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Hurriyet, Turkey
May 6 2011
Peres, Sarkisian to snub UN conference in Istanbul
Friday, May 6, 2011
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
Armenian president Serzh Sarkisian. AFP photo
Israeli President Shimon Peres and Armenian President Serge Sarkisian
will not attend the 4th United Nations Conference on the Least
Developed Countries, or LDC-IV, to be held in Istanbul, a Turkish
official has said.
`Those countries will not be represented by political figures, but by
technical officials,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Selçuk Ünal told
reporters Friday.
Greek Cyprus will be represented by its foreign minister and Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will also participate in the meeting,
Ünal said.
During the conference, which will be held in Istanbul from May 9 to
13, Turkey will host 50 heads of state or government, 75 ministers and
30 deputy ministers, the spokesman added.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and European Commission head Jose Manuel
Barroso are among the figures who have confirmed their participation.
About 10,000 total participants will gather under the auspices of the
LDC meeting, Ünal said.
The gathering, which U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will chair,
will address poverty, food security, energy and climate change, which
are particularly crucial issues for the world's 48 countries with a
per-capita income of less than $745.
The world's least developed countries include 33 African nations and
14 Asia-Pacific countries, as well as Haiti. In 1971, the United
Nations identified those countries as `the weakest and the poorest of
the international community.'
The U.N. meeting on least developed countries has been held every
decade since 1981.
The conference will assess the results of the 10-year action plan for
least developed countries adopted at the LDC-III in Brussels, Belgium,
in 2001 and adopt new measures and strategies for the sustainable
development of these countries into the next decade.
A new program of action for LDC development is expected to emerge from
this year's conference to determine the development paradigm for years
to come.
In order to properly support the conference in Istanbul, the U.N.
secretary-general has appointed a group of eminent persons to advise
on strong international support measures needed to accelerate
development in LDCs.
From: A. Papazian
May 6 2011
Peres, Sarkisian to snub UN conference in Istanbul
Friday, May 6, 2011
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
Armenian president Serzh Sarkisian. AFP photo
Israeli President Shimon Peres and Armenian President Serge Sarkisian
will not attend the 4th United Nations Conference on the Least
Developed Countries, or LDC-IV, to be held in Istanbul, a Turkish
official has said.
`Those countries will not be represented by political figures, but by
technical officials,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Selçuk Ünal told
reporters Friday.
Greek Cyprus will be represented by its foreign minister and Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will also participate in the meeting,
Ünal said.
During the conference, which will be held in Istanbul from May 9 to
13, Turkey will host 50 heads of state or government, 75 ministers and
30 deputy ministers, the spokesman added.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai and European Commission head Jose Manuel
Barroso are among the figures who have confirmed their participation.
About 10,000 total participants will gather under the auspices of the
LDC meeting, Ünal said.
The gathering, which U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will chair,
will address poverty, food security, energy and climate change, which
are particularly crucial issues for the world's 48 countries with a
per-capita income of less than $745.
The world's least developed countries include 33 African nations and
14 Asia-Pacific countries, as well as Haiti. In 1971, the United
Nations identified those countries as `the weakest and the poorest of
the international community.'
The U.N. meeting on least developed countries has been held every
decade since 1981.
The conference will assess the results of the 10-year action plan for
least developed countries adopted at the LDC-III in Brussels, Belgium,
in 2001 and adopt new measures and strategies for the sustainable
development of these countries into the next decade.
A new program of action for LDC development is expected to emerge from
this year's conference to determine the development paradigm for years
to come.
In order to properly support the conference in Istanbul, the U.N.
secretary-general has appointed a group of eminent persons to advise
on strong international support measures needed to accelerate
development in LDCs.
From: A. Papazian