The Problems of the Least Developed Countries Addressed with the Participation of TEPAV TEPAV shared the private sector experience of Turkey at the 4th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries.

ISTANBUL -The 4^th United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries was held on May 9-13, 2011 in Istanbul. The steps to be taken in these countries were addressed in sessions participated in by TEPAV.

The conference, which hosted more than ten thousand participants from the state, government, private sector and civil society representatives of the United Nations (UN) member states, started with opening speeches by President of the Republic of Turkey, Abdullah Gül, and UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon. On the first day of the conference, it was decided to form a Working Group composed of Turkish business people operating in the least developed countries under the body of DEİK (the Foreign Economic Relations Board) as a platform for communicating experiences. It was stated that this would facilitate the sharing of businessmen's problems, experiences and knowledge that differ substantially among countries from Yemen to Angola and Afghanistan to Nigeria.

The conference continued with sessions that addressed the common problems of the least developed countries. In the first session on private sector issues, Assoc. Prof. Ümit Özlale, Director of TEPAV Training and Research Institute for Public Policy; Esen Çağlar, TEPAV Economic Policy Analyst; Ussal Şahbaz, Consultant to TEPAV; Etienne R. Kechichian, Expert in International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group; and Bakaar Masher, Program Director at the Islamic Development Bank, delivered speeches. The session focused on the need to improve the investment climate and design a sustainable institutional structure for private sector development. The speeches touched upon the role of active state policies and the "special economic zones" designed strategically in tandem with needs. They stressed that the process would not be uniform in all countries and that the planning process should be harmonious with industrial policies.

In the session on the institutionalization of the private sector, Süreyya Serdengeçti, Director of the TEPAV Stability Institute; Prof. Serdar Sayan, Director of the TEPAV Entrepreneurship Institute; Şafak Çivici, TOBB Women Entrepreneurs' Supreme Board Member; Özge Dumlupınar, Expert from the Undersecretariat of Treasury; Ali Güner Tekin, Head of the Directorate of the Privatization Administration; and Ömür Gebeş, Director General of Customs and Tourism Businesses Co. delivered speeches. The presentations put forward Turkey's experiences in the institutionalization of the private sector and stressed the key importance of public-private partnership. The speakers gave information also about the steps taken to improve the investment climate and the efforts to advance entrepreneurship.

In the context of the conference, Millennium Development Goals were addressed in a separate session. In this session, TEPAV Economic Policy Analyst Sarp Kalkan delivered a presentation on the Beceri'10 Project and highlighted the importance of training a skilled labor force that could meet the demands of the private sector.