3e Conférence des Nations Unies sur les pays en développement sans littoral : table ronde thématique de haut niveau n° 2

Exploiter le potentiel transformateur du commerce, de la facilitation des échanges et de l'intégration régionale au profit des pays en développement sans littoral

Ce discours a été prononcé en anglais et n’a pas été traduit.

Excellencies, distinguished delegates,

Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, dear friends,

We gather here in Awaza – a landlocked city on the shores of a landlocked sea – in a nation that has transformed isolation into opportunity, distance into determination. Turkmenistan's story illuminates a fundamental truth: being landlocked shapes your journey, but it need not define your destination. Turkmenistan has proven that when you cannot reach the ocean, you can still create waves of transformation. And this is precisely why Awaza is the key place to ask a fundamental question: What does it mean to be landlocked in 2025?

The textbook definition tells us it means having no direct access to the sea. But that definition belongs to an atlas, not to the lived reality of 570 million people across 32 nations. Being landlocked today means that every container of exports, every shipment of imports, every connection to global markets must pass through the territory, the systems and sometimes the goodwill of neighbours.

It means paying transport costs that are 50% higher than the global average. It means waiting 42 days to import goods while coastal countries wait just 20. It means spending twice as much of your export earnings on transport and insurance as other developing countries. It means facing a trade landscape where the playing field is uneven, where adding value is extra hard, where commodity dependence is the norm, where rising tariffs and trade disruptions hit you harder than the rest.

But here's what I've learned in my years at UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD): Geography creates constraints, but it is our response to geography that creates the future. And today, I want to share three transformative responses that could rewrite the story of landlocked countries in this decade:

1. Regional integration
2. Digital transformation
3. Trade facilitation

I will start with regional integration, which is a key focus of this session.

The promise of regional integration in landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) is not a theoretical promise. It is one borne out of the astonishing outcomes of the integration projects that we have already witnessed in the recent past.

Consider the Northern Corridor in East Africa – a 1,700-kilometer lifeline connecting the port of Mombasa to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and beyond. A decade ago, crossing the border at Malaba meant three days of waiting. Today? Three hours. Transit time from Mombasa to Kampala has plummeted from 15 days to just 5. For a Ugandan coffee farmer, this means shipments that once took 50 days now reach global markets in 20.

This transformation didn't happen by accident. It happened because countries chose cooperation over competition, integration over isolation. They built one-stop border posts. They harmonized customs procedures. They created a Single Customs Territory. Most importantly, they recognized a fundamental truth: In regional integration, transit countries and landlocked countries don't just coexist – they co-prosper.

Or look at what's happening here in Central Asia. The Middle Corridor – your corridor – has seen transit volumes surge by 150% in just one year. Goods that once took 45 days to travel from China to Europe now make the journey in 20. The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation program has mobilized $51 billion and built 10,000 kilometres of highway.

Let’s go now to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA),  perhaps the most ambitious laboratory for regional transformation. This isn't just another trade agreement – it's the world's largest free trade area by the number of countries since the World Trade Organization's formation. It's a $3.4 trillion opportunity that could lift 30 to 50 million people from extreme poverty by 2035.

Here's a key number: 61% of Africa's intra-regional exports consist of processed and semi-processed goods. Not raw materials. Not commodities. Value-added products. Contrast this to out-of-Africa exports, of which over 80% are primary commodities. This is diversification in action, and landlocked countries stand to benefit most.

Why? Because when you do regional integration, and do it well, suddenly being in the centre of a continent becomes an advantage.

My second point is about digitalisation.

The Awaza Programme of Action sets a clear and ambitious target: to double the output of the services sector in LLDCs by 2034. This is not just a development goal – it is an economic imperative. Because in today's world, the future of trade is services-led and digitally delivered.

Let me give you the numbers. LLDCs today account for just 0.7% of global services exports – and an even smaller share, only 0.3%, of digitally deliverable services. Yet this is the fastest-growing segment of global trade. Last year alone, global services exports grew by 9%, with digitally deliverable services expanding at double-digit rates.

Why does this matter? Because unlike traditional goods, digital services are not weighed down by geography. They are not held up at ports, slowed by border inspections, or subject to physical transport costs. In the digital economy, if you can connect, you can compete.

