Prof. Justin Yifu LIN, Ms. Heidi Schroderus-Fox and Prof. FU Jun
Least Developed Countries (LDCs) supported by the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) will soon benefit from a "Technology Bank" that is expected to be launched in 2017 to provide much needed support for innovation and technology, and to harness indigenous knowledge as well as to build opportunities capable of unleashing the economic potential of member countries. Ms. Heidi Schroderus-Fox, the Director of UN-OHRLLS made this known during a courtesy visit with Prof. Justin Yifu LIN and an interactive session with students of the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development (ISSCAD) at Peking University on Nov 30, 2016.
UN-OHRLLS was established in 2001 to address the unique developmental challenges faced by the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, with a view to facilitating the coordinated implementation and monitoring of the respective programs of actions of the three groups of countries. The countries have small populations and consist of landlocked developing countries which have no access to seas, and small island countries which have long to market and are Vulnerable to the impact of climate change. UN-OHRLLS hosted the High-level Roundtable on South-South Cooperation on September 26, 2015 when President Xi Jinping announced that China would set up the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development.
Ms. Fox indicated that the UN-OHRLLS organizes meetings on key developmental issues spanning through energy, environment, productive capacity building and transport. “From time to time the office organizes international meetings where analytical, negotiation and technical supports are provided to help the most vulnerable countries, namely LDCs, LLDCs, and SIDS,” She stated. Ms. Fox also mentioned that UN-OHRLLS conducts research with subsequent release of relevant publications with the aim of bringing issues in LDCs to the spotlight and well-articulated policy recommendations.
Ms. Fox stressed that leadership capacity building in LDCs plays a crucial role in national development, and capacity building is a focal area of UN-OHRLLS projects. She stated that Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2000–2015 was a remarkable success in several LDCs and assured that UN-OHRLLS will partner with other International Developmental Agencies to ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2015–2030 is successfully implemented. Prof. Fu Jun, the Academic Dean of ISSCAD, in his remarks pointed out that ISSCAD students are from 27 developing countries around the world. He thanked UN-OHRLLS for developing and implementing programs capable of unleashing the economic potentials of LDCs stating that ISSCAD will remain committed to training policy makers from developing countries.
Ms. Fox commended the Government of China for its exemplary role in South-South cooperation, and its commitment to assist developing countries in capacity building. She expressed satisfaction that vast majority of the students are from constituencies of UN-OHRLLS, and the students have displayed academic and professional competence. During his meeting with Ms. Fox, Prof. Justin Yifu Lin shared the interest of ISSCAD in collaborating with UN-OHRLLS in the future to conduct joint capacity building programs for the most vulnerable countries in the world.
By Omole and Gift
