WT/L/894  
 
17 October 2013  
(13-5700)  Page: 1/9  
 Original: English/  
French/  
Spanish  
 
MINISTERIAL COMMUNIQUÉ 
12TH ANNUAL MINISTERIAL MEETING OF THE GROU P OF LANDLOCKED DEVELOPING COUNTRIES 
NEW YORK, 30 SEPTEMBER 2013 
The following communication, dated 11 October 2013, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Paraguay on behalf of the Landlocked Developing Countries.  
_______________ 
 
 We, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Landlocked Developing Countries, having met at the United 
Nations Headquarters in New York, on 30
th September 2013, on the occasion of the 68th session of 
the General Assembly of the United Nations, und er the theme “Building Genuine Partnerships for 
Overcoming Impacts of Landlockedeness in the context of Sustainable Development”, to assess 
progress made in the implementation of the Al maty Programme of Action (APoA) and address 
development challenges facing Landlocked Developing Countries,  Recalling the Almaty Declaration
1 and the Almaty Programme of Action: Addressing the Special 
Needs of Landlocked Developing Countries within a New Global Framework for Transit Transport 
Cooperation for Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries2, adopted in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in 
2003, 
 
Recalling also the United Nations Millennium Declaration,3 the outcome documents of the 2005 
World Summit and the 2010 High-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the Millennium 
Development Goals, and the 2012 United Nations Co nference on Sustainable Development held in 
Rio de Janeiro,  Recalling further the General Assembly resolutions 56/180, 57/242, 58/201, 59/245, 60/208, 
61/212, 62/204, 63/228, 64/214, 65/172, 66/214 and 67/222 related to the particular needs and 
challenges of Landlocked Developing Countries to be addressed by effectively implementing the Almaty Programme of Action, 
 
Recalling the Declaration of the high-l evel meeting of the sixty-third session of the General 
Assembly on the midterm review of the APoA, of 3 October 2008,
4 which stressed that the higher 
cost of moving goods across borders for LLDCs puts their products at a competitive disadvantage 
and that LLDCs continue to face challenges in their efforts to establish efficient transit transport systems,  
Recalling also the Asunción Platform for the Doha Development Round, adopted at the Meeting of 
the Ministers of Landlocked Developing Countries responsible for Trade, held in Asunción on 10 August 2005, the Ulaanbaatar Declaration adopted at the Meeting of the Ministers of 
Landlocked Developing Countries Responsible for Trade, held in Ulaanbaatar on 28 and 
29 August 2007, the Ezulwini Declaration adopted at  the Third Meeting of Ministers of Landlocked 
                                               
1 Report of the International Ministerial Conference of Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries and 
Donor Countries and International Financial and Developm ent Institutions on Transit Transport Cooperation, 
Almaty, Kazakhstan, 28-29 August 2003 (A/CONF.202/3), annex II. 
2 Ibid., annex I. 
3 See GA resolution 55/2. 
4 See GA resolution 63/2. WT/L/894 
 
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  Developing Countries Responsible for Trade held in the Kingdom of Swaziland on 21 and 
22 October 2009, the Ulaanbaatar Declaration adopted at the High-Level Asia-Pacific Policy Dialogue on the implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action and other development gaps faced by landlocked developing countries, held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from 12 to 14 April 2011, 
 
Recalling further the outcome document of the of UNCTAD XIII held in April 2012 and of the 
Ministerial Communiqué of LLDCs adopted within the framework of UNCTAD XIII, that urged the 
WTO Members to undertake all endeavours necessary for the advancement and successful 
conclusion of the Doha Development Round and increase the level of assistance in the context of the Aid-for-Trade Initiative, as well as paying greater attention to the development of productive capacities, the development of infrastructure and upgrading of information and communication 
technologies for LLDCs, 
 Recalling also the Almaty Ministerial Communique adopted at the Fourth Meeting of Ministers of 
Trade of LLDCs held in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 12 September 2012, which stressed that in view to 
mitigating the adverse development impact of landlockedness, comprehensive, coherent and 
coordinated policies are needed at all levels in the areas of investment, infrastructure (production, 
transport, telecommunications and energy), logistic s (transport and trade facilitation), technology, 
to support efforts of LLDCs,  Recalling further the Outcome of the Global Services Forum, organized by UNCTAD, in Beijing, 
from 28 to 29 May 2013, on the theme: “Services: A New Frontier for Sustainable Development” , 
that raised awareness of the importance of the services sector for developing country economies 
and in the advancement of the development agenda as it relates to services, 
 
