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Press
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UNESCAP News Services
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Date 24
April 2004
Press Release No: G/07/2004; REC 156
REGIONAL EFFORTS A USEFUL HALFWAY STEP ON PATH
TO INTERNATIONAL AID FOR LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, SHANGHAI
ASIAN SUMMIT TOLD
SHANGHAI (UN Information Services) -- Regional efforts to
help the least developed countries work their way out of extreme
poverty are a useful halfway house between needed global action
and the primary responsibility of the least developed countries
themselves, UN Under-Secretary-General Anwarul Chowdhury said
at an Asian summit meeting on economic and social affairs.
Actions taken by some of the more advanced developing countries
in Asia on behalf of 14 nations in the Asian and Pacific region
categorized as least developed countries were cited by Mr.
Chowdhury, the UN High Representative for the Least Developed
Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island
Developing States.
These actions include China's cancellation or
steep reduction of more than $1 billion in debt and tariff-free
entry for products from these countries. Malaysia has provided
training in management, agriculture and diplomacy to least developed
countries Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic and Myanmar;
and countries like India, Republic of Korea and Malaysia are
leading sources of investment in Asian least developed countries.
In addition, a new Asian Highway network linking
32 countries, conceived and organized by the Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), will be of particular
benefit to poorer countries. Four of the 32 participating nations
-- Afghanistan, Bhutan, Laos and Nepal -- are both landlocked
and among the least developed.
"Regional development cooperation, particularly
in the shape of South-South cooperation, would open up potential
opportunities and provide a good framework of international
support to the LDCs", Under-Secretary-General Chowdhury
said to a high-level panel discussion at ESCAP's annual meeting
of 62 member countries, held this year in Shanghai.
"Aid alone cannot meet the needs of the least
developed countries", said ESCAP Executive Secretary Kim
Hak-Su, calling for regional support in areas such as trade,
investment and migration and agricultural policies.
A signing ceremony for the Asian Highway Agreement,
which is designed to bring into being a 144,000-kilometre overland
network, will take place on 26 April, at the opening of the
ministerial segment of the ESCAP meeting.
For more information, contact Tim Wall of the
Development Section of the UN Department of Public Information,
1-917-517-9210.
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