STATEMENT BY CHAIR AND SPOKESPERSON OF LDC-IV CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM DR ARJUN KARKI AT THE INDIA-LDC MINISTERIAL MEETING “HARNESSING THE POSITIVE CONTRIBUTION OF SOUTH-SOUTH CO-OPERATION FOR LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES’ DEVELOPMENT”

18-19 February 2011, New Delhi

Mr Chairman, Honourable Ministers, LDC-IV Secretary General Mr Diarra,

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you for allowing me to speak on behalf of the LDC-IV Civil Society Steering Committee at this important Pre-Conference Ministerial meeting focusing on South-South co-operation for LDCs.

We are all aware that for over 30 years, since the Buenos Aires Plan of Action was adopted back in 1978, South-South Co-operation has been part of the United Nations’ strategy for advancing regional development agendas in the South. And, we have also witnessed that in the context of the most vulnerable development bloc – the LDCs – within the global South, the vision of sustainable development that should follow is still elusive in terms of a just and an equitable world. We recognise South-South Co-operation as integral to the advancement of LDCs and therefore, as we move ahead we should seek to rectify the weaknesses and blunders that mirror the traditional North-South co-operation. The upcoming LDC-IV conference gives us an opportunity to revisit and redefine a progressive South-South Cooperation, highlighting creative and substantive evidences of South-South development solutions, and thus forging innovative and inclusive partnerships for LDCs’ development. We must agree to a new framework for South-South Co-operation that is based on the principles of solidarity, justice and equity towards human development and human dignity.

OHRLLS: In your capacity as the global coordinator of the Civil Society Steering Committee, what do civil society organizations expect to come out of LDC IV?

AK: In light of the soon approaching LDC-IV, civil society organisations across the globe are gearing up in consolidating a strong pro-poor LDC agenda, placing the most vulnerable and the marginalised LDC populations at its centre – bearing in mind, that both poverty and vulnerability are endemic in LDCs and this fact is often carelessly overlooked by stakeholders. We have been mobilising our constituency and beyond towards LDC-IV, and are receiving overwhelming support and solidarity in our collective cause towards defending LDC interests. It’s an ethical urgency to reverse the past four decades of development failure in LDCs that has unjustifiably cost the lives and livelihoods of the poor and the vulnerable LDC peoples and we as civil society, expect Istanbul to recognise this urgency. Istanbul is being seen as a historical point of departure in terms of a new progressive development action for the LDCs, truly paving the road for a constructive decade that will witness at least half of the LDCs graduating eventually leading towards a world without LDCs!

Rousbeh Legatis interviews DR. ARJUN K. KARKI, International Coordinator of LDC Watch

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 5, 2011 (IPS) - Maximising time, energy and resources toward improving living conditions for millions of people in the poorest countries of the world - the so-called Least Developed Countries (LDCs) - means that the "business-as-usual" approach must yield to a holistic strategy, says Arjun Karki, a longtime expert on grassroots, democratic peace-building and development.

With an eye on the upcoming Fourth U.N. Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC IV) in May, Karki underscores that unless there is a decisive shift, the world is heading toward "another unproductive decade" in terms of LDC policy- making.

The major gathering of head of states, civil society and the private sector in Istanbul represents a "historical opportunity" to "pave the road of translating rhetoric into action", Karki says.

Rethinking old patterns would make it possible to halve the number of LDCs by 2020, he argues.

For more than 10 years, LDC Watch has monitored policy- making and the outcomes for people on the ground. U.N. correspondent Rousbeh Legatis spoke to Karki about flaws in the past and his hopes for the future. Excerpts from the interview follow.