Recognizing that despite commendable progress achieved by LLDCs over the last decade in the 
implementation of the APoA, the development challe nges faced by LLDCs due to their geographical 
disadvantage of having no territorial access to the sea and the ensuing serious difficulties for the 
effective integration of their economies into the multilateral trading system permeate every aspect of the development process including economic gr owth, poverty reduction and the achievement of 
the Millennium Development Goals, 
 
Expressing concern about the emergence of new and emerging challenges such as global economic 
and financial crisis, the rising of food and energy prices, compounded by the negative impact of 
climate change, land degradation, desertification and drought, which have adversely impacted the 
economic and social progress achieved by LLDCs in recent years and have increased their vulnerability and weakened their ability  to achieve their development goals, 
 
Recognizing also that the primary responsibility for establishing effective transit systems rests with 
the landlocked and transit developing countries, which need to seek to create conditions in which resources can be generated, attracted and effectively mobilized to address their development 
challenges, but that their efforts need to be  given continued international support by the 
development partners and international and regi onal organizations in a spirit of shared 
responsibility, including South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation, and taking into 
account regional integration agreements, 
 Expressing support to those LLDCs emerging from conflict  with a view to enabling them to 
rehabilitate and reconstruct, as appropriate, political, social and economic infrastructure, including 
through elimination, where appropriate, of any unfavorable condition for development, and to assisting such LLDCs in achieving their development priorities in accordance with the goals and targets of the APoA, 
 
Acknowledging the invaluable and continued support pr ovided by development partners, the 
United Nations System, international and regional organizations, bilateral partners, the civil society 
and the private sector, through official development assistance, foreign direct investment, private 
sector investment and remittances, and the role of South-South and Triangular cooperation with a view to tackle the critical challenge of addres sing special needs of LLDCs, in particular by 
developing adequate transport infrastructures and establishing transit transport systems, 
 Taking note of the Annual Progress Report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the 
Almaty Programme of Action, which highlighted progress made by LLDCs during the period of 
implementation of the APoA and remaining needs an d challenges in order to achieve a sustainable WT/L/894 
 
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  and inclusive economic growth, accelerate poverty reduction and higher levels of wellbeing of their 
people on a sustained and sustainable basis,  Welcoming the General Assembly Resolutions 66/214 and 67/222 in which it decided to hold a 
comprehensive ten-year review conference on the implementation of the Almaty Programme of 
Action in 2014, which should be preceded, where necessary, by regional and global as well as thematic preparations, as well as two sessions of the Intergovernmental Preparatory Committee in 
January and April 2014, 
 Emphasizing that the ten-year review conference should strengthen concerted global actions in 
support of the landlocked developing countries, 
 
Have adopted the following Ministerial Communiqué: 
1. We reaffirm our unwavering commitment towards the accelerated implementation of the 
Almaty Programme of Action through effective and genuine partnerships between landlocked 
and transit developing countries and their development partners as well as between public and private sectors at national, bilateral, regional and global levels, as these partnerships are 
essential to the timely achievement of all the internationally agreed development goals, 
including the Millennium Development Goals, and full and meaningful integration of LLDCs into the global economy; 
2. We express our appreciation of the progress made by landlocked and transit developing 
countries, with the support of development partners, during the last decade, in implementing 
the priorities of the APoA, as evidenced by a number of transport and trade facilitation measures that have reduced border delays and inefficiencies; some expansion in transit 
transport infrastructure development; increased efforts to harmonize norms and standards in 
the transport sector; improvements in developm ent assistance allocated to the transport, 
storage and communications sectors of landlocked developing countries; and some increase in 
foreign direct investment, remittances and debt relief; 
3. We remain concerned, however, that, despite increased efforts in implementing the priorities 
of the APoA, and the modest economic growth ac hieved over the last decade, LLDCs continue 
to face combined adverse effects of transport costs, transit traffic difficulties, inefficient 
logistics services, additional and cumbersome customs procedures, and inadequate transport 
infrastructure development, including the state of regional trade corridors, the deterioration of existing stocks, the persistence of key missing links, the lack of efficient inland transport 
linkages, such as between rail and port facilities, as well as sustainable resources for 
maintenance. Transport costs are still high and have on average increased, as evidenced by 
data from the World Bank
5 that show that the average costs of exporting a container for LLDCs 
increased from US$2,200 in 2006 to US$3,040 in 2013, while transit developing countries are 
only paying 50% of this cost. These high transport costs and trade transaction costs continue to constitute major impediment to trade competitiveness, equitable access to global markets, and beneficial integration of our economies into  the world economy and the overall welfare of 
our people; 
4. We also express concerns about the limited prod uctive capacities with regard to increasing 
value addition from agriculture, manufacturing and exports of goods and services, the slowing 
down of economic diversification and deindustrialization, factors that undermine structural 
transformation, therefore isolating further LLDCs and limiting their effective and meaningful participation in global value chains and international trade; 
5. On the social development front, we note with concerns that although LLDCs have experienced 
a positive trend in the Human Development Index between 2003 and 2013 and have made tangible advances on some Millennium Development Goals, in particular primary education and reduction of HIV/AIDS prevalence rates, much more needs to be done. Poverty levels are still 
high and the progress is also slow on reducing hunger, child and maternal mortality, and 
improving access to water and sanitation. In addi tion, wide and growing income inequalities in 
LLDCs are undermining efforts to reduce poverty and achieve development objectives; 
                                               
