Integrating Landlocked Developing Countries into Global Economy Benefits Everyone, Speakers Say at Round Table on Transformative Potential of Trade Facilitation
AWAZA, TURKMENISTAN (6 August) — Speakers from around the world today emphasized that integrating landlocked developing countries into the global economy will benefit everyone, as the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries held its second round-table discussion on the theme "Seizing the transformative potential of trade, trade facilitation and regional integration for landlocked developing countries".
Opening the discussion, Co-Chair K.P. Sharma Oli, Prime Minister of Nepal, pointed out that — "despite their huge trade potential" — landlocked developing countries account for just over 1 per cent of global trade in goods. This is not due to a lack of ambition or effort, but rather from structural barriers such as lack of direct access to the sea, high transit costs, poor infrastructure, long transit routes and limited market access. Ensuring such countries’ trade and transit rights is a "moral responsibility", he stressed, adding that they "must not be left behind in the global trading system".
On that, his fellow Co-Chair Muhammad B.S. Jallow, Vice-President of the Gambia, pointed out that the Awaza Programme of Action sets out "clear and ambitious" trade goals. These include doubling landlocked developing countries’ exports, diversifying their trade and integrating them into multilateral trading systems by 2034. To achieve this, the Programme contains important commitments for development partners, transit countries and landlocked developing countries themselves. "Only by all working together can we deliver these aspirations" to ensure that no person or country is "held back by geography", he said.
Turning Geographic Isolation into Opportunity
"We gather here in Awaza, a landlocked city on the shores of a landlocked sea in a nation that has transformed isolation into opportunity," said Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), delivering a keynote address. Turkmenistan’s story, she said, illuminates a fundamental truth: "Being landlocked shapes your journey, but it does not define your destination." It also demonstrates that "when you cannot reach the ocean, you can still create waves of transformation", and she added that Awaza is a "key" place to ask what it means to be landlocked in 2025.
"Being landlocked today means that every container of exports, every shipment of imports, every connection to global markets must pass through the territory, systems — and, sometimes, the goodwill — of neighbours," she stated. It also involves transport costs 50 per cent higher than the global average, increased wait times and disproportional impact from rising tariffs and trade disruptions. She stressed, however, that — while geography creates constraints — "it is our response to geography that creates the future". She, therefore, detailed "three transformative responses" — regional integration, digital transformation and trade facilitation.
On the first, she spotlighted several "astonishing outcomes" resulting from previous integration projects — the Northern Corridor in East Africa, the Middle Corridor in Central Asia and the African Continental Free Trade Area — the latter of which is "perhaps the most ambitious laboratory for regional transformation". Turning to digital transformation, she noted that digital services — unlike traditional goods — are not held up in ports, slowed by border inspections or subject to physical transport costs. "In the digital economy, if you can connect you can compete," she observed.
But digital trade "does not happen by default", she said, as it requires "deliberate" investment and "legal and regulatory readiness". And, for landlocked developing countries to unlock all the opportunities trade offers, they need "more and better trade facilitation", she said. In UNCTAD’s 60 years of experience working in this space, she said that it has "learned that sustainable transformation requires the right tools, the right investment and the right partnerships". Success will be measured, she emphasized, in "the number of days saved at borders, the number of young people employed in digital services and the number of landlocked countries that become land-linked to opportunity".
Crucial Role of Reliable Infrastructure
Tiroeaone Ntsima, Minister for Trade and Entrepreneurship of Botswana — first of this morning’s panellists — pointed to actions that landlocked developing countries can take towards that end. To boost trade, they should focus on simplifying trade regulations, enhancing cooperation, diversifying their economies and upgrading their infrastructure. Developed countries can contribute through foreign direct investment and technology transfer. "Botswana’s own experience in reforming border processes and developing dry-port infrastructure," he said, "illustrates how trade facilitation can yield cross-border benefits."
Expressing gratitude to Namibia for establishing that port in Walvis Bay, he stressed that "trade facilitation cannot be successful in the absence of reliable infrastructure". Further, strengthening collaboration with transit countries — and participating in multilateral trade agreements — helps landlocked countries reduce dependence on single trade routes. As such, he appealed to development partners to reduce non-tariff barriers — "which limits our ability to benefit fully from trade agreements". Most importantly, "strong political will is essential", he said — the international community must "move beyond declarations" and "turn policies into practice".
