ITT FOR LLDCS REPORTS ON RESULTS OF ITS STUDIES

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On October 6, Ambassador at-Large and Interim Director of the International Think Tank for Landlocked Developing Countries (ITT for LLDCs) E.Odbayar said that the intergovernmental body will form a board and hold the first meeting. Following the entry into force of the Multilateral Agreement on the Establishment of ITT for LLDCs on October 6, the ITT for LLDCs in cooperation with the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) organized an event at the UN headquarters in New York City, which gathered Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives of LLDCs to the UN, partners, sponsor nations and representatives of international organizations. E.Odbayar reported on the three-year action plan of the ITT for LLDCs including some measures to be taken in the follow-up of the agreement’s entry into force such as forming a board and holding the first meeting. Moreover, the Interim Director also briefed the attendees about the outcome of five studies conducted by the ITT for LLDCs in 2017. The studies include International Trade Connectivity – Revisiting ‘Dutch Disease’: The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Diversification on the International Trade and Food Security of Laos; ICT Connectivity – The Process of Technology Leapfrogging: Insights from the National ICT Infrastructure Development Journey of Azerbaijan; Transport Connectivity – Modelling the Potential for Aviation Liberalization in Central Asia; Bilateral Transit and Transportation Agreements of LLDCs: Benefits and Bottlenecks – Case India and Nepal; and Rethinking Regional Integration for LLDCs. In attendance at the event were Fekitamoeloa ‘Utoikamanu, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States; Lazarous Kapambwe, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Zambia to the United Nations and Chair of Landlocked Developing Countries; and Sukhbold Sukhee, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of Mongolia to the United Nations. Kh.Aminaa