5 World Bank Doing Business Historic al Data Sets and Trends Data. WT/L/894 
 
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  6. We are deeply concerned that LLDCs continue to face new and emerging challenges such as 
the global economic and financial crisis, high  food and energy prices and commodity price 
volatility, compounded by the negative impacts of climate change, desertification and land degradation, including the loss biodiversity which have increased tremendously the burden on 
our countries’ economies and affected the livelihoods of our populations; 
7. As we prepare for the Comprehensive Ten-Year Review Conference on the Implementation of 
the Almaty Programme of Action, in 2014, pursuant to the General Assembly 
Resolution 66/214, we call upon the international community, including the United Nations 
system, development partners, international organizations, private sector institutions, and academia, to critically consider all the unique challenges that our countries face that are linked to our geography. While the transport sector is  definitely important for improving trade and 
the greater integration of LLDCs into regional and international markets, there is need to 
address trade issues in a more coherent and holistic manner, ensuring that broader aspects of development are also addressed, including efforts to build productive capacity, promote value 
addition, diversification of the economy and exports, technology transfer, services sector 
development, information and communication te chnologies, and improved market access. We 
need to aim high, to an ambitious, more comprehensive, action-oriented and new partnership 
framework embedded in a broader vision for LLDCs’ sustainable development and economic 
growth for the next decade; 
8. In the context of the post-2015 development ag enda, including sustainable development goals 
and financing for sustainable development, we urge the international community and all 
development partners to make ambitious and enhanced commitments to address special needs 
and challenges faced by LLDCs, in particular by  focusing on issues that are unique to those 
countries, instead of embracing general development challenges; 
9. In view of the structural and economic challeng es faced by LLDCs, we urge the international 
community, development partners, financial institutions and the private sector, and multilateral development institutions including United Nations institutions to scale up support 
to LLDCs through increased financial and technical support to enable them to cope with 
multiple external shocks and to mitigate the impact of new and emerging challenges; 
10. Concerns and special needs of LLDCs deserve special attention in all international agendas, 
focusing on accelerated reduction of the high transport and transaction costs, the 
establishment of efficient transit systems throug h increased investments into transport, energy 
and information and communications technology in frastructure and border crossing projects. 
In particular, deepening of trade, enhancemen t of productive capacity, diversification of 
exports, value-addition and the strengthening of  institutions should be pursued as means to 
achieve structural transformation; 
11. We stress the importance of adopting development policies and strategies to address 
constraints and tap opportunities to achieve value addition, industrialization, diversification 
and a reduction of commodity dependence  of our economies. Commodity-based 
industrialization can provide an engine for growth for LLDCs, reducing their marginalization in the global economy and enhancing their resilience to external shocks. We call upon 
international community and development partners to support capacity building in LLDCs for 
the implementation of effective industrial poli cies aimed at structurally transforming their 
economies with an emphasis on effective transfer of technology, research and innovation, 
enhanced productive capacity, value- addition, development of infrastructure, enhancement of 
the services sector, as well as upgrading of information and communication technologies. We also recognize that enhanced development of human skills and education, in particular in post-
primary education are of critical importance for improving the services and industrial sectors 
and technological innovativeness; 
12. We call upon the United Nations Office of High Representative for Least Developed Countries, 
Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS), in 
collaboration with relevant international organizations and other research institutions, including 
national research institutes, to undertake research on the vulnerability of LLDCs to external shocks, develop a set of vulnerability indicators that can be used for early warning purposes 
and propose appropriate sets of policy responses capable of turning challenges into 
opportunities; WT/L/894 
 