Benefits of Stronger Connectivity
Jin Liqun, President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, pointed out the benefits of doing so — while landlocked countries depend on their neighbours with access to maritime trade, coastal countries "should also understand the great potential" of working with them. By promoting multilateralism, "we can turn the ‘tyranny of geography’ into the ‘benevolence of geography’", he said. Further, developing physical and digital infrastructure can facilitate the trade and investment relationship between landlocked countries and their neighbours — "thereby achieving a ‘win-win’ situation for all of them", he added.
"What is most important is for trading partners to understand that they stand to benefit when they strengthen connectivity with landlocked countries in the spirit of multilateralism," he stressed. Their populations are growing — providing considerable market potential — and many are rich in natural resources. "Developing this in an environmentally benign way could be very important for the future," he observed, adding that facilitating trade "will not be an issue as long as you have a sufficient number of countries working together".
Providing an example of how that cooperation is essential, Ian Saunders, Secretary-General of the World Customs Organization (WCO), emphasized that what occurs at a land border — on which landlocked countries must rely — is "always and immediately" a function of what is happening on both sides of it. Customs are at the centre of every cross-border transit and, therefore, can contribute to efforts seeking to enhance international trade. By participating in regional trade agreements, creating economic corridors and developing complementary digital infrastructure, landlocked developing countries "can gain more reliable and cost-effective access to markets", he said.
For its part, he reported that the WCO provides a forum in which such countries’ voices can be heard "with the goal of having their needs addressed". Additionally, it directly supports landlocked developing countries in establishing clear rules, shared documentation and standardized operating procedures in a customs context. He spotlighted, as an example, the creation of a regional electronic cargo tracking system in East Africa that has reduced transit times from Mombasa, Kenya, to further inland. Further, he underlined the "operational benefits from committing to proven customs standards".
Call for Holistic, Whole-of-Government Approaches
Along those lines, Asad Majid Khan, Secretary-General of the Economic Cooperation Organization, said that his organization — the largest for regional development cooperation in Asia — is now focused on simplifying customs procedures and thereby reducing costs. Nevertheless, he underlined the importance of a "holistic, whole-of-Government approach". "You can build state-of-the-art roads, but they will not be able to generate tradeable cargoes unless and until you have a trade framework in place," he observed. And, even if such a framework is present, the question of visas must be addressed, or trucks will not be able to operate.
Trade ministers, therefore, play a central role, but he said that the challenge is "bringing them together at the same table". And, although Governments must develop the necessary policy frameworks, connectivity infrastructure "costs a lot of money", and he, therefore, emphasized that private-sector engagement is "key" as well. Additionally, he said that the "weaponization of financial systems" through sanctions "further undermines our capacity to access finances, and our capacity to create seamless payment mechanisms that are key to the integration of trade in the region". Unless and until those mechanisms are developed, he stressed, trade integration remains a "distant dream".
"At a time when global cooperation is being tested and development gaps continue to widen," Maryam bint Alim bin Nasser Al Misnad, Minister of State for International Cooperation of Qatar, reaffirmed that "no country should be left behind due to geographic constraints". Strengthening infrastructure, building digital capacity and attracting investment are key to inclusive growth, and she noted that the Sevilla Commitment also affirms the need for strong international support to landlocked developing countries. "Countries can work together to build resilience," she said.
Landlocked Developing Countries Highlight Examples of Successful Regional Cooperation
During the interactive dialogue that followed, delegates from landlocked developing countries detailed their efforts in this regard. The representative of Malawi pointed to digitized customs procedures, reduced documentation requirements and "one-stop border posts" with Zambia and Mozambique. Burkina Faso’s representative said that his country is working within the Alliance of Sahel States to improve integration and make regional cooperation "a real tool for development". The representative of Zambia outlined a partnership with the United Republic of Tanzania to revitalize the "TAZARA" rail link, also spotlighting a bridge built between his country and Botswana that has reduced transit times from 14 days to "a mere five hours".
The representative of Zimbabwe said that his country is collaborating with Mozambique and Zambia on the construction of railways and will also "soon upgrade border posts" with those nations. Noting that landlocked developing countries are "mostly exporting to their own regions", Paraguay’s representative said that the signing of regional trade agreements "would allow us to bring out the potential of this trade". Also underlining the importance of regional efforts, the representative of Armenia spotlighted his country’s proposed "Crossroads of Peace" project. This, he said, would provide a platform to work towards better economic connectivity and establish "pragmatic trade agreements built on common interests".
"In Mongolia, export goods must travel 1,700 kilometres by rail to reach the nearest seaport in China," said that country’s representative, pointing to the Awaza Programme of Action’s recognition that integrating landlocked developing countