WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
WT/L/864 
WT/GC/148 
WT/COMTD/75 28 September 2012 
 
(12-5238) 
General Council Committee on Trade and Development Original:   English 
 
 
 
ALMATY MINISTERIAL DECLARATION 
 
Adopted at the Fourth Meeting of Trade Ministers of Landlocked Developing Countries, 
held in Almaty, 12 September 2012 
  
 The following communication, dated 26 September 2012, is being circulated at the request of the Delegation of Paraguay.  
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  We, the Ministers and officials responsible for trade of the Landlocked Developing Countries 
(LLDCs), meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on 12 of  September 2012, with the objective of defining 
common positions on strategies, new measures and actions to address the most pressing trade and development needs of our countries, providing guidance for the preparation of the ten year review 
Conference of the Almaty Programme of Action and expressing the need to continuing working with 
a successor plan;    Noting that lack of direct access to and from th e sea impairs the economic and social 
development of the landlocked developing countries and that our geographical disadvantage reduces 
our growth dynamics compared with coastal countries making our countries the most disadvantaged 
ones in their respective regions;    Reaffirming that trade liberalization requires a balan ced, well managed and fair approach for 
developing countries, in particular for LLDCs;  
 
 Emphasizing the potential benefits of the multilateral trading system for achieving a non-
discriminatory, rules-based and predictable trad e environment which would provide every country, 
regardless of its territorial size, population, or le vel of development the opportunity to effectively and 
beneficially participate in global trade;    
 Underlining  the critical importance of concluding the negotiations on the Doha Development 
Agenda with development-related outcomes that take fully into account the trade and development 
needs, challenges and priorities of LLDCs;    Recognizing that addressing the challenges of landlo ckedness requires appropriate domestic 
policies and measures by their transit neighbors, as well as a supportive international environment, to 
create positive synergies between the State, society and business;  
  Expressing  our concern about the re-emergence of rising food and energy prices, compounded 
by the negative impact of climate change, whic h adversely impact on the economic and social WT/L/864 
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  progress achieved by the landlocked developing countries in recent years and have increased their 
vulnerability and weakened their ability to ach ieve the Millennium Development Goals;  
 
 Underlining the need to adopt general as well as spec ific support measures for LLDCs in the 
WTO, as well as in other relevant trade fora, ta king into account the partic ular needs and special 
problems of these countries;    Recognizing the importance of the universal membership of the WTO, while highlighting,  at 
the same time the serious challenges, faced by LLDCs acceding to the WTO – namely Afghanistan, 
Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan,  Lao PDR, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan;  
  Recalling the Almaty Declaration and the Almaty Programme of Action: Addressing the 
Special Needs of Landlocked Developing Countri es within a New Global Framework for Transit 
Transport Cooperation for Landlocked a nd Transit Developing Countries;  
  Recalling  also the United Nations Millennium Declaration and the outcome of the 2005 
World Summit;    Further recalling the Asunción Platform, the Ulaanbaatar Declaration and the Ezulwini 
Declaration;  
  Recalling  the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable 
Development, entitled "The future we want" inv iting Member States, as well as the United Nations 
organization and other relevant in ternational, regional and subregio nal bodies, to speed up further the 
implementation of the specific actions in the five priorities agreed upon in the Almaty Programme of 
Action.;    Recalling  the Doha Mandate adopted by the UNCT AD XIII Conference, mandates UNCTAD 
to further address the special trade, investment and development needs of landlocked developing countries;  
 
 Recalling the General Assembly resolution 66/214 on convening a comprehensive ten-year 
review conference of the Almaty Programme of Action in 2014, based on preparatory work at regional and global levels as well as through thematic events,   
 
 We the Ministers 
  Aware that the impact of the financial cris is and the economic slow down in major developed 
countries has spread to developing countries, in cluding the landlocked ones, and that economic 
recovery has remained so far fragile and uncertain,  
 State that strengthening international coopera tion with a view to improving the international 
economic environment and to unlocking international trade negotiations in all areas, together with the 
construction of a supportive, fair, balanced and rules-based economic frame work, are key elements 
for the promotion of inclusive and equitable ec onomic growth and sustainable development,  
 
 Agree as follows 
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  Development Objectives  
 
1. Poverty reduction and sustainable and inclusive development are key and 
fundamental development objectives of Landlocked Developing Countries. The 
structural transformation, including m odernization and specialization of the 
productive sectors and improving physical infrast ructure has to be done in a way that 
is supportive to achieving national developm ent objectives and internationally agreed 
development goals, including the MDGs. 
 
