Kathmandu, Nov 4, 2014: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Federal Affairs and Local Development Prakash Man Singh has said the trade sector has been given strategic importance.
Addressing the second UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) on Monday, he said Nepal has integrated the priorities of the Almaty Programme of Action (APoA) in its national policies and programmes. The conference is underway in Vienna, Austria.
Minister Singh said infrastructure development and connectivity are top priorities of the government. The APoA had significantly contributed towards setting the tone for the development of the LLDCs by creating generally favourable understating of their constraints and highlighting their special needs in the international agenda, he added.
“Development of hydropower and promotion of tourism are needed for the economic transformation in Nepal which would help attain the target for Nepal’s graduation from the LDC status by 2022 AD,” he said.
Focusing on more elaborate, comprehensive and result oriented programmes of action for the next one decade, the DPM called for enhanced international support to enable LLDCs to reap benefits from international trade. He said that there was a need for incorporation of the LLDCs priorities and concerns in the post-2015 development agenda.
Meanwhile, Minister for Commerce and Supplies Sunil Bahadur Thapa who is in Vienna in course of attending the conference participated in a meeting of trade and human resources development organised by the UNDP. He shared the experiences of and achievements made by Nepal with regard to transport infrastructure and trade facilitations.
LLDCs should get an access to water and land to connect them to global market. It may be noted that the conference held after eleven years is expected to adopt the Vienna Programme of Action for LLDCs for the next ten years. It commenced Monday and will conclude on November 5.
The first conference was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2003.
Source:RSS
