Statement by Vassily Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN, at the Annual Ministerial Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Landlocked Developing Countries
Your Excellency, Mr. Mukhtar Tileuberdi,
Distinguished participants,
This Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Landlocked Developing Countries is taking place in a very challenging period of time. The global border closure in the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic and follow-up restrictions have turned things worse, affecting the LLDCs further integration into the world economy. We stand for the need for joining efforts in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the Vienna Program of Action. Most of the LLDCs require support from donors as well as the foreign investors’ participation in the transport, energy infrastructure development and modernization and the promotion of ICT.
From the perspective of the international trade, we support LLDCs - non-WTO members, in the process of accession to the organization as well as to its Trade Facilitation Agreement, in particular, taking into account the provision of special and differential treatment to them. We include an element of harmonization of the developing countries’, including LLDCs’ legislation with their commitments under the Agreement in our international development assistance programs.
The challenges, which landlocked countries are facing, are not something abstract for us. Through its geographical location and long-standing relations, Russia is a part of the Eurasian integration systems that include the Central-Asian countries. The assistance to these countries makes a great share of the overall package of the Russian ODA. It is impossible to implement the ambitious concept of the Greater Eurasian Partnership and to develop international transport corridors connecting European countries and the Asia-Pacific Region without their participation.
We have already made a significant progress at the level of the Eurasian Economic Union in achieving free movement of goods, services and citizens. At the same time, we continue our work on the elimination of the barriers that impede trade and shipments, as well as the free transit, within and through the countries of the Union.
We would like to reaffirm our commitments taken at the Extraordinary Meeting of the G20 Foreign Ministers, held on September, the 3rd, on the need for a reopening of borders in a coordinated manner, bringing families together, stimulating the economic recovery with the necessary precaution measures, which are important for the LLDCs. In this regard, the initiative of arranging the so called “green corridors” in international trade, free from trade wars and sanctions, will allow us to achieve a quick recovery, to leverage on the economic potential of the countries and to take further advantage of the cooperation and the openness.
It is important to prevent unfair competition, undue trade restrictions and to guarantee unimpeded access to the international financial institutions’ funds for the vulnerable economies.
We expect solidarity in these approaches on the part of all the participants of today's meeting.
Thank you for your attention.
