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ECA and UN-OHRLLS to Organize the African Regional Review Meeting of the Almaty Programme of Action
Addis Ababa , 16 June 2008 (ECA) – The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) will host from 17 to 20 June 2008 in Addis Ababa , the African Regional Review Meeting of the Almaty Programme of Action, which laid out specific measures to assist landlocked and transit developing countries in overcoming their geographical handicap.
Around 80 national Directors of transport, planning, infrastructure development and customs organizations will attend this meeting.
The UN-Under Secretary General and Executive Secretary of ECA Mr. Abdoulie Janneh and Mr. Diarra, UN Under Secretary General and High Representative of the UN Office of the High Representative for Leat Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLSS) are also in attendance. The Addis meeting precedes the global review meeting to be held in New York in October this year.
The African Regional Review Meeting will appraise the effectiveness of strategies put in place since 2003 by African countries to overcome limitations which stem from the lack of territorial access to the sea, delays and uncertainties in trade routes, inadequate transport networks, the remoteness from world markets and resulting high transits costs. These challenges have substantially inflated transportation costs with considerable trade reducing effects. Landlocked African countries are among the poorest of the developing countries, with the weakest growth rates, and are typically heavily dependent on a very limited number of commodities for their export earnings.
Remoteness from major world markets is one of the key impediments to the successful implementation of the Almaty Plan of Action in Africa. In this regard, participants to the Addis meeting will devote a great deal of attention to how WTO negotiations on Trade Facilitation, as well as the Aid for Trade Initiative can be harnessed to address the special needs of landlocked and transit countries in terms of a better access to international trade. Other key issues on the agenda include: fundamental transit policy, infrastructure development and maintenance as well as international support measures.
Although the Almaty Programme Action does not have any specific funding mechanisms, several initiatives such as the Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Programme (SSATP) have yielded considerable results including the establishment of road funds in at least 27 countries and road agencies in 18 countries. The creation of road authorities has increased the effectiveness and efficiency of road sector expenditures and this is reflected in the improvement of the overall condition of several road networks.
Equally, trade hubs in the major RECs have made a significant contribution to transport and trade facilitation in several transport and development corridors.
Background:
The Economic Commission for Africa, in its capacity as the UN Regional arm in Africa has been mandated by the General Assembly in its resolution 61/212 of 20 December 2006 to coordinate the preparatory process for the Mid-Term Review of the Almaty Programme of Action in collaboration with the Office of the High Representatives for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and the small Island Developing States. The Almaty Programme of Action, which was adopted in 2003, sets out specific action-oriented measures to be undertaken by both landlocked and transit developing countries with the support of their development partners in five priority areas. These include: (a) Policy improvements to reduce customs bureaucracy and fees and ultimately cut costs and travel delays for exports from landlocked countries; (b) Scale-up rail, road, air and pipeline infrastructure for landlocked countries; (c) Optimize international trade measure to give preferential treatment to goods originating from landlocked countries; (d) Strengthen technical and financial international assistance for infrastructure and policy
improvements in the targeted countries; (e) Establish appropriate monitoring and follow-up mechanisms to measure progress in the implementation of the programme.
In 2007, as part of the preparatory process of the midterm review of the implementation of the Almaty Programme, two thematic meetings were held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia with focus respectively on transit transport infrastructure development and international trade and trade facilitation. The New York meeting in October 2008 will represent the culmination of the mid-term review.
:: Meeting Documents
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