Valley
Asia-Pacific LDC ministerial meet begins today
Nepal government in collaboration with the United Nations Office of the High Representative for LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS (UNOHRLLS) is organising a three-day Ministerial MeetingPrime Minister Sushil Koirala is scheduled to inaugurate and address the meeting. The meeting aims to contribute towards the graduation process in LDCs through sharing of experiences and ideas.
“The outcome of the meeting is also expected to feed into the processes leading to the post-2015 development agenda as well as the Financing for Development Conference. Nepal has also announced timeline for graduation from LDC status by 2022 and is in the process of drafting a graduation strategy,” said a Foreign Ministry statement on Monday.
The three day meeting will be attended by the Ministers and high-level delegations from Asia-Pacific LDCs, representatives from development partners, UN organisations, international organisations, regional organisations, and experts from civil society organisations, private sector and academia. Ministers
and representatives from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Yemen, will participate in the
meeting.
Senior officials from 14 developed countries, who have been contributing for the cause of LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS, will also participate in the meeting. The LDCs comprise more than 880 million people ( around 12 percent of world population), but account for less than two percent of world GDP and about one percent of global trade
in goods.
Ever since the category of LDCs was established by the UN General Assembly in 1971, the international community has been paying greater attention to the development of the LDCs including through national actions and international support measures
contained in the successive program of action.