Summit of world’s poorest nations opens in Istanbul

ISTANBUL—Leaders of the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs) kicked off a five-day, UN-backed summit in Istanbul Monday to weigh a new 10-year aid plan to help lift their nations out of poverty.

“Investing in the LDCs can provide the stimulus that will help to propel and sustain global economic recovery and stability,” said UN chief Ban Ki-moon in opening remarks to the conference.

“This is not a charity, it is smart investment,” he added.

“It is time to change our mindset, instead of seeing LDC’s as the poor and weak, let us recognize these 48 countries as best reservoir of untouched potential. Investing in LDCs is an opportunity for all.”

The UN secretary general stressed the need to support agriculture in those countries, a sector in which 70 percent of the population is employed.

“The LDCs are facing a real prospect of a new crisis in food and nutrition security,” he warned.

Ban later told a press conference that his organization would set up mechanisms to monitor the delivery of aid pledges by donor countries to the LDCs.

“We have received a lot of very generous pledges in the past, but not all of them have been delivered and the accountability will be very important,” he said.

“There shall be aid predictability from the donor countries so that the receiving countries will be able to have a better programming of their economic policies,” he added.

The Istanbul gathering is being chaired by Turkish President Abdullah Gul while the head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, attended the opening session.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was also expected to turn up.

“The Istanbul Programme of Action should be able to make a difference in lives of one billion people living in LDCs,” said Gul, calling for a mid-term conference in 2015 to monitor the implementation of the new program.

The new Istanbul Action Programme is being negotiated in the conference after the expiry of the former Brussels plan in 2010.

LDC countries, defined as those with a per capita income of less than $745, group 33 states from Africa, 14 from Asia plus Haiti.

A key issue facing the participants is the rise in food prices in recent months, which has fuelled both economic and social turmoil in several poor countries.

“The increase in food prices is a serious challenge, and also an opportunity,” the UN said.

World Bank Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, attending the conference as an observer, told AFP that supporting long-term farm production and developing food stocks for “humanitarian purposes” is crucial to fostering stability in poorer nations.

She also urged countries to “not impose restrictions on imports.”

Aid must also be targetted to countries emerging from conflict, by helping them “create jobs…and rebuild their private sector,” she added.

Citizens of these countries contribute only one percent to commercial activity worldwide.

The UN-backed conference takes place every ten years. France hosted the first two in 1981 and 1990. The third was held in Brussels in 2001.