Ulaanbaatar hosted a high-level international workshop on the “WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation: Implications for LLDCs”. The workshop was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia and the United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries and the Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States on June 2nd and 3rd.

The workshop aims to issue a policy reference guide, a pulse for the preparation for the Second UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC) to be held in November, 2014.

At the high-level international workshop 32 member states from the LLDC group and 100 delegates representing donor and transit countries were present.

Opening speeches were delivered by the Foreign Affairs Minister of Mongolia L.Bold,  the UN Deputy Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States Gyan Chandra Acharya and the Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry of Zambia, Robert Sichinga.

During the high-level international workshop the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation and Implications for landlocked developing countries was summarized. Representatives defined the member states of LLDCs group and other countries on the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation and gained in-depth knowledge on further action plan.

Participants also reviewed the study results on the “WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation: Implications for LLDCs” and developing challenges of landlocked developing countries, contributions to WTO and legal environment for transit transport.