Follow-Up to the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries

A/RES/77/177View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 21aFollow-up to the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, published in 2022.

What else is in this group?

15 documents · 2013–2025

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2025).

2025A/RES/80/150Follow-up to the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed CountriesCompare with earlier document
2024A/RES/79/218Follow-up to the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed CountriesCompare with earlier document
2023A/RES/78/233Follow-up to the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed CountriesCompare with earlier document
2022A/RES/77/177Follow-up to the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed CountriesCompare with earlier document
2022A/RES/76/216Follow-up to the 4th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed CountriesCompare with earlier document

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What subjects does this mandate have?

6 topics

Conferences Development Assistance Economic Cooperation Among Developing Countries Graduation Least Developed Countries Programme Implementation

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2023.

2023A/78/112Follow-up to the 5th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries report of the Secretary-General

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What does this mandate say?

44 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the reports of the Secretary-General on the follow-up to the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries and on food insecurity in the least developed countries: options for a system of stockholding and complementary means at global, regional and subregional levels;

Calls upon the least developed countries, with the support of their development partners, to take action to implement the Doha Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries, including by developing an ambitious national implementation strategy regarding the Programme of Action and integrating its provisions into their national policies and development frameworks and conducting regular reviews with the full involvement of all key stakeholders;

Also calls upon the least developed countries, in cooperation with their development partners, to broaden their existing country-level review mechanisms and report dissemination, including those for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the implementation of poverty reduction strategy papers, nationally determined contributions, United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks and the existing consultative mechanisms, to cover the review of the Doha Programme of Action and extend them to all least developed countries;

Calls upon development partners and all other relevant actors to implement the Doha Programme of Action by integrating it into their respective national cooperation policy frameworks, programmes and activities, as appropriate, to ensure enhanced, predictable and targeted support to the least developed countries, as set out in the Programme of Action, and the delivery of their commitments, and to consider appropriate measures to overcome shortfalls or shortcomings, if any;

Invites the United Nations system, including the governing bodies of the United Nations funds and programmes and other multilateral organizations, including the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund and other international financial institutions, as well as the World Trade Organization, to contribute to the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action and to integrate it into their programmes of work, as appropriate and in accordance with their relevant mandates, and invites those organizations to participate fully in reviews of the Programme of Action at the national, subregional, regional and global levels;

Welcomes the work of the Inter-Agency Consultative Group for Least Developed Countries, led by the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, notes the steps taken by the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination and the High-level Committee on Programmes in supporting the coordination and follow-up of the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action on a system-wide basis, and reiterates its invitation to the Secretary-General, in his capacity as Chair of the Chief Executives Board, to include the implementation of the Programme of Action in the agenda of the Board;

Expresses deep concern at the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the least developed countries, takes note of the statement dated 28 April 2020 of the Group of Least Developed Countries on COVID-19 and commits to supporting its implementation, as appropriate, and invites development partners, international organizations and other stakeholders to support the least developed countries in their recovery efforts and continued implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, further highlighting the need for greater collaboration and partnerships at all levels to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, including the fulfilments of the least developed country-specific targets, and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, which is an integral part of the 2030 Agenda;

Notes with concern the estimates that by 2030 much of the world’s poor will live in the least developed countries, which indicate that the implementation of the 2030 Agenda is not on track, stresses the need for global support for the least developed countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as ensuring that no one is left behind, and further recognizes the importance of enhancing good governance at all levels by strengthening democratic processes, institutions and the rule of law, increasing efficiency, coherence, transparency and participation, achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, reducing inequalities, protecting and promoting human rights, reducing corruption and strengthening the capacity of Governments of the least developed countries to play an effective role in their economic and social development;

