African News Agency : Welcome

New York, 28 Sep - (ANA) - Malawi’s President Joyce Banda today called on the United Nations General Assembly to ensure that an ambitious programme adopted last year to spur development and economic growth in the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs) be fully and speedily implemented. “In particular, duty-free quota-free market access and supply side capacity must be ensured to the least developed countries,” President Banda told the Assembly on the second day of its annual General Debate, adding that implementation must be “in its entirety and in an effective and timely manner.” The Istanbul Programme of Action, adopted at a UN summit in the Turkish city in May 2011, outlines a 10-year plan to support the most vulnerable countries in efforts to overcome poverty, calling on the private sector to play a greater role in the fight, urging wealthy nations to step up aid commitments and demanding the elimination of many trade barriers. The summit focused on ways to harness the potential of the 48 countries – many of them in sub-Saharan Africa – classified as LDCs so that they can lift themselves out of poverty and develop economically. Under the programme, affluent countries have committed to realize the target of spending 0.15 per cent to 0.20 per cent of their national incomes on official development assistance. (ANA)