several agencies supported countries developing sti policy frameworks including unctad unesco unido unece unescap and the world bank iattsti the declaration made at the fourth united nations conference on the least developed countries ldcs in istanbul in welcomed the establishment of a technology bank dedicated to ldcs the istanbul programme of action for the least developed countries for the decade included the establishment of a technology bank and science technology and information supporting mechanism dedicated to least developed countries which would help improve least developed countries scientific research and innovation base promote networking among researchers and research institutions help least developed countries access and utilise critical technologies and draw together bilateral initiatives and support by multilateral institutions and the private sector building on the existing international initiatives the aaaa and the agenda for sustainable development reaffirmed the importance of this mechanism and requested through sdg target for it to be fully operationalised by