Unless progress speeds up considerably with full support from the international community, the world's least developed countries (LDCs) will miss the growth and productivity targets they have set themselves by the target date of 2021, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson warned today.
"Structural constraints, natural disasters, pandemics, conflict and post-conflict situations, and climate change are continuing to undermine progress," he told leaders from the 48 LDCs, which account for over 880 million people (about 12 per cent of world population) but for less than 2 per cent of world gross domestic product (GDP) and 1 per cent of global trade in goods," he said.
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