Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States - OECD

Tackling Vulnerability on the Road to LDC5

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 18:42:00 +0000

uganda_ilo_asin_nsubuga_ilo_rudmec.jpg

Buyers and sellers practice social distance during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Ugandan marketplace.

Yasin Nsubuga ILO / RUDMEC

NEW YORK 27 October 2020 – COVID-19 is impacting the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in unprecedented, profound and disproportionate ways. This is why these countries, often unable to afford comprehensive response plans, need more international support.

So what does COVID-19 mean for the most vulnerable countries and the support they need from the international community?

That was the over-riding question at a two-part high-level forum organised by OHRLLS, the OECD Development Centre and FERDI on October 21 and 23.

At the meeting, representatives from governments, multilateral institutions and civil society urged the international community to rethink the economic vulnerability of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and of developing countries more generally.

Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, issued a stark warning to those present at the meeting and the international community at large: “The very credibility of the multilateral system is at stake.”

She explained: “LDCs are the most vulnerable with least access to resources. The LDCs’ structural vulnerabilities are visible to all of us and there is absolute urgency to build resilience and redouble efforts towards achieving the SDGs.”

Vulnerability is one of the main criteria for including in the LDC category in the first instance. It is measured by the economic and environmental vulnerability index (EVI), which captures a country’s structural vulnerability to economic and environmental shocks.

However, growing concerns on exposure to international shocks, and the compounding of several risks, make it necessary to rethink how we think of national and individual vulnerability and how we help the LDCs address it.

Prof. Patrick Guillamont, President of FERDI, highlighted that the vulnerability of LDCs is largely due to structural handicaps beyond their control. It is due to these vulnerabilities, he said, that LDCs have been especially severely affected by COVID-19 in all sectors of their economies. He stressed that reducing vulnerability is the key to managing all shocks, from economic to climate-related.

Speaking about the importance of “people-centric” approaches to tackling vulnerability, Director General of the Qatar Fund for Development, HE Khalifa Jassim Al-Kuwari told the meeting that “The local community has the knowledge, understands the challenges faced and knows which of them are the most pressing.”

Any global recovery will depend on how the weakest economies and health systems can cope with the pandemic. While developed countries have taken large-scale action to deliver broad stimulus packages and protective measures, many of the most vulnerable countries do not have the means, or are too deep in debt, to do the same.

HE Abila Musleh, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Women Affairs in Afghanistan talked about the financial challenges that her country has faced since the pandemic broke out.

“Beyond the very serious human cost and economic downturn, COVID has created a large fiscal hole,” she said, adding that while “donors have responded with some $1.5bn in quick response aid, but only a small portion represents new money.”

HE Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), said that the international community must “reinvigorate and reform international co-operation" to better respond to the emerging challenges.

Calling a more robust approach to the measurement and assessment of vulnerability in development responses, he called for the international community to focus on placing multidimensional vulnerabilities, resilience and the provision of global public goods at the core of the system.”

Front Page Article:

Statement at the Towards UN LDC5 - Recovery from COVID-19 Tackling Vulnerabilities and Leveraging Scarce Resources Event

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 05:21:00 +0000

Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

21 & 23 October 2020
New York, USA

Excellencies,
Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I join H.E. Ambassador Escudero, Permanent Representative of Spain to the OECD and Chair of the Governing Board of the Development Centre, in warmly welcoming you all to this virtual event.

More than nine months have passed since the world over COVID took too many lives, disrupted countless lives, decimated and continues to shake livelihoods.

More than ever, and in solidarity, we must focus on Recovery from COVID-19, we must find ways to tackle vulnerabilities and leverage scarce resources.

And this is precisely the theme of our meeting.

This virtual event is also held in the context of preparations for the Fifth UN Conference on LDCs, in short LDC5.

I wish to thank our main co-organisers, FERDI and the OECD Development Centre. Prof. Guillaumont, the President of Ferdi, and Mario Pezzini, the Director of the Development Centre and Special Advisor to the Secretary-General of the OECD.

