The Dhaka International Dialogue on Exploring a New Global Partnership for the LDCs in the Context of the UN LDC IV was designed to contribute to the articulation of a new programme of actions for the LDCs to be adopted at the Fourth UN Conference on LDCs (UN LDC IV), in Istanbul, Turkey (9-13 May 2011). This is the outcome document emerging from the Dhaka event.
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised the dialogue on 24-26 November 2010 in Dhaka, jointly with the OECD Development Centre, Paris, and in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Dhaka, Commonwealth Secretariat, London, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), Geneva and the Embassy of France in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The Dhaka event brought together 34 development policy analysts and activists representing civil society organisations and international agencies from 22 countries of four continents, joined by an eminent group of experts from Bangladesh. Discussions at the dialogue was initiated and rounded up by two plenaries, while five working sessions explored issues relating to trade, investment, development assistance, access to technology and domestic reforms.
LDCs constitute one of the most structurally vulnerable groups of countries in the world. Currently, 49 LDCs (including Bangladesh) – with 15 per cent of world population – account for only about 1 per cent of global merchandise exports, and less than 2 per cent of global FDI. Over the last three decades, international development community has put in place, with varying degrees of success, a number of initiatives to support the development efforts pursued by the LDCs. However, the modest economic growth achieved by LDCs during the last decade has recently come under threat due to successive global crises in the areas of food, fuel and finance. Most LDCs are falling short in achieving the MDGs, while some are severely affected by climate change. Absence of a voice in the evolving global economic governance has often led to marginalisation of the LDC concerns in the global developmental discourse.
In view of the world economy experiencing critical shifts in its structure and governance, the preparatory process and the final outcome of the UN LDC IV have acquired enhanced importance. The Dhaka Dialogue deliberated on new approaches and modalities for forging development partnerships between LDCs and developed and emerging economies, and it is hoped that the final document will reflect the Dhaka Recommendations.
The recommendations from the Dhaka Dialogue were subsequently presented at various discussion sessions in Geneva, Brussels, London and New York, so as to feed into the preparatory processes of the UN LDC IV. These will also be presented at a dialogue jointly organised by CPD, OECD Development Centre, ICTSD, Commonwealth Secretariat, and Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) as a side event during the UN LDC IV in Istanbul.