Implications of the application of the new criteria for identifying the least developed countries in the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s, G.A. res. 47/173, 47 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 49) at 124, U.N. Doc. A/47/49 (1992).


The General Assembly,

Recalling its resolution 45/206 of 21 December 1990, in which it endorsed the Paris Declaration and the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s, adopted by the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, resolution 46/156 of 19 December 1991 on the implementation of the Programme of Action and resolution 46/206 of 20 December 1991 on the report of the Committee for Development Planning: criteria for identifying the least developed countries,

Taking note of the document entitled "A New Partnership for Development: The Cartagena Commitment", adopted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development at its eighth session,

Reaffirming that the least developed countries have the primary responsibility for the formulation and effective implementation of national policies and priorities for their growth and development, and should continue to implement the commitments they undertook at the Paris Conference, and that the international community, in particular the donor countries, should implement fully and expeditiously their commitments in all areas, as set out in the Programme of Action,

Reiterating the need to strengthen international cooperation for sustainable development in order to support and complement the efforts of the least developed countries,

Noting the donors' determination, reflected in the Cartagena Commitment, to implement the commitments that they undertook in the Programme of Action with regard to official development assistance to the forty-one countries which were included in the list of the least developed countries at the time of the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries,

Noting also that the Trade and Development Board, at the first part of its thirty-ninth session, conducted the second annual review of progress in the implementation of the Programme of Action and also reviewed the question of appropriate adjustment of commitments in respect of targets and levels of official development assistance to the least developed countries in the light of the addition of six countries to the list of those countries after the Second United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries,

Noting further that, at the same session of the Trade and Development Board, donors expressed their intention to examine the effects that the countries newly added to the list of the least developed countries were having on the additional resource requirements of the least developed country group as a whole,

1. Reaffirms that the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the 1990s should be implemented fully, effectively and on a timely basis by all parties;

2. Also reaffirms that all least developed countries should continue to enhance the implementation of national policies and measures in line with the Programme of Action, including through macroeconomic policies conducive to long-term, sustained growth and sustainable development, the promotion of individual initiative and broad-based popular participation in the development process, the enhancement of human and institutional capacities and the expansion and modernization of the economic base, and that their development partners should effectively and expeditiously implement the commitments undertaken or the measures proposed in the Programme of Action in all areas of international support, including official development assistance, debt relief and external trade;

3. Further reaffirms that a significant and substantial increase in the aggregate level of external support should be made available to the least developed countries, taking into account those countries recently added to the list of the least developed countries;

4. Takes note of decision 92/30 of 26 May 1992 of the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme concerning adjustment of the allocation of indicative planning figures to the least developed countries in the light of the additions to the list of the least developed countries;

5. Welcomes the outcome of the second annual review of progress in the implementation of the Programme of Action undertaken by the Trade and Development Board at the first part of its thirty-ninth session, and notes the decision, inter alia, that the Board, at the second part of its thirty-ninth session, should:

(a) Review in depth two special issues, namely, domestic and external resource mobilization, including debt situation and management, and improvement of trading opportunities;

(b) Consider the question of appropriate adjustment of the commitments, as requested by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development at its eighth session, taking into account the views expressed and the decisions made at the first part of the thirty-ninth session of the Trade and Development Board;

6. Invites the least developed countries and their development partners, including international organizations and financial institutions, to participate adequately and effectively in the second part of the thirty-ninth session of the Trade and Development Board, to be held at Geneva from 15 to 26 March 1993;

7. Urges donors to consider providing, pursuant to its resolution 46/156, extrabudgetary resources to facilitate the participation of representatives of the least developed countries at future reviews of the Programme of Action by the Trade and Development Board;

8. Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its forty-eighth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution, including an assessment of the outcome of the third annual review of the Programme of Action by the Trade and Development Board.

93rd plenary meeting
22 December 1992


URL for areas of image outside of any defined elements.