Follow-Up to the 3rd United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries

A/RES/80/151View PDF

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A document of the General Assembly, under agenda item 21bFollow-up to the 3rd United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries, published in 2025.

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11 versions · 2016–2025

2025A/RES/80/151Follow-up to the 3rd United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing CountriesLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/RES/79/219Follow-up to the 3rd United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing CountriesCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/78/163Follow-up to the 2nd United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing CountriesCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/77/246Follow-up to the 2nd United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing CountriesCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/76/217Follow-up to the 2nd United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing CountriesCompare with previous version

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9 entities

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7 topics

Conferences Landlocked Developing Countries Programme Implementation Sustainable Development Transit Countries Transport Facilitation Transport Infrastructure

What does this mandate say?

71 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the follow-up to the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries;

Reaffirms the commitment at the very heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to leave no one behind and commit to taking more tangible steps to support people in vulnerable situations and the most vulnerable countries and to reach the furthest behind first;

Welcomes the ministerial declaration adopted by the high-level political forum on sustainable development convened under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council, held in New York from 14 to 24 July 2025, and urges timely action to ensure its full implementation;

Recognizes that landlocked developing countries face major structural impediments to sustainable development, including weak productive and supply capacities, limited economic diversification and concentration in low value-added activities, including in the services sector, which constrain their ability to foster technology spillovers, diversify their economies and create productive and sustainable employment opportunities;

Emphasizes the central role of sustainable agricultural production, food security, nutrition and food safety as key elements for the eradication of poverty, while recognizing that agriculture accounts on average for 17 per cent of the gross domestic product of landlocked developing countries and provides employment for approximately 55 per cent of their workforce, and stresses in this regard the need to enhance support for greater investment in rural infrastructure and in agricultural research and development and to accelerate the adoption of sustainable innovation practices;

Recommits to exploring the establishment of regional agricultural research hubs for landlocked developing countries, with a view to addressing structural impediments, enhancing agricultural productivity, promoting value addition, supporting capacity-building and facilitating improved agricultural practices, and recalls the request to the Secretary-General to submit a report to the General Assembly at its eightieth session and, taking note of the note by the Secretariat on the Awaza Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries for the Decade 2024–2034, requests the Secretary-General to report to the Assembly at its eighty-first session on the feasibility, effectiveness and administrative modalities of such network hubs;

Calls upon the international community to support landlocked developing countries in strengthening human capital, including through increased access to inclusive, equitable, quality education and training, in particular science, technology, engineering and mathematics education, to improve labour productivity and meet evolving skills needs, particularly for women and youth;

Recognizes the role of a dynamic and environmentally and socially responsible private sector – representative of the social and solidarity economy – as a driver of structural transformation and sustained, inclusive and equitable economic growth, and emphasizes the need for regulatory and institutional frameworks to foster entrepreneurship, particularly for micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises, including those owned by women and youth;

Recommits to supporting the establishment of special economic zones, industrial parks, technology incubators, innovation hubs and other innovative initiatives in landlocked developing countries;

Calls upon development partners, multilateral financial institutions and the private sector to strengthen partnerships with landlocked developing countries to mobilize targeted financial and technical support for sustainable private sector development with particular emphasis on reinforcing institutional capacities and fostering enabling environments conducive to inclusive growth and investment;

Notes with concern that landlocked developing countries lag behind global averages in digital connectivity, research and development expenditure and patent applications, and stresses the urgent need to bridge the digital divides, both between and within countries, and including the rural-urban, youth-older persons and gender digital divides;

Calls for the promotion of investments from all sources in affordable, inclusive and reliable digital infrastructure and digital literacy and skills, and the establishment of regional and national research and innovation centres, including through strengthened partnerships under the Technology Facilitation Mechanism and the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development;

Recognizes that industrialization remains a crucial driver of economic growth, decent job creation and value addition in landlocked developing countries, with positive spillover effects across agriculture and services, and stresses the need to double the contribution of manufacturing value added to gross domestic product and increase the share of medium- and high-tech industries by 2034;

Encourages landlocked developing countries to adopt proactive, equitable, inclusive and sustainable industrial policy frameworks that support rural industrialization, the progressive formalization of the informal sectors and the mainstreaming of a gender perspective into industrial development cooperation and entrepreneurship;

Calls upon development partners to provide enhanced financial, technical and capacity-building support for targeted industrial development programmes and investment in manufacturing to promote value addition, diversification and innovation;

Recognizes with concern that the landlocked developing countries’ share in global merchandise exports was just 1.15 per cent in 2024, despite the landlocked developing countries representing 7 per cent of the world’s population;

Also recognizes with concern that the export structure of many landlocked developing countries is characterized by a limited number of products, which often have low value addition and are greatly affected by external shocks and hazards, noting that primary commodities accounted for 81 per cent of the exports of the landlocked developing countries in 2024;

