WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONWT/L/364
12 October 2000
(00-4204)
Original:  English
DECLARATION ADOPTED BY THE TENTH ANNUAL MINISTERIAL MEETING
OF THE LEAST-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, HELD DURING
THE FIFTY-FIFTH SESSION OF THE
UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
NEW YORK, 18 SEPTEMBER 2000
Communication from Bangladesh
The following Declaration has been received from the Permanent Representative of
Bangladesh and Coordinator of Least-Developed Countries with the request to be circulated as adocument of the General Council.
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We, the Ministers of the Least-Developed Countries, having met at the United Nations
Headquarters during the 55
th Session of the General Assembly, on 18 September 2000,
Recalling the Ministerial Declaration adopted on 29 September 1999 during the Fifty-Forth
Session of the General Assembly,
Also recalling the Declarations of the Least-Developed Countries adopted during the WTO
Ministerial meeting in Seattle and the South Summit in Havana on 29 November 1999 and
14 April 2000 respectively. as well as the Communiqué by the Ministers of Trade of the
Least-Developed Countries adopted at UNCTAD X in Bangkok on 13 February 2000,
Stressing the importance of the Third UN Conf erence on LDCs (LDC-III) to be held in
Brussels from 14 to 24 May 2001,
Taking into account the outcome of the first session of the Preparatory Committee for the
Third United Nations Conference on the Least-Developed Countries (LDC-III),
Welcoming the adoption of the United Nations Millennium declaration by the Heads of State
and Government during the Millennium Summit in New York,
Having assessed progress in the implementation of the Programme of Action for the
Least-Developed Countries for the 1990s, solemnly declare the following:
1. For LDCs, the 1990s has been a decade of continuing poverty and marginalization, while at
the same time fundamental changes in the global economy resulting from globalization, liberalization
and interdependence and the rapid advances in science and technology have engendered
unprecedented increases in prosperity in developed countries.  Against this background, it is a matter
of grave concern that despite vigorous political and economic reform efforts, LDCs, as a group, were
neither able to benefit meaningfully from these global trends and developments nor meet the goals ofWT/L/364
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the Paris Programme of Action for the 1990s.  It is quite telling that no LDC has been able to meet
international targets set for 2000 by major recent global conferences.  Globalization and liberalization
has seriously challenged the capacity of LDCs to adjust to a new and more competitive international
environment.
2. The Third United Nations Conference on the LDCs (LDC-III) provides the opportunity to
redress the plight of the world's most vulnerable peoples by adopting a global new deal, as proposed
by the Secretary-General of the United Nations at UNCTAD X, that brings to bear the fruits of human
progress and knowledge, as well as the required financial resources to the beneficial integration of the
LDCs into the global economy.  Socio-economic progress in LDCs cannot be achieved, without a
genuine restoration of partnershi p between LDCs and their development partners, particularly the
developed countries, on the basis of human solidarity and shared responsibility.
3. We reaffirm our commitment to pursue macroeconomic and sectoral policies conducive to
promoting growth and development and eradicating pov erty in our countries.  We underscore that the
progress in economic transformation made by LDCs in the 1990s, albeit inadequate, has been
primarily due to the wide-ranging reforms undertaken by our countries under most difficult domestic
and external conditions.  We note with grave concern that the numerous declarations, promises and
commitments in favour of LDCs have, to a great extent, failed to be materialized.  As a result, thebenefits from national policy reforms and adjustment programmes adopted by LDCs themselves were
not fully realized.  In some cases, these even have had a negative impact.  The situation has been
aggravated further by adverse external circumstances facing LDCs.  Nevertheless, we will continue to
make efforts to create conditions for improved implementation of national policies and external
support measures for economic growth and diversification, social progress, and sustainable
development.
4. We welcome the United Nations Millennium Declaration adopted by the Heads of State and
Government during the Millennium Summit in New York, in which they undertook to address the
Special needs of Least-Developed Countries, in particular, the call on industrialized countries to take
specific actions in the areas of market access, debt relief and Official Development Assistance(ODA).
5. We welcome the timely actions by the Secretary-General of the Conference for the convening
of the preparatory process with the participation of all stakeholders, including representatives from
LDCs, of the first Intergovernmental Preparatory Committee (IPC) for the LDC-III meeting in
New York from 24 to 28 July 2000, and fully endorse its outcome.  We note with appreciation the
progress and the continuing efforts being made regarding preparations at the country, subregional and
regional as well as the inter-agency levels.  We call upon all parts of the UN system and other relevant
international organizations to fully participate in the process of formulating the new Programme of
Action and its implementation.
