Countries in Special Situations: Development Priorities for LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS
In advance of tomorrow’s discussion on the needs of countries in special situations at the sixth session of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, CIC facilitated a workshop discussion co-hosted by H.E. Mrs. Sofia Mesquita Borges of Timor-Leste and H.E. Mr. Jean-Francis Zinsou of Benin. The workshop brought together a small group of landlocked developing countries, least developed countries, and small island developing states to discuss their priorities in the post-2015 development discussions.
In preparation for the workshop Alastaire Alinsato, Scientific Assistant at the Council of Economic Analysis in the Office of the President of Benin, and Molly Elgin-Cossart, a CIC Senior Fellow, drafted a policy brief on the needs of countries in special situations. The paper reviews common trends in countries in special situations and identifies physical and institutional infrastructures as crucial components of sustainable development.
Alinsato spoke to the group of member states remotely via the video clip below. Here he shares the paper’s highlights and explains the importance of physical and institutional infrastructures to developing nations.
Details
Video Transcript
Scenery: Alastaite Alinsato, Scientific Assistant at the Council of Economic Analysis in the Office of the President of Benin, sits in a chair and addresses the camera.
Alastaite Alinsato, Scientific Assistant at the Council of Economic Analysis in the Office of the President of Benin: Distinguished guests, ….speaking in a foreign language…I’d like first to thank you for inviting me to address this meeting on countries with special needs, especially given my own focus on undeveloped countries.
I’d like to be with you, but unfortunately this conference coincides with the… Consultation on Sustainable Development Goals here in inaudible Benin. I’ll give you a brief presentation of the paper I’ve written on this subject, and I rely on…to handle any concerns that will be raised.
The paper is about a need of countries with special situations in terms of priorities and choices. There is a considerable pressure among these undeveloped countries to participate in this global process to…..
First, because of the MDD….they are mindful that we’ve…goals that can significantly transform the world. And secondly, they believe that by actively participating in the process, they can…to make the…goals more relevant to the countries. Almost everything is a priority in poor countries, unfortunately, but at this critical juncture of the process, we need to be more focused.
If the Post-2015 agenda is to…the promise of the MDDs, it must…keep the best feature of the MDDs. Namely, goals should be specific, measurable, time-bound, feasible, simple. This policy brief tackles this….by highlighting the common trends of the 90 countries with special needs and then after provides some thoughts on the appropriate priorities.
The opportunities of the countries with special needs are many and include the strong economic performance through the economic growth and…..
The demographic dividend and rapid categorization…the end for the goals and targets on the Post-2015 agenda should be to capitalize on the potential of these strains and opportunities. Alongside these opportunities, many challenges exist and are intermittently linked to the nature of economic growth. The strong economies of these countries has been categorized as jobless growth, and has not included the share of countries in special situations in world trade, which remains around 1%.
Alongside the opportunities and challenges is serious risk facing countries in special situations. Three trends stand out: immigration, persistent cycles of violence, and vulnerability to climate….For the countries with special needs, the Post-2015 must seek to build upon the opportunities to overcome challenges and to…mitigate risks.
The paper points at two….priorities that are especially crucial to address the opportunities and challenges ahead that shall be prioritized. These are physical infrastructure and open, fair, predictable, and accountable institution infrastructure to realize the benefits of sustainable development.
Physical infrastructure is necessary to expand the market access to facilitate trade and transport and to enable better service delivery…..is needed to ensure that there is equitable access by all people to the physical infrastructures and services and to improve participation in and predictability of the decisions and policies which affect people’s daily lives.
Many thanks, and I wish you a fruitful discussion. Thank you.
For a more detailed analysis of this topic please see CIC’s policy brief, Needs of Countries in Special Situations: The Time for Priorities and Choices, a Focus on Least Developed Countries.
Publication Date:
Dec 10, 2013
Author(s):
Ashley Skiles
Topic(s):
Post 2015 Development
Program(s):
Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies
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