Reaffirms that the least developed countries, as the most vulnerable group of countries, need enhanced global support to overcome the structural challenges, as well as recent devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the deteriorating situation of food security, lack of access to finance and energy, and increased poverty, that they face in implementing the 2030 Agenda, and in this regard calls upon the international community to prioritize and strengthen support from all sources to facilitate the coordinated implementation and coherent follow-up to and monitoring of the Doha Programme of Action, the 2030 Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda in the least developed countries;

Recognizes that many developing countries, especially the least developed countries, are faced with significantly higher borrowing costs to finance the response to COVID-19, leading to a greater finance divide that can undermine the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals;

Also recognizes that significant additional domestic public and private resources, including at the subnational level, supplemented by international assistance and foreign direct investment, as appropriate, will be critical for the realization of sustainable development and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and that the 2030 Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda acknowledge the centrality of domestic resources mobilization, underscored by the principle of national ownership;

Welcomes the commitment of development partners to ensuring the fulfilment of all their respective ODA commitments to the least developed countries, ensuring the alignment of aid with the least developed countries’ national priorities and increasing the alignment of aid with the least developed countries’ national systems and procedures, also welcomes the decision by the European Union by which it reaffirms its collective commitment to achieving the target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income for ODA within the time frame of the 2030 Agenda and undertakes to reach 0.20 per cent of gross national income for ODA to the least developed countries within the time frame of the 2030 Agenda, encourages ODA providers to consider setting a target to provide at least 0.20 per cent of gross national income for ODA to the least developed countries, is encouraged by those that are allocating at least 50 per cent of their ODA to the least developed countries and calls upon the development partners to continue their development assistance to the least developed countries in their efforts to overcome ongoing crises;

Also welcomes the global ambition to voluntarily channel $100 billion of special drawing rights to developing and least developing countries, calls upon Member States with strong external positions to consider the voluntary channelling of special drawing rights to countries in need, particularly to the least developed countries, in a timely manner, including through the International Monetary Fund Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust, welcomes the operationalization of the International Monetary Fund Resilience and Sustainability Trust as a new mechanism to voluntarily channel special drawing rights to provide affordable long-term financing to the least developed countries and other vulnerable countries, with due consideration to national legal frameworks, and also welcomes the ongoing exploration of viable options to voluntarily channel special drawing rights through multilateral development banks;

Notes with concern that the current provision of climate finance for adaptation remains insufficient to respond to worsening climate change impacts in developing country parties and recognizes the importance of the adequacy and predictability of adaptation finance, welcomes that the parties urged developed country parties to urgently and significantly scale up their provision of climate finance, technology transfer and capacity-building for adaptation so as to respond to the needs of developing country parties as part of a global effort, including for the formulation and implementation of national adaptation plans and adaptation communications, also recognizes that many least developed countries face challenges in gaining direct access to international public finance owing to a lack of technical capacity, supports the provision of assistance to least developed countries in preparing bankable projects and creating enabling environments, and encourages further efforts to enhance access to finance;

Welcomes that the parties urged developed country parties to deliver in full on the $100 billion goal urgently and through to 2025 and emphasizes the importance of transparency in the implementation of their pledges, also welcomes that they urged the operating entities of the Financial Mechanism of the Convention, multilateral development banks and other financial institutions to further scale up investment in climate action, and calls for a continued increase in the scale and effectiveness of climate finance from all sources globally, including grants and other highly concessional forms of finance;

Underlines the need for reinforcing the existing comprehensive multi-hazard early warning system and comprehensive multi-hazard crises mitigation and resilience-building measures, including comprehensive disaster risk financing strategies for the least developed countries aligned with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction as a key instrument to build resilience against and mitigate the impacts of various shocks, and the commitment to making the best use of existing initiatives, takes note of the call by the Secretary-General to ensure every person on Earth is protected by early warning systems within five years, and invites the Secretary-General to undertake, with the least developed countries, a comprehensive study involving all relevant United Nations development system entities and other relevant stakeholders on the existing arrangements, lessons learned and gaps identified and to submit it to the General Assembly for further consideration;

