The theme builds on UNCTAD´s long-standing work on building productive capacities in LDCs, which has demonstrated that a productive capacities-led policy approach is a prerequisite for achieving sustained economic growth and structural transformation in LDCs.

The event will provide a forum for discussing challenges and opportunities that LDCs face in building productive capacities, in particular during the period following the financial and economic crisis that has marked most of the last quarter of the current decade. The event will assist LDCs in their search for new and practical policies that best respond to the multifaceted challenges they face in modernizing and diversifying their national economies.

The discussions at the meeting are expected to produce concrete inputs to the intergovernmental deliberations and negotiations on the successor programme of action for LDCs for the next decade.

Topics for discussion:

1. Key issues in building productive capacities in LDCs.
   
   
2. The role of trade in the development of productive capacities in LDCs.
   
   
3. Building productive capacities in LDCs through FDI and domestic enterprise development.
   
   
4. The contributions of science, technology and innovation and trade logistics for building productive capacities in LDCs.

The secretariat wishes to take this opportunity to notify member States that, in the spirit of interactive debate, participants are encouraged to engage in the discussions during the thematic sessions by focusing on these topics, rather than by reading out written and prepared statements.