UN meets to debate on Least Developed Countries in Istanbul, Turkey

A decade after the establishment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the United Nations has convene a meeting on what can be done to assist the 49 ‘most vulnerable’ countries including Burma in their continued struggles to meet MDG benchmarks.This forum is part of a five-day series of meetings on Least Developed Countries (LDC) to be held the second week of May in Istanbul, Turkey. UN declared Burma,is in the ‘most vulnerable’ country category,a LDC in 1987. The designation followed the Burmese government’s claim, in a bid to earn LDC status and corresponding trade and development benefits, that only 20 per cent of the population was literate. Today Burma’s literacy rate is estimated at 90 per cent, and in 1987 was believed to be around 80 per cent.Millennium Development Goals are classified into eight sections: poverty alleviation, universal primary education, gender equality, reduction of infant mortality, improved maternal health, eradication of disease, environmental sustainability and development. Targets were set for achieving the goals by 2015.
Burma has a per capita gross domestic product (using the method of Purchasing Power Parity) of US$ 1,100, with a third of the country estimated to exist below the poverty line, according to CIA data. Additional country statistics reveal nine years of expected education, an infant mortality rate of 49.23 per 1,000 births and a high degree of danger from infectious diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS.

Delegates in Turkey are expected to discuss the promotion of agricultural development in LDCs, the strengthening of access to export markets, enhanced infrastructure as well as universal access to services targeting the achievement of MDGs.

The Fourth UN Conference on Least Developed Countries comes at a time when the global economic crisis has thrown up additional hurdles for LDCs in their pursuit of raising living standards. With developed countries facing their own economic troubles, there is concern of dwindling interaction between developed countries and LDCs.

However, at least one observer sees in the global atmosphere an opportunity to empower South-South relations in the fight to meet MDGs.

Syed Nuruzzaman, head of Countries with Special Needs (CSN), Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division, UN-ESCAP, told The Hindu Business Line: ‘Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar (Burma) are fortunate to be located close to a rapidly growing India’.For comparison, Indians have a per capita gross domestic product of USD 3,400, with a quarter of the population existing below the poverty line, according to CIA data. And while sharing a high risk from infectious diseases, the infant mortality rate in India is slightly lower than that of Burma at 47.57 deaths per 1,000 births.

A promise was made by 189 world leaders at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 to end poverty by 2015 when they signed onto the Millennium Declaration and agreed to meet the MDGs. The MDGs provide an eight-point road map with measurable targets and deadlines for improving the lives of the world's poorest people.
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