Calls upon the developing countries, guided by the spirit of solidarity and consistent with their capabilities, to provide support for the effective implementation of the Doha Programme of Action in mutually agreed areas of cooperation within the framework of South-South and triangular cooperation, which is a complement to but not a substitute for North-South cooperation;

Underlines the importance of promoting an enabling business environment conducive to growth and development, the absence of corruption, a transparent and rules-based regulatory framework, simplifying business regulations and processes, reducing and streamlining administrative formalities, creating efficient national support mechanisms for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises, improving supply chains, facilitating access to markets, reinforcing cooperation, building capacities to implement effective competition policies, and adopting open, transparent and clear regulatory frameworks for business and investment, with protection for property rights and land rights as appropriate and in accordance with national circumstances and consistent with international legal frameworks;

Welcomes the convening of the Twelfth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, held in Geneva from 12 to 17 June 2022, and the adoption of its ministerial declaration;

Urges the least developed countries and their development partners to make use of existing initiatives and programmes, such as the relevant ministerial decisions of the World Trade Organization on duty-free and quota-free market access for the least developed countries and on preferential rules of origin for those countries, as well as aid for trade, reiterates its commitment to increasing aid-for-trade support, in particular for the least developed countries, striving to allocate an increasing proportion of aid for trade to the least developed countries, in accordance with development cooperation effectiveness principles, welcomes additional cooperation among developing countries to that end, and encourages the least developed countries to mainstream trade in their national development plans;

Recognizes that the least developed countries face significant infrastructure gaps, including in the areas of transport, energy, water, sanitation and information and communications technology, and reaffirms the need to promote quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure and to enhance infrastructure connectivity with concrete actions and predictable financing, thereby maximizing synergies in infrastructure planning and development;

Notes the importance of the work of the Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries in promoting networking among researchers and research institutions, helping such countries to access and utilize critical technologies on mutually agreed terms, drawing together bilateral initiatives and support by multilateral institutions and the private sector, and implementing projects contributing to the use of science, technology and innovation for economic development in the least developed countries, recalls with appreciation the contributions that Bangladesh, Guinea, India, Norway and Türkiye have made, as well as the pledges made by the Sudan, and welcomes the preparations of the Bank to establish a joint project known as the Technology Makers Lab in the least developed countries, focusing on youth empowerment, capacity-building and skills development;

Reaffirms that the least developed countries are especially vulnerable to and disproportionately affected by the adverse effects of climate change, environmental degradation and other disasters, and recognizes the high importance of building resilience in the least developed countries through stepped-up capacity-building and finance for adaptation to climate change;

Recalls the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 and reaffirms that disaster-prone developing countries need particular attention in view of their high vulnerability and exposure to adverse climate change impacts, recognizes that the development and implementation of risk-informed plans, policies, programmes and investments are essential for sustainable development and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, also recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased vulnerability to wider, growing risks, notes with serious concern the stark warnings contained in the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and notes that the Sendai Framework provides guidance relevant to a sustainable recovery from COVID-19 and also to identify and address underlying drivers of disaster risk in a systemic manner, further recognizes the health aspects of the Sendai Framework, and stresses the need for resilient health systems;

Recognizes that the global level of food insecurity and its magnitude, complexity and multidimensional nature in the least developed countries calls for an array of responses employing all appropriate tools;

Takes note of the recommendations of the Secretary-General, including with regard to a food import financing facility, a credit guarantee facility and a special food reserve system, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General, on the basis of voluntary contributions, to carry out a study, with secretariat support provided by the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, in consultation with all relevant United Nations entities and taking into consideration and building upon the existing initiatives and programmes on food security, taking into account World Trade Organization members’ existing obligations, in order to further assess the proposed recommendations for the least developed countries, outlining their modalities, terms of reference, governance and support structures, and to submit a report with his recommendations to the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session for consideration by the Member States;

