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United Nations peacebuilding activities are aimed at assisting countries emerging from conflict, reducing the risk of relapsing into conflict and at laying the foundation for sustainable peace and development.

Is the expression in bold present participle which is a complement to assisting countries emerging from conflict ? or is it an expression that must be considered as continuation of ... are aimed at' as with "assisting countries..." ? I think it must be present participle since laying the foundation for sustainable peace and development. takes at in front of it, making itself continuation of '...are aimed at'.

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  • I think the activities are aimed at 1)assisting ..., 2)reducing ... and 3)laying. The superfluous at before laying (or the dropped at before reducing) is just the sort of carelessness you have to expect of sentences composed of long pompous cliches.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented May 10, 2015 at 23:26

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The sentence should be interpreted as below, it is describing 3 distinct things that "peacebuilding activities" that are being "aimed at." The "at" in the last clause is superfluous and should not be in the sentence.

United Nations peacebuilding activities are aimed at

    1. assisting countries emerging from conflict,
    1. reducing the risk of relapsing into conflict,
    1. and [at] laying the foundation for sustainable peace and development.

Assisting, reducing, and laying are gerunds, which is an example of a verb functioning as a noun.

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