The High Level Comprehensive Interim Review Meeting of the Istanbul Program of Action for Least Developed Countries was held in Antalya on 27-29 May 2016.

At the meeting chaired by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, "The implementation of the Istanbul Action Program, which was adopted as a result of the Fourth United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries held in Istanbul in 2011, hosted by our country, will be reviewed." The following statements were made:

“According to the classification made by the United Nations, Least Developed Countries include the 48 poorest countries in the world that struggle with structural problems in terms of economy, development, institutionalization and human resources. Approximately 900 million of the world's population lives in these countries. 33 of the Least Developed Countries are located in Africa, 14 in the Asia Pacific region and one in Latin America.

The hosting of the Mid-Term Review Meeting by our country is a part of Turkey's increasing contributions to finding solutions to global problems and its active and important role in international development cooperation. In this context, during our G-20 Term Presidency, which we assumed in 2015, our country pioneered the efforts to increase the contribution and support of the G-20 platform to the global development agenda and significant results were achieved in this direction.

In 2015, Turkey increased its Official Development Assistance to 3.9 billion dollars, which constitutes 0.54 percent of its gross national product. The share allocated to Least Developed Countries within this aid is increasing, thus strengthening our country's position as a reliable development partner. ”

“The Mid-Term Review Meeting held in Antalya was held to evaluate the progress made in the implementation of the Istanbul Action Program, which sets out a comprehensive road map for the 2011-2020 period to support the development efforts of the Least Developed Countries, to share experience and information and to identify new future challenges. "It will provide an important opportunity to address the issue." The following information was included in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement:

“In addition, this meeting plays an important role in strengthening the link between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted as a result of the United Nations Development Summit last year, and the Istanbul Action Programme.”