 Developing Productive Capacities 
 
2. With a view to mitigating the adverse development impact of landlockedness, 
comprehensive, coherent and c oordinated policies are needed at all levels in the areas 
of investment, infrastructure (production, transport, telecommunications and energy), 
logistics (transport and trade facilitation), technology, to support efforts of LLDCs 
towards:  
 
 The development of a strong science and technology innovation base to 
addressing many of the persistent and emerging trade and development 
challenges that our countries face. Cooperation in the transfer of appropriate 
technology will play a key role in this regard.  
 
 The development of national and lo cal productive capacities, product and 
market diversification, upgrading physi cal infrastructure in order to enhance 
competitiveness, profitability, and reducing vulnerability to external shocks. 
 
3. Reaffirm our commitment to undertake bol d action for industrial and agriculture 
sector development, supported by suffici ent policy space and complemented by 
action at the global level to effectively address the distorting effects of measures such as export subsidies, and calling other WTO members to do the same. 
 
4. Call upon the international community to assist with the design and development of 
vulnerability indicators that would serv e as early warning mechanism to assess 
external shock vulnerability. 
 
5. There is a need for concerted measures and actions to support LLDCs’ efforts to 
reduce commodity dependence, including through the diversification of their export 
base, and enhanced processing of the commodities. We call upon the international 
community to enhance efforts to support LLDCs including through the EIF and other programs, in diversifying their exports, throug h - inter alia - the transfer of relevant 
technologies, support to developing and st rengthen their productive capacities, and 
capacity building in developing relevant policies. 
 
Promoting investment  
 
6. Public and private investment, including foreign direct investment, should be 
strengthened. Moreover, LLDC governments,  with the support from bilateral and 
multilateral donors, should encourage and facilitate private sector development, 
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  partnership, entrepreneurship development and supports to small and medium-sized 
enterprises.  
 
WTO Negotiations 
 
7. We urge the international community to work towards the establishment of clear, 
balanced, fair and transparent trade rul es. We call upon the members of the World 
Trade Organization to advance all areas of  the Doha Development Round within the 
framework of the single undertaking, partic ularly in areas that have strong positive 
impacts on the trade flows of LLDCs, such as trade facilitation, ma rket access and the 
elimination of NTBs and other trade dist orting measures, as well as implementation 
issues.  Moreover, in a time of fragile ec onomic recovery, we urge our partners to 
refrain from imposing measures that limit market access. 
 
8. The WTO negotiations have to be conducted in  a way that enables effective, full and 
democratic participation of all WTO Me mbers through maintaining a multilateral, 
transparent, bottom up and member driven ne gotiation process in order to arrive at a 
successful conclusion with an ambitious, balanced and equitable outcome which 
ensures, inter alia, improved market access for agricultural and non agricultural 
export products of LLDCs. 
 
9. We express our commitments to the ongoing negotiations on Trade Facilitation, 
particularly of Freedom of Transit and Sp ecial and Differential Treatment and call on 
Members to accelerate progress in these areas, which are particularly important for 
LLDCs to gain a more efficient flow of goods and services as well as improved 
international competitiveness resulti ng from lower transaction costs. 
 
10. The future agreement on trade facilitation, in the final outcome of the Doha Round, 
need to contain binding commitments en suring the freedom of transit, customs 
cooperation, expedited movement, release and clearance of goods, as well as, special 
and differential treatment with financial support.  
 
11. We call for the adoption of more ambitious and development-friendly text that would 
address the issues that are important for the exports and imports of LLDCs. 
 
12. Reiterate  our support to the proposal made by the members of the Sectorial Initiative 
in favour of Cotton (C4)  related to the ambitious reduction of the agricultural 
domestic support which distorts the intern ational cotton market. WTO Members are 
also urged to adopt measures to improve ma rket access for cotton and cotton derived 
products. 
 
WTO Accession 
 
13. The accession procedure  for landlocked developing c ountries should be simplified. 
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 to the WTO. All provisions on Special and 
Differential Treatment reflected in the GA TT and in all WTO agreements must be 
effectively granted to all acceding LLDCs. 
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  Aid for Trade 
 
14. Aid for Trade, including EIF, is essential fo r our countries to make effective use of 
the multilateral trading system. Aid for Trade to the transport and storage sector, to 
support regional integration, and to establish and support transit corridors in LLDCs and transit countries should be a priority for Aid for Trade commitments to LLDCs. 
We welcome the fourth Global Review of Aid for Trade in 2013 and we encourage 
the WTO and the OECD to map the assistance provided to LLDCs. 
 
