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Statement by
Anwarul K. Chowdhury
United Nations Under-Secretary-General
and High Representative for the
Least Developed Countries,
Landlocked Developing Countries
and Small Island Developing States
and
Secretary-General of the
International Ministerial Conference
At the
Opening session of the
Latin American Regional Meeting of Landlocked and Transit
Developing Countries on Transit Transport Cooperation
Asuncion, 12 March 2003
His
Excellency the President,
His Excellency the Foreign Minister,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Allow me at the outset to express my sincere thanks for the
warm welcome and gracious hospitality extended to me since
my arrival in your beautiful country of attractive natural
beauty and rich cultural heritage. I bring with me warm greetings
and best wishes of the Secretary-General of the United Nations,
Mr. Kofi Annan,
for this important event, which is the very first regional
preparatory meeting being organized as part of the International
Ministerial Conference of Landlocked and Transit Developing
Countries next August in Almaty, Kazakhstan. On his behalf
and as the Secretary-General of the Conference I would like
to pay tribute to the people and Government of Paraguay and
to you personally, Mr. President, for the excellent initiative
and leadership in organizing the Latin American Regional Meeting
of Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries at the ministerial
level in Paraguay. My special thanks go to Foreign Minister
Moreno Ruffinelli for his advice and guidance in this regard.
My dear colleague Ambassador Loizaga has given us unstinted
cooperation and worked tirelessly for the success of the Meeting.
I am very happy for the presence of my eminent colleague,
ECLAC Executive Secretary Jose-Antonio Ocampo. Participation
of UNCTAD and other multilateral organizations is testimony
to their substantive contribution to the preparation of this
Meeting.
Today's Meeting presents a unique opportunity for a serious
dialogue between Bolivia and Paraguay, two landlocked countries
in the region, and their transit neighbours aimed at improving
transit systems in the region.
Mr.
Chairman,
The basic developmental disadvantages of landlocked developing
countries are linked to their geographical handicap. The lack
of territorial access to the sea, remoteness from major international
markets, inadequate transport infrastructure,
the cumbersome procedures for transit imply that these countries
have to bear additional costs for their external trade transactions.
The United Nations has long recognized special needs of this
group of countries. It was little over forty years ago when
the General Assembly of the United Nations in its resolution
adopted in 1957 first recognized "the need of landlocked
countries for adequate transit facilities in promoting international
trade." At that session, the General Assembly invited
the Governments of Member States "to give full recognition
to the needs of landlocked Member States in the matter of
transit and trade and therefore to accord them adequate facilities…".
At that time,
the landlocked developing countries, members of the United
Nations, were few in number Bolivia and Paraguay in Latin
America, and Afghanistan, Bhutan, Laos and Nepal in Asia.
To date, the number of landlocked developing countries that
are members of the United Nations has increased steeply to
30 countries, encompassing all major continents of the world.
High transport costs facing landlocked developing countries
have become a far more restrictive barrier to trade for these
countries than tariffs. As result of the Uruguay Round of
trade negotiations, tariffs for major world markets range
from 3 to 7 percent on goods originating from most landlocked
developing countries. However, landlocked developing countries
on average pay almost three times higher for transport services
than these tariffs. There is a clear correlation between distance
and transport costs. In this respect the World Bank estimated
that 1 percent increase of distance from major markets could
result in more than 1 percent decrease in the volume of external
trade.
High transport costs have enormous impact also on the economic
development of the landlocked developing nations. Let me mention
some example here.
High transport costs reduce export profits. They also cause
inflation of price of imported inputs for manufacturing. Moreover,
high transport costs also reduce the level of investment,
both directly through increasing the costs of imported capital
and indirectly through reducing the level of total savings
that is available for investment. Both have a negative impact
on growth in the long run. Countries with high trade transaction
costs are also less likely to attract export-orientated private
capital. Transport costs affect a country's selection of trading
partners. If export markets largely consist of poor, slow
growing markets and there are significant costs (including
transportation) of switching to new, richer, and faster growing
markets, those countries maybe constrained in their growth
potential.
Because of these important factors, landlocked developing
countries find themselves among the poorest of the developing
countries, with the weakest growth rates. In particular, landlocked
developing countries had the weakest GDP per capita growth
rate in the 1990s compared to other developing countries.
Even, their growth rate is much slower than that of the least
developed countries as a group. There is a real risk for landlocked
developing countries of being further marginalized in the
world economy and the gap between landlocked developing countries
and other developing countries will further widen, unless
this negative trend is arrested.
The international community has been increasingly realizing
this reality.
The most remarkable demonstration of this was the 2000 UN
Millennium Declaration in which the world leaders called for
a global partnership to address the special needs of landlocked
developing countries. Also, in December 2001, the General
Assembly established the Office of the High Representative
to give a higher profile and to bring a coordinated effectiveness
in addressing the issues related to these countries along
with those of the LDCs and SIDS.
Against this background, the General Assembly has adopted
a landmark resolution on convening the International Ministerial
Conference of Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries
in Kazakhstan. The Ministerial Conference is expected to adopt
a global programme of action for the LLDCs, which would address
all fundamental transit issues and will formulate appropriate
policy measures and action-oriented programmes aimed at developing
efficient transit transport systems.
Mr. Chairman,
The expectations of the landlocked developing countries from
the Conference is high as it would be the first ever high
level UN global event to address their special needs in the
efforts to effectively integrate into the world economy. The
positive outcome of the Conference will definitely galvanize
international recognition and support in favour of landlocked
developing countries. Therefore, the landlocked developing
countries need to make concerted efforts to adopt an implementable
programme of action that takes into account their needs. They
should make efforts to agree on measures aimed at further
improving conditions to enjoy fully their legitimate right
to have unfettered access to the sea by all means of transport;
to reduce costs and improve services so as to increase the
competitiveness of their exports; to reduce delivered costs
of their imports; to have routes free from delays and uncertainties;
to reduce enroute loss, damage and deterioration; and to open
the way for export expansion.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is fully aware
of the high expectation of these countries and entrusted me
to mobilize all parts of the United Nations to assist landlocked
and transit developing countries to arrive at focused, measurable
and action-oriented outcome at the Conference.
Please rest assured, distinguished Ministers, I will undertake
every efforts to make that happen.
I thank you very much.
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