Recognizes that particular efforts are needed to ensure that all young people, including girls, enjoy equal access to lifelong learning opportunities and equal access to quality education at all levels, inclusive of early childhood, primary, secondary and tertiary education, as well as technical and vocational training, notes with concern, in this regard, the lack of progress in closing gender gaps in access to, retention in and completion of secondary education, particularly for girls, recognizes the need to continue to provide and encourage, as appropriate, institutes of higher education to allocate places and scholarships for students and trainees from the least developed countries, in particular in the fields of science, technology, business management and economics, and to strengthen support for institutions in relation to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls at the global, regional and national levels, and also recognizes that the least developed countries have the most to gain from sustainable development and utilizing the full skills and talents of their people, including women and girls;

Recommits to undertake feasibility studies to explore the possibility of establishing an online university or other equivalent platforms to support online graduate and postgraduate university-level science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in the least developed countries and recently graduated countries with a view to, inter alia, providing policy support to promote distance education and open learning for graduate and postgraduate studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, ensuring a 50/50 gender balance at all levels while guaranteeing special access for the poorest and people in vulnerable situations, creating a virtual network of educational institutions within and beyond the least developed countries, assisting in course design and curriculum development, and leading to scale and sustainability of the education system, taking into account all pre-existing initiatives developed by the relevant partners in a comprehensive manner, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to submit a report, outlining, inter alia, the mapping of existing initiatives, possible new modalities, resource requirements, accreditation and sustainable funding sources to the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session for its consideration;

Recognizes that increasing participation, supporting the empowerment of women, youth and civil society, and strengthening collective action will contribute to the eradication of poverty and the achievement of sustainable development;

Notes the Transforming Education Summit convened and organized under the auspices of the Secretary-General in New York on 19 September 2022;

Supports the Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries as a focal point for the least developed countries to strengthen their science, technology and innovation capacity towards building sustainable productive capacities and promoting structural economic transformation, also supports the Technology Bank in strengthening the science, technology and innovation capacity of least developed countries for structural transformation and productive capacity development, invites Member States, as well as international organizations, foundations and the private sector, to provide voluntary financial and in-kind resources to the Technology Bank in order to enhance its capacity and effectiveness, and decides to strengthen collaboration among Governments, the private sector and academia to advance science, technology and innovation research and development, build inclusive digital economies and bridge the digital divide, including by facilitating technology transfer on mutually agreed terms;

Reaffirms the commitment to implementing the decision contained in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda to adopt and implement investment promotion regimes for the least developed countries, reiterates the decision to provide financial and technical support for project preparation and contract negotiation, advisory support for investment-related dispute resolution, access to information on investment facilities, improving enabling environments, and risk insurance and guarantees such as through the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, and in this regard requests the Secretary-General to explore the feasibility of establishing an international investment support centre for the least developed countries in the form of a one-stop shop to mobilize support for the implementation of the investment promotion regime for the least developed countries and graduated countries, and to submit the study and recommendations to the General Assembly for its consideration at its seventy-eighth session;

Also reaffirms that achieving gender equality, the empowerment of all women and girls and the full realization of the human rights of all people is essential to achieving sustained, inclusive and equitable economic growth and sustainable development, and reiterates the need for gender mainstreaming, including targeted actions and investments in the formulation and implementation of all financial, economic, environmental and social policies in the least developed countries;

Congratulates those countries that have met the criteria for graduation from least developed country status, notes with appreciation that 4 countries have graduated since 2011, another 4 have been designated to graduate by 2024 and 12 others have met the graduation criteria at least once, invites those countries to start the preparations for their graduation and transition strategy, and requests all relevant organizations of the United Nations system, led by the Office of the High Representative, to extend the necessary support in this regard, in a coordinated manner;

