform you that 15 LLDCs have already submitted their national reports on the implementation of the Vienna Programme of Action (VPOA). A synthesis report will be prepared by my Office on the lessons learned and best practices in the national level implementation of the VPOA. 

I am also happy to share that all three regional review meetings have been successfully held. 

The Africa Regional review meeting was held in May 2023 in Gaborone, Botswana. The meeting adopted the Gaborone Outcome Document.  

The Latin America Regional Review meeting was held in Asuncion, Paraguay in July 2023, which adopted the Asuncion Call for Action. 

The Euro-Asia regional review meeting was held in Bangkok, Thailand in August 2023.  And it adopted the Euro-Asia Call for Action. 

The three outcome documents from the regional review meetings contain important recommendations and reflected in detail the challenges and priorities of the LLDCs. These will serve as important inputs for zero draft of the outcome document. 

All three meetings had very good participation not only from the LLDCs, but also transit countries and development partners, as well as regional and international organizations. 缅北禁地entities also actively participated. 

On that note, I take this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to the Governments of Botswana and Paraguay for the excellent arrangements they made for the regional review meetings for Africa and Latin America. 

On thematic preparation, several events have already been held.  

The Ministerial Transportation Conference of LLDCs was held in August 2022 in Turkmenistan. The meeting adopted the Awaza Statement. I thank the Government of Turkmenistan for its generous support in organizing this event. 
 
The World Export Development Forum (WEDF) in June this year, hosted a daylong session dedicated to LLDC issues organized by the International Trade Center (ITC), the Government of Mongolia, and other partners. A meeting of the LLDC National Focal Points was also convened on the margins of the WEDF. 

We seized the opportunity of the 2023 HLPF, the Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework, and the Water Conference to host different side events on important themes related to LLDCs priorities.  We plan to hold a side event on trade and digitization during the SDG Weekend on 17th September on the sideline of the high-level week of the upcoming 78th UNGA. 

My Office, in close collaboration with the Chair of the Group of LLDCs, is also planning to organize focused side events during the COP-28 in Dubai in December, the annual meeting of the WB Group and IMF in October, and during the WTO MC13 in Abu Dhabi in February next year. 

In addition, the Government of Armenia has offered to host a Ministerial level Meeting focusing on connectivity in November 2023. I thank the Government of Armenia for this initiative.

We also plan to convene a retreat for the Ambassadors of LLDCs in early 2024. 

I have held a first round of consultations with the RCs based in LLDCs, and we will have a further meeting with them in the coming days.

Excellencies, Distinguished Colleagues,

My Office is actively engaging with 缅北禁地System entities on LLDC3 through the dedicated Interagency Consultative Group for LLDCs.  And these consultations will continue throughout the process of our preparations for the Conference.  The members of the IACG have been advised to provide inputs including in the form of thematic reports, to serve as important background for the zero draft of the outcome document.  

We have also outlined detailed plans to engage the private sector, CSOs, and youth in the Conference and its preparatory process.  And we stand ready to facilitate meetings with them and the Co-Chairs.  

The GA in resolution 77/246 requested the President of the General Assembly and the President of the Economic and Social Council to organize a half-day thematic event in the second half of 2023 to provide substantive input to the Conference. OHRLLS will work closely with the Offices of the PGA and the PECOSOC to organize this event.

Most importantly, the two sessions of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom), to be held from 5-8 February 2024, and 29 April to 1 May 2024 in New York, will undertake detailed discussions on the challenges and priorities of LLDCs and negotiate the outcome document of the Conference.  

The Secretary-General’s report on the implementation of the VPOA has been prepared and this year’s report focuses on its ten-year implementation.   

The report notes that mixed progress was made in the six priority areas of the VPOA, due to the overlapping impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, geopolitical tensions, and climate change. The report underscores how severe financing deficits, particularly for infrastructure, limited data and technical capacity constraints undermined progress, and was aggravated by adverse global economic conditions. 

My Office is also in the process of finalizing a global report titled “An assessment of the cost of being landlocked and progress on the priority areas of the Vienna Programme of Action.” And we are also preparing the reports of the three regional review meetings, and thematic reports on areas of priorities to LLDCs. 

Outcomes of all these intergovernmental meetings will constitute important inputs for the outcome document. 

The process of putting together the zero draft will be led by the Group of LLDCs, under the stewardship of Botswana, the LLDC Chair. My Office stands ready to extend any support to this process, as required. 

The third stream of our work is advocacy and communications. Through this stream, we aim to establish LLDC3 as a pivotal moment on the international calendar to secure the highest level of participation from all stakeholders and mobilize global support for the next decade of development of the LLDCs. We have developed an advocacy and outreach strategy to ensure maximum visibility for the conference with special focus on the unique challenges and priorities of the LLDCs.

Co-Chairs, Excellencies, Distinguished Colleagues,

The LLDC3 is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to bring about transformative changes to the lives of the 570 million people in the 32 LLDCs.  

In an era defined by overlapping global crises, we must seize this moment to demonstrate our solidarity and reaffirm our commitment to the LLDCs to help them not only recover but achieve the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.  

The entire international community stands to benefit from this endeavour.

If we can unlock the full potential of the LLDCs, we will enhance global trade and commerce, promote connectivity, tackle climate change, empowering millions of people in the process. 

The new Programme of Action should represent a strong global commitment to fulfill the development aspirations of the LLDCs, leaving no one behind.

It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the POA is ambitious and matches the hopes and aspirations of the LLDCs with concrete targets, commitments, and deliverables. 

It will also be critical that the POA is equipped with necessary means of implementation and a solid review and monitoring mechanism to translate the targets, commitments, and deliverables into policies and actions on the ground.

I look forward to the LLDC3 Conference being a consultative, multistakeholder process that will harness the true power of global solidarity. 

Before I conclude, I would request our development partners - including countries of the South - to contribute to the OHRLLS trust fund to facilitate the participation of LLDCs, and other key stakeholders, especially civil society, youth and journalists in the Conference and its preparatory process. 

I reiterate our full commitment to support the LLDC Chair, the host country, and all other partners to make the LLDC3 Conference a great success and a truly transformative one. We will be with you at every step of the journey. 

I look forward to substantive discussions and a successful outcome of this session. 
 
I thank you.