The international community must do more to provide landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) with the agricultural and industrial technology to turn raw materials into high-value products, a UN chief tells SciDev.Net ahead Second UN Conference on LLDCs, in Vienna, Austria (3-5 November).

Providing better access to new technologies should be a central pillar of any future development strategy or these countries will remain overly-reliant on the export of low-value commodities, slowing their economic development, says Sandagdorj Erdenebileg.

“If they want to diversify their economies they have to do so through the transfer of technology,” says Erdenebileg, who is head of the Policy Development, Coordination, and Reporting Service at the UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.

“The need is more pressing than in any other developing country.”

There are 32 landlocked developing countries: 16 in Africa, 12 in Asia, two in Latin America and two in Europe. They include Bhutan, Burundi, Chad, Laos, Macedonia, Niger and Zambia.

Erdenebileg says that helping LLDCs make high-value processed goods is an accepted way for them to overcome the geographical isolation that raises their transport costs by up to 50 per cent, as these products are less bulky compared to their value.

But high commodity prices during the early years of the new millennium caused governments and international development agencies to favour raw material exports, he says.

This issue will be back on the agenda of decision-makers when they meet next month (3-5 November) to produce a text to replace the Almaty Programme of Action (APoA), a document that has guided international attempts to speed up development in coastless nations since 2003.

Discussions at UN’s Vienna conference on LLDCs will include ways of pushing richer nations for more explicit commitments to aid tech transfer to boost manufacturing and trade, he says.

This may include developing licensing agreements to give free of preferential access to technologies providing training and capacity building, and encouraging foreign investment in agriculture and industry, says Erdenebileg.

Many of the networks needed to implement these changes already exist, such as the UN-hosted South-South Global Assets and Technology Exchange (SS-GATE), but donors are “not doing enough” to maximise their impacts, he adds.

Erdenetsogt Odbayar, the interim director of the International Think Tank for LLDCs, based in Mongolia, agrees that the international development community is giving insufficient attention to the “major issue” of tech transfer.

But before any meaningful action is taken, the specific technological and human capacity needs of each country must be assessed, he tells SciDev.Net.

And, the private sector must be better integrated into discussions, as business investment is the only way to meet the high, long-term costs of developing the extractive industries, such as mining, that so many LLDCs rely on to provide the raw materials for conversion, Odbayar adds.

The draft of the conference outcome document already acknowledges this reality, as well as making significant improvements to the APoA it will replace on issues such as capacity building and infrastructure, he adds.

Unlike the APoA, the document has a section on science, technology and innovation, in which it calls for access to new technology and knowledge and is peppered with references to science.

“Landlocked developing countries should promote investment in science, innovation and technology for sustainable development,” it says.

They should prioritise the development of a national policy to promote science, technology and innovation; build and expand strategic partnerships, such as with the private sector, universities and other research institutions; promote innovative solutions for modern and cost-effective technologies that could be adapted locally; and establish high-level technology centres, the document says.

Development partners, it adds, could provide financial and technical support; promote the sharing of best practice and innovative technologies and the transfer of technology and know-how; and support the networking of research institutions and the creation of high-level technology centres.

But despite tech transfer’s importance, many LLDCs have more fundamental problems, says Odbayar.

“They don’t even have basic governance,” he says. “Political stability must be established before tech transfer can be effective.”

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Landlocked Developing Countries: Facts and Figures, 2014 (UNCTAD)

There are 32 landlocked developing countries (LLDCs): 16 are located in Africa; 10 in Asia, 4 in Central and Eastern Europe and 2 in Latin America. As diverse as these countries are, they share one common feature, namely the lack of direct territorial access to the sea, often coupled with remoteness from major markets.

This locational factor has a profound impact on the scope and the dynamics of these countries’ integration in the global trading system. Their dependence on transit transport routes and transit facilities for merchandise trade increases transaction costs, reduces international competitiveness and discourages foreign investors. Consequently, transit dependence and market distance limit the classic development choices – the produce of labour-intensive, low-value and bulky goods – of these countries.

However, as empirical evidence from developed landlocked countries demonstrates, these limitations are not an insurmountable obstacle to economic growth and development. The building of supply capacities for goods and services that are less sensitive to transportation and distance, as well as the promotion of stronger regional trade expansion are development options that could also help LLDCs to mitigate the adverse impact of their geographical location.

Still, many LLDCs stagnate at the bottom end of international rankings of income levels and social development indicators. In fact, 17 of the LLDCs are classified as least developed countries (LDCs). Responding to the specific problems of LLDCs requires a multidimensional approach to being landlocked as a development challenge. This notably implies the implementation of policies and measures aimed at economic restructuring and specialization that take into account the transport-related obstacles facing their economies. The international community has expressed in many ways its resolve to assist these countries in their efforts to overcome the impediments of geography.

The Almaty Programme of Action, adopted in 2003 at the International Ministerial Conference of Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries and Donor Countries and International Financial and Development Institutions on Transit Transport Cooperation, was a hallmark of these global efforts.

During the past decade, awareness and recognition of the special needs of LLDCs have risen at the international level and, despite large differences among individual LLDCs, there are encouraging signs of economic and social improvements in these countries. Nevertheless, laying the foundation for sustainable development continues to be work in progress for many, if not most, LLDCs.

The Second United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries, which will take place in Vienna from 3 to 5 November 2014, provides an opportunity to reaffirm the global commitment to addressing the special needs of these countries and renew the partnership between LLDCs, their transit neighbours and their development partners.

This publication is prepared as part of UNCTAD’s contribution to this global gathering. It presents key economic, social and trade information on all 32 LLDCs with the aim of underpinning the dimension of their development challenge with facts and figures.

» Link to Almaty Programme of Action