WTO Releases Report on Easing Trade Bottlenecks for Landlocked Developing Countries
The World Trade Organization released a report recommending ways for landlocked developing countries to avoid trade bottlenecks and high trade costs resulting from their separation from the world's largest markets, the WTO said. "Easing Trade Bottlenecks in Landlocked Developing Countries" addresses the specific challenges these countries face, which include COVID-19 fallout, supply chain troubles and reliance on transit countries for imports and exports. LLDCs' trade costs are 1.4 times higher than those of developing countries with a coastline, the report said.
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The study emphasizes implementing the Trade Facilitation Agreement as key for helping goods cross borders, along with bolstering transport connectivity, prioritizing digital technology, digitizing customs and adapting rules of origin and sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures to LLDCs' individual needs, the WTO said. The report also discussed the need for a "more coordinated response to future pandemics" so that LLDCs don't get left behind.
"LLDCs face particularly acute versions of realities that all members must grapple with, as complex emerging challenges, such as climate change, threaten development possibilities and future prosperity," WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said. "We must leverage the potential of trade to meet these challenges. … We must also ensure that the gains from trade are equally distributed. Enhancing integration into regional and global value chains of women, youth and small businesses creates jobs and opportunities, and helps reduce inequality… . In a world marked by the COVID pandemic, the paths that lead to economic growth cannot be separated from those that lead to inclusion."