Recognizes that trade in services, digital trade and e-commerce have great potential for overcoming the geographical constraints to trade in landlocked developing countries, and expresses its concern that the landlocked developing countries’ share of global exports of services reached only 0.8 per cent in 2024, while their share of digitally deliverable services reached only 0.3 per cent in 2024;

Recommits to supporting the implementation of national trade strategies, policies and measures in the landlocked developing countries, including through investments in non‑traditional sectors and strengthening efforts towards the increased provision of development assistance and Aid for Trade, with a view to significantly increasing value addition and diversification in the exports of the landlocked developing countries;

Calls upon development partners to support landlocked developing countries in their efforts to harness the benefits of trade in services and services-facilitated trade;

Invites development partners to support landlocked developing countries through capacity-building, so they can comply with sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical standards, including, as appropriate, through the Standards and Trade Development Facility;

Urges development partners to enhance trade-related technical assistance to and capacity-building of landlocked developing countries to support their accession to the World Trade Organization, their active participation in trade negotiations, structured dialogues and the resolution of disputes and their integration into the multilateral trading system;

Urges all relevant organizations, including the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the World Customs Organization, and the International Trade Centre, to provide specific support commensurate with their relative competencies to the landlocked and transit developing countries, including for export promotion, trade fairs, trade facilitation, e-commerce and the design and implementation of inclusive trade policies with specific consideration of the interests of women, youth and people in vulnerable situations;

Recalls the target to support landlocked developing countries in substantially diversifying trade by increasing the value added and manufacturing component of their exports and expanding their exports of services and e-commerce;

Underlines the landlocked developing countries’ interest to have a work programme on their special needs under the auspices of the World Trade Organization;

Recalls the target to make tangible contributions to overcoming the burden of landlockedness to international trade by improving transit facilities and border management systems and their efficiency with the aim of reducing the time taken and the cost of clearing goods between and through transit countries;

Also recalls the target to substantially increase the implementation rate of the measures under the United Nations Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation;

Recommits to support landlocked developing countries and transit developing countries to assist them in the ratification and effective implementation of international conventions on trade and transport facilitation, the digitalization of trade and customs procedures and the implementation of the Agreement on Trade Facilitation, in particular the provisions of articles on the release and clearance of goods, border agency cooperation, formalities connected with importation, exportation and transit, freedom of transit and customs cooperation;

Recalls the decision of the Twelfth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization for the Trade Facilitation Committee to hold a dedicated session on transit issues annually until the next review of the Trade Facilitation Agreement is completed and call for the strengthening and continuation of these sessions;

Also recalls the target to increase regional and subregional trade with a view to seizing regional integration as a tool for addressing the challenges of being landlocked and unlocking trade potentials of landlocked developing countries;

Further recalls the target to substantially increase the share of landlocked developing countries in intraregional trade;

Recalls the target to create provisions on transit trade within regional trade agreements;

Recommits to supporting the strengthening and deepening of regional and subregional integration arrangements, and their effective implementation, in the areas of trade, transport and transit facilitation, including through joint projects on transport, communication, digital and energy networks, the harmonization of regional policies and the sharing of best practices, and to supporting the alignment of development assistance, and in particular regional Aid for Trade;

Also recommits to further strengthen technical and financial assistance and capacity-building to the landlocked developing countries and transit countries to support the landlocked developing countries in advancing their regional integration efforts, including to help them to formulate and implement bankable regional infrastructure development projects, in cooperation with transit countries and partners;

Stresses that cooperation on fundamental transit policies, laws and regulations between landlocked developing countries and their transit neighbours is crucial for the effective and integrated solution of cross-border trade and transit transport problems, and underlines that this cooperation should be promoted on the basis of the mutual interests of both landlocked developing countries and transit countries;

Recalls the request to the Secretary-General to establish a high-level panel of experts to examine the application of the existing international laws and agreements, identify constraints and make recommendations on the freedom of transit for landlocked developing countries in accordance with applicable rules of international law, and looks forward to the report of the panel, along with its recommendations;

Strives to help landlocked developing countries and transit countries to establish or maintain safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems, for example, in the areas of rail transport, road transport, air transport, dry ports, waterways, pipelines and transboundary power lines, to reduce transport costs, facilitate trade, link to regional and international markets and enhance competitiveness;

Encourages landlocked developing countries and transit countries to pursue connectivity-related bilateral agreements in line with regional and international legal instruments, including those related to corridor development and management;

Recommits to enhancing support to landlocked developing countries and transit countries to develop corridors along transit highways, upgrade and maintain existing ones, including by closing missing links, and encourages the use of information and communications technologies to increase the productivity of these corridors, improve safety and facilitate the sharing of information among corridor member countries;

