Almaty, Kazakhstan, 13-14 September 2012

Provisional Agenda and Annotations (English, French)

Programme of the Meeting

Chairperson: H.E. Ms. Zhanar Aitzhanova, Minister for Economic Integration of the Republic of Kazakhstan

opening ceremony

H.E. Dr. Nam Viyaketh, Minister of Industry and Commerce, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Chairman of the Group of LLDCs

H.E. Mr. Manuel Maria Caceres, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay, Coordinator of the Group of LLDCs on matters related to trade and development in Geneva (Spanish only)

Mr. Gyan Chandra Acharya, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS)

Mrs. Valentine Rugwabiza, Deputy Director-General, World Trade Organization

Mr. Martin Marmy, Secretary General, International Road Transport Union

Session 1: Implementation of the Almaty Programmme of Action priority area 3 on international trade and trade facilitation– progress and challenges

Presentations:

• Mr. Sandagdorj Erdenebileg, Chief, Policy Development Coordination, Monitoring and Reporting Service, UN-OHRLLS
  
• Ms. Eva Molnar, Director, Division of Transport, UNECE
  
• Mr. Ravi Ratnayake, Director of the Trade and Investment Division, UNESCAP
  
• Mr. Magdi Farahat, Principal Advisor on Trade, Geneva Inter-Regional Advisory Services, UNECA
  

Country experience by H.E. Ms. Marlyn-Nathalie-Laelle Mouliom, Minister of Trade and Industry, Central African Republic

Country experience by Mr. Mazhit Esenbayev, Chairman of the Customs Control Committee of the Ministry of Finance, Kazakhstan

Session 2: The role of trade facilitation in integrating the LLDCs into the world market

Presentations:

• Mrs. Valentine Rugwabiza, Deputy Director-General, World Trade Organization (Talking Points) [A Video by the WTO on "Making Trade Easier" was also shown]
• Ms. Anne Miroux, Director, Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD (English, French)
  
• Mrs. Virginia Cram Martos, Director of the Trade and Sustainable Land Management Division, UNECE
  
• Mr. Gaozhang Zhu, Director of Compliance and Facilitation, WCO
  
• Mr. Evgeny Najov, Senior Economist, World Bank
  

Country experience by H.E. Ms. Jabulile Mashwama, Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Swaziland (Talking Points)

Experience in negotiating on trade facilitation for landlocked developing countries by Mrs. Patricia Frutos, Director for Multilateral Economic Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay

Session 3: Improving the trade competitiveness, productive capacities and investment climate of the LLDCs

Presentations:

• Mr. Guillermo Valles Galmés, Director, DITC, UNCTAD
  
• Mr. Parvindar Singh, Chief, Policy, Programme Management and Evaluation Unit, Common Fund for Commodities
  
• Mr. Ankur Huria, Private Sector Development Specialist, International Trade and Investment Unit, IFC/World Bank
  

Country experience by H.E. Mr. Robert Sichinga, Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Zambia

Session 4: Mobilisation of international support measures for fuller integration of LLDCs in the global trade including Aid for Trade, Market Access, Official Development Assistance, Foreign Direct Investment, South-South Cooperation and United Nations system and international organisations’ support

Presentations:

• Mrs. Valentine Rugwabiza, Deputy Director-General, World Trade Organization
  
• H.E. Mrs. Aurelia Bouchez, Ambassador, Head of EU Delegation to Kazakhstan
  
• Mr. Evgeny Najov, Senior Economist, World Bank
  
• Ms. Sheila Marnie, Central Asia Economist, UNDP

• Mr. Eduard Biriucov, Secretary General, TRACECA (Russian only)
  
• Mr. Igor Rounov, Under Secretary General, IRU
  
• Mr. Zhenis Kasymbek, Executive Secretary, Ministry of Transport and Communications, Kazakhstan (Russian only)
  
• Mr. Bekmagambetov, President of the Kazakh Institute of transport and communications (NIITK) (Russian only)