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  13. We recognize that climate change, desertification, land degradation and drought pose a 
potentially permanent and serious threat to the economic and social development of our countries and can undermine our efforts towards the achievement of development objectives, as we are least prepared to confront those challenges of adapting and mitigating their effects 
that would even further aggravate the disadvantages that our countries are facing. We are 
vulnerable to climate change impacts on agriculture production, frequent occurrence of natural disasters, land degradation, desertification, food security, viability of inland fisheries as well as 
to water availability, erosion of biodiversity and human health. As the United Nations 
Framework Convention on Climate Change recogn ized the landlocked developing countries as 
one of those groups requiring special measures, as countries which are impacted by climate change in unique ways and have special needs, we underline that LLDCs should be referred to 
and included in climate change negotiations an d its outcome documents as a group. We should 
strengthen our concerted efforts in context of the global dialogue on climate change and sustainable development. We urge our development partners to provide financial, technological 
and capacity- building assistance to enable LLD Cs for climate change adaptation and support 
to address desertification and land degradation; 
14. We encourage relevant international organi zations including UN-OHRLLS, UNFCCC, UNCCD, 
World Bank, UNEP, and the UN Regional Commissions to assist LLDCs to conduct studies to 
better understand the implications of climate change, desertification, land degradation and drought on LLDCs and to develop strategies and measures to counter their adverse effects; 
15. We take note of the work of ongoing UN proce sses, such as the Open Working Group on SDGs 
and the Intergovernmental Committee of Expert s on Sustainable Development Financing and 
underline the need to reflect the challenges and pr iorities of LLDCs in those processes in line 
with the provisions contained in paragraphs  36, 133 and 182 of the Rio+20 outcome “the 
future we want”; 
16. We underscore the importance of trade facilitation for the growth and expansion of the 
external trade of LLDCs and its positive impact on their economic development, in particular, 
in reaping the full benefits from international trade. We call upon the international community 
to ensure the successful conclusion of the Doha Development Round, with favourable outcomes for LLDCs and underscore the importance  of an early adoption of an Agreement on 
Trade Facilitation with binding commitments to lowering transaction costs by reducing 
transport time and enhancing certainty in trans- border trade, ensuring freedom of transit, 
strict limits on fees, charges and formalities and transparency as well as common standards for documentation requirements, therefore allowing for the expedited movement, release and 
clearance of goods. The international community should provide technical assistance and 
support for capacity building in view to enable landlocked and transit developing countries to fully participate in and benefit from multilateral trade negotiations and effectively implement 
policies and regulations aimed at facilitating transport and trade; 
17. We call for a development-friendly solution to the current impasse in the Doha Round of trade 
negotiations that could open the way for a successful and ambitious conclusion of the ten-year round. This should increase market access, generate increased trade flows and focus on the 
needs of LLDCs. Emphasis should remain on the commitment to make operationally effective 
the principle of special and differential treatment for developing countries; to the parallel elimination of all forms of export subsidies; and to substantial reductions in trade-distorting 
domestic support, in accordance with the ma ndate of the Doha Round. The final outcome 
should also adequately address the issue of technical assistance and capacity building (2012/12); 
18. We also call upon relevant United Nations and other international organizations to provide 
greater support to strengthen the negotiatin g capacities of LLDCs and their ability to 
implement trade facilitation measures; 
19.  We call for the provision of enhanced technical assistance to those LLDCs that are still outside 
the rules-based multilateral trading system and wish to accede to the World Trade 
Organization (WTO). We stress the need for taking into account the individual levels of development and the special needs and problems caused by the geographical disadvantage of 
being landlocked during the accession process and that all provisions on Special and 
Differential Treatment reflected in the GATT and in all WTO agreements shall be granted to all WT/L/894 
 
