Telling the trade stories of least developed countries

Having achieved independence in 2002 and boasting a population of only 1.3 million people, Timor-Leste is the youngest and the second least-populated country in Southeast Asia. Despite this, the country has achieved significant progress in terms of human development, mainly driven by revenue from offshore oil and gas. According to the World Bank, the proportion of Timorese living in poverty declined from 50% in 2007 to an estimated 42% in 2014. Surplus oil and gas revenues go into a sovereign fund, the Timor-Leste Petroleum Fund, which was established in 2005. According to the World Bank's Timor-Leste Economic Report 2021, the country has also achieved significant declines in child and maternal mortality rates, increases in youth literacy, and improvements in energy and transport infrastructure.

The United Republic of Tanzania, with a population of 64 million, comprises the Tanzania mainland and the semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago of islands located in the Indian Ocean. The country is a member of the East African Community and part of the Great Lakes Region. • The Enhanced Integrated Framework’s (EIF’s) partnership with the United Republic of Tanzania has worked towards trade diversification by enabling policies and strategies, institutional arrangements for Aid for Trade (AfT), and investment and enhanced value addition in sectors such as honey, seaweed, anchovies and horticulture. In the seaweed value chain, average productivity per unit acre has almost doubled as a result of using new deep-sea harvesting methods and equipment.

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.

The EIF supported Madagascar’s DTIS in 2003 as one of the first three Integrated Framework DTIS pilot countries, along with Cambodia and Mauritania.

To promote economic growth, EIF support to Liberia centred on tackling supply-side constraints to trade. The goal of enhancing trade was to reduce extreme poverty, estimated to exceed 80% in 2003. The EIF’s engagement also demonstrates its commitment to fostering partnerships that promote local ownership of Liberia’s development agenda. Initially, support focused on establishing strong institutional structures and strengthening capacity to develop policies and mainstream trade into national strategies.

The EIF's efforts to support Angola through a pro-poor trade agenda crystallized moreover under a recent partnership between the Government of Angola and UNDP.

The partnership between The Gambia and the EIF began with country-led evidence‑based research and analysis to identify its pro-poor trade priorities. The resulting policy-guiding document – the 2007 Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) – identified diversification and domestic production of goods and services in the areas of tourism, groundnuts and other agriculture products and fishing as sectors with the potential to spur sustainable development.

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.

EIF’s support to Somalia has been limited and has exclusively focused on the country's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) by supporting capacity-building around skills to navigate the trade landscape.

The partnership between Bhutan and the EIF stretches back to 2009. Directly contributing to several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth, the EIF facility was well aligned to work within the context of Bhutan's development philosophy. The EIF supported the development of Bhutan's trade agenda roadmap, improving policies supporting pro-poor trade and strengthening institutional coordination, including human capacity for trade and development. Beyond this, the EIF contributed to building the productive capacity of farmers SMEs and facilitated the country's ability to leverage additional funding through catalytic project support.

Tuvalu, a small set of islands in the Pacific Ocean, is having to work harder than most other least developed countries to find ways of improving the lives of its population. Trade for development provides an opportunity, but its size, insularity and remoteness constrain trade in terms of supply capacity, global and regional market access and trade competitiveness.

The Government of Benin established a partnership with the EIF in 2003, embarking on the development of a Diagnostic Trade Integration Study (DTIS) and Action Matrix, along with evidence‑based and government-led analysis of constraints and opportunities for making trade work for economic prosperity and poverty reduction. The DTIS was completed in 2005, with an update ten years later. Together, the studies have provided a roadmap for progress toward the goal of supporting small businesses to trade and develop the kinds of jobs that improve lives and spur sustainable economic development.

Since 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, with support from the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF), has been implementing the “Enhancing Capacity for Agriculture Trade” (ECAT) project across Solomon Islands. The Ministry of Health and Medical Services, and that of agriculture and livestock, are also involved.

Farming is a demanding sector, particularly for those seeking to compete in the global market. Many farmers in Zambia are unable to meet international standards and other requirements in importing countries that can help them implement good agricultural practices and stand out on the world stage.

Building forward and backward production linkages between agricultural and manufacturing sectors by adding value to primary commodities should be a priority for LDCs. Taking incremental steps towards industrialisation through increased productive capacities, with the support of development partners, will ensure that progress will be sustainable and robust, truly leading LDCs along the path of development. 

Most of Rwanda’s cross border traders are women and rely on cross-border trade as their sole source of income. According to a recent assessment by Pro-Femmes/Twese Hamwe, the Rwandan umbrella organisation for women’s associations, most cross border traders have experienced not only a large loss in revenue due to border closures but also a complete depletion of their savings.