Invites the least developed countries and development partners to integrate graduation and smooth transition strategies into their respective national development and aid strategies, as appropriate, including capacity-building and technical assistance to diversify sources of financing, takes note of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development policy brief No. 99 entitled “Strategy for graduation with momentum: bridging pre-graduation and post-graduation development processes in the least developed countries” of April 2022, and welcomes the establishment of a Sustainable Graduation Support Facility as a concrete, country-led solution of dedicated capacity-development support, while calling upon Member States to support this initiative;

Reiterates its conviction that no country graduating from the least developed country category should have its development progress disrupted or reversed, welcomes the fact that the United Nations graduation process helps to ensure that no graduating country has its special and differential treatment measures and exemptions reduced abruptly, invites development and trading partners to consider extending to graduated countries trade preferences previously made available as a result of least developed country status, or reducing them in a phased manner in order to avoid their abrupt reduction, notes that the Group of Least Developed Countries put forward various proposals at the World Trade Organization, pertaining to, among other things, trade-related challenges and those related to the smooth transition of the countries graduating from the least developed country category and seeks to further examine these issues, and calls upon the development partners to continue to provide, as appropriate, special climate change-related finance and technological support to graduated countries so as to support action towards the achievement of the goals of the Paris Agreement and for a period consistent with their vulnerabilities, sustainable development needs and other national circumstances and emerging challenges;

Recognizes that the activities relating to the least developed countries carried out within the Secretariat need to be further coordinated and consolidated in order to ensure the effective monitoring and follow-up of the implementation of the Doha Programme of Action, led by the Office of the High Representative, and to provide well-coordinated support to realizing, inter alia, the target of enabling 15 additional least developed countries to meet the criteria for graduation by 2031;

Also recognizes that, over the years, the responsibilities of the Office of the High Representative have increased considerably in their scope and complexity and that, in addition to its original mandate, the requirement to undertake research and analytical work, monitor sectoral policy developments at the level of intergovernmental processes, follow up on actions taken at the national level, further strengthen the network of national focal points of least developed countries, develop operational guidelines for United Nations entities support to countries in conflict and post-conflict situations and support the graduating and graduated countries have increased;

Underlines that the Office of the High Representative should be provided with adequate resources to fulfil its mandate for the timely and effective follow-up, monitoring and implementation of the Doha Programme of Action and extending effective support to the least developed countries, and requests the Secretary-General to address the allocation of adequate resources for the Office in the context of the proposed programme budget for the year 2024;

Invites Governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, major groups and other donors to contribute in a timely manner to the trust fund in support of activities undertaken by the Office of the High Representative to support the implementation, follow-up and monitoring of the Doha Programme of Action and the participation of the representatives from the least developed countries in the high-level political forum on sustainable development of the Economic and Social Council as well as in other relevant forums and the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, and in this regard expresses its appreciation to those countries that have made voluntary contributions to the trust fund;

Reiterates its appreciation for the generous offer of the Government of Qatar to host the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Doha, notes the substantive and organizational preparations for the Conference, to be held in Doha from 5 to 9 March 2023, at the highest possible level, including Heads of State and Government, in line with the mandate specified in General Assembly resolutions 73/242 of 20 December 2018, 74/232 A of 19 December 2019, 74/232 B of 11 August 2020, 75/227 of 21 December 2020 and 76/216 of 17 December 2021, urges all relevant stakeholders to actively engage in the preparatory process, and looks forward to its successful and ambitious outcome;

Reiterates its invitation to the Secretary-General to convene a United Nations system high-level event during the Conference, with a view to ensuring the full mobilization of the United Nations system in support of the least developed countries;

Requests the Secretary-General, with the assistance of relevant organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, including the Department of Global Communications of the Secretariat, in collaboration with the Office of the High Representative, to take the measures necessary to intensify their public information efforts and other appropriate initiatives to enhance public awareness of the Conference, including by highlighting its programme of action, objectives, key deliverables and significance;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution and the Doha Programme of Action, and decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-eighth session, under the item entitled “Groups of countries in special situations”, the sub-item entitled “Follow-up to the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries”.

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