OREANDA-NEWS. November 10, 2014. A Moldovan delegation led by Deputy Economics Minister Octavian Calmic participates in the second session of the UN Conference on landlocked developing countries (LLDC), held in Vienna, Austria.

According to the Economics Ministry’s information and media communication service, the conference brings together representatives of governments of developing landlocked states, international organisations, including the private sector. The purpose of the meeting is to assess the activity of ten years of enforcement of the Almaty Programme of Action, adopted at the first conference LLDC (2003, Kazakhstan), and set up a new development agenda for the next decade.

The Almaty Programme of Action provides for secure access to and from the sea by all transport means, in accordance with the applicable rules of international law, cutting costs and improving services, in order to increase and expand export competitiveness, reduction of delivery costs of imports, solving problems and uncertainties related to trade routes. The programme also stipulates the cutting of losses and damages and eventual deteriorations when crossing borders, improving road transport safety and security of people throughout the corridors.

Thus, the objective of the meeting is to identify effective domestic and international policies, depending on the global result of the evaluation, as well as new challenges in addressing the specific needs of developing landlocked countries, especially those related to infrastructure development transit and trade facilitation, in order to cut transit costs and allow these countries participating in world trade.

In his speech, Octavian Calmic noted that "the economic performance and sustainable development in developing countries without access to the sea are directly affected by more external factors, including political and security components. In this respect, LLDC's goal should be building resilient economies, stable political and social relations to resist and prevent emerging crises and external shocks."

At the same time, Deputy Economics Minister stressed the need to observe international law principles and Moldova's European integration aspirations. As for the obstacles to development Moldova has been facing and the actions taken to overcome this situation, Octavian Calmic emphasised that "the Moldovan government, through its decisions, contributes to the diversification of foreign markets and the negotiations with Western partners were successful, via the liberalisation of the wine market with the European Union, with the EU-Moldova Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement being an intrinsic part of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement, ratified by the parliament in July this year. "