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IPU Logo PARLIAMENTARY FORUM ON THE OCCASION OF THE
FOURTH UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
Istanbul, Turkey, 8 May 2011		 Grand National Assembly of Turkey
Co-organised by the IPU and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, with the support of the United Nations
Inter-Parliamentary
Union		Grand National
Assembly of Turkey

The Least Developed Countries (LDCs), with a population of over 800 million people, are among the most vulnerable in the world and score at the lowest end of the human development index. As such, over the years the LDCs have come to constitute a focus area within the IPU's development programme.

The Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC IV) is due to take place from 9 to 13 May 2011 in Istanbul, Turkey. The Conference is intended to review the implementation of the expiring Brussels Programme of Action (BPOA) for the LDCs, and adopt a new programme of action for the next decade.

Order IPU Guide on mobilizing parliamentary support for the Brussels Programme of Action for the LDCs LDC IV logo In cooperation with the United Nations, the IPU is responsible for coordinating the parliamentary track of the LDC IV preparations, which has included an effort to involve parliaments in national and regional consultations as well as, at the global level, the organisation of a briefing session on LDC IV in October 2010. As a result, over the past year, numerous LDC parliaments have nominated focal points and have been actively engaged in the UN preparatory process.

Inter-governmental negotiations of the new programme of action will take place at the United Nations (New York) beginning in early January 2011. The IPU is working to make sure that the views and concerns that parliaments have expressed during the preparatory process for the Istanbul conference will be reflected in the new programme.

The Parliamentary Forum will take place on 8 May 2011, at the venue of the UN conference, and will be open to all members of parliament already accredited to the conference as part of their national delegations.

It will offer parliamentarians an opportunity to:
  • review parliaments' role in the implementation of the BPOA, identifying successes, lessons learnt and challenges faced;
  • promote parliamentary awareness of all issues on the LDC IV agenda;
  • ensure a parliamentary dimension to the new programme of action for LDCs; and
  • ensure the active engagement of parliaments in the implementation of the new programme of action.

For further information on the LDC process, and parliamentary engagement with this process, please see the background note.

Updated on 30 May 2011
DOCUMENTS OF THE FORUM

RELATED SITES AND DOCUMENTS

DOCUMENTS FROM THE IPU LDC IV BRIEFING (OCTOBER 2010)

 
HOW PARLIAMENTS CAN PARTICIPATE IN THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE LDC IV

  1. Nominate parliamentary focal points
    The nomination of one or two focal points facilitates communication between the parliament and focal points at the UN and ministerial level. Furthermore, it enables the IPU to ensure that all relevant documents are transferred to the appropriate people.

  2. Contact your ministerial and UN focal points
    Parliaments are encouraged to identify and contact the ministerial and UN focal points for this process. Should your parliament have difficulty in contacting the other focal points, the IPU will attempt to facilitate such contact.

  3. Review your national report on the implementation of the BPOA
    Even if your parliament has not contributed to the national report, it is important to read and review it so that your parliament can contribute to the LDC IV preparations at the regional and global levels.

    Reviewing the national report:

    • distribute the national report to relevant committees for their feedback;
    • assess parliament's progress in carrying out its budgetary, oversight and legislative functions, as part of commitment 2 of the BPOA;
    • review parliament's involvement in the implementation of the BPOA; and
    • identify the lessons parliament has learnt and the challenges it has faced whilst working towards its country's graduation from the LDC category.

  4. Identify priority areas for the new programme of action
    The 2011 - 2020 Istanbul Programme of Action (IPOA) for the LDCs will be adopted at LDC IV. The negotiation process of the IPOA will take place between January and May 2011, during Inter-Governmental Preparatory Committee meetings. The first meeting of the Inter-Governmental Preparatory Committee took place from the 10th until the 14th of January 2011, in New York. The second meeting will take place from the 4th until the 8th of April 2011, in New York. To create a parliamentary dimension to this programme, parliaments should identify priority areas they wish to see included in the IPOA, and work closely with their government on their national input into such meetings and into the IPOA itself. The IPU would be grateful to receive copies of any parliamentary input into the IPOA.

  5. Participate in pre-conference events and global level preparations for LDC IV
    So as to ensure parliamentary participation in the preparations for LDC IV, the IPU has strived to keep parliaments informed of upcoming consultations, meetings and pre-conference events. The IPU has planned two pre-conference events of its own: a Briefing Session took place on the 4th of October 2010 at the IPU's 123rd Assembly in Geneva and a LDC Parliamentary Forum will be held on the 8th of May 2011 in Istanbul.

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