Held on the sidelines of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly
Thank you, Minister Kacir, for Türkiye's leadership on this initiative.
Industrialization is how countries move from exporting raw materials to making things – adding value, creating jobs, building an economy that works for its people. For the 44 least developed countries, that transformation remains unfinished.
I want to make two brief points. One on the scale of the challenge. And one on why this mechanism can help address it.
Let me start with the challenge. LDCs are home to nearly 15% of the world's population. They produce just 1.5% of global GDP and 1.3% of global manufacturing value added. A farmer who grows cotton, a miner who extracts cobalt, a fisher who catches tuna – they ship raw materials abroad and import finished products at a multiple. Manufacturing now accounts for about 14% of LDC output – a real base to build on. The question is whether new green value chains – solar panels, batteries, green hydrogen – will build on that base, or bypass these countries entirely.
This brings me to my second point, on what this mechanism can do.
The LDC-GIF takes the right approach. It starts with country priorities. It targets projects that are already bankable or close to bankable – turning viable ideas into real factories, real jobs, real output. It brings together technology, financing and technical support in one integrated pathway. And it begins concretely, with 10 pilot countries.
UN Trade and Development works on productive capacities, technology transfer and structural transformation in LDCs every day. We see what holds green industrialization back: the distance between a viable project and the capital, the know-how and the infrastructure to bring it to life. The LDC-GIF targets exactly that distance.
Excellencies, COP31 in Antalya offers a real opportunity – to match climate commitments with industrial strategy for those who need it most. UNCTAD stands ready to support.
Thank you.