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August 6 is International Day of Awareness of the Special Development Needs and Challenges of LLDCs. The first observance took place during the Third Conference on LLDCs in 2025. The day is intended to highlight the need for stronger international partnerships, investment in transport and digital infrastructure, climate resilience and better transit cooperation.<\/p>\n
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The UN on Thursday said LLDCs face structural barriers because of a lack of direct territorial access to the sea, leaving states dependent on neighbouring transit countries to reach global markets.<\/p>\n
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This geographic disadvantage increases transport costs, causes delays and exposes LLDCs to political, economic and infrastructure challenges in transit countries.<\/p>\n
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Average transport costs for LLDCs are more than twice those faced by neighbouring coastal states, limiting export competitiveness, discouraging investment and slowing economic growth.<\/p>\n
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The UN says these constraints have major development consequences for the 32 LLDCs across Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, which are home to more than 600 million people.<\/p>\n
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Trade costs for LLDCs are estimated to be 30% higher than those of coastal countries, making it harder for businesses to compete internationally and for economies to diversify.<\/p>\n
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Poor road and rail connectivity adds further pressure. Weak infrastructure can raise transport costs by up to 60%, investing in corridors, border systems and logistics networks essential for development.<\/p>\n
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Delays are another major obstacle. Every additional day a product spends in transit can reduce trade by 1%, meaning inefficient border processes and unreliable transport links directly affect export earnings.<\/p>\n
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Climate change is also intensifying the challenges. Flooded roads, damaged bridges and extreme weather can cut off LLDCs from trade corridors, making climate-resilient infrastructure critical to economic survival.<\/p>\n
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The UN also says digital trade offers an opportunity for LLDCs to reduce dependence on geography by expanding e-commerce, digital services and technology-enabled business models.<\/p>\n
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However, this opportunity depends on reliable internet connectivity, affordable digital infrastructure and skills development. Without these, digital divides could become development divides.<\/p>\n
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For LLDCs, overcoming geographic barriers requires coordinated action between landlocked states, transit countries, development partners and financial institutions.<\/p>\n
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The UN says addressing these challenges is essential to expanding trade, attracting investment, creating jobs and improving living standards for millions of people in some of the world\u2019s most structurally disadvantaged economies.<\/p>\n
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–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":41748,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44,26],"class_list":["post-41747","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The United Nations (UN) has marked the special development challenges facing landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), where high transport costs continue to limit trade and growth.","published_date":"","news_description":"The United Nations (UN) has marked the special development challenges facing landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), where high transport costs continue to limit trade and growth.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41749,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/41747\/revisions\/41749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=41747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}