This opens a realm of possibility for landlocked countries. But potential is not enough – we must act.

Digital trade does not happen by default. It requires deliberate investment: in broadband infrastructure, cloud connectivity, interoperable platforms, digital payment systems, e-commerce logistics and delivery and, above all, human capital.

It also demands legal and regulatory readiness. We need harmonized rules for data protection, cybersecurity, cross-border data flows and e-commerce taxation. Without these, digital trust remains elusive and participation in the global digital economy incomplete. Here, regional cooperation must also play a very important role.

The good news is that progress is indeed taking place. Though from a very low base, LLDC digitally delivered services grew by an average of 8% per year during the last decade. In the same time period, internet penetration across LLDCs has more than doubled. Mobile broadband coverage now reaches 86% of the population. But coverage is not the same as capacity – and certainly not the same as competitiveness.

That is why digital transformation is not a “sectoral” agenda – it is a cross-cutting enabler for trade, logistics, finance, education and public services. It is the infrastructure of the 21st century.

Excellencies, my last point is about trade facilitation.

For LLDCs to unlock all these opportunities that trade offers, we need more and better trade integration, more and better trade facilitation.

This is not easy. UNCTAD knows this first hand because we’ve been working in this space for over 60 years. And what we've learned is that sustainable transformation requires three things: the right tools, the right investments and the right partnerships.

Let me start with the tools. Our ASYCUDA programme – the Automated System for Customs Data – is now the backbone of customs modernization in 103 countries and territories worldwide, including 66% of all LLDCs. In Iraq, ASYCUDA implementation increased customs revenue at Baghdad airport by 215%. In Malawi, customs revenue rose by 42%, while clearing times dropped dramatically. But here's what matters most: In Malawi alone, this system has trained 600 logistics workers – 40% of them women – creating skills that stay in the country, building capacity that endures.

Our eTrade Readiness Assessments have mapped digital commerce potential in 33 LDCs and LLDCs. Our Trade Information Portals make regulations transparent, procedures predictable. When Turkmenistan needed to modernize its trade systems, we worked together to implement a single window that now processes over 20,000 documents monthly.

But tools alone don't transform economies. You need investment – and here the picture is mixed. While LLDCs introduced over 135 policy measures to attract foreign investment in the past decade, with 9 out of 10 aimed at promotion, actual foreign direct investment (FDI) flows tell a sobering story. Total inflows decreased by an average of 2% annually since 2014. The LLDC share of developing country FDI shrank from 4.3% to just 2.8%.

This investment gap is particularly acute in infrastructure. Only 15 transport Public Private Partnerships (PPP) projects were implemented across all LLDCs in the past decade. ICT investment through Public Private Partnerships totalled just $803 million – a mere 3% of the total. Yet we know that every dollar invested in trade facilitation infrastructure generates exponential returns in trade growth.

That's why the third element – partnerships – is so critical. No country transforms alone. Transit countries and landlocked countries must see their fates as intertwined. Development partners must coordinate. The private sector must be engaged fully. The Awaza Programme of Action recognizes this. It calls for integrated corridor management. It emphasizes South-South cooperation. It demands that we move from project thinking to programme thinking, from isolated interventions to systemic change.

This is why we have raised our voice in the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), held just last month in Seville, to call for the reform of the International Financial Architecture – especially to strengthen the role of the Multilateral Development Banks in the provision of long-term and affordable financing for developing countries, and the need for them to crowd in private investment. What many countries – especially LLDCs – are asking for is not just more assistance, but fairer terms: in debt, in trade, in investment. FfD4 recognized that development cannot be financed in silos – it requires coherence across systems, both public and private, and credibility in the rules that govern them.

UNCTAD stands ready to deepen these partnerships. The task ahead is not simple, but it is possible. We know what works. We have the tools. Now, we need the will – to align our efforts, to scale our ambition and to deliver results where they matter most: on the ground.

Because the measure of success will not be the number of declarations we adopt or documents we produce. It will be the number of days saved at borders, the number of young people employed in digital services, the number of landlocked countries that become land-linked to opportunity.

Let us rise to the challenge. Let us deliver on the promise. Let us make this the decade of transformation for LLDCs. Thank you.