UNCTAD VIII to be held in Colombia, situation of LDCs considered.

• Position: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development; least developed countries

"Strengthening national and international action and multilateral cooperation for a healthy, secure and equitable world economy" will be the theme of the eighth session of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD VIII).

The 130-member Trade and Development Board of UNCTAD, at its spring session (11-22 March, Geneva), also accepted the Government of Colombia's offer to hold the session in Cartagena de Indias, from 8 to 25 February 1992.

Resources for development, international trade, technology, services and commodities will be the major topics at the international forum on North-South economic issues. Some 3,000 participants, including delegates from UNCTAD's 166 member States and representatives of UN system bodies, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, are expected to attend.

The decision followed an 8 February announcement that Uruguay, citing an inability to provide the necessary facilities in time, had withdrawn its offer to host the session in Punta del Este, originally scheduled for 21 September to 8 October 1991.

Middle East

reconstruction

Kenneth K. S. Dadzie, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, said on 11 March that the UN could help build confidence and establish the "economic underpinnings" of peace in the Middle East through reconstruction, which eventually would foster mutually beneficial economic linkages. Such a programme, he added, should include a new forum "to build the fabric of economic interlinkages, including multinational projects in such sectors as investment, trade and transport".

The Board's newly-elected President, Emilio Artacho Castellano of Spain, said "new and imaginative solutions" to economic and social problems were needed more than ever before to address developments relating to the transition to market economies in Eastern and Central Europe and the economic impact of the Persian Gulf crisis.

'The weakest partners'

Urgent assistance to least developed countries (LDCs) was urged by the Board, which expressed deep concern at the adverse consequences of "unforeseen external developments" on the economies of LDCs.

The Least Developed Countries 1990 Report (TD/B/1289 (Vols. I and II)), released at the meeting, states that the 42 LDCs, with a combined population of 440 million, are the "weakest partners" in the international community.

The 76-page study warns that the expected slowdown in world economic activity resulting from the Gulf military conflict, financial instability in the United...