Publication

VOICES OF THE LEAST DEVELOPED COUNTRIES (LDC) OF ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
Achieving the Millennium Development Goals through a Global Partnership

Even as developed countries concentrate more keenly on increasing development support, such assistance to 14 of the poorest nations in Asia and the Pacific is far less than that given to Least Developed Countries in other parts of the world - and the imbalance is widening.

Global trade, aid and debt relief need to be refocused on these resource-starved Asia-Pacific countries. This unique, timely glimpse into perspectives from the region's LDCs shows that the tyranny of averages obscures the fact that nations from Afghanistan to Vanuatu have annual per-capita incomes only one-fourth that of their more successful neighbors. Such countries often face additional vulnerabilities, including geographical challenges, small populations, low savings rates and high levels of conflict. Widening gaps in a dynamic region such as Asia and the Pacific represent a cause of concern, as well as an opportunity for intervention.

Developed and developing nations need to commit to a strengthened partnership with Asia-Pacific's poorest countries for moral, strategic and commercial reasons. Without such support, these countries risk not attaining the eight anti-poverty objectives of the Millennium Development Goals, bringing down the achievements of the region as a whole. Likewise, the poorest countries acknowledge their own responsibilities in addressing donor concerns over reducing corruption and establishing good governance as conditions for a large, rapid scaling-up of aid. If this global partnership fails, the consequences are unthinkable. But if it succeeds, it can lead to a "win-win" situation for all and ensure that hundreds of millions of people have better lives.