You both are good friends of not only OHRLLS but also the LDCs.

I also thank all other partners for contributing to this endeavor.

Just as you all, I am grateful to see the LDC IV Monitor, which is a consortium including the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), and the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD, Bangladesh), with us.

You already contributed to the Fourth UN Conference in Istanbul and its mid-term review and I am very happy to see you engaged in the preparations for LDC5.

Last but certainly not least, I must acknowledge the collaboration with the Southern Voice network of think tanks, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) and the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER). 

It is encouraging to see such a broad group representing many stakeholders not only from governments, the UN and think tanks but also civil society. Indeed, it is all together that we must engage in discussions about the needs of LDCs and what can be done to enhance their resilience.

As I said a moment ago, our virtual meeting takes place in the context of the preparations of LDC5.

The General Assembly has agreed to hold the conference from 23 to 27 January 2022, in Doha, Qatar, at the highest level.

Three key goals will drive the leaders from all UN Member States:

Undertake a comprehensive appraisal of the IPOA implementation by the LDCs and their development partners;

Mobilize additional international support measures and action in favour of the LDCs and,
Agree on a renewed partnership between the LDCs and their development partners, including the private sector, civil society and governments at all levels.

It is with even stronger resolve and determination that we relaunch the LDC5 preparatory process.

From now to January 2022, an intensive preparatory process takes place. This includes regional review meetings for Africa and Haiti and Asia-Pacific LDCs.

A range of formal and informal meetings will happen and involve many stakeholders, including parliaments, the private sector, youth, foundations and civil society.

You can find all the details on our website.

Additionally, and in a novel effort, we organize what we call an Academic Conference.

We do so next year jointly with UNU-WIDER, SDSN, and the Government of Finland, in Helsinki.

The goal is to provide an analytical underpinning to the discussions leading up to the LDC5.

So why is this LDC5 conference so important?

The IPoA set as its key goal to overcome the structural challenges of LDCs as the means to eradicate poverty, achieve internationally agreed development goals and enable graduation from the LDC category.

The most recent report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the IPoA highlights that there has been some progress and most notably with respect to graduation.

But as always there is a but.

The objectives of achieving structural transformation and building productive capacity, and of combating poverty through high rates of economic growth and decent jobs powered by export growth, have not been realized. And this we could already see even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

It is the very well documented vulnerabilities of these countries causing this limited progress.

Just let me mention a few.

There is their narrow range of export products which makes them vulnerable to any fluctuations in commodity prices. Prices have declined since 2013 and thus have diminished the value of exports and foreign currency earnings.

We have climate vulnerability due to climate change induced or accelerated phenomena such as hurricanes, cyclones, flooding, drought and landslides. They have caused devastating loss and damage to lives, livelihoods and infrastructure.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront inequalities and poverty and so starkly teaches us lessons about the interlinked nature of the various vulnerabilities LDCs face and the devastation this causes.

Yes, we have the direct health impacts of the pandemic but at the same time we have the direct impacts on the very livelihoods of people. Tourism, trade and remittances have plummeted in these nations. The consequences are many from job losses, to increasing poverty and a decline in government revenues, worsening an already acute debt situation.

The lockdown and closures have had major negative social impacts, including on gender, decent work, health, education, and food security. The vast majority of workers in LDCs are in the informal economy and do not benefit from social protection.

For example, in the Sahel region, nationwide school closures due to COVID-19 came at a time when a very large number of schools had already been closed for several months because of severe insecurity, strikes, or climatic hazards.

For girls that cannot attend school for months because of school closures it became more likely that they will not ever return to school with all the negative long-term consequences this might have.

COVID-19 has also shown us how urgent it is that we close yet another divide, the digital divide. Countries that are left furthest behind need support from all relevant actors to enable remote schooling, telemedicine and make use of digital finance.

Indeed, like a mirror we have to look into, the COVID-19 pandemic all too clearly gives us the reflection of stark inequalities and how they keep growing within countries, between countries, regions and at the global level.

