| All set for conference on middle income countries |
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| Written by Staff Reporters | |||
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Following a Cabinet decision on 19 February, Namibia will host the 3rd International Ministerial Conference on the State of Middle Income Countries (MICs) and International Obligations.
The conference will be held in Windhoek from 4 to 6 August.
He said Namibia participated in the first and second international conferences on cooperation with MICs that took place in 2007 in Spain and El Salvador. More than 80 donors and recipients countries and 20 international organisations participated in the Madrid conference, while 40 donors and recipients countries and 17 international organisations attended the San Salvador conference. According to the benchmark used by the World Bank in 2005, middle-income groups comprise of 93 countries or territories where the per capita income lies between US$766 and US$9 385. The group is further broken down into subgroups comprising the lower middle income group that includes 56 countries with a per capita income of between US$766 and US$3 035 and upper middle income with 38 countries with a per capita income of between US$3.035 and US$9 385 The conference, which will take place at the Windhoek Country Club and Resort, will be held under the theme “The state of middle income countries and international obligations for development cooperation”. It will be conducted in English, Spanish, French and Russian. A total of 103 invitations have been sent out, with an approximate 400 delegates from MIC countries and international organisations expected to participate. Conference sub-themes will, amongst others, include: MICs and the challenge of financing infrastructure development, the obligations of the international community to support and development efforts of MICs and enhancing the competitiveness of the MICs. The outcome of the conference would be a Windhoek Ministerial Declaration and a Windhoek MIC Resolution spelling out a way forward for MICs. These documents would be submitted to the 64th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2008. An inter-ministerial committee comprising the National Planning Commission, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Works and Transport has been established to prepare for the conference. |
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