UN is going to develop a roadmap for landlocked countries
NEW YORK, March 5, 2020 – UN agencies will develop a roadmap to provide practical assistance to a group of landlocked developing countries. This was agreed by representatives of group of these countries at the meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, which was chaired by Kazakhstan at the organization’s headquarters.
At the meeting, the Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN, Kairat Umarov, as chairman of the Group of Landlocked Countries, spoke about the main challenges for such countries due to the lack of access to international trade routes and world trade markets due to geographical remoteness and intracontinental isolation. He emphasized the importance of establishing partnerships in the field of simplifying international trade procedures, strengthening the potential of small and medium-sized businesses, developing infrastructure, and solving structural problems.
“Many UN projects are being developed for each specific country, while numerous problems are cross-border. We consider it necessary to develop a roadmap in collaboration with interested UN entities with concrete steps to implement the Vienna Program of Action for landlocked developing countries, ”said K. Umarov, addressing the UN Secretary General.
A. Guterrish, in turn, supported the idea of developing a “road map” as a practical measure to overcome the problems of landlocked countries. The UN Secretary General also noted the importance of close regional cooperation between states to create transport corridors that will turn landlocked countries into “interconnected” countries.
The meeting with the participation of the UN Secretary General was held for the first time under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan. It was attended by permanent representatives of states to the UN, members of the global Group of landlocked countries, as well as senior representatives of the UN Secretariat.
The Group includes 32 states: 16 countries represent the African continent, 10 – Asia, including all five countries of Central Asia and Afghanistan, 4 – Europe and 2 – South America.
Kazakhstan, being the largest landlocked country in the world, is also located at the farthest distance from the world’s oceans (about 3,750 km).
Press office
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Republic of Kazakhstan