Adequate Financing, Effective Partnerships Key for Achieving Sustainable Development, Speakers Tell Round Table, Also Urging Action to Ease Crushing Debt Burden
AWAZA, TURKMENISTAN (7 August) — Achieving sustainable development requires adequate financing and effective partnerships, speakers heard at the final round-table discussion at the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries today, as many spotlighted the urgent need to alleviate the crushing burden of debt.
Co-Chair Hojamyrat Geldimyradov, Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan, opened the round table, which centres on the theme "Provision and mobilization of resources, and strengthened global partnerships for sustainable development in landlocked developing countries". He recalled that the Vienna Programme of Action identified several "key" challenges facing landlocked developing countries, including limited mobilization of domestic resources, reduced distribution of official development assistance (ODA), stagnated export revenues, high debt and uneven remittance flows with high transaction costs.
"Only a global approach to financing", he stressed, can ensure access to the much-needed resources that landlocked countries need to achieve sustainable development. This is reflected in both the Awaza Programme of Action and the Sevilla Commitment, which both emphasize the importance of fulfilling obligations to support the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. "Today, global challenges far exceed the capabilities of any single State," he stressed, adding that only a "firm commitment to multilateralism, international cooperation and global solidarity" can address them effectively.
"Finance is central," added his fellow Co-Chair Ana Isabel Xavier, Deputy Foreign Minister of Portugal. Landlocked developing countries must contend with limited domestic savings, declining ODA and constrained fiscal space — all exacerbated by climate shocks and external debt pressure. Stressing that "debt instruments must evolve", she expressed support for tools that "link debt treatment with climate and development goals" as they can "create much-needed fiscal space and help deliver real outcomes". She also said that partnerships must become more inclusive, pragmatic and aligned with landlocked countries’ priorities.
And, she emphasized that, "in regions where climate risks, fragility and gender inequalities converge, targeted cooperation is essential". For its part, Portugal supports a UN initiative in the Sahel and the Central African Republic that focuses on gender-responsive climate security assessments and women-led climate innovation. Further noting the "cascading environmental risks" affecting landlocked developing countries — as over half of their territory lies in dryland regions — she expressed support for the use of a multidimensional vulnerability index to ensure fairer access to concessional finance by reflecting structural challenges beyond gross domestic product (GDP).
Paradox of Landlocked Countries: Vast Resources, Potential; Inadequate Infrastructure, Financing
"My own country — the mountain kingdom of Lesotho — embodies the unique complexities of our groups," said Lejone Mpotjoana, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Relations of Lesotho, who delivered this round table’s keynote address. While these mountains are the source of the water resource that powers Lesotho’s economy, they present challenges for infrastructure development, digital connectivity and agricultural productivity. Nevertheless, he said: "While geography designates Lesotho as a landlocked nation, we choose to see our high-altitude sovereignty as a vantage point for innovation, resilience and prosperity."
However, he pointed to the "paradox" affecting Lesotho and many other landlocked developing countries: "We hold vast renewable energy potential, yet we face energy deficits; we have young, dynamic populations, yet we struggle to create sufficient opportunities to curb brain drain." He underscored that "it is this paradox that this round table must address", and the central question is not whether sustainable development can be achieved — "but how we will finance and partner to unlock it". On that, he spotlighted the issue of unsustainable debt for countries like Lesotho: "Before a single dollar can be spent on a school, a hospital or a new road, it is already gone — funnelled straight into interest payments."
"This is not development," he underscored, adding: "The time for incremental change is over." He, therefore, called for reform of the international financial architecture that "delivers on debt relief and provides accessible climate finance for the most vulnerable". Additionally, he urged clear, time-bound and measurable targets for infrastructure development, trade facilitation and resource mobilization, as well as a "dedicated LLDC blended-finance facility" to de-risk and attract private investment in critical infrastructure and connectivity projects. "Let this be the decade of tangible results," he concluded.
Role of Public Taxation in Funding Sustainable Development
The afternoon’s first panellist, Satu Suikkari-Kleven, Ambassador for UN Peace and Security and Global Partnerships at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, said that enhancing domestic resource mobilization — "particularly taxation" — has "huge potential" for financing the SDGs. As such, Finland supports strengthened tax systems by sharing its expertise with other authorities — "a very practical, pragmatic form of cooperation", she noted. "Finland is a world leader in digital public services," she added — it has fully digitized its tax system — and is ready to share its expertise in building secure, open and accessible public infrastructure. She also spotlighted the efforts of "Finnfund" — her country’s development financier — to effect a green transition in Mongolia, finance renewable energy in Nepal and enhance connectivity in Africa.
