Wednesday August 6, 2025
Mogadishu (HOL) – Somalia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Isaak Mohamud Mursal, participated in the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC3), held on Tuesday in Awaza, Turkmenistan.
He was joined by Ambassador Fathudin Ali Mohamed, Somalia’s Ambassador to Ankara and non-resident Ambassador to Turkmenistan.
“While Somalia is not a landlocked country, it is classified as a Least Developed Country. Its participation in the conference underscores efforts to enhance regional cooperation and explore solutions that support sustainable development,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
Held under the theme “Driving Progress through Partnerships,” the conference brought together global leaders, policymakers, and stakeholders to address the challenges faced by the world’s 32 landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), home to over 600 million people. The goal is to accelerate sustainable development through enhanced cooperation, trade facilitation, and infrastructure investment.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, in his opening remarks, emphasized the urgency of collective action. “Despite representing 7 percent of the world’s population, LLDCs account for just over one percent of the global economy and trade – a stark example of deep inequalities that perpetuate marginalization. These inequalities are not inevitable,” he said. “This conference is not about obstacles. It is about solutions. It is about launching a new decade of ambition – through the Awaza Programme of Action – and fully unlocking the development potential of landlocked developing countries.”
Turkmenistan’s President, Serdar Berdimuhamedov, echoed the call for global solidarity in his address at the opening ceremony. “We proceed from the necessity of aligning all economic activity with environmental standards. The essence of our environmental policy is to ‘tune’ the economic system in such a way that the production sphere is not a rival to nature, but its ally and support,” he stated.