The “Antalya Appeal” for special and differentiated treatment by UN on LDC countries

This is in particular, of those SIDS, such as Vanuatu, which are faced with the challenge of losing Least Developed Country (LDC) status.

Mr Ludvaune, who is the Member of Parliament for Malekula, made the appeal when addressing the Comprehensive High-level Mid-term Review by the United Nations of the Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries in Antalya (Turkey) recently.

Vanuatu is earmarked for graduation come December 2020.

Mr Ludvaune, called his words “the Antalya Appeal“ (“l’Appel d’Antalya”), thereby echoing the “Samoa Appeal” which had been made in Samoa on 2nd September, on the same subject, by the  then Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Joe Natuman.

In his address, Mr Ludvaune explained that the most pressing challenge small island LDCs of the Pacific like Vanuatu face is to reduce their extreme vulnerability to external shocks beyond domestic control, a major obstacle to the economic and social progress of these nations. The Member of Parliament singled out resilience-building as the most important development objective of Vanuatu, and recognized at the same time that his country, like most nations in the region, could not build its resilience without external support. He cited three critical forms of external support: aid for infrastructural investment, preferential market access for Vanuatu exporters of goods to large markets, and technical assistance.

Mr Ludvaune is very concerned about the impact of climate change which remains an imminent threat to the survival of Small Islands States like Vanuatu and recalled the destructive impact caused by cyclone PAM in March 2015 and urged the United Nations to establish a financial mechanism that can support LDCs and particularly Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) on their recovery phase.