(Brussels, 15 May) Announcements of concrete actions that will benefit the world’s poorest nations are adding up on the second day of a weeklong United Nations conference on the least developed countries (LDCs).
Today, the United States launched
a set of new initiatives, including a contribution of $200 million for a
multilateral Global Trust Fund for HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB. Of the world's 30 countries with the
highest HIV/AIDS infection rate, 16 are LDCs: 13 from sub-Saharan Africa, two
from Asia and one from the Caribbean. The Global Trust Fund had been proposed
on 26 April by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, speaking at an African summit
meeting on infectious diseases.
Among other measures announced at a 15 May briefing by
US Agency for International Development (AID) Director Andrew Natsios were a
USAID budget request for an additional $224 million in support of the Highly
Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative; a request for a $20 million increase
in funding for basic education in Africa, Asia and Latin America; and support
for building trade-related capacity in LDC nations.
On the opening day of the global meeting in Brussels,
European Commission President Romano Prodi said that to mark the Conference,
the European Union would forgo payments on all outstanding LDC obligations
arising from special loans under the terms of the Lomé Convention. This
measure, he said, is a follow-up to the previously announced EU decision to
grant duty-free access to all LDC products except arms.
In a related development, leading industrialized nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development agreed on Monday to “untie” an additional $2 billion annually of bilateral aid to the 49 LDCs. “Tied” aid requires that project procurement must draw on firms in the donor country, and has been criticized as inefficient and harmful to capacity-building in recipient nations. Additional donor pledges to untie aid are expected to take place later in the week in Brussels.
Released by the UN Department of Public Information
Contact: Tim Wall 32-2-280-6295