Telling the trade stories of least developed countries

Over the course of the partnership, Mali has recorded many achievements, including the integration of pro-poor trade into several policies and strategies. It has successfully strengthened the capacity of small producers in several priority sectors, particularly gum arabic, shea, and mango farmers, and strengthened its capacity to mobilize financing from other actors. Its ownership and commitment to making inroads to sustainable trade for development are evident, given the volume of its own financial resources it has contributed.

Kiribati is made up of 33 atolls, which occupy a vast area in the equatorial Pacific. With a population of approximately 123,000, Kiribati is one of the world’s smallest and most isolated countries, posing a number of economic and global trade integration challenges, including the lack of economies of scale and isolation from major markets. It also faces several developmental challenges that are further impacted by climate change and a lack of employment opportunities. Most of the atolls are very low-lying and at elevated risk from climate change-induced sea level rise.

In 2010, a catastrophic earthquake struck Haiti, killing an estimated 300,000 people and devastating the capital, Port-au-Prince. This was the same year the EIF entered into a partnership with the country, providing support for a pre-Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (pre-DTIS). For the EIF, which is committed to supporting fragile and conflict-affected countries as part of its mandate, undertaking the Study at this time was a bold and necessary step. This sustainable support came at a time Haiti – already classified as one of the world’s most aid-dependent and fragile countries – needed an initiative like Aid for Trade (AfT) to stimulate the economy, generate jobs, increase incomes and build resilience.

The Central African Republic, a vast country with a small population of five million, is testing the potential for achieving lasting peace through trade for development to improve livelihoods and build a better future for this and coming generations.

Digitalization has the potential to transform the way businesses achieve a triple bottom line – economic, social and environmental – to address the rising concerns of shareholders. One way to achieve this objective is to enhance transparency and meaningful integration of these dimensions into the entire supply chain, for which digitalization can be a powerful tool.

Since 2017, the EIF has focused on measures to support institutional capacity to integrate Mauritania into global trade. This has included improving coordination among agencies related to trade policy; mainstreaming trade into development strategies; implementing DTIS priorities; and strengthening dialogue and coordination between development partners through a National Trade Facilitation Committee. To deepen the economic reforms being undertaken by the Government of Mauritania, more than 780 public, private, and civil society officials were trained, with 68% of these being women.

The EIF programme has been supporting Uganda since 2009. The collaboration aims to realize the country’s trade policy vision and help Uganda better integrate into the global economy. Improved trade capacity and performance, fostered by in-country development programmes such as that of the EIF, have undoubtedly supported Uganda’s ongoing economic achievements.

• Although the services sector has emerged as a new engine of economic growth, the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have severely affected services exports from the least developed countries (LDCs), with an approximate loss of almost USD 29 billion in foregone exports over the past three years. • While global services exports have rebounded from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, the recovery in the LDCs is lagging, potentially with long-term consequences for achieving the ambitions of the Doha Programme of Action for the LDCs and several Sustainable Development Goals. • Urgent actions by the LDCs and their trading and development partners to improve utilization of the WTO Services Waiver, incentivize foreign direct investment (FDI) and technology transfer, promote regional trade initiatives, leverage Aid for Trade, and address the digital divide can help reverse this trend, enabling the LDCs to benefit from a services-led transformation.

The Doha Programme of Action for LDCs (least developed countries), adopted by UN member states in 2022, emphasizes that LDCs need assistance to help them graduate from their least-developed status and outlines a smooth transition plan. Some LDCs, however, are using their own proactive strategies to not only graduate from the LDC category but to do so on a solid footing that ensures a sustainable and irreversible graduation. Cambodia, which is projected to graduate from LDC status by 2027, is one such country. The country has even taken bold steps to expedite its transition to an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050.

With support from the EIF, Zambia intensified its trade growth and diversification efforts directed at different levels to achieve systemic improvements. These were: first, on strengthening linkages to both the private sector and the Government around key products, such as honey; second, on building the institutional capacity of the Government and trade-related organizations, mainstreaming trade in the country’s development framework, and improving the trade regulatory environment; and third, exploring new markets for Zambian products.

The NIU mechanism is a means to implement priorities identified by the governments through EIF support while functioning as a valuable public good that can be used by various partners active in the Aid for Trade (AfT) sphere.

The EIF support to Malawi began in 2012. The Government of Malawi, through the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), sought to use the EIF partnership to unlock Malawi's latent trade potential through targeted support in three strategic areas: i) strengthening the capacity of the MTI to develop trade policies and strategies and to participate more effectively in the World Trade Organization and regional trade agreements; ii) addressing challenges faced by smallholder farmers to trade; and iii) supporting the Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (MITC) to better promote exports and investments for the agro-industry, including working with the World Bank in establishing the groundwork for an agro-processing special economic zone.

Of the 46 least developed countries (LDCs), 16 are at different stages of graduation. And, though graduation offers many opportunities, it also presents its own unique challenges for countries in this category. As such, various international support measures (ISMs) have been put in place, or extended, to ensure smoother transitions and sustained developmental progress in the post-graduation phase.

EIF’s Deputy Executive Director discusses EIF’s just-launched Strategic Plan 2019-2022 and leaving no LDC behind

This blog was co-signed with Ratnakar Adhikari and originally published on Monday 24 October 2016 in the World Economic Forum Agenda