Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised the first Expert Group Meeting (EGM) of LDC IV Monitor titled Development Challenges of the Least Developed Countries: Tracking the International Commitments on 7-9 September 2012 at the BRAC Centre Inn, Dhaka.
LDC IV Monitor is an independent global partnership established in late 2011 by eight think tanks and academic institutions from LDCs and partner countries. Through conducting policy research, organising dialogues and carrying out outreach activities related to the delivery of the Istanbul Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries (IPoA) adopted by the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC IV), the consortium is aimed to complement the official follow-up and review mechanism of IPoA. CPD, a partner institution of the LDC IV Monitor, organised this EGM to discuss the framework and content of the first biennial monitoring report on the state of implementation of the IPoA.
28 experts from core partner institutions of LDC IV Monitor and some other partner institutions discussed various chapters and contents of the forthcoming report. The first report is expected to be brought out in Autumn 2013.
This 3-day EGM concentrated on ten broad themes, including (i) framework issues; (ii) benchmarking of the IPoA and data questions; (iii) graduation and smooth transition of LDCs; (iv) productive capacity in the areas of infrastructure and enterprise development; (v) human and social development; (vi) trade; (vii) adding value to agriculture; (viii) commodity exports; (ix) climate change and vulnerabilities; and (x) strategies for raising development finance.
A tentative outline of the report was developed based on the discussions on these themes. Discussions in various sessions of the EGM also identified the focus of the studies that need to be conducted. Various chapters of the report will in fact contain these study findings.
A number of critical challenges to be addressed while preparing the report were also highlighted in the EGM. It was underlined that all the chapters of the report will have to be LDC- and IPoA-specific, and these chapters will provide strategic message while maintaining coherence.
As IPoA draws special attention to the graduation prospects of LDCs, the experts decided that the backbone theme of the report should be a message to the policymakers on the graduation progress of the LDCs. It was also decided that structural transformation as the key vehicle of graduation should be analysed and discussed in the report.
The consortium informed that it intends to hold the second EGM in Tanzania in January/February 2013, hosted by Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF) in consultation with Centre de Recherches Economiques Appliquées (CREA).