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  acceding LLDCs. Targeted technical assistance should be provided to acceding LLDCs during all 
stages of the process; 
20. We reiterate our request that development assistance provided in the context of the 
Aid-for-Trade Initiative should give adequate consideration to the special needs and 
requirements of LLDCs. Areas of targeted suppo rt should include capacity building for the 
formulation of trade policies, participation in trade negotiations, implementation of trade facilitation measures, implementation of international agreements, investment into 
infrastructure for transport, upgrading of information and communication technologies and 
utilities and strengthening of productive capacities with a view to increasing the competitiveness of our countries’ products in export markets. We attach great importance to the Aid-for-Trade Initiative and are committed to enhancing our participation in the monitoring 
process to better articulate our trade needs and priorities for support; 
21. We reaffirm the high priority landlocked developing countries attach to Official Development 
Assistance (ODA) as a valuable means to im plement priority development programmes and 
strategies and address special needs and challenges faced by our countries. In that regard, we 
call upon development partners to increase the amount of ODA to LLDCs, in a transparent, 
predictable and sustainable manner. We call on our bilateral and multilateral development 
partners not only to maintain current levels of ODA to LLDCs, but to further raise 
commitments in order to support transport infrastructure development and trade facilitation projects in landlocked and transit developing  countries, therefore enhancing intraregional 
connectivity, completing missing links and ensu ring the proper functioning of strategic sea 
corridors, enhancing trade and export diversification, capacity building, promoting services and 
tourism sectors, as well as to address negative impacts of climate change, land degradation, desertification and drought and to build resilience to mitigate the impact of economic and 
financial crisis; 
22. We reaffirm the need to fulfill all ODA commi tments, including commitments made by many 
developed countries to achieve the target of 0.7% of GNP for ODA to developing countries by 
2015. We also call upon donor support through greater debt relief to help LLDCs make 
progress towards achieving development objectives; 
23. We underscore the prominent role that foreign direct investment (FDI) plays in accelerating 
development and poverty reduction through employment, transfer of managerial and 
technological know-how and non-debt creating flows of capital, as well as its key role in 
providing infrastructure for transport, telecommunications and utilities. We call on capital exporting countries to provide greater financial assistance and support to FDI-seeking efforts 
of LLDCs by adopting and implementing economic, financial and legal incentives to encourage 
FDI flows to LLDCs and avoid protectionist measures which impede such flows. We underscore the importance of creating a stable, predic table and enabling investment environment for 
attracting increased and more diversified FDI to LLDCs; 
24. We also value the importance of remittances of  migrants to the achievement of development 
objectives of LLDCs, including the eradication of poverty and capacity building and we encourage international migrants from LLDCs to continue supporting development efforts of 
their countries of origin, bearing in mind that remittances cannot be considered as a substitute 
for official development assistance, foreign direct investment, debt relief or other public sources of development financing. We further reaffirm the need to promote conditions for 
cheaper, faster and safer transfer of remittances in the LLDCs; 
25. We recognize the participation of a private sector capable of boosting diversification, 
stimulating job creation, driving innovation and facilitating infrastructure development that 
supports our development objectives in accordance with national policies. We invite relevant 
stakeholders to participate in the preparatory process of the Ten-Year Review Conference on the Implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action to ensure that any new programme of action of LLDCs underpins an operating environment conducive to genuine partnership, private 
sector growth and development. We acknowledge that public-private partnerships can play an 
important role in domestic and foreign resource mobilization; WT/L/894 
 
