After two previous and not very successful United Nations Conferences on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), held in 1981 and 1990, a third will take place in May 2001 in Brussels, to be hosted by the European Union. The lack of tangible progress from the first two conferences and the extreme marginal position LDCs continue to find themselves in has spurred the launch of this first global initiative in the new millennium. Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said "the central question that we must address is the 20-year-old credibility problem over commitments to reverse the increasing marginalization of these countries and to put them on a sustainable development path".

At the Conference, priorities regarding the sustainable development of LDCs and the implementation of effective national policies will be examined, including:

• Significantly reducing extreme poverty: This can only occur once sustained growth levels of 7 to 8 per cent have been attained. The economic growth rate of LDCs in the past decade has been too slow to have made a substantial impact on the exceptionally high poverty rates persistent in these countries. One of the fundamental targets of the Programme of Action adopted at the first UN Conference on LDCs is the reduction of extreme poverty by one half by 2015. In order to attain this goal, LDCs will have to realize constant increases in annual growth rates of 5 to 6 per cent by 2006 and 6 to 8 per cent by the end of the decade.
  
  
• Developing human resources to support long-term development: The potential and ability of citizens of LDCs need to be acknowledged and advanced. Attempts to develop human capacities in these countries have been constrained by forces such as slow demographic transition, low school enrolment and health, nutrition and sanitation status, including the prevalence of diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
  
  
• Expediting growth and employment and increasing LDCs share in world trade and global investment flows: Economic growth and development in LDCs are hindered by supply-side deficiencies, such as low technological capacity, inadequate physical infrastructure, lack of access of the poor to productive resources and services, lack of institutional capacities in both public and private sectors and of skilled human resources, and lack of an enabling business environment.

The abject poverty and economic marginalization of LDCs have affected the well-being of the entire inter-national community. Currently, LDCs comprise 48 countries — a constantly growing number — with a combined population of 610.5 million, equal to 10.5 per cent of world population.

For further information on the Third UN Conference on LDCs, please visit: http://www.un.org/events/ldc3/conference/ldc3.htm and on UNCTAD: http://www.unctad.org/en/.