6. We note that there are numbers of pending issues to be considered during the preparatory
process and that these can not be examined fully at the second preparatory session alone.  We,
therefore, support the recommendation of the first session of the Preparatory Committee to convenean additional meeting of the preparatory committee to consider the pending issues.  We request the
General Assembly to endorse this recommendation and urge the Assembly to make available adequate
resources for the participation of representatives of Least Developed Countries at this additional
meeting of the Preparatory Committee as well as at its final meeting in April 2001.  In this regard, we
urge the Assembly and the Secretary-General to make available adequate funding for convening this
meeting.
7. We reiterate the need for the effective participation of the LDCs in the preparatory process
and in the Conference itself and in this connecti on note with concern the slow progress in theWT/L/364
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mobilization of resources to this end.  We express our appreciation to the development partners who
have provided resources towards LDC-III preparations, and call upon all bilateral and the multilateral
development partners to provide the necessary resources to the Secretary-General of the Conference
for this purpose.
8. We stress the importance of strengthening the linkages between the formulation and
implementation of the new Programme of Action to be adopted at LDC-III and the activities related to
the follow-up and implementation of the major United Nations conferences and summits held so far
and to be convened in the future, including high-level international intergovernmental event of
financing for development.  We strongly underline that the mobilization of external resources for
LDCs, particularly relating to ODA, debts, market  access, FDI and the building of productive capacity
should be at the forefront of the agenda of the Conference.
9. The effectiveness of LDC-III and its outcome in addressing the development concerns of the
LDCs will critically depend on the quality of pr eparations, follow-up and implementation.  In this
regard, we strongly stress the need to provide adequate human capacity and financial resources to
UNCTAD, as the focal point for th ese activities, through the provision of regular budget resources of
the United Nations.  It is deeply regrettable that the level of regular staff resources in UNCTAD for
the secretariat unit for Least Developed Countr ies (LDCs), Landlocked Developing Countries
(LLDCs), and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) was slashed from 39 to 16 during the 1990s,
which has had serious deleterious effects on the monitoring and follow-up of the Paris Programme of
Action for LDCs, as well as other internationally agreed programmes for LLDCs and SIDS.  We,
however, note with appreciation the interim measures undertaken by the Secretary-General in the
context of the regular budget for the biennium 2000- 2001, including the deployment of staff resources
that were allocated by the 54th Session of the General Assembly.  In order to ensure continuity in the
preparatory process and effectiveness of the follow-up and implementation of the outcome of LDC-III
at the national, regional and global levels, we recommend that the 55th Session of the General
Assembly fully restore, at a minimum, the level of resources allocated to the secretariat unit for LDCs,
LLDCs and SIDS by the 45th Session of the General Assembly following the LDC-II in 1990, in
keeping with the high priority accorded to LDCs.
10. We express our appreciation to the former Executive Secretary of the Third United Nations
Conference on Least-Developed Countries and Spec ial Coordinator of the Division for LDCs, LLDCs
and SIDS (Ms. Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka) for her contribution in the preparations leading to LDC-III,
and in this regard, urge that this role be filled as a matter of urgency and on a permanent basis in order
to ensure continuity in the preparations for LDC-III.
11. The review of the implementation of commitments undertaken in the Programme of Action
for the 1990s is a major task before LDC-III.  In particular, objective assessments need to be made as
regards commitments in the areas of Official Development Assistance (ODA), debt, investment and
trade, which have not been implemented as agreed.  Far from providing LDCs with substantially
increased external financial resources – as committed under the Programme of Action – and meeting
the agreed targets of ODA, donor assistance has fallen to historically low levels in recent years.  Theresulting shrinkage of resource availability was further aggravated by rising debt overhang and failing
commodity prices.  This, in turn, has immensely comp licated the task of eradicating poverty in LDCs,
which remain the poorest segment in the entire human society.  The few donor countries, which have
continued to give high priority to LDCs in their ODA allocation, and meet or exceed ODA targets,
deserve our deep appreciation. In the absence of meaningful external private flows, increasedavailability of adequate and sustained levels of external official financial resources is critical to LDCs'
own efforts to jump-start and sustain growth and development.  We call upon development partners,
in particular those who have not yet done so, to meet their commitments under the Programme of
Action by substantially increasing the level of aggregate financial support to LDCs.WT/L/364
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12. The heavy debt burden and debt-servicing obligations continue to have negative impact in
social and economic development of LDCs and furt her undermine the ability of LDCs to mobilize
external private flows.  Without immediate debt  cancellation, growth prospects and development of
LDCs will continue to be bleak. In this regard, we commend the recent initiatives to significantly
reduce debt of HIPCs, the majority of whom are LDCs .  We consider this to be an important step in
the right direction, marking a clear improvement over the original HIPC framework.  However,
despite such efforts, substantial alleviation of LDCs' debt burden is yet not in sight.  We reiterate our
appeal to all creditor countries and institutions to expeditiously cancel all outstanding debt owed by
all LDCs.
