LDC Q&A : LDCS NEED EXTRA HAND TO REACH MDGS: CHOWDHURY The 50 LDCs are the least likely as a group to reach the MDGs, says Anwarul K. Chowdhury, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small island Developing States. To avoid this failure their needs must be put high on the global development cooperation agenda, he says.

Have any of the LDCs reached any of the MDGs?

It is too early to say whether any of the 50 LDCs have reached any of the seven MDGs as it is only five years since the Millennium Declaration was adopted and we have 10 more years to go. However, it is very clear that without very determined and concerted support from the international community, these 50 most vulnerable countries of the world will remain way behind. At present, the indicators for the seven goals for all the LDCs are not encouraging, though some have shown progress with regard to universal primary education target. Left to themselves, without international support, these countries will not only fail to reach the MDGs, but their failure will almost ensure a global failure. As the needs of these countries put together are not very large and as many of them are making serious efforts to eradicate poverty, which is the primary goal, I believe that with good support from the development partners, the LDCs can achieve most of the seven goals. But, again, that support has to be committed right now and effectively delivered. As 34 of the 50 LDCs are located in Sub-Saharan Africa, I believe that the special attention the world is committing to give to Africa, the LDCs as a group stand to benefit in a big way.

Considering their economic constraints, will the LDCs need additional assistance to help them reach the goals by 2015?

Given their extreme vulnerability and the magnitude of their poverty that are compounded by many extraneous constraints, the LDCs have the least chance as a group under the present condition to reach the MDGs by 2015. A very important step for helping the LDCs would be to put their needs high on the global development cooperation agenda. It is unfortunate that the voice of the LDCs continue to get marginalized in terms of global attention. We should be proud of the relentless struggle the LDCs are making to improve the quality of life of their people. Therefore, a little bit of real extra support between now and 2015 will go a long way in assisting them to reach the MDGs. This support, in addition to development assistance, should include capacity development for effective trade, good governance and an enabling environment for investment, particularly in infrastructure development. Cancellation of all debt for all LDCs would also give a big boost to their development efforts.

What are the main constraints to the LDCs achieving the MDGs?

Lack of expected progress with regard to debt, trade and ODA all constrain, in a big way, the ability of the LDCs in reaching the MDGs. But the LDCs also suffer greatly from recurrent natural disasters, high population growth, continuing conflicts and civil strife, capacity-debilitating diseases like HIV, malaria and tuberculosis and large-scale environmental degradations. All of these problems and their solutions are connected one way or the other to external factors and developments. It is daunting to recognize that people living in extreme poverty in LDCs are projected to increase from 335 million in 2000 to 470 million in 2015. LDCs are also doubly constrained because of their geographic locations – 16 of them are landlocked and 12 are small islands, making more than 50% of LDCs geographically handicapped.