So, I just shared with you some examples of the vulnerabilities of LDCs that we together must address and they will be discussed in the first panel today.

Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

This brings me to a key topic : development finance.

Prior to the global crisis we now all face, development financing had already fallen short of the financing requirements to achieve the SDGs by 2030.

Prior to the global crisis, fiscal space of the LDCs was already limited due to rising public debt levels and servicing costs.

Not only does this lacking access to finance make it much harder for LDCs to respond to the crisis but it also means that no single source of financing will be enough to close the COVID-19-induced financing gap.

The collapse of domestic revenues we now see severely limits LDCs’ ability to put together sufficient health and stimulus packages.

The decline of remittances will leave too many families in destitution and increase poverty.

The steep decline in FDI to LDCs will hamper urgently needed investment in building productive capacity so that the much needed jobs are created and building back better happens.

For LDCs, it remains difficult to attract private finance due to their high vulnerabilities, smallness and their risk perception.

Yet, they have large needs for example for investments in infrastructure, from transport to sustainable energy.

My Office through the ‘COVID-19 - The Most Vulnerable 91’ campaign, put a spotlight on the very limited scale of funding that has been made available to the LDCs during the pandemic.

LDCs have all made national efforts to respond to the pandemic, their spending power is vastly outmatched by what advanced economies are able to mobilize.

LDCs remain among the poorest nations in the world and their financial resources are limited and their spending power to tackle major crises is very low.

Our research shows that less than seven dollars per head has been shared with LDCs by the international community to help them combat the pandemic.

We are now at a juncture.

More than ever, commitments with respect to ODA and beyond must be met. Increased climate finance must be provided and real debt relief must be seriously considered.

The impacts of the pandemic will be far-reaching and felt for years to come.

LDCs are the most vulnerable with least access to resources. The LDCs’ structural vulnerabilities are visible to all of us and there is absolute urgency to build resilience and redouble efforts towards achieving the SDGs.

The credibility of and trust in multi- lateral cooperation are at stake.

Excellencies,

Ladies and gentlemen,

This brings me to the need for the new Programme of Action for the LDCs, which will be adopted by Member States in Doha.

This programme must be ambitious and aim towards addressing recovery efforts, building back better, building back inclusively and driving efforts towards the Decade for Action in the LDCs.

It is my sincere hope that our virtual event will generate ideas and political momentum for an effective and coordinated response from international actors to provide adequate financing and technical assistance to build back better for a more equitable, sustainable and resilient world.

I look forward to hearing fresh ideas we can put into action to secure a truly sustainable future for the LDCs.

Thank you.

Front Page Article:

Keynote Address at the AOSIS/LDC Event: “Leading the Way: Raising Ambition for Climate Action”

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Sep 2019 17:42:00 +0000

Keynote Address by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

20 September 2019
New York, USA

Honourable Ministers,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It always is both a privilege and responsibility to deliver a keynote statement. But it is even more so at this important moment on the eve of the Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit! and also just before other critical gatherings in this week’s series of Summits on sustainable development.

For months, countless experts in government, the private sector, civil society organizations and academia have done groundwork for the truly critical next few days.

People across the world answered the call to join young people and take part in the “Global Climate Strike”.

I think one critical step is taken - the sense of urgency and the sense that we must ACT and no longer hide behind words are firmly entrenched in people's minds and hearts.

AOSIS and the LDC groups have contributed a lot to this growing awareness by your extraordinary efforts in the lead-up to the Summit to ensure that our collective voice is heard and by leading the way in terms of ambition.

So, I wish to acknowledge the efforts of the Chair of AOSIS, the Chair of the LDCs in New York and the Chair of the LDCs in Bonn, as well as all the AOSIS and LDCs members that have co-led the Summit’s nine action areas, supported the coalitions and come forward with collective and individual initiatives.

Thank you all!

What unites us is that we truly are in the frontline of the climate change impacts and already so for a long time! There is no need to recall the growing list of truly catastrophic climate-related disasters in just recent years - Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Dominica, Lao PDR, Malawi, Puerto Rico, Somalia, Tanzania, or indeed my own country Tonga.