13. We also urge for urgent efforts to collectively improve the productive capacities and to
address the supply-side constraints, including thr ough the development of physical and institutional
infrastructure and human resources and enhanced competitiveness, faced by LDCs in order to pavethe way to sustained and sustainable development.  In this regard, we continue to urge for the early
and effective implementation of the Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to
LDCs.
14. In world trade, the marginalization of LDCs accelerated in the 1990s.  Strengthening LDCs'
capacity to fully and effectively participate in the multilateral trading system should be an importantpart of international efforts to integrate LDCs into the world economy.  Accession of LDCs that are
not yet members of WTO to that organization should be put on a simplified fast track to complete the
process within one year of application.  The special and differential measures in favour of LDCs
should be rendered binding by making them an integral part of the rules and disciplines governing the
multilateral trading system.  We call for the immediate granting of bound, duty-free and quota-freemarket access for all products of LDCs by all their trading partners.  We stress that in implementing
existing multilateral trade agreements and in futu re negotiations, the international community should
ensure that the obligations placed on LDCs are consistent with their level of development and
capacity to carry out such obligations.
15. We note that the process of globalization and liberalization poses serious risks and challenges
to the Least-Developed Countries, especially the most vulnerable among them, and emphasize the
importance of further improvements in the LDC criteria to make it reflective of structural weakness,
impediments to human development, constraints to integration into the world economy, and
vulnerability to environmental ecological changes and natural disasters , as called for by the General
Assembly Resolution 51/183 of 16 December 1996.  We stress the need to give greater weight to
economic vulnerability index (EVI) in determine qualification for graduation from LDC status and the
necessity of examining the costs of graduation and other implications on the sustainability ofdevelopment that would result from the exclusion from the list of LDCs.  We urge that the question of
graduation of any LDC should be deferred until the refinement of the criteria is completed.  We call
upon the LDC-III to review this matter.
16. The developing land-locked and Small Island Developing States are facing geographical
constraints in transit-transportation aspects in integrating their economies with the internationaltrading system.  Following the previous UN conferences on LDCs, the specific transit-transport issues
of land-locked LDCs should be adequately addr essed in the preparatory process of the LDC -III.  In
this connection, we express full support to the convening of a Ministerial-Level Meeting of the Land-
Locked and Transit Developing Countries and Representatives of Donor Countries and Financial and
Development Institutions.
17. The growing number of humanitarian and environmental emergencies, natural disasters, and
the onslaught of fatal diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other communicable
diseases have continued to ravage many LDCs.  We stress that addressing these concerns should form
an integral part of sustainable development plans of affected countries and communities.WT/L/364
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International cooperation to address emergency situations and strengthen the response capacity of
these countries is of great importance.  In certain cases, particularly in dealing with medical
emergencies in LDCs, the implementation of agreed Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regimes must
be accomplished with a human face: LDCs should be given flexible, differential and supportive
treatment under all IPR regimes.  We call on bilateral, intergovernmental and non-governmental
organizations to continue to make genuine contribution for supplementing national efforts in tackling
humanitarian emergencies. and natural disasters.
18. We recognize that information revolution is having a widespread impact on traditional
economic and social relations.  The technology gap between developed and developing countries, in
particular the least developed, has become an important factor which is contributing to their
increasing marginalization.  Amid an exponentia l growth in the field of information and
communication technology (ICT), the Least-Developed Countries have remained at its periphery.Lack of infrastructure, lack of capital to invest in the rapidly evolving, and often costly technology,
and lack of human resources and other capacity to absorb the highly technical and
knowledge-intensive domain have left most of them lagging far behind in the ICT revolution. It is
recognized that increased flow of information can improve peoples lives not only by its direct impact
on productivity, but also through alleviation of poverty, playing a role in better education, health,nutrition, and timely management of disasters.  The international community has special role in
bridging the digital divide and working, for the right to universal access of information and
knowledge as global public goods.
19. We express our appreciation to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Her
Excellency Sheikh Hasina and to the Government for the continued leadership and coordination of theLDCs in various forums, and request the Prime Minister to continue to play this important role,
including taking up with other Heads of State or Government and international institutions, issues
relating to LDC-III during the critical preparatory process.
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