The Least Developed Countries Report 2020: Productive Capacities for the New Decade

The Trade and Development Board

1. Welcomes, with appreciation, The Least Developed Countries Report 2020: Productive Capacities for the New Decade for the analysis it provides on the adverse impacts of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) recession on the least developed countries, and for the insights and analysis it offers on their further development in the new decade until 2030;
    
2. Notes with concern that, while the immediate health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the least developed countries have been lower than expected, the profoundly negative economic impacts of the pandemic have seriously challenged the limited financial, fiscal and institutional resources that the least developed countries have available to support their economies and their recovery;
    
3. Concurs with the recommendation of the report that, to address the ongoing crisis and ensure a better recovery, the short-term focus should be on countering the immediate health and socioeconomic challenges, while the long-term strategies should target building productive capacities for resilience and structural transformation, in line with national needs and priorities;
    
4. Welcomes the proposal to adopt productive capacities as the framework for the new programme of action for the least developed countries, expected to be adopted during the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, and calls upon UNCTAD to contribute to the preparatory process of the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries;
    
5. Welcomes with appreciation the launch of the UNCTAD Productive Capacities Index, in line with Economic and Social Council resolution 2017/29, which encourages UNCTAD “to pursue its methodological work to measure progress in and identify obstacles to the development of productive capacities in developing countries”, and acknowledges its potential utility for policy and analytical purposes;
    
6. Requests UNCTAD to continue updating, disseminating and improving the Productive Capacities Index as a means of monitoring and benchmarking least developed country progress on enhancing productive capacities, and their potential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, and invites UNCTAD to assess and present the practical applicability of the Productive Capacities Index at future intergovernmental meetings;
    
7. Encourages donor countries, and other countries in a position to do so, to replenish the UNCTAD Trust Fund for the Least Developed Countries.