UN official commends Asia-Pacific regional development efforts

Efforts by richer countries in Asia to help the region's least developed countries (LDCs) work their way out of extreme poverty are a good halfway point between the attempts of the poor countries themselves and the needed global action, a senior United Nations said today.

"Regional development cooperation, particularly in the shape of South-South cooperation, could open up potential opportunities and provide a good framework of international support to the LDCs," Under-Secretary-General Anwarul Chowdhury told a high-level panel discussion at the 62-member UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Shanghai.

Mr. Chowdhury, the UN's High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, spotlighted such actions as China's steep reduction or cancellation of more than $1 billion in debt and its allowing tariff-free entry from the region's 14 LDCs.

Malaysia has provided training in management, agriculture and diplomacy to Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, while India, Malaysia and the Republic of Korea have been investing in the LDCs, Mr. Chowdhury said.

He noted that a new Asian Highway linking 32 countries, conceived and organized by ESCAP, will particularly benefit four landlocked LDCs: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Laos and Nepal.

A signing ceremony for the 144,000-kilometre highway agreement will take place on Monday at the opening of the ministerial segment of the ESCAP meeting.

Addressing a special event on "Pro-Poor Public Private Partnerships" (5Ps), ESCAP Executive Secretary Kim Hak-Su said the private sector, because it has both expertise and resources, should help governments tackle the problems of lifting 800 million Asian and Pacific people who are mired in poverty.