ISTANBUL – Negotiators at the Fourth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC-IV) adopted the Istanbul Programme of Action on Friday.

The goal of the programme is to substantially increase official development assistance (ODA) and to reduce or abolish unjustified trade barriers, with the intent of ‘graduating’ half the number of LDCs by 2020.

The programme specifically outlines a plan for the wealthiest nations to consider increasing ODA to 0.15-0.2% of GDP, a significant increase from current levels.