Our nations are not among what we call traditionally the most powerful.

But we have strength in numbers!

There are 44 states and observers of AOSIS and an additional 41 states from the LDC group. Do the maths!

While the populations of SIDS are small, the LDCs total one billion.

The strongest asset we have is to speak loudly, put our facts on the table and remain a united voice. We have done so, we must continue to do so, we must never waiver.

The IPCC Special Report on 1.5 Degrees is crystal clear on the extent and severity of expected climate change impacts. That is what is expected but think of what the SIDS and LDCs already experience since by times decades!

Now, mitigation, being pro- active rather than reacting after the fact at very high costs, yes it COSTS. And these are costs the often small- size and fragile economies cannot bear alone.

The need for finance per se and the need to expedite and simplify finance access is a TOP PRIORITY.

Access to concessional finance for reconstruction following climate-related disasters, irrespective of the per capita income category of a country is an equal priority.

We are talking survival and not luxury. We are talking stability rather than letting countries slide into instability. We are talking basic human rights.

International assistance must go beyond addressing immediate humanitarian emergencies over and over again and must step in to share the costs of longer-term re-building as well as loss and damage.

I applaud but above all support the broad array of initiative and pledges for ambitious climate change action by AOSIS and the LDCs.

The SIDS and LDCs' greenhouse gas emissions are low compared to the OECD countries. Yet, and once again at the forefront, AOSIS and LDCs will announce plans for low greenhouse gas emission development strategies – through the “SIDS 2020 Ambition Leadership Coalition” and the “LDC 2050 Vision: towards a climate resilient future.”

You lead with vision, care and truly by example. Your leadership will provide strong incentives to the rest of the world to follow suit.

Over and over I hear it myself and we all can see it - young people tell us they have heard enough words, they want action.

In the coming days, we must ensure a united voice and call for action. The call must resonate not only at the Climate Action Summit, but throughout the week until the SAMOA High-level MTR.

We must leverage this week to build additional partnerships and forge further alliances – with Member States, private sector leaders, academia, youth groups and civil society alike.

We ALL are concerned, we all are in the proverbial same boat and none of us has a plan B for our shared planet.

We must ensure that the momentum for action generated this week continues beyond the General Assembly High-level week. We must ensure it translates into concrete commitments in the NDCs for all. This is after all a truly multi- lateral, truly cross- border issue.

We must ensure we show our young generations that we ACT.

We must act TOGETHER and that means mobilizing the private sector, which has such a critical role to play in coming up with and sharing the technological innovation needed to shift away from fossil-fuel based economies and societies.

Engagement at the highest political level is a must and must happen at all possible occasions and fora.

COP25 in Santiago will be but only the first such opportunity. My Office will be there and beyond to support these efforts.

I would like to conclude by sharing with you a point made by H.E. Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados when she delivered the 16th Raúl Prebisch Lecture at UNCTAD last week in Geneva.

She argued that if vulnerable countries such as the SIDS were themselves to finance the costly process of building resilience, they would have to borrow more to do so. This would increase their debt to GDP ratio, and thereby impact negatively on their credit rating. The net effect would be simply to shift environmental vulnerability to economic vulnerability.

So, let us not fall into such vicious circle - we need a virtuous circle with no more time to squander.

Thank you.

Front Page Article:

Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States - OECD

Tackling Vulnerability on the Road to LDC5

uganda_ilo_asin_nsubuga_ilo_rudmec.jpg

Statement at the Towards UN LDC5 - Recovery from COVID-19 Tackling Vulnerabilities and Leveraging Scarce Resources Event

Statement by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

21 & 23 October 2020 New York, USA

Keynote Address at the AOSIS/LDC Event: “Leading the Way: Raising Ambition for Climate Action”

Keynote Address by Ms. Fekitamoeloa Katoa‘Utoikamanu, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States

20 September 2019 New York, USA

21 & 23 October 2020
New York, USA

20 September 2019
New York, USA