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UNESCAP News Services
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With H.E. Mr. Abdul Gayoom, President of the Maldives at the LDC Roundtable -- curtain raiser for GA High-level meeting on Brussels Programme of Action |
Date 19 September 2006
Press Release No. G/38/2006
ADDITIONAL 100 MILLION POOR EXPECTED IN
LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
BANGKOK (United Nations Information Services) -- Only some least developed countries (LDCs) have made good progress on socio-economic development with annual average economic growth rates reaching nearly 6 per cent.
The economic growth has been uneven and it has not made a significant impact in enhancing the average per capita income of the LDCs which remains at below the $400 level.
"This per capita income is just one fifth of the average per capita income of developing countries. All the glitter and hype surrounding the remarkable economic gains in parts of Asia-Pacific and other regions of the world have masked the fact that nearly 300 out of 750 million people in LDCs still live in deprivation and hardship," warns Mr.Kim Hak-Su, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).
The global community ought to be concerned that, in a “business-as-usual” scenario, the projections indicate that, by 2015 --- the target year of the Millennium Development Goals --- there will be an additional 100 million people impoverished in the LDCs, UNESCAP cautions.
UNESCAP's Executive Secretary was delivering remarks at the High-level Roundtable Discussion on the Midterm Comprehensive Global Review of the Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) for the Decade 2001-2010 held on 18 September 2006 at UN Headquarters in New York.
The joint Roundtable was organized by the Office of the High Representative of the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing Countries (OHRLLS), the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). Keynote Statements were delivered at the joint Roundtable by H.E. Boni Yayi, President of Republic of Benin, Chair of LDC Group and H.E. Maumoon Abdul Ghayum, President of Maldives, who represents Asia-Pacific LDCs.
The Roundtable discussion was a ‘curtain-raiser’ for the General Assembly High-level Meeting on the Mid-term Comprehensive Global Review of the Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010 (Brussels Programme of Action), to be held in New York on 18 and 19 September 2006.
The theme of the Roundtable, “Redeeming the Commitment”, draws on the experiences gained, so far, in the implementation of the Brussels Programme of Action (BPA). The discussion focused on the ways and means to expedite the process of achieving the commitments contained in the BPA as well as the new challenges that have emerged and the priorities for future action.
The Roundtable also offered concrete solutions of a practical nature on how to ensure the expeditious implementation of these commitments by the end of the plan period.
For further information, please contact:
David Lazarus, Chief, UN Information Services Bangkok
Tel: (66-2) 288-1866
Fax: (66-2) 288-1052
E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org
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