Progress in the implementation of the priority areas of the Istanbul Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020

The year 2015 witnessed the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the Paris Agreement on climate change and Agenda 2063, the African continent’s own regional framework for development. For least developed countries in general, and African least developed countries in particular, these regionally and internationally agreed frameworks will have to be implemented alongside the Istanbul Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020 in an integrated and coherent manner. Effective implementation will require strengthened capacities to integrate all the above initiatives in national planning frameworks, along with capacities to identify and leverage synergies among the interrelated goals, targets and indicators so as to optimize policy impact.