15. Call upon development partners to effectiv ely support the Aid for Trade initiative, 
through speedy disbursement of funds, giving adequate consideration to the special 
needs and requirements of LLDCs, includi ng capacity-building for the formulation of 
trade policies, participation in trade negotiations and impl ementation of trade 
facilitation measures, development of trade-related infrastructure as well as the 
diversification of export products and st rengthening of productive capacities with a 
view to increasing the competitiveness of LLDCs’ products in export markets. 
 
International Support 
 
16. We urge our bilateral and multilateral donor s to increase their technical and financial 
assistance in areas of interest to LLDCs in support of our national efforts to overcome the obstacles imposed by geography and to integrate LLDCs more beneficially into the multilateral trading system. This assistance should complement our national efforts aimed at diversifying the domestic  production structure and ensure a better 
integration into the global economy with competitive goods and services that 
minimize transaction costs related to the specific geographical situation of LLDCs. 
 
17. By expressing our appreciation to the coope ration provided by the organizations of 
the United Nations system, in particul ar UNCTAD, OHRLLS, UNDP, UNIDO, the 
UN Regional Economic Commissions and ot her international organizations, 
especially WTO, WCO, CFC, IRU, ITC, the World Bank and the regional 
development banks, regional organization, regional economic communities, we invite 
them to strengthen, within the context of their respective mandates, their efforts to 
help mitigate the constraining effects of landlockedness on our economic development and to provide more and better targeted technical assistance for the 
structural transformation of our economies.  
 
18. We attach high importance and intend to further strengthen South-South cooperation 
and triangular cooperation as a means for di versified trade opportunities, additional 
foreign direct investment flows that cont ribute to the sustainable development of 
LLDCs, as well as cooperation in the tran sfer of appropriate technology.  
 
19. We will further broaden regional integr ation as a mechanism towards improved 
transit transport connectivity and for ensu ring greater intra-regional trade, common 
regulatory policies, border agency cooperation and harmonized customs procedures as well as to promote a better coordination and deepening of regional markets. We 
support the ongoing regional integration pr ocesses in our regions and call on our 
partners to support these initiatives. We s hould consider joining and implementing 
UN Facilitation Agreements. 
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  New and Emerging Challenges  
 
20. In addition to efforts aimed at improving our  transit transport situation, LLDCs need 
to be prepared to face the new a nd emerging challenges and boldly grasp 
opportunities. We also appeal to our b ilateral and multilateral donors, as well as 
relevant international organizations, to assist LLDCs in addressing these challenges. 
 
21. Call for international support to help th e LLDCs to address the negative impacts of 
climate change on the availability of natural resource s, in particular water and arable 
land. Desertification, land degradation and scarcity of water for human consumption 
as well as for industrial and agricultural purpo ses pose a real threat to the livelihood 
of future generations in many LLDCs. 
 
22. Climate change adaptation and access to climate friendly technology have become 
priority issues for many LLDCs. We call on the international community to adopt and 
to implement pertinent measures that he lp LLDCs, consistent with the UNFCCC 
commitments, to adjust to the impact of changing climatic conditi ons. In this regard, 
we welcome the Astana Green Bridge Partne rship Program which would be of special 
importance to encourage transfer of green technologies to LLDCs. 
 
23. LLDCs should make better use of the opportunities that information and 
communication technologies offer to participate in international trade with exports, 
particularly services, that are less or not distance-sensitive. We therefore call on bilateral and multilateral donors to provide financial and technical assistance needed 
to improve both the IT infrastructure and connectivity in our countries and to train the 
human resources required for such activities.  
 
24. Food insecurity poses a serious threat to the political, social and economic stability of 
LLDCs. Overcoming this challenge requir es multifaceted solutions which includes 
inter alia the elimination of trade distorting measures, technological upgrading, 
addressing the effects of climate change in the agricultural sector and elimination of 
speculation in the global food markets.  
 
