General Assembly President urges greater support for countries with special needs

General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser today urged the United Nations committee that focuses on economic and financial issues to find “creative and innovative” ways of tackling the problems of the countries with special development needs.

“As you know, I have chosen ‘sustainable development and global prosperity’ as one of my four main focus areas during the 66th session,” said Mr. Al-Nasser, addressing the Assembly’s second committee.

“In this context, I am committed to according the most vulnerable countries the much needed attention they deserve.”

He called for full support for the least developed countries (LDCs) as they strive to implement their Istanbul Programme of Action designed to help them spur development and economic growth, and the landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), which have their own Almaty Programme of Action that reaffirms their right of access to and from the sea.

The other group of countries in need of special attention is the small island developing States (SIDS), which require continued support to implement the Mauritius Strategy adopted in 2005 to advance sustainable development.

“For this we need the full commitment of development partners, particularly for realizing the agreed commitments of support,” said Mr. Al-Nasser.