*****MEDIA ADVISORY*****

In order to foster the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA), Benin is organising the Ministerial Conference on New Partnerships for Productive Capacity Building in LDCs. The Conference will identify new and innovative partnerships to support efforts of LDCs to strengthen their productive capacity, which is the first priority area of the IPoA. It will also focus on appropriate means of implementation. Some issues, like gender and women empowerment, employment and sustainable development, will be cross-cutting.

The meeting will make policy recommendations on leveraging development partnerships, including through enhancing contribution of ODA, South-South cooperation, remittance earnings, FDI and other traditional forms of external finance, innovative sources of finance, domestic resource mobilization and private-public partnerships and through harnessing domestic endowments and other potentials. These recommendations are also expected to feed into the discussions on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the post-2015 development agenda. Furthermore, the meeting will provide an opportunity to launch concrete and innovative mechanisms to mobilize financial resources for LDCs as well as partnerships for productive capacity.

The original mandate of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) from the UN General Assembly is to "assist developing countries in the development of their economies by supplementing existing sources of capital assistance by means of grants and loans". The mandate was complemented in 1973 to serve first and foremost the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). UNCDF has a unique financial mandate within the UN system: it provides – through its core areas of expertise, Inclusive Finance and Local Development Finance – investment capital and technical support to both the public and the private sector. As a small-scale multilateral organization having the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) as its primary target constituency, UNCDF plays a unique role in the implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action (IPoA).

WHAT: The UNCDF side-event "Building Productive Capacity for Resilience" is an event organized by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) within the Ministerial Meeting on New Partnerships for Productive Capacity Building in the Least Developed Countries. It will take place on Thursday 31 July 2014 at the Palais des Congres. The events aims to look at and respond to the following questions:

1) What are the priorities and challenges of the Istanbul Programme of Action? Two years into the implementation of the IPoA, least developed countries have made some progress on many of the goals and targets agreed in Istanbul. Although the majority of LDCs grew at a pace slower than their last- decade averages, a few continued to expand at 7 per cent or more – the target set in the Programme of Action. These countries witnessed strong and rising investment rates, rapid urbanization, and robust expansion of sectors other than agriculture. This development indicates that structural change also seems to be taking hold in a few LDCs. Yet, most LDCs continue to face pervasive poverty, serious structural impediments to growth, low levels of social and human development and high exposure to shocks and disasters. Even those countries with improved performance started off from low bases and have a long way to go to catch up with the levels of development of other developing countries. Against the above backdrop, both LDCs and development partners, including the UN system, have intensified efforts to mainstream the IPoA into their national development and development cooperation strategies, respectively. Likewise, other stakeholders of the IPoA including parliaments, the private sector and civil society have been involved in various activities related to the implementation of the IPoA.

2) How is UNCDF responding to these challenges and how it is structuring its interventions accordingly? UNCDF assists LDCs to build mechanisms and systems to address the underlying vulnerabilities and have the resilience to withstand the economic and climatic shocks that are prevalent across the LDCs. The event will present the UNCDF experience in supporting the implementation of the Istanbul Plan of Action through intervention in the following areas: Climate Change and Food Security; Clean Energy and Productive Capacity; Youth and Women; and Social Protection.

3) What could UNCDF do more to respond to these priorities?

WHEN: Thursday 31 July, 13:30-15:00

WHERE: Sude event will take place in the Salle "Laguna" at Palais des Congrès.

SPEAKERS:

• M. Raphael Edou, Minister of Environment, Benin
• M. David Jackson, Director Local Development Finance, UNCDF
• M. Henri Dommel, Director INclusive Finance, UNCDF
• Mr. Luc Gnacadja, ancien secrétaire exécutif de la Convention pour la lutte contre la désertification, ancien ministre de l'Environnement et de l'Aménagement du territoire du Bénin
• Representative from BCEO
• Representative from UNDP Benin
• Representatives from the 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs)
• Representative from civisl society and the private sector