LDCs face a variety of challenges. Apart from a few rare and often unstable and reversible economic successes, LDCs, and especially those in Africa, which represent over 80% of the group's members, have not properly benefitted from the expansion of the global economy and international trade seen in recent decades. Some have even become relatively deindustrialized, despite increased access to imported intermediate products, particularly those destined for the manufacturing sector. LDCs continue to integrate into global value chains mainly by exporting unprocessed products and intermediate products that are raw material‑intensive. However, this route is too long and too complex, and, to make matters worse, is controlled from end to end by multinational firms that are reluctant to consider a change of course.
