..Press Release................................ UNESCAP News Services

Date 27 August 2007
Press Release No: N/40/2007

UN Meeting Aims to Facilitate Trade in order to Benefit Landlocked Developing Countries

Thematic Meeting on International Trade and Trade Facilitation to be held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Bangkok (United Nations Information Services) — Transporting goods over land is roughly 5 to 7 times more expensive than by sea ─ leaving many landlocked countries struggling to achieve economic development.

In an effort to address this issue, the United Nations Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will jointly hold the Thematic Meeting on International Trade and Trade Facilitation. The meeting will be hosted by the Government of Mongolia and will take place on 30 and 31 August in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Mr. Shigeru Mochida, the Deputy Executive Secretary of UNESCAP, will make a statement at the opening of the High-Level Segment of the meeting. He is expected to note that better infrastructure is not sufficient to address isolation from international markets and to focus on the need for capacity-building to promote a more transparent, consistent and predictable environment for international trade.

He is also expected to highlight the Project Working Group on Trade, which was recently established by UNESCAP and UNECE. The Working Group has identified a work plan containing projects ranging from WTO accession and regional integration to trade facilitation and supply-side capacity-building activities.

In addition UNESCAP will participate in the preparatory meeting on midterm review of the implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action in 2008. The Programme of Action is aimed at assisting landlocked developing countries to lower the costs of conducting international trade and is the genesis of the Thematic Meeting.

The Thematic Meeting is expected to adopt a document on priority areas for cooperation in trade and trade facilitation. This document will be used as a substantive contribution to the midterm review of the implementation of the Almaty Programme of Action in 2008.

For more information please contact:
Mr. Brian Thomson
Associate Public Information Officer
United Nations Information Services
UNESCAP
Tel: 022881869
Email: thomsonb@un.org