Armenia Participates in 2nd UN Conference of Landlocked Developing Countries

VIENNA — From 3 to 5 November in Vienna the Armenian delegation took part in the 2nd United Nations conference of landlocked developing countries (LLDCs). The delegation was headed by the Secretary General and Chief of Staff of MFA Shahen Avakian.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, President of Austria Heinz Fischer, presidents of Zambia, Bolivia, Zimbabwe, prime-ministers, ministers, other high ranking officials and heads of different international organizations delivered welcoming addresses at the opening of the ceremony. The Austrian Foreign minister Sebastian Kurz was elected as Chairperson of the conference.

The main purpose of the conference was to sum up the implementation of the Declaration and Action Plan adopted in Almaty in 2003, through general discussion outline effective international and regional strategies of international trade transit areas, as well as to reassure the commitment of international community to support to landlocked developing countries to face economic development challenges.

In his speech at the plenary session Shahen Avakian spoke in particular about the pecularities of sustainable economic development of geographically landlocked Armenia and the challenges to regional cooperation. He presented the government’s investment and development projects, reforms of transportation infrastructure, as well as Armenia’s participation in multilateral economic formats of regional and international cooperation.

In the framework of the conference the Armenian delegation participated in the high-ranking thematic round table discussions, business investment forum and a number of other parallel events.

At the conclusion of the conference the Vienna Declaration and the Vienna Action Plan for 2014-2024 was adopted by member states, which defined the targets of sustainable economic development for 32 developing landlocked countries and the main challenges and priorities in their implementation process.