Background
The group of Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) has seen impressive growth rates exceeding 7% on average between 2000 and 2013, allowing many of them to make significant strides in terms of human development and poverty reduction. However, a subsequent sharp slowdown of growth down to 2.6% in 2016 (0.4% in per capita terms) revealed their persistent vulnerabilities resulting from heavy commodity dependence or lack of economic diversification. While previous windfall gains from commodities exports allowed the LLDCs to achieve poverty reduction through investments and social programs, the slowdown also affected the rate of poverty reduction.
To date, the LLDCs have only made limited progress towards achieving structural transformation. The share of the manufacturing sector in LLDCs has remained constant at around 13-14% of GDP since the year 2000. Similarly, there has been no improvement in the diversification index (measuring the degree to which the export structure of LLDCs differ from the global average). In Asian LLDCs, the level of export concentration has remained at the high average of 0.4 throughout the period from 2000 through 2016. Moreover, since 2000, the average number of export products in Asian LLDCs has been rising slowly and remains at only half the average number of all LLDCs.
Objectives
The objective of the sub-regional workshop is to identify the most pressing trade and development challenges facing the countries of the Asian sub-region and build consensus on policies and strategies to address them. The workshop will provide opportunities to share successful experiences and best practices from other developing countries. It will also identify the main opportunities and challenges faced by Central Asian LLDCs in achieving structural transformation.
In particular, the workshop will closely examine the cases of four Asian energy (electricity) exporting LLDCs: Bhutan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Turkmenistan. The workshop will examine which sectors in each of the four countries have potential for economic diversification. In doing so, it will draw on economic studies of existing comparative advantages, production technologies and product linkages. It will also consider which products in each country have unexplored potential in export markets.
Beyond identifying sectors for diversification and fostering structural transformation, the workshop also aims to discuss the policies and measures needed to promote strategic sectors in each country. These can range from specific sector- or company-specific incentive measures to general policies to support education and skills-levels, fostering an enabling environment for the private sector, and building trade and transport infrastructure.
The workshop will also introduce UNCTAD’s Productive Capacities Index and assess the performance of Asian LLDCs in building productive capacities using this new tool. It will serve to promote the sharing of experiences, lessons learnt and best practices among Asian LLDCs in promoting structural transformation and export diversification.
International Think Tank for LLDCs
For more information on UNCTAD's work to support LLDCs, see https://unctad.org/ALDC.
