Lyonpo Lekey Dorji. Minister of Economic Affairs, Royal Government of Bhutan is attending two days Ministerial Meeting of Landlocked Developing Countries on Trade and Transport with the theme ‘achieving the SDGs in landlocked developing countries through connectivity and trade facilitation’ from May 16 – 17, 2018 in Astana, Kazakhstan.
There are 32 landlocked countries with a population of about 440 million people in the world facing challenges due to lack of direct territorial access to the sea and remoteness from the world markets. The Almaty Programme of Action addressed the special needs of the landlocked developing countries for trade and transit.The Vienna Programme of Action (VP0A) is the holistic document to address the challenges faced by the land locked developing countries. Given the importance of the VPoA, the two days Ministerial Meeting is expected to achieve the following outcomes:
Review the progress achieved by the LLDCs on transport, trade facilitation and trade and the related SDGs and identify challenges. Share knowledge, experiences and innovative approaches of promoting national and regional connectivity including mobilization of financing for infrastructure development and maintenance. share knowledge, experiences and best practice examples of promoting international trade and trade facilitation including on the implementation of the NATO Trade Facilitation Agreement Identify recommendations and opportunities for enhancing transport development and maintenance in LLDCs, scaling up of international support on transport and how to strengthen cooperation on transport connectivity and trade for the benefit of LLDCs with a view to accelerate achievement of the SDGs.