Mr. Chairman,

My delegation associates itself with the statements made by the distinguished representatives of South Africa on behalf of the Group of 77 and China as well as of Zambia on behalf of the Group of LLDCs.

I wish to speak in my national capacity on Agenda item 23, specifically on  sub-item Follow-up to the Second United Nations Conference on LLDCs.

Mr. Chairman,

2015 has been the year with some notable successes and achievements for LLDCs.  The High Level Forum of Heads of State and Government of LLDCs, held at the United Nations Headquarters on 28 September 2015 was instrumental. The leaders expressed a collective commitment to the accelerated implementation of the Vienna Programme of Action. My delegation also wishes to hightlight the importance of the High-Level Follow-up Ministerial Meeting to the Vienna Conference held in Livingstone, Zambia. It was significant in conceptualizing the way forward in implementing the Vienna Programme of Action. Furthermore, the special needs and challenges faced by LLDCs are recognized in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Mr. Chairman,

LLDCs continue to face serious constraints in our social-economic development endeavors due to the lack of territorial access to the sea which limits the value addition of exports and capacity to diversify products and markets and constrains growth and development prospects.

It is crucial that the special needs of LLDCs, in particular those relating to infrastructure development, trade development and trade facilitation, regional integration, productive capacity-building and structural transformation, are required to address in the implementation and follow-up of the the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. My delegation also supports the view that the specific needs and challenges of LLDCs should be given due consideration in the follow up and review process of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Like many LLDCs, my delegation welcomes the decision in Addis Ababa to launch a new global infrastructure forum and fully supports a proposal to undertake broad-based consultations on the modalities for the establishment of this new forum to bridge the infrastructure gap.

My delegation wishes to reiterate its position on the need to provide attention to the concerns and needs of LLDCs within the framework of the WTO in order to increase our participation in the Multilateral Trading System. My delegation fully supports a proposal to launch a dedicated work programme for LLDCs in the areas of trade Facilitation, trade diversification, services, Aid for Trade, electronic commerce and WTO accession.

Mr. Chairman,

Mongolia is one of many LLCDs which are impacted by climate change in a unique way. Climate change, land degradation, desertification, deforestation and drought pose a serious threat to the economic and social development and undermine our efforts towards the achievement of development objectives. It is my sincere hope that the Paris Conference will take due consideration of the special challenges faced by LLDCs and provide us with adequate support for the efforts of LLDCs to address these challenges in an integrated manner.

In conclusion, I urge once again our fellow LLDCs that have not yet done so, to ratify, at their earliest convenience, the Multilateral Agreement on the establishment of the International Think Tank for LLDCs in order to fully operationalize the think tank.

I thank you.