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Honourable Ministers,
Madame High Representative,
Excellencies, colleagues,

It is an honour to address this meeting this afternoon.

I will begin with three words: Connected. Resilient. Partnership.

These words go to the heart of our task: overcoming geographical constraints, withstanding shocks and turning partnership into practical action, so that no country is locked out of opportunity.

For the 32 landlocked developing countries, and more than 600 million people, these are not abstract policy concepts. They determine whether a farmer can reach a market, a child can learn online, a family can access electricity, or a community can withstand the next crisis.

The LLDC agenda has deep roots.

In 1957, the General Assembly recognized landlocked countries’ need for adequate transit facilities. In 1994, the LLDC Group was established within the United Nations, transforming shared structural constraints into a collective voice.

That voice helped secure the Almaty Programme of Action in 2003, the first global framework specifically addressing the needs of LLDCs. Almaty focused international action on transit policy, infrastructure, trade facilitation and international support.

About 10 years later, the Vienna Programme of Action for 2014-2024 widened the lens. Alongside transit and infrastructure, it emphasized regional integration, structural transformation and stronger means for implementation.

Important progress followed in trade facilitation, international conventions and infrastructure links. But financing gaps, limited capacity, the pandemic, geopolitical tensions and climate shocks kept progress below agreed goals.

Today, we carry this history forward through the Awaza Programme of Action for 2024-2034.

Awaza represents a paradigm shift. Almaty asked how goods could move more efficiently. Vienna asked how LLDC economies could connect, diversify and transform. Awaza now asks:

How can the global partnership architecture deliver concrete, measurable solutions to the underlying logic of landlockedness?

Awaza couples several integrated priorities with practical institutional deliverables:

Regional agricultural research hubs;
A high-level panel of experts on freedom of transit;
Exploration of a dedicated Infrastructure Investment Finance Facility;
And interest in establishing a dedicated work programme at the World Trade Organization;
This is important because LLDCs accounted for only 1.1 per cent – I repeat, 1.1 per cent –of global merchandise exports in 2022.

They remain vulnerable to high trade costs, inadequate connectivity, debt and disasters, from drought and desertification to floods and melting glaciers. The recent disaster in Nepal is a strong case in point. Geopolitical tensions further disrupt energy, freight and supply chains, imposing further costs on these economies.

One year after the Third United Nations Conference on LLDCs, implementation must move from conference rooms to corridors, farms and communities. Delivery must mean lower trade costs, stronger productive capacity, greater digital and energy connectivity, bankable infrastructure and economies better equipped to withstand shocks.

No country can deliver Awaza alone. Success requires partnership among LLDCs and transit countries, development partners, international financial institutions, regional organizations, the private sector, and of course, the United Nations system.

This is central to my vision for the eighty-first session: “Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations That Delivers for All.” Under the pillar “No One Left Behind, No Country Left Out.”

I pledged to keep countries in special situations at the centre of our work. Across the SDG Summit, the UN Water Conference, and discussions on artificial intelligence, sustainable transport and United Nations reform, LLDCs’ priorities must be fully reflected and safeguarded.

For the first time, I have established within my Office a dedicated team for countries in special situations. Soon, we will launch a Presidency-led Leadership Platform for Countries in Special Situations, a flexible coalition of Governments, the United Nations system, international financial institutions, businesses, academia and civil society, to convene focused high-level dialogues and turn priorities into actionable recommendations.

Excellencies,

Once again: Connected. Resilient. Partnership.

Let these words guide our actions and define the outcomes by which we are judged. I count on your leadership and determination to give Awaza the momentum it deserves.

Together, let us turn opportunity into access and partnership into progress, leaving no country locked out.

I thank you.