Recognizes that road, rail, water and air transport infrastructure, and connecting river ports and seaports, remain insufficiently funded and underdeveloped, with huge missing links and inadequate maintenance, and stresses the importance of developing trade-related physical and digital infrastructure and facilitating inclusive, equitable and affordable connectivity for landlocked developing countries, and in this regard encourages multilateral development banks, among others, to increase to the extent possible investment in infrastructure, including roads, railways, waterways and ports, energy transit and connectivity infrastructure, as well as digital infrastructure, such as fibre-optic cables and satellite-based systems;

Also recognizes the importance of sound infrastructure governance over the life cycle of projects to ensure the long-term cost-effectiveness, economic efficiency, accountability, transparency and integrity of infrastructure investment, including through an open procurement process, stresses that the magnitude of the resources required to invest in quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure development and maintenance remains a major challenge that requires the forging of international, regional, subregional and bilateral cooperation on infrastructure projects, the allocation of more resources from national budgets, the effective deployment of international development assistance and multilateral financing in the development and maintenance of infrastructure and the reinforcement of the role of the private sector;

Welcomes the declaration of the United Nations Decade of Sustainable Transport for the 10-year period beginning on 1 January 2026, and looks forward to an implementation plan for the Decade and its implementation;

Stresses that affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy infrastructure, including cross-border infrastructure as well as energy transit and connectivity infrastructure, is vital for achieving structural transformation and building the productive capacities of landlocked developing countries, recommits to supporting landlocked developing countries to maintain existing infrastructure, and expand and upgrade, as appropriate, for the supply, transmission and distribution of affordable, reliable, and modern services for all in rural and urban areas, and aims to provide financial and technical support to landlocked developing countries to assist them in their objective to double their per capita generation of electricity and increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the energy mix;

Emphasizes that information and communications technologies, including high-speed broadband, promote inclusive economic development, expresses its concern that the dependence of the landlocked developing countries on land links through their neighbouring and coastal countries for access to submarine cables and international Internet bandwidth raises the cost and reduces the quality of their Internet access, and calls upon development partners to support landlocked developing countries, including through financial and technical assistance, in their efforts towards achieving universal access to the Internet, leveraging all available and cost-effective means, including through submarine cables and satellite-based Internet connectivity;

Recommits to developing and expanding the necessary information and communications technologies, including high-speed broadband, and digital infrastructure as well as capacity-building for the use of modern and affordable communications technology;

Recognizes that both public and private investment have key roles to play in sustainable infrastructure financing, including through development banks, development finance institutions and tools and mechanisms such as public-private partnerships, blended finance, which combines concessional public finance, non‑concessional private finance and expertise from the public and private sector, special purpose vehicles, non‑recourse project financing, risk mitigation instruments and pooled financing structures, recommits to exploring the feasibility of establishing a dedicated infrastructure investment finance facility, building on the available financing facilities in the area, recalls the request to the Secretary-General to submit a report to the General Assembly at its eightieth session and, taking note of the note by the Secretariat on the Awaza Programme of Action, requests the Secretary-General to report to the Assembly at its eighty-first session on the feasibility of the establishment of a dedicated infrastructure investment finance facility and its possible modalities;

Reaffirms that the landlocked developing countries remain vulnerable to and are negatively affected by the adverse impacts of climate change and that they have limited institutional, technical and financial capacities to tackle the challenges arising from the adverse impacts of climate change;

Notes the interest and commitment of the landlocked developing countries to develop a dedicated work programme on landlocked developing countries under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;

Welcomes the establishment of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries as a negotiating group under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as a significant step towards fostering coordinated engagement and collective action by the landlocked developing countries on climate-related issues;

Welcomes the convening of the twenty-ninth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the nineteenth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol and the sixth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement in Baku in November 2024, as the first session of the Conference of the Parties held in a landlocked developing country, and the adoption of their decisions by Parties;

Emphasizes the need for accelerated implementation of domestic mitigation measures, including in landlocked developing countries, in line with the Paris Agreement;

Reaffirms the commitment to support landlocked developing countries in their preparation and implementation of national adaptation strategies to address their priorities, including through the formulation of national adaptation plans and the subsequent implementation of the policies, programmes and projects therein, in line with the global goal on adaptation and the United Arab Emirates Framework for Global Climate Resilience, as appropriate;

Also reaffirms its commitment to scale up support to landlocked developing countries for the preparation and implementation of adaptation projects and the development of climate-resilient critical infrastructure such as transport, energy, health and educational facilities, water, electricity and information and communications technologies;

Further reaffirms that landlocked developing countries suffer disproportionately high human and economic losses from disasters, and recommits to embedding disaster risk reduction at the core of development policies and investments for structural economic transformation to achieve the full implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015⁠–2030;

