Welcome remarks by the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, Mr. Cheick Sidi Diarra, at the seminar on "Financing Development in the Least Developed Countries: Trends and Prospects" held at the United Nations, ECOSOC Chamber, on 18 November 2008

Excellencies
Colleagues
Ladies and gentlemen

1. A warm welcome to you all. Allow me to welcome and introduce our main speakers today:
• The Chair of the Group of Least Developed Countries and Permanent Representative of Bangladesh, Her Excellence Ismat Jahan;
• My colleague, the Director of the Development Finance Office in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Mr. Oscar de Rojas;
• The Head of the Statistics and Monitoring Division of the Directorate of Development Cooperation, Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development, Mr. Simon Scott;
• Senior Economist in the International Finance Team of the World Bank, Mr. Douglas Hostland;
• The President of LDC Watch, Mr. Arjun Karki;

2. As you will have noted from our invitation and the programme, our theme of discussion this morning is “Financing Development in the Least Developed Countries: Trends and Prospects.” By their definition, the LDCs lack the resources necessary to improve the quality of life of the millions of their citizens stuck in extreme poverty. Without external resources, especially official development assistance and foreign direct investment, the majority of LDCs will not be able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. This is the premise of the Brussels Programme of Action, which sets out mutual commitments between LDCs and their development partners for ending poverty in the LDCs.

3. As we shall doubtlessly hear from the presenters, official development assistance (ODA), which remains the single most important external source of development finance for most LDCs, has improved since the adoption of the Brussels Programme. It, however, still falls short of the targets set by the Brussels Programme and reiterated by the Monterrey Consensus. The million dollar question is: Can we expect the global ODA targets to be met before the current Programme for LDCs comes to an end in 2010? What are the prospects for increased foreign direct investment (FDI), other private inflows, including remittances by migrant workers, as well as domestically generated resources in the LDCs? These questions are especially important in view of the global financial crisis.

4. The International Conference on Financing for Development that opens in Doha towards the end of this month is an opportunity for LDCs and their development partners to reinforce their commitments on mobilizing resources for development. The achievement of the Brussels Programme and the MDGs demands greater efforts from both LDCs and their partners.

5. With those few words, it is my pleasure to invite our first speaker, Mr. Oscar de Rojas of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, on the Doha Conference and LDCs.