10 May 2011:-Minister of Foreign Affairs, H. E. Mr. Ahmed Naseem is currently in Turkey to attend the Fourth UN Conference on LDCs, which began at Istanbul's Lutfi Kirdar Congress Centre yesterday.
Maldives is attending as a recent graduate from the list of LDCs to share its experience with graduation, and will work with rest of the UN members to assess the results of the ten-year plan of action for the Least Developed Countries (LDC), adopted at the Third UN Conference on LDCs held in Brussels, Belgium in 2001. The Conference will also adopt new measures and strategies for the sustainable development of the LDCs into the next decade.
At the opening function of the Conference held yesterday, Turkish President H. E. Mr. Abdullah Gul was chosen as chairman of the conference. The conference brings together nearly 50 heads of states and government, 10 vice-presidents, 94 ministers and chairmen of 47 international organizations, representing the private sector, scientists and members of non-governmental organizations from 192 UN-member countries .
The Minister is accompanied by Minister of State for Finance and Treasury H.E. Mr. Aslam Mohamed Shakir, and the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Maldives to the United Nations, H.E. Mr. Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed. Ms. Rose Parris Richter, Senior Advisor at the Permanent Mission in New York and Mr. Ismail Mamdhooh, Senior Desk Officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also participating the Conference.
The UN General Assembly convened the First United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Paris in 1981 to respond to the special needs of the LDCs. To continue the focus on the need for special measures for those countries, the General Assembly convened the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, also in Paris, in 1990. The third conference was held in Brussels in 2001.
There are 48 least developed countries in the world with a population of nearly 900 million. These countries are struggling against chronic structural problems in their economy, development and human resources. There are 33 African, 14 Pacific and a Latin American state among those countries. Maldives is the third graduate from the list, having graduated on 1 January 2011.
ENDS