By Gustavo Capdevila
GENEVA, Jul 18 2003 (IPS)

The 49 poorest countries in the world benefited little or not at all in the first two years of a 10-year action plan promoted by the United Nations to help them overcome economic and social stagnation, according to the diagnosis of an international forum on development held here this week.

Per capita GDP (gross domestic product) in 15 of these countries fell in 2002 and only seven saw economic growth of three percent or more, said the UN High Representative for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Anwarul K. Chowdhury, adding an understated, "This is not a very welcome situation."

This worrisome situation was outlined in a report was drawn up by UN officials, a group of these LDCs and representatives from civil society organisations.

Elizabeth Eilor, Ugandan delegate from the Economic Policy Network of African Women, told IPS that no one in particular is to blame for the lack of achievement, "but governments, aid agencies and civil society must meet their commitments."

The tasks of the poorest countries intended to comply with the programme of action drawn up in May 2001 in Brussels have not yet materialised, says a report from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The programme of action to help the 49 LDCs in their efforts to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development was approved at a conference hosted by the UN in the Belgian capital.

The Brussels conference established commitments for these poorest countries that also involve the rest of the international community, particularly donor countries, for the period 2001 to 2010.

Among these obligations are actions to foment citizen participation, good governance at the national and international levels, and build human and institutional capacities.

Other commitments refer to boosting production capabilities so that the LDCs can benefit from globalisation, reinforcing the role of trade in development, protecting the environment and mobilising financial resources.

Previous UN conferences in 1981 and 1990, similar to the Brussels meet, also established 10-year programmes aimed at helping the most impoverished countries.

"The first two programmes did not achieve much progress," acknowledges Chowdhury. "One of the reasons of that was the absence of a follow-up mechanism."

In the third programme, for the current decade, the follow-up mechanism also appears destined to fail, particularly at the national level, said Bruno Houngan, of Benin, speaking on behalf of the independent organisation Social Alert West Africa.

The secretary-general’s report states that just 11 of the 49 LDCs have set up a national forum, as recommended by the Brussels resolutions, to discuss and evaluate the implementation of the programme of action.

Economic and social stagnation will persist as long some of the major challenges are not addressed, said activist Eilor. The pending issues for LDCs are related to fair trade, the debt crisis and macroeconomic policies, she added.

Rogatien Baiou, foreign minister for Benin, which currently chairs the LDC bloc, stressed the problems related to trade in his presentation during the sessions of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) dedicated to the situation of the LDCs.

The subsidies that the United States, European Union and China give their farmers prevent peasants in Benin, Burkina Faso and other West Africa nations from benefiting from what should be their competitive advantage in cotton trade, said Baiou.

The bloc of poor countries is demanding that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) eliminate trade barriers in order to enhance their position in the multilateral system overseen by that institution, said Chowdhury.

The UN official issued an appeal to the industrialised world to open its markets to poor countries, reduce domestic farm subsidies and cut tariffs so that the LDCs can compete on equal footing.

After all, he pointed out, the participation of the LDCs in world trade barely reaches 0.42 percent.

The latest UN estimates put the combined population of the LDCs at 718 million, or approximately 11 percent of the global population. That portion is projected to reach 13 percent by 2015.

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