Video Message
High-Level Africa Regional Review of the Vienna Programme of Action for the Landlocked Developing Countries for the Decade 2014–2024
Gaborone, Botswana, 29–30 May 2023
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to address this high-level review meeting for the Vienna Programme of Action.
Allow me to begin by commending the organizers – Minister Kgafela and my colleagues in OHRLLS and ECA – for their visionary leadership. I also thank the African Member States for their active engagement with the United Nations.
Distinguished delegates,
At the heart of the 2030 Agenda is a commitment to leave no one behind.
But according to the most recent Secretary-General’s SDG progress report, the Agenda threatens to become a broken promise.
Unless we make a major shift and deliver on our commitment, we will fail current and future generations – in Africa and around the world.
Indeed, if we continue on this trajectory, 575 million people would still be living in extreme poverty in 2030.
Some 84 million children would be out of school.
300 million young people who attend school would leave unable to read and write.
Natural disasters would continue to affect many - especially those that are already the most vulnerable.
This is why Secretary-General Guterres has asked world leaders, at the SDG Summit in September, to rally behind a SDG Stimulus Plan, a rescue plan for people and planet. A plan driven by bold and transformative policies at all levels - from community planning, to national budgets, to the international financial architecture.
Such a rescue plan would need to urgently address the special challenges faced by LLDCs. LLDCs rely heavily on cooperation with their neighbours to access seaports and other vital infrastructure for global connectivity. Effective systems of transport, transit and communication, both within and across borders are critical. Effective partnerships between LLDCs, transit countries and development partners are key.
UN DESA remains committed to addressing the special needs of landlocked developing countries - through technical cooperation, research and analysis, and intergovernmental and expert processes.
Already, our work with LLDCs is seeking to build their capacities in key areas with cross-cutting impact.
DESA has been providing technical support on domestic resource mobilization including through establishment of Integrated National Financing Frameworks. For example, DESA is supporting the implementation of Integrated National Financing Frameworks in Burkina Faso, Kyrgyzstan, and Zambia to develop a finance strategy for the achievement of your national sustainable development priorities and the SDGs.
Our work has focused also on building statistical capacity. DESA has collaborated with Burundi, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Nepal, Tajikistan, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, to improve the data availability and accessibility for the SDGs.
In Botswana, Central African Republic, Eswatini, Malawi, Lesotho, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, DESA has worked with government officials to develop and update existing forest action plans with the aim of enhancing the contributions of forests to socio-economic recovery from the impacts of the pandemic.
And we have worked with others on effectively transitioning from LDC status and on implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other foundational normative frameworks.
We will continue to build our work in needed areas to provide LLDCs with the support to weather the storm and rebound in turbulent times.
I thank you.