The situation of the world's least developed countries to be reviewed in UN conference
Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
Ministry of Labour
http://www.mol.fi/english(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)
Press release 363/2006
18 September, 2006
Has the situation of the world's least developed countries improved in the last five years? What are the most central problems - and what could be the solutions in the next few years? The high-level UN conference to be arranged in New York on 18-19 September will review the situation of the least developed countries and the implementation of the action plan adopted five years ago to improve it. The Finnish delegation representing the EU will be led by the Minister of Labour, Ms Tarja Filatov.
The UN has organised conferences on the least developed countries in 1981, 1990 and 2001. As a conclusion of the third one of these held in Brussels, a declaration and a 10-year action programme for the least developed countries were adopted. This, the so-called Brussels action plan, is a far-reaching strategy to eradicate poverty, which was constructed for the special needs of the least developed countries. The programme includes liabilities for both the developing countries and the providers of assistance, and it emphasises the importance of partnership between the parties. For the purpose of the implementation and monitoring of the action plan, national, regional and global monitoring mechanisms were created. The implementation of this programme is monitored on an annual basis by ECOSOC, the UN Economic and Social Council, and by multilateral UN organisations in various sectors.
At the present meeting, the implementation of the commitments made in 2001 will be assessed. The meeting will also offer an opportunity to reinforce the commitment of the parties to the implementation of the action plan. At the same time, experiences of the best operating methods can be exchanged, and problems and models for solving them can be identified in order to ensure the best possible implementation of the latter half of the action plan. The interim review conference has been preceded by a number of national and regional meetings in the least developed countries. In April, the assistance providers and UN sub-organisations were consulted, and in May, NGOs.
In this conference, Finland will represent the European Union. The Finnish delegation will be led by Minister of Labour Tarja Filatov, who will also address the conference on behalf of the EU on Monday 18 September. The vice chairperson of the delegation will be the Under-Secretary of State on Development Policy, Ms Marjatta Rasi. In addition, the delegation will consist of civil servants of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Labour, as well as the Secretary General of Kehys Ry (the Finnish NGDO Platform to the EU) as an NGO representative.
For more information please contact: Counsellor Jouko Leinonen, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, [email protected], tel. + 358 (0)9 160 56335, Counsellor Tarja Fernandez, Finland's Permanent Mission to the UN, [email protected], tel. +1 212 821 0276, Director of International Affairs Sirkka Potila, Ministry of Labour, tel. +358 (0)10 604 8016, http://www.un.org/special-rep/ohrlls/ohrlls/default.htm(Link to another website.) (Opens New Window)
Speech by Minister Filatov(Link to another website.)