RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE WT/COMTD/LLDC/W/4
27March 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-1281)
Original: French Sub-Committee onLeast-Developed Countries
Fifth Session
STATEMENT BYMADAGASCAR INTHE CONTEXT OFTHE PREPARATION OFTHE
HIGH-LEVEL MEETING ONLEAST-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
Mydelegation would notliketoday'sdiscussion onthehigh-level meeting onLDCs tobea
repetition ofthedebate heldonthistopicintheCommittee onTrade andDevelopment some tendays
ago. Wewould likeittomake adecisive stepforward bylaunching thepreparatory phase forthe
meeting, towhich weattach thegreatest importance.
Ishall therefore notrepeat what IsaidintheCommittee onTrade andDevelopment on
17February.
Iwould justliketostress anumber ofpoints.
Formydelegation, theobjective andoutcome ofthehigh-level meeting should betolaunch
initiatives andtakeaction soastoresolve thepractical difficulties andmeettherealneeds oftheLDCs
intheiraspiration tobecome integrated inthemultilateral trading system. Thishigh-level meeting
mustnotbeatheoretical exercise onwhatshould orshould notbedone, norasterile political exchange
ofviews.
Itherefore consider itabsolutely essential, wellahead ofthepreparatory process, somewhere
between phase Iandphase IImentioned inthedocument, inother words asoftomorrow morning,
tobegin anintermediate stageconsisting intheevaluation oftheneeds oftheleastdeveloped countries.
Thisevaluation ofneeds should becarried outbyeachLDC inthelightofitsownpriorities
anditssituation withrespect toworld markets, inamemorandum addressed tothethree orsix
secretariats responsible fororganizing thehigh-level meeting. TheSecretariat should validate this
evaluation made byeachcountry ofitsneeds, byindicating foreachneedexpressed themeasures that
could betaken andthetime-frame forcarrying themout,taking intoaccount theprogrammes thatalready
existwithin eachorganization.
Following thisexercise, weshould beinaposition tohaveaclassification oftheneeds ofthe
leastdeveloped countries:
Firstly, according totheirnature i.e:
- Needs related tostrengthening theLDCs 'production andexport capacity;
- market access difficulties;
- export promotion andproduct marketing problems;
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- issues relating toparticipation inWTO activities.
Andsecondly, according totheresponse capacity oftheinternational agencies:
- Needs forwhich programmes already exist, which canbeimplemented immediately
provided theyarefinanced bydonors;
- difficulties forwhich solutions willhave tobeworked outintheform ofnew
programmes thatcanonlybelaunched overacertain time-frame;
- issues falling within thepurview offorums other thanthehigh-level meeting.
Thehigh-level meeting should thusbeorganized around apractical, operational discussion
oftheimplementation oftheprogrammes andlaunching oftheinitiatives responding totheneeds clearly
expressed bytheLDCs themselves withtheassistance oftheSecretariats.
Intheviewofmydelegation, ifweundertake thispriorprocess ofidentifying theLDCs 'needs
andtheinternationalagencies'responsecapacities,thehigh-levelmeetingwillbeinapositiontoconclude
withtheadoption ofanintegrated andcoherent programme onbehalf oftheLDCs.
ThethreeGenevaagencieshavealreadydevelopedanintegratedprogrammeonbehalfofAfrican
countries. Itwould besensible totakeadvantage ofthisexperience anddraw onittolaunch an
integrated andcoherent programme covering allLDCs, withtheadded participation ofthetwoBretton
Woods agencies aswellasUNDP.
Ifthispreparatory phase isconducted well, thehigh-level meeting could takeplace overtwo
orthreedays, focusing onaction tobetaken andprogrammes tobelaunched, andavoiding frustrating
theLDCs which willpreviously havehadachance toexpress theirdesiderata inthememorandum
evaluating theirneeds.