Midterm review - UN-OHRLLS

Background

The General Assembly, in its resolution 61/212, decided to hold a midterm review meeting of the Almaty Programme of Action in 2008. The meeting was to be preceded by regional and substantive preparations in a most effective, well-structured and broad participatory manner. Also, intergovernmental mechanisms at the global and regional levels, including those of United Nations regional commissions, as well as relevant substantive material and statistical data, were to be effectively utilized in the review process.

The UN-OHRLLS was requested by the General Assembly to coordinate the preparatory process. The United Nations system organizations, including the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Development Programme, the regional commissions and relevant international and regional organizations were also requested, within their respective mandates, to provide necessary support to the review process.

In its resolution 62/204, the General Assembly decided to hold two days of high-level plenary meetings devoted to the midterm review of the Almaty Programme of Action during its sixty-third session in New York, on 2 and 3 October 2008, to be chaired by the President of the Assembly.

The preparatory process for the Almaty Programme midterm review was launched in early 2007 by UN-OHRLLS with the objective to provide the international community with a unique opportunity to assess the progress made in establishing efficient transit transport systems in the landlocked regions around the world and agree on what needs to be done to further galvanize global partnerships to assist landlocked and transit developing countries to effectively implement the Almaty Programme of Action.

THE PREPARATORY PROCESS 2007/08

Based on an organizational framework for the midterm review, two substantive/thematic meetings were organized in 2007 with a view to providing the main substantive inputs to the midterm review. These two meetings addressed the physical and non-physical aspects of the transit trade of landlocked developing countries, namely:

(1) transit transport infrastructure development – Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 18 to 20 June 2007; and

(2) international trade and trade facilitation – Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 30 to 31 August 2007.

Regional reviews were conducted during the first half of 2008 in Asia/Europe, Africa and Latin America with the relevant UN regional commissions playing a leading role. Each of these review meetings adopted an outcome document which provided regional inputs for a strategy towards enhancing the full and effective achievement of the Almaty Programme of Action at the global level.

(A) Euro-Asian Regional Review Meeting for the Midterm Review of the Almaty Programme of Action, 22-23 April 2008, Bangkok, Thailand;

(B) African Regional Review Meeting for the Midterm Review of the Almaty Programme of Action, 18-20 June 2008, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia;

(C) Latin American Regional Review Meeting for the Midterm Review of the Almaty Programme of Action, 30 June 2008, Buenos Aires, Argentina;

In addition, the UN-OHRLLS, in strict collaboration with partner organizations, organized a number of pre-conference events on specific themes.

· Euro-Asian Transport Links Ministerial Meeting, UNECE and UNESCAP, 19-21 February 2008, Geneva;

· Workshop on Logistics Performance Index and new approaches on Improving Trade and Transport Services to and from Landlocked Countries, World Bank and UN-OHRLLS, 2 June 2008, United Nations, New York;

· Briefing on the progress in the Trade Facilitation Negotiations at the WTO and on developments in the Aid for Trade initiative, World Trade Organization, UNCTAD, World Bank, UNDP, 27 June 2008, United Nations, New York;

· Meeting on Trade Facilitation Opportunities for Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries, UNCTAD, 8-9 July 2008, Geneva

Outcome document

Declaration of the high-level meeting on the midterm review A/RES/63/2 | EN | FR | AR | CH | RU | SP |

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