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  26. We also recognize the importance of regional cooperation for LLDCs, in particular trade 
integration and transit cooperation, as they can facilitate LLDCs better integrate into the global 
trading system by, inter alia , increasing the size of the markets, improving their 
competitiveness, and enhancing regional connectiv ity and intra-regional trade. In that regard, 
we reaffirm the high priority that our countries attach to the promotion of regional and sub-
regional integration and cooperation, includin g development and implementation of regional 
transport and infrastructure projects, regional  trade and transport agreements, harmonization 
of customs and border procedures and rules of origin at regional levels; 
27. We reaffirm the importance of strengthening South-South and triangular cooperation to 
support the development efforts of LLDCs and enhance their participation in the global economy. We commend efforts made through South-South cooperation in the areas of transit 
transport cooperation between landlocked and transit developing countries and request for 
scaling up of those efforts that can help LLDCs  address the complex and severe development 
challenges that they face because of their geographical disadvantages. We also reiterate the 
Group's position that South-South cooperation is a complement to, rather than substitute for, 
North-South cooperation; 
28. We further recognize the growing role of the se rvices sector in the modern economies, in 
particular, that an efficient and productive services industry will contribute significantly to 
productivity growth and for the overall compet itiveness of LLDCs’ economies, including in 
manufacturing and agriculture sectors. Furtherm ore, we recognize that employment gains will 
be most significant in reducing poverty in LLDCs and will provide employment opportunities for 
women. In that regard, we call on international organization, in particular UNCTAD, to support 
LLDCs to develop their services sectors, th rough capacity building programmes and the 
development of appropriate statistical tools; 
29.  We further highlight the need to focus on information and communication technology and the 
need to connect our countries to international networks of data transmission, which also requires attraction of capital for infrastructure  and connection. In this regard, we call upon 
international cooperation to facilitate connectivity within LLDCs, as well as internationally 
between landlocked developing countries and transit developing countries and the other parts of the world; 
30. We also reaffirm the special needs and challenges faced by those landlocked developing 
countries emerging from conflicts. In this regard, we urge the international community and the 
UN system to address these needs and challenges and take urgent and concrete action in the area of financial assistance and technical support and infrastructure development, in order for 
these countries to achieve internationally agreed development goals; 
31. We are committed to the realization of the mandate of the International Think Tank for the 
landlocked developing countries and call on all LLDCs, which have not done so, to accede and 
become party to its Multilateral Agreement, in order to bring the Think Tank to its full 
operation. We commend the steps taken by th e government of Mongolia in advancing the 
operationalization of the International Think Tank, in particular for the financial support and hosting the Secretariat in Ulaanbaatar. We call upon international organizations, in particular, 
the World Bank, UNDP, UNCTAD and the regional commissions, donor countries and other 
leading centers of excellence to support th e operational activities of the think tank; 
32. We note that the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Asian Highway Road Network in 2003 
which came into force in 2005, and of the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian 
Railway Network in 2006 that entered into force in June 2009 have helped in promoting investment for the development, maintenance and upgrading of the Asian Highway priority 
routes and of the Trans-Asian Railway Network which has greatly benefited the region. We 
therefore call upon international organizations and donor countries to support the effective 
implementation of the projects identified  under the Intergovernmental Agreements; 
33. We take note of efforts being deployed by African landlocked developing countries to address 
the legal bottlenecks experienced by the Africa’s transit transport system due to the lack of 
integrated and standardized road infrastructure. In this context we support the work undertaken by the UN- OHRLLS in consultation with the Economic Commission for Africa, the WT/L/894 
 
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  African Union Commission, the World Bank and the African Development Bank. We request the 
UN-OHRLLS to further its efforts in the promotion of an African transport infrastructure intergovernmental agreement particular ly for the Trans-African Highway; 
34. We call on the UN-OHRLLS to develop, in collaboration with other relevant UN and 
international organizations, including UNCTAD and the World Bank, standardized guidelines for 
transit transport agreements; 
35. In the context of the preparatory process of  the Ten-Year Review Conference of the 
implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action, scheduled to take place in 2014, we 
commend efforts deployed by the UN-OHRLLS in organizing the process in the three tracks, Inter-governmental, inter-agency and the priv ate sector, with the active involvement and 
participation of member countries and their transit developing countries, UN system 
organizations, international organizations, the private sector and the academia. We therefore 
call on all relevant UN system organizations and other international organizations, to provide all necessary support for and to actively contribute to the preparatory review process and the 
successful holding of the comprehensive review conference; 
36. We welcome the progress being made in the preparatory process of the Ten-Year Review 
Conference and welcome the appointment by  the UN Secretary-General of the High 
Representative for the Least Developed Countries , Landlocked Developing Countries and Small 
Island Developing States as the Secretary-General of the Ten-Year Review Conference on the implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action; 
37. We note with appreciation the outcome of the high-level global thematic meeting on 
international trade, trade facilitation and aid for trade, held in Almaty on 13 and 
14 September 2012 as part of the preparatory process for the comprehensive ten-year Review Conference on the Implementation of  the Almaty Programme of Action; 
38. We welcome the Vientiane Consensus adopted at the Euro-Asia Final Regional Review Meeting 
of the implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action that was held in Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic, from 5 to 7 March 2013, which, while expressing its satisfaction 
on the significant progress achieved by land locked and transit developing countries in 
implementing the Almaty Programme of Action, recognized also that LLDCs are still facing high structural vulnerability and that the modest growth achieved has come under threat due to successive global crises in the areas of food, fuel and finance; 
39. We also welcome the Outcome of the African Re gional Review Meeting on the Implementation 
of the Almaty Programme of Action that was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 16 to 18 July 2013 which recommended that landlocked developing countries, with the assistance of 
the international community, should adopt policies aimed at structurally transforming their 
economies with emphasis on research, and innovation, industrialization, value addition, enhanced productive capacities, diversification and a reduction of dependency on commodities, 
increased technology transfer, increased agricultural productivity, expansion of the services 
sector, and joining global and regional value chains; 
40. We look forward to the convening of the Latin America Regional Review Meeting on the 
Implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action to be held later this year; 
41. We also take note of the pre-conference events that have been held so far including a 
Brainstorming Meeting on the Priorities of a New Development Agenda for the landlocked developing countries held 20 and 21 March 2013, Transport Development and Trade 
Facilitation held on 13 June 2013, and Renewing Global Partnerships for Connecting LLDCs to 
World Markets held on 3 July 2013; 
42. We call on our development partners for a constructive engagement in the preparation of a 
successor action programme, which, in addition to transit trade and trade facilitation issues 
will address holistic development needs and challenges of LLDCs, enhance productive capacities, build resilience to external shoc ks, promote a vibrant and competitive private 
sector, promote development-supportive foreign direct investment, assistance for economic 
restructuring and re-specialization, including the promotion of exportable services, the WT/L/894 
 
