[soac-newgtldapsup-wg] Least Developed Countries Report 2010

[Eric Brunner-Williams <ebw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Colleagues,

The UN Conference on Trade and Development's 2010 Least Developed 
Countries report was released yesterday. I've included the 
announcement here, so that link clinking is minimized, and links to 
media coverage in English and French. The full report doesn't appear 
to be available at the UN Publications site, though the reports for 
prior years are, and priced at $40/$20/$10, depending on the economic 
status of the country of origin of the requestor.
A link to the 43 page Overview is:

http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Download.asp?docid=14164&lang=1&intItemID=2068

Media in French:
http://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2010/11/26/le-nombre-de-pays-tres-pauvres-a-double-en-quarante-ans_1445160_3210.html

Media in English:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201011251118.html
and
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/pan/Poorest-Countries-Must-Diversify-to-Break-Out-of-Poverty-Cycle-110654304.html

Eric
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The Least Developed Countries Report  2010
Towards a New International Development Architecture for LDCs


Highlights

The global financial and economic crisis highlight the urgent need to 
move beyond business as usual and, through concerted international 
action, foster more stable and inclusive global development. The 
crisis has been a sober reminder that economic and social imbalances 
and inequalities, both within and between countries, if left to 
correct themselves, are likely to produce damaging and destructive 
outcomes, particularly for vulnerable countries and communities. This 
Report focuses on the boombust cycle of the past decade in the least 
developed countries (LDCs) and offers alternatives for the coming decade.
Even as global economic growth accelerated in the first decade of the 
millennium, the LDCs remained marginal in the world economy owing to 
their structural weaknesses and the form of their integration into the 
global economy. The number of people living in absolute poverty in 
these countries has continued to rise, even during the boom years of 
2002–2007, and progress towards achievement of the Millennium 
Development Goals has remained very slow. The Report calls for the 
creation of a new international development architecture (NIDA) for 
the LDCs aimed at: a) reversing their marginalization in the global 
economy and helping them in their catch-up efforts; (b) supporting a 
pattern of accelerated economic growth and diversification which would 
improve the general welfare and well-being of all their people; and 
(c) helping these countries graduate from LDC status.
The Report argues that these objectives can be achieved if there is a 
paradigm shift that supports new, more inclusive development paths in 
LDCs. This requires the State to play a more developmental role in 
creating favourable conditions for job creation, capital accumulation, 
technological progress and structural transformation. The NIDA should 
be designed to facilitate the new development paths. The Report shows, 
through alternative policy scenarios, that accelerated growth and 
poverty reduction are achievable through policy changes.
The NIDA for LDCs is defined as a new architecture of formal and 
informal institutions, rules and norms, including incentives, 
standards and processes, which would shape international economic 
relations in a way that is conducive to sustained and inclusive 
development. It would be constituted through: (a) reforms of the 
global economic regimes which directly affect development and poverty 
reduction in LDCs; and (b) the design of a new generation of special 
international support mechanisms (ISMs) for the LDCs aimed at 
addressing their specific structural constraints and vulnerabilities. 
Increasing South- South international flows of trade, FDI, official 
finance and knowledge also implies that South-South cooperation, both 
within regions and between LDCs and large, fast-growing developing 
countries, could also play an important role in a NIDA for LDCs.
The Report proposes five major pillars of the NIDA: finance, trade, 
commodities, technology, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. 
At present, the focus of support for LDCs is mainly in the area of 
trade. This Report identifies a forward-looking agenda for action in 
the NIDA for LDCs in all five areas. It is intended to serve as a 
major input to the policy debate for the fourth United Nations 
Conference on Least Developed Countries to be held in Turkey in 2011. 
Combining international support measures for LDCs with a new 
international framework for policy and cooperation that can deliver 
more stable, equitable and inclusive development is one of the most 
urgent challenges facing the international community today.