Global: Programme of Action Adopted for World's Poorest Nations

'The future for least developed countries lies in trade, productive capacity and governance more than in aid,' said Cheick Sidi Diarra, United Nations High representative for the Least Developed Countries, responding to criticism of the plan of action put forward as the UN conference on the world’s poorest nations drew to a close in Istanbul. Representatives of governments said they were optimistic that the Istanbul Programme of Action for the decade 2011 to 2020 will prove instrumental in seeing at least half of the 48 countries now classed as least developed leave that category in the next ten years. The civil society forum swiftly rejected the plan of action as inadequate. The NGO group said donors and development partners had avoided committing themselves to delivering on long-standing pledges to provide substantial financial support for LDCs.