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  promotion of South-South and Triangular cooperation, mitigating the effects of climate change, 
land degradation, desertification and drought, support to the World Trade Organization accession of LLDCs and to the conduct of the multilateral trade negotiations, and measures to ensure more benefits for LLDCs from the Ai d-for-Trade Initiative, to name but a few; 
43. We encourage our development partners, the international financial and development 
institutions, as well as private entities, to make voluntary contributions to the Trust Fund established by the Secretary-General to support  the activities related to the preparatory 
activities of the Ten-Year Review Conference and ensure full and effective participation of 
landlocked developing countries, transit developing countries, the private sector and the academia to the Conference and its preparatory events; 
44. We request the UN-OHRLLS to continue to mobilize and coordinate international support and 
resources for the effective preparation of the Ten-Year Review Conference and its success; 
45. We stress that the comprehensive review proc ess of the implementation of the Almaty 
Programme of Action shall represent an important opportunity for landlocked and transit 
developing countries and their development partners to critically assess the implementation of 
the APoA, in particular its best practices and weaknesses, and identify priority areas for years to come; 
46. We stress that the comprehensive ten-year review conference should come up with a 
development agenda that can enable the landlocked developing countries to integrate into the global trading system and move closer to ac hieving the internationally agreed development 
goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, and post-2015 de velopment agenda and 
Sustainable Development Goals in the next decade. The new framework shall also provide for 
effective arrangements for follow-up, revi ew and monitoring of its implementation; 
47. We call upon all landlocked developing countries to engage fully in the preparation process for 
the ten-year review of the Almaty Programme of Action and to participate in the conference 
itself at the highest level possible; 
48. We call upon the international community to give particular importance to the preparatory 
process and ensure their active participation in the conference; 
49. We request the United Nations System Orga nizations, particularly UNCTAD, UN-OHRLLS, 
UNDP, the UN Regional Economic Commissions, other international organizations, especially the World Bank, WTO, CFC, IRU and the WCO, regi onal banks, regional organizations, regional 
economic communities, parliaments, the private sector and other stakeholders to engage to 
support the preparatory process of the ten-year review of the Almaty Programme of Action and the conference itself; 
50. We request the Secretary-General of the United Nations to undertake all necessary measures 
to provide UN-OHRLLS with the necessary resources to enable it to carry out its tasks related to the preparations for the comprehensive revi ew of the Almaty Programme of Action and 
other related mandates given by the General Assembly; 
51. We express our sincere recognition for the constant efforts undertaken by the Government of 
the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, in its capacity as the Chair of the Landlocked Developing Countries Group, in New York, since early 2012. 
 
Done at New York, 30 September 2013 
 
 
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