Connectivity For All – Side Event on the sidelines of the 78th session of the UN-ESCAP | ????? ?????? ?????? ?????? ????? ??????? ??????? ???? ??????? ????? ???????? ??????? ??? ???????? ?????? ??????? ??????? ???????

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????????, 25 May 2022 - 10:00am

Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) lack territorial access to the sea and face unique challenges in achieving their development goals. These challenges include remoteness and limited access to international markets, long distances from the seaports and transit problems, reliance on transit neighbouring countries for international trade, difficulties in hard and soft infrastructure, high trade and transaction costs, lack of productive capacities, high dependence on international trade and in particular, on commodities such oil, minerals, vulnerability to climate change, desertification and land degradation amongst many.

Today, COVID-19 marks a severe development challenge for LLDCs. The pandemic is much more than a health crisis as it is resulting in significant socio-economic impacts affecting the ability of the LLDCs to achieve the goals of the Vienna Programme of Action for LLDCs for the decade 2014-2024 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The pandemic has amplified the pre-existing vulnerabilities that these group of countries experience such as: heavy reliance on transit countries for international trade; high dependency on primary commodities for exports (such as meat, soyabeans, minerals, oil etc); inadequate transport, digital and energy connectivity, and limited social protection. The dual event of a health pandemic and global recession could prove harmful to not only future progress, but past developments in the LLDCs. Thus, further hampering progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the aspirations in the Vienna Programme of Action for the LLDCs for the Decade 2014-2024. Recovery and continuing progress in the LLDCs will require enhanced and focused support from development partners, transit countries, South-South partners, UN Development System, Multilateral Development Banks, International Monetary Fund, private sector and foundations.

Improved transport connectivity is crucial for the achievement of the SDGs and VPoA in LLDCs, who because of their geography, require an efficient transit transport system in order to effectively participate in regional and global trade. Improving the transport connectivity of LLDCs requires development of both (i) the hard or the physical infrastructure, and (ii) the soft infrastructure or the necessary policies and regulatory frameworks.

The International Think Tank for LLDCs (ITTLLDC) is working with the goal of supporting LLDCs to tackle persisting and emerging challenges by providing evidence-based advisory services and organizing high-level expert group meetings and workshops as well as providing LLDCs with a platform for knowledge sharing, support for intra-LLDC collaboration, other South-South engagement and global cooperation.

The main objective of the Side event

The side event will provide a platform for constructive dialogue on the current situations of the connectivity in terms of trade, ICT and transportation in the LLDCs and ways forward to tackle the pandemic impacts and smooth and better recovery for the landlocked developing countries.