Russia says least developed countries face 'overambitious tasks'

MOSCOW

The least developed countries (LDCs) face "overambitious tasks" designed to achieve at an ultimate goal of overcoming poverty, increasing stability and sovereignty, according to the Russian deputy foreign minister.

Sergey Vershinin's remarks came at an opening of the UN Least Developed Countries Conference in Doha on Monday and published by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Telegram on Tuesday.

"It is necessary to put at the forefront the solution of such practical tasks as building up production capacity and infrastructure, diversifying trade, as well as ensuring access (of these countries) to innovations and modern technologies.

"The ultimate goal of international efforts is the eradication of poverty, the transfer of added value to the LDCs, and the strengthening of their stability and sovereignty," Vershinin said.

The diplomat named "consequences of long-term colonial exploitation, raw material dependence, and unfavorable geographical location" as the main reasons of the "difficult situation" of the countries, categorized by the UN as "the least developed."

The LDCs, as one of the most vulnerable categories, also acutely suffer from the consequences of the pandemic, economic crisis, ecological problems, and instability in the food and energy markets, he added.

The Doha Conference is organized to give new impetus to international efforts to assist the least developed countries, Russia expresses its solidarity with this task and intends to make a significant contribution to the implementation of the Doha Action Program, he said.

"These are overambitious tasks. To understand the scale, an additional $1 trillion will be needed just to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9 in part on doubling the share of industry in LDCs," he stressed.

To date, official development assistance remains a key source of budget revenue for LDCs, and it is not only not keeping pace with their growing needs, but, on the contrary, is declining," the official noted.

Vershinin called on the donors to continue their support to the least developed countries in the current difficult period.

"We strongly condemn attempts to politicize international assistance and create procedural obstacles to the launch and implementation of Russian technical assistance projects," he emphasized.

According to Vershinin, Russia has doubled its official development assistance to some $1 billion per year, with the lion's share going for the needs of the least developed countries.

Debt relief is another form of support, since 2013 Moscow has cancelled $380 million debts to the countries of this category. Also, Moscow provides to the LDCs trade preferences and education grants, Vershinin said.​​​​​​​

"Overcoming the economic problems of the LDCs requires the combined efforts of the entire world community. ... We categorically reject attempts to impute the deterioration of the global economic situation to our country. This is a classic example of substitution of cause and effect. Let me remind you that it was the illegal sanctions and unilateral economic measures imposed against Russian products that led to a shortage of them on world markets -- and, as a result, price fluctuations," he said.

Vershinin strongly condemned attempts to politicize the conference and called on participants to focus on ensuring progressive and comprehensive economic development of the least developed countries.