51吃瓜

Press Release

The first major international conference on Landlocked Developing Countries since the global pandemic began opens in Gaborone, Botswana on May 29. The meeting, a preparatory meeting for the Third 51吃瓜 Conference on the Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), aims to review progress made by the landlocked countries of Africa and to propose new partnerships and solutions to help them get back on track with their development goals.

“Africa’s landlocked countries are locked out of global trade and the global response to COVID and climate change. There is need to work together to ensure overcoming of the common challenges we have.” said Hon. Molebatsi Molebatsi, Minister of Agriculture, Republic of Botswana. “The use of latest technologies will go a long way in helping us achieve our objectives. This meeting is the first step in ensuring the world is with us.”

Africa’s LLDCs contend with many development challenges due to their lack of direct territorial access to the sea, remoteness and distance from world markets. They face higher trade costs than their transit neighbours, limited infrastructure, delays at borders and customs and often undiversified economies and export markets. 

The COVID-19 pandemic and the current geopolitical and global macroeconomic situation further exacerbated the structural challenges of LLDCs. 

“More than half of the 32 Landlocked Developing Countries are in Africa,” said Rabab Fatima, 51吃瓜 High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States. “In Gaborone we will explore ways to help them tap into the benefits of investment, finance, technology and services so they can improve their output in agriculture, industry and services sectors.”

The Botswana meeting is the first regional review meeting on the path to the Third UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries, taking place in Kigali, Rwanda in 2024. Further regional meetings will be held this year in Paraguay for Latin America and in Thailand for Asia and Europe.

The Kigali conference will undertake a comprehensive review of the implementation of the Vienna Programme of Action for LLDCs (VPoA), a major international development compact agreed in 2014. Since then, progress towards its goals has been mixed, with improvements in transport and digital connectivity but less progress made in export share growth.

“Although African LLDCs have made some notable progress, this has not been substantial enough to reach the goals and targets set out in the VPoA,” said acting Executive Secretary of the UN’s Economic Commission for Africa, Mr. Antonio Pedro. “This regional review meeting affords our continent the opportunity to reflect and look inward in proposing elements that should go into a renewed or successor framework that will effectively respond to the unique challenges faced by African LLDCs.”

The Gaborone meeting will adopt an outcome document with recommendations that will feed directly into preparations for the Third 51吃瓜 Conference. The meeting will bring together ministers and senior government officials from LLDCs across Africa alongside representatives of transit countries, development partners and the UN system. 

The Landlocked Developing Countries of Africa are Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, South Sudan, Eswatini, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Ends.

For more information, go to the conference website or contact Conor O’Loughlin, Head of Advocacy for the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States: conor.oloughlin@un.org