MINSK, 27 May (BelTA) – Belarus' Permanent Representative to the UN Andrei Dapkiunas called on the UN member states to make a greater use of the potential of middle-income countries in the global development as he attended a special meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on 26 May, BelTA learned from the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Andrei Dapkiunas presented a vision of the place and role of this category of states in achieving global sustainable development. “The diplomat said that the United Nations should be ready to make a greater use of the potential of middle-income countries in the global development. This requires a separate coordination mechanism involving all elements of the UN system in order to facilitate the provision of international assistance to these countries as well as to use their experience for the benefit of global sustainable development,” the press service said.
Referring to the example of Belarus, Andrei Dapkiunas noted that further progress in middle-income countries will determine how successful will be the implementation of the sustainable development agenda adopted at the UN summit last year.
The ECOSOC Special Meeting was held at the UN headquarters in New York. It discussed the role of the UN development system in middle-income countries. The event was organized in response to the UN General Assembly resolution on middle-income nations adopted with the active participation of Belarus.
According to the World Bank classification, the category of middle-income countries comprises more than a hundred countries. Belarus is ranked in the top sub-category of upper-middle-income countries. These states are home to most of the world's population. According to international estimates, middle-income economies account for more than a third of global GDP, a quarter of world's exports and imports.
Belarus is actively advocating the interests of middle-income countries in the international arena. In March 2016, Belarus and several other countries initiated the establishment of the informal group of active supporters of interests of middle-income countries in the UN. Over the past several years, Minsk hosted two regional conferences on various aspects of sustainable development in middle-income nations.
