Almaty, 18-19 September, 2018 – The Expert Group Meeting on Midterm Review of the Vienna Program of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries for the Decade 2014-2024 was convened jointly by the UNECE, UNTCAD and UNESCAP with participation of LLDCs delegations namely Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Nepal, Paraguay, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkmenistan as well as the representatives from international institutions namely UN-OHRLLS and the International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries “ITT-LLDCs” on September 18-19, 2018 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Speakers in the opening session included representatives of UNESCAP, UNCTAD, UNECE and UN-OHRLLS. They highlighted the importance of the VPoA for LLDCs and renewed their support to implementation of this program.
The meeting continued with the following separate sessions according to the six priorities areas highlighted in VPoA.
- Fundamental Transit Policy Issues and Transport Infrastructure;
- Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure;
- International Trade and Trade Facilitation;
- Regional Integration and Cooperation;
- Structural Economic Reforms; And
- Mean of Implementation;
Each section included presentations by the organizers followed by national presentations by the participants from LLDCs.
The government of Afghanistan was represented by Mr. M. Azim Wardak, Deputy Director General for Economic Cooperation and Mr. Sadiqullah Tahirzai, Desk Officer for SDGs. Mr. Wardak, spoke about the Afghanistan-Centered Regional Cooperation and integration in a separate presentation and Mr. Tahirzai presented the recent developments with respect to Afghanistan’s information and communication technology infrastructure.
The Vienna Program of Action was adopted in November 2014 during the Second United Nation Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries. It is the core program of the United Nations that addresses issues related to development of countries that lack direct access to the sea.