The first meeting has been called by the LDC Trade Ministers and will be held in Maseru, Lesotho, from 27 to 29 February. The LDCs have not met at the ministerial level since the WTO´s Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in 2005. In Lesotho, Ministers will review subsequent progress made in the Doha Development Round of negotiations and hear from international and regional organizations as well as their ministerial counterparts from other developing and developed countries. The Meeting is expected to adopt a Maseru Declaration, setting forth the group´s position on the issues under negotiation of particular interest to the LDCs, including agriculture and non-agricultural market access, trade in services, special and differential treatment, and trade facilitation.

Dr. Supachai will address the meeting this Thursday, 29 February, at a high-level session on LDCs and the multilateral trading environment. LDC ministers, negotiating partners, and heads of other international organizations will also participate in this informal exchange, which will focus on the Doha Round, aid for trade and the Enhanced Integrated Framework, a multi-agency trade-related technical assistance programme for the LDCs in which UNCTAD has been closely involved.

The second meeting is a high-level workshop for African LDCs, being hosted by the government of Turkey in Izmir on 4-5 March, on "Trade and Development for Africa´s prosperity: action and direction". The workshop is part of preparations for UNCTAD XII, to be held in Accra, Ghana, on 20-25 April.

The world´s 49 least developed countries, 33 of which are located in Africa, belong to a UN category of States so defined on the basis of their low income, weak human assets and economic vulnerability. This meeting of their Trade Ministers will play a significant part in preparing the group´s position for UNCTAD XII.