25. Sustainable development should guide LLDCs efforts in achieving food 
sustainability.  
 
26. A strong energy infrastructure in LLDCs is  needed to advance the development of 
domestic productive capacity and to better connect the regional and international 
markets. We call on the international commun ity to enhance its support to create such 
infrastructure in our countries. In this c ontext, we also reemphasize that resources 
should be mobilized for the production, dist ribution and marketing of clean energy. 
  The Almaty Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries  
 
27. Note that the Almaty Programme of Ac tion contributed to some progress in 
landlocked developing countries and thei r transit neighbors in implementing 
important policy reforms to remove phys ical and non-physical barriers to the 
effective participation of LLDCs in globa l trade. However, this progress was uneven 
among the LLDCs and often limited in scope and impact. Worse, the global 
repercussions of the economic crisis in developed countries threaten to undermine 
this progress in many LLDCs. Furthermore, over the past ten years, challenges and  WT/L/864 
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  opportunities have arisen for LLDCs that were not yet visible at the time of preparing 
the Almaty PoA, hence we seek to have  the opportunity to enhance the Almaty 
Agenda. 
 
28. Recognize the efforts that have been made at national, sub-regional, regional and 
international levels to improve and ma intain the physical transit transport 
infrastructure to allow greater access of LLDCs to and from sea ports and the international markets. However, given the large gaps in and poor quality of transport 
infrastructure, we call on the interna tional community to increase specific and 
targeted financial and technical assistance to the development and maintenance of physical transport infrastructure in landloc ked developing countries and their transit 
neighbors, with a view to closing of th e missing links, to enhancing intraregional 
connectivity and ensuring the proper functioning of transit corridors. 
 
The Way Forward 
 
29. Emphasis the need to strengthen the coordi nation of LLDCs in trade negotiations at 
WTO, giving particular attention to freedom  of transit and other relevant aspects of 
trade facilitation, elimination of distorting measures, market access with particular 
emphasis on our development needs and supporting the accession process of the 
landlocked acceding countries.  
 
30. LLDCs, including through their Missions  in Geneva, should strengthen their 
substantive cooperation with UNCTAD on matters  of particular interest to LLDCs, 
including trade, development and interre lated issues in the areas of finance, 
technology, investment and sustainable and inclusive development.  
 
31. We urge those LLDCs, which have not done so, to accede to the Multilateral 
Agreement on the establishment of the In ternational Think Tank for the LLDCs in 
order to bring the Think Tank to full operation, and invite the Office of the High 
Representative and relevant organizations of the United Nations system, Member 
States, including development partners, and relevant intern ational and regional 
organizations to support the think tank, as it will play an important role in enhancing 
the analytical capability of LLDCs and provi de home-grown research to cater for our 
specific needs.  
 
32. We commit ourselves to engage fully in the preparatory process for the ten-year 
review conference of the Almaty Programme  of Action and to participate in the 
conference itself at the highest level po ssible. We call upon our bilateral and 
multilateral donors and the international comm unity to give particular importance to 
the preparatory process and invite them to  actively participate in the conference. 
 
33. We express our expectation that the comprehensive ten-year review conference 
should come up with a successor programme of action which outlines concrete and comprehensive measures and actions to be pursued by LLDCs, their transit neighbors 
and other partners, and their partners to en able the landlocked developing countries to 
integrate more effectively into the global trading system and move closer to achieving 
the internationally agreed development goals.  
 
34. We request the relevant United Nations Organizations, particularly UNCTAD, UN-
OHRLLS, UNDP, UNIDO, the UN Regional Economic Commissions, other WT/L/864 
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  international organizations, especially, WTO, WCO, CFC, IRU, ITC, the World 
Bank, regional developmen t banks, regional organiza tions, regional economic 
communities, national parliaments, the private sector, the civil society and other 
stakeholders to support and provide inputs to the preparation of a successor 
programme  of action of the Almaty Programme of Action. 
 
35. Invite donor countries and the international financial and development institutions to 
make voluntary contributions to the Trust Fund established by the Secretary-General 
to support the activities related to the follow -up to the implementation of the outcome 
of the Almaty International Ministerial Conference, as well as the participation of landlocked developing countries in the prep aratory process and in the comprehensive 
ten-year review conference itself. 
 
Acknowledgment 
 
36. We express our sincere appreciation for th e constant efforts undertaken by Paraguay 
in its capacity of Coordinator for trade and development issues of the Group of 
Landlocked Developing Countries in Gene va, and by Lao People's Democratic 
Republic in its capacity of Chair of the Group of LLDCs in New York. 
 
37. We express our profound appreciation to  the Government and the people of 
Kazakhstan for hosting this event. 
 
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