Expresses its deep concern that coverage of and accessibility to multi‑hazard early warning systems, in particular for people in vulnerable situations, remains inadequate, emphasizes the need to urgently extend the reach of multi-hazard early warning systems in landlocked developing countries, in particular by strengthening the means of implementation, and recommits to the strengthening of early warning systems to help landlocked developing countries’ preparedness for disasters, many of which are exacerbated by climate change, and ensuring that landlocked developing countries are not left behind among the priority countries of the Secretary-General’s Early Warnings for All initiative;

Recalls article 9, paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, of the Paris Agreement and the decision on the new collective quantified goals on the provision and mobilization of financial resources to assist developing country Parties, and recommits to continuing and striving for increased support, such as for capacity-building for adaptation planning and implementation in landlocked developing countries;

Recognizes that domestic resource mobilization is a critical aspect of economic development for all countries, including landlocked developing countries, and notes that an efficient and effective tax administration and strengthened institutional capacity of the landlocked developing countries can contribute to increasing their domestic resource mobilization;

Notes with concern the decline in 2024 in official development assistance to developing countries, and urges development partners, including the developed countries, to honour their respective official development assistance commitments fully and in time and to step up efforts to increase their official development assistance to landlocked developing countries, recognizing their specific needs and challenges and also that grant finance and highly concessional finance are of great importance to them;

Resolves to strengthen technical, financial and capacity-building support to enable landlocked developing countries to advance their sustainable development efforts and access innovative financing mechanisms, including to formulate and implement bankable infrastructure development projects;

Reaffirms the aim to increase foreign direct investment to landlocked developing countries, especially towards developing essential infrastructure, including transportation networks, such as roads, railways and ports in landlocked developing countries, as well as multimodal systems;

Recommits to working to improve access to and the use and quality of financial services to lower the cost of remittances to landlocked developing countries, and welcomes international action, such as the Global Forum on Remittances, Investment and Development, led by the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion, with the objective of improving the flow and reducing the cost of remittances;

Notes with concern that, of the 22 landlocked developing countries for which a debt distress analysis is available, 8 have a high risk of distress and 4 are already in distress, and therefore urges international organizations such as the United Nations, the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund and regional development banks to increase support, including financial and technical assistance, for institutional capacity-building in landlocked developing countries to enhance sustainable upstream and downstream debt management as an integral part of national development strategies, including by promoting comprehensive, transparent and accountable debt management systems and negotiation and renegotiation capacities and by supporting legal advice in relation to addressing external debt litigation and debt data reconciliation between creditors and debtors, notably through the Common Framework for Debt Treatments beyond the Debt Service Suspension Initiative, so that debt sustainability may be achieved and maintained, and to support scaling up debt swaps, in particular for the Sustainable Development Goals, including for climate and nature, and related instruments, on a voluntary basis and maximizing their impact, including by simplifying their design, reducing transaction costs and strengthening country ownership and transparency;

Encourages the Group of 20 to further strengthen the common framework for debt treatments beyond the debt service suspension initiative, building on ongoing efforts;

Reiterates the invitation to the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, as well as the high-level political forum on sustainable development, to devote adequate time to discussion of the sustainable development challenges facing the landlocked developing countries in order to enhance engagement and implement commitments;

Requests the Secretary-General to ensure the full mobilization of all relevant parts of the United Nations system to facilitate coordinated implementation and coherence in the follow-up to and monitoring of the Awaza Programme of Action at the national, subregional, regional and global levels;

Calls upon relevant organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, and invites international organizations and relevant regional and subregional organizations, to integrate the Awaza Programme of Action into their programmes of work, as appropriate, within their respective mandates, and to support landlocked and transit developing countries in their implementation of the Programme of Action in a well-coordinated and coherent manner;

Recognizes the International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries as a valuable platform for generating evidence-based policy recommendations, fostering knowledge exchange and supporting the implementation of the Awaza Programme of Action and other development priorities of the landlocked developing countries;

Also recognizes that, over the years, the responsibilities of the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States have increased considerably in their scope and complexity and, in addition to its original mandate, encompass 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 and further strengthen the network of national focal points of landlocked developing countries, recalls the request to the Secretary-General to submit a report to the General Assembly at its eightieth session, and, taking note of the note by the Secretariat on the Awaza Programme of Action, requests the Secretary-General to report to the Assembly at its eighty-first session on strengthening the capabilities and effectiveness of the Office of the High Representative and the United Nations system to support landlocked developing countries;

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 Awaza Programme of Action and to extend effective support to the landlocked developing 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 2027;

Requests 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 for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States to support the implementation of, follow-up to and monitoring of the Awaza Programme of Action;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its eighty-first session a report on the follow-up to the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries, and decides to include in the provisional agenda of its eighty-first session, under the item entitled “Groups of countries in special situations”, the sub-item entitled “Follow-up to the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries”.

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