The concept note of the ministerial transport conference for landlocked developing countries is available at this link – https://www.mfa.gov.tm/en/articles/565
Turkmenistan will host the conference in August 2022. The theme of the conference is ‘Ashgabat Process: Financing for Better Connectivity.’
The 32 landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) with a population of 533 million share common problems due to their geographical location, which affect their economic engagement with the rest of the world. Long distances from the nearest seaports, poorly developed transport and transit systems and cumbersome transit procedures cause the LLDCs to incur higher transport and transit costs when compared to coastal countries. According to a recent study by the WTO (2021), trade costs in LLDCs are 1.4 times higher than that of coastal developing countries. These costs erode the competitive edge of the LLDCs resulting in a negative impact on their integration into the global economy and their overall sustainable development. They are also not able to fully tap on the benefits of global trade such as investment finance, technology and services that are needed for structural transformation of economies. /// nCa, 11 April 2022