The 32 landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) face multiple trade and development challenges. In addition to their geographical predicaments and remoteness from international markets, these countries lag behind other developing countries in diversification, structural economic transformation and overall export competitiveness. One of the defining features of many of the LLDCs is their high degree of dependency on the production and export of primary commodities.
Continued dependence on the export of primary commodities will prevent LLDCs from improving their export competitiveness due to the low value-high volume nature of these exports. Therefore, a central policy preoccupation of the LLDCs remains the pursuit of an agenda of diversification, value addition, and income and job creation. Attaining these objectives cannot be realized without fostering productive capacities and structural economic transformation.
Building on the above conceptual rationale and with the view to supporting landlocked developing countries, UNCTAD, with the financial support of the Common Fund for Commodities (CFC), has undertaken a series of country case studies, including one on Botswana.
At this workshop, the findings and conclusions from the UNCTAD study will be shared with experts and senior officials drawn from the various government institutions and universities of Botswana.
The workshop will also be used as the launching pad for the UNCTAD Development Account Project on "Indices for benchmarking productive capacities for evidence based policymaking in landlocked developing countries".
This project will identify where the LLDCs stand now in fostering their productive capacities and structural economic transformation, and assist policymakers to devise ways of effectively increasing their productive capacities to better achieve their development agenda.
