Statement by Dr. Arjun Karki to the European Parliamentary Hearing on the Green Paper, the DCI and China: Key points for EU development policy in Asia and Latin America, 17 November 2010, Brussels, Belgium

Honourable Members, colleagues and friends,

Thank you for allowing me to share some civil society perspectives from the least developed countries (LDCs), on behalf of LDC Watch. The LDCs, we must bear in mind, are a "special" group of developing countries that hence, require specific development attention as was first recognised by the United Nations (UN) four decades back. Already characterised by low human development indicators and economic vulnerability, these countries are further challenged by inherent geographical constraints and environmental vulnerabilities.