"I might state the obvious," said Ousmane Fall, Director of the African Development Bank, "but 50 per cent of [landlocked developing countries] are located in Africa." These countries require a reformed international debt architecture, which in turn necessitates governance reforms, effective debt relief, restructuring mechanisms and enhanced debt management. Further, financiers must "shift the basis for accessing resources away from quotas to a combination of income and vulnerability indicators", he said. However, he underscored: "From the African perspective, all of this will not be effective if we do not address the elephant in the room."
Institutional Investment in Africa Deterred by Unfair Risk Assessment
This, he said, is the fact that African countries currently pay more than threefold to access capital than do other parts of the world due to unfair risk assessment. This "Africa risk premium" costs the continent more than 75ドル billion annually, and he said that "it is now necessary to reform how we assess risk" in Africa. Therefore expressing support for the African Union initiative to establish an "African risk credit agency", he also called on African States to engage in "bold reforms" to increase investor confidence in their countries. He observed: "We need to attract institutional investors to Africa, but those investors want to see bankable projects and investor protection."
Leveraging Migrants’ Remittances to Foster Growth, Investment
Pär Liljert, Director of the New York Office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), then spotlighted another source of financing — the 700ドル billion annually in remittances that migrants send home to low- and middle-income countries. Lowering the transaction fees involved, he emphasized, would ensure that "more of that money reaches families and communities". Remittances, as private person-to-person flows, are used by receiving households to meet basic social needs. They can lift recipients out of poverty, and pay for food, education and health services. And they can also finance entrepreneurship, small business and local investment — "if the right incentives and tools are in place", he stressed.
A primary barrier is high transfer costs, and he reported that migrants from landlocked developing countries face an average premium of 9.5 per cent when they send money back home. Offering several suggestions to lower these charges — such as expanding mobile money platforms and digital wallets — he said that Governments can partner to co-develop and scale up innovative, low-cost remittance solutions. He also pointed to the possibility of fostering competition among remittance service providers, noting that "there are, unfortunately, quite few today". Nevertheless, he stressed that remittances — "if properly leveraged" — can foster entrepreneurship, enhance financial inclusion and enable productive investments in landlocked developing countries.
Trudi Hartzenberg, Executive Director of the Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa, then noted that the connections between the Sevilla Commitment and the Awaza Programme of Action are "clear and imperative". She added that Africa’s marginalization from the global trading system is "real for the continent". Underlining the need to develop trade-related infrastructure "for Africa to trade more effectively", she also pointed to the importance of facilitating cross-border production linkages and creating value chains to "add value to Africa’s resources". As Africa remains a commodity exporter — "exporting job creation and value-addition opportunities" — she concluded that foreign direct investment is an important vehicle "not only for changing how we trade on the continent, but how Africa trades with the rest of the world".
Shared Obstacles of Least Developed, Landlocked Countries Require Equitable Global Response
During the interactive discussion that followed, the representative of Bangladesh stressed that least developed countries — similar to landlocked developing ones — are also faced with limited fiscal space, undiversified economies and recurring external shocks. "These shared realities call for equitable global responses," he urged, noting that remittances are also a "lifeline for our economies" and, therefore, safer migration pathways are essential. "We call for compassion," he urged. The representative of the Philippines, along those lines, noted his country’s status as a "migrant country of origin" and said that "this is an area for the potential exchange of knowledge" in the spirit of South-South cooperation.
The representative of Uzbekistan, while acknowledging the challenges faced by landlocked countries in Central Asia, pointed to a benefit they share — "a stable growth of population and the share of young people in it". Channelling more investment towards human capital and supporting women and youth will allow the harvesting of "demographic dividends", he stressed, adding that youth are "better positioned to digest innovations and to adapt to new realities and conditions". For her part, Chad’s representative detailed her country’s national development plan — "Chad Connection 2030" — which seeks to strengthen economic inclusion, particularly for women and youth.
Need to Fulfil Official Development Assistance Commitments, Suspend Debt
"Without the means for implementation, we won’t be able to make the development aspirations of our people a reality," said Cuba’s representative, calling on developed countries to fulfil their ODA commitments. Luxembourg, for its part, continues to devote 1 per cent of its GDP to ODA, said that country’s representative — which is beyond the 0.7 per cent UN goal. He also said that almost half of his country’s bilateral partners are landlocked countries and, together, they invest in digitization, basic services and climate-friendly solutions. One such project is the Kigali International Financial Centre in Rwanda. "We remain fully committed to support you," he concluded.
The representative of Spain, meanwhile, expressed support for the Awaza Programme of Action and underlined the need for landlocked developing countries to "benefit from sufficient resources to deal with these challenges". On debt issues, she expressed support for debt suspension in the case of climate emergencies, better use of debt swaps and the creation of a "debtors’ platform" — so that borrowing countries can "coordinate their approaches and share information and experiences". She also stressed that the recently adopted Sevilla Commitment "needs to be the road map we should all follow to mobilize the resources required".