What Poorest countries need

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday called on rich nations to provide investment rather than charity in poorer countries.

Opening a five-day UN Summit with 48 leaders of the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Istanbul, Turkey, Ban said the poorest countries needed the support of the rest of the world.

“A measure of any society is how well it looks after its least fortunate.

“The same is true of the international community. Now is not the time to turn our backs, but to increase our support….I am not arguing for charity, but investment,” he said.

The  five-day summit would discuss a new 10-year aid plan to help lift nations out of poverty.

The LDCs are characterised by extreme poverty, poor governance and inadequate infrastructure.

The LDC countries are defined as those with a per capita income of less than 745 dollars and they include 33 states from Africa, 14 from Asia plus Haiti.

The current combined population of the 48 countries is 885 million people, 75 per cent of whom live on less than $2 a day.

Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), who is attending the conference is expected to launch a new report entitled,  “Population Dynamics in the LDCs: Challenges and Opportunities for Development and Poverty Reduction”.

A UNFPA statement said Osotimehin would present a blueprint on what poor countries can do to transform their bursting populations into the rich human capital that could free them from poverty.

He will also join representatives from the International Labour Organisation and other government officials to discuss the importance of integrating population dynamics into development and poverty reduction strategies of the LDCs.

The world population is expected to reach seven billion on Oct. 31, and nine billion by mid-century.

UNFPA described the summit as “ timely” in highlighting the deep implications of demographic change in these countries on their national development. (NAN)