Addressing the 10th Annual Ministerial Meeting of the Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) in New York on 23 September 2011, he called on the developed countries to provide ‘increased, targeted, predictable and sustainable’ financial support along with the fulfillment of all the past commitments relating to ODA. [break]
“We need special support to enhance our transit and transport capabilities, develop trade facilitation measures, develop better infrastructure, achieve the MDGs and other internationally agreed development goals and strengthen our capacity to mitigate and adapt to climate change,” he stressed.
Noting that the landlocked developing countries continue to face serious constraints and challenges in the areas of trade, transit and overall socio-economic development, Deputy Prime Minister Shrestha said the status of the implementation of the Program of Action, however, shows that there has been minimal progress and there is a long way to go for effective implementation of the Almaty Program of Action of LLDCs and bring about the sustainable solutions of the problems faced by countries like ours.
He said the landlocked developing countries have been characterized by a number of problems, namely, high transit transportation costs, declining trade volume, decreased foreign direct investment, high inflation, high unemployment, low level of GDP and high level of poverty and hunger.
“The proportion of population living in extreme poverty in our countries is still very high and women and children are affected most by it. In addition to the geographical handicaps, the vulnerability of the LLDCs gets even more complicated by both internal structural constraints and external shocks,” he stated.
Stating the pressing global challenges, particularly economic and financial crises, volatility of food prices, energy insecurity, and climate change have undermined our national efforts for development, he pointed out that this has negatively affected the LLDCs’ attempts to attain all the internationally agreed development goals, especially the Millennium Development Goals including eradication of poverty and hunger.
“As a landlocked mountainous country, Nepal has been experiencing problems connected with trade, transportation and economic development. Being also a least developed country, Nepal faces further difficulties in these areas,” Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Shrestha said.
The landlocked situation and mountain terrains have made transportation of goods highly expensive and cumbersome, he said, adding that Nepal’s nearest port, which is not even a part of the main sea lanes of the world, is over a thousand kilometers away from its border.
“Despite our efforts to make improvements in transit formalities and infrastructures through an integrated approach, we have to do more in order to develop a smooth and efficient transit transport system to facilitate trade,” he said.
The trade and economic activities of the LLDCs have been largely hampered by the limited progress in the Doha Round of trade negotiations, Deputy Prime Minister Shrestha complained. He said - We, therefore, lay particular emphasis on the importance of negotiations on trade facilitation, which should not only ensure unhindered access to and from the sea but also make the transit process smoother and reduce the transit time for our countries.
“It is highly imperative that the LLDCs should be provided with greater market access for their products as well as enhanced level of support for the transfer of appropriate technology and for enhancing the productive capacity and competitiveness. We also need increased support from the international community for the Aid for Trade Initiative,” Deputy Prime Minister Shretsha, who is also the Minister for Foreign Affairs, said.
Expressing the belief that the effective and close cooperation and collaboration between the landlocked developing countries and the respective transit neighbours at all levels can also greatly contribute to overcome the challenges that we face today, he said Nepal stands ready to fulfill its commitments to accelerate the actions at the national level for the effective implementation of the Almaty Program of Action and other related programs and activities.
In this connection, a stronger framework of international cooperation for the LLDCs is vitally important and we must pursue this more vigorously with our partners, he stressed.
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