Activities by the Economic Commission for Africa in favour of the least developed countries

Abstract

Given the limited resources available to the Commission it was not feasible to develop specific programmes designed solely for this group of countries. There is however no doubt that the development programmes and activities established by ECA for the region as a whole have had important impacts on the least developed African countries. The greatest impact was felt in the following areas (a) studies and research with a view to identifying and increasing the effectiveness of programmes and to providing data and other material information for action at the international level, and (b) supportive action at the international level for collective efforts to increase the flow of aid at concessional terms to adapt technical assistance to the priorities and limitations of the leant developed countries, and to facilitate international trade for these countries through commodity agreements, price stabilization and the adaptation of general preference systems, etc. In the "Revised framework of Principles for the Implementation of the New International Economic Order in Africa", it is contended that the least developed countries are distinguished from other developing countries by the benign neglect to which they were subjected either because their former colonizers perceived relatively few opportunities for export production or because of the limited degree "to which they were suitable for European settlement.