NNW - 10 April - 9 May 2017

News From Non-Aligned World
NAM Committed to Istanbul Plan of Action
At the Fourth United Nations Conference on Least
Developed Countries in Istanbul, Member States agreed
on the Istanbul Programme of Action for Least Developed
Countries for the Decade 2011–2020 during formal
negotiations on 11 May 2011 in the Committee of the
Whole, and agreed on the political declaration on 13
May 2011. The overarching goal of the Istanbul
Programme of Action is to overcome the structural
challenges faced by the least developed countries, to
eradicate poverty, achieve internationally agreed
development goals, and enable half of the 48 least
developed countries to graduate out of this category by
2020.
The Istanbul Programme of Action entails the following
objectives: achieve sustained, equitable and inclusive
economic growth in least developed countries, by
strengthening their productive capacity in all sectors
through structural transformation; build human
capacities by fostering sustained, equitable and
inclusive human and social development, gender
equality and the empowerment of women; reduce least
developed countries’ vulnerability to economic,
natural and environmental shocks and disasters,
including climate change, and enhance their ability
to meet these and other challenges through
strengthening their resilience; ensure enhanced
financial resources and their effective use for the
development of least developed countries, including
through domestic resource mobilization, official
development assistance, external debt relief,
foreign direct investment and remittances; and to
enhance good governance at all levels.
By Dr. Ankit Srivastava, Editor
developed countries for the full implementation of the
commitments that have been made in the Istanbul
Programme of Action in its eight priority areas, including
providing enhanced financial and technical support to
develop productive capacities, meeting and reviewing
quantitative official development assistance targets for
the least developed countries, improving the quality of
aid, implementing duty-free quota-free market access,
enhancing the share of assistance for Aid for Trade,
continuing with the provision of debt relief and the
consideration of debt cancellation for the least developed
countries in view of the impediment that debt constitutes
for their development, implementing investment
promotion regimes, enhancing transfer of technology,
providing enhanced concessional start-up financing for
innovative enterprises in the least developed countries
and improving governance at all levels.
At the Midterm Review of Istanbul Programme held in
Ankara, Turkey in May 2016, a number of NAM Member
States shared their best practice and national
achievements. Rwanda’s delegate recounted State-driven
national experiences geared towards the end goal of
becoming a middle-income country by 2020, noting that
his country had achieved an 8 per cent growth over the
last decade, and highlighted that Rwanda had taken an
inclusive approach to development and seen a 12.5 per
cent reduction in poverty over the last decade, driven
by innovative agriculture programmes, demonstrating
that the sector was a building block for prosperity.
Guinea’s representative reported important national
achievements, including a rising growth rate, falling
inflation and effective debt cancellation programmes.
The Non-Aligned Movement in its various summits and
meetings since 2011 has expressed its commitment
towards the effective realization of the objectives entailed
in Istanbul Programme of Action. The Movement has
called for a scaled up partnership for development, as
well as the necessary comprehensive support
architecture to Less Developed Counties (LDCs) in their
efforts to ensure that at least half of them achieve the
objective and step up the ladder on the development
front from their current underdeveloped status by 2020.
At the 17th NAM Summit held in Venezuela, 2016, NAM
called for effective arrangements for implementation,
follow-up, monitoring and evaluation of the
commitments made under the Istanbul Programme of
Action. The Final Document of the Summit called upon
The representative of Zambia said that Africa, which
hosted most of the least developed countries, had the
potential to come out of that category, but would need
support from all actors. The representative of Gambia
said that, if least developed countries attained
sustainable growth, they would play an important role
in the global economy, not only as producers, but as
consumers, given their rising purchasing power.
It is clear that NAM Member States are committed
towards the realization of then goals of the Istanbul
Program, and are working with earnest efforts through
innovative approaches, creative financing measures and
strong cross-sector partnerships to achieve the same.
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10 April - 9 May, 2017