SPECIAL FEATURE
LLDCs and development
Over half a billion people live in 32 LLDCs.
A staggering 215 million people live with limited or no electricity in LLDCs, 50 percent of which live in rural areas without energy.
Only 35 percent of people living in LLDCs have internet access, significantly below the global 66 percent average.
“‘Strategic imitation’ can allow an LLDC to achieve the state of the art in ICT infrastructure development rapidly and cost effectively.”
Dulguun Damdin-Od, International Think Tank for LLDCs, Executive Director
OFQ : As we look to the future, what priorities should guide LLDCs to better integrate into the global economy? DO: The future calls for a multi- pronged approach. Enhancing regional integration and improving infrastructure are paramount. However, LLDCs need to create more diversified and resilient economies while embracing technological advancements. Many LLDCs still rely heavily on a narrow range of commodities or industries for their export earnings and economic development. Every chance to connect with regional and worldwide value chains should be explored to overcome the challenges posed by limited domestic markets. One opportunity can be to focus on brand products, which can easily be transported to international markets, for instance by air cargo. This will be, of course, less time-consuming. If the products are high value, this can match the costs. We look at, for example, Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg. They are also landlocked countries, but of course developed countries. Switzerland has, for instance, brand products like the Swiss knife, Swiss watch, financial services, banks. So we recommend some LLDCs to focus on
high value, brand products. In Mongolia’s case this can be cashmere. Mongolia accounts for nearly 40 percent of the world’s raw cashmere output. Unlocking the potential of the cashmere industry can significantly contribute to the local economy.
The average distance of a landlocked country to a seaport is 1,370 km.
Nearly 200,000 km of paved roads and more than 46,000 km of railways are estimated to be needed in LLDCs to achieve the global average of road and rail density.
Although investment flows grew by 6 percent in 2022 (UNCTAD), foreign finance remains structurally weak. Just five countries receive more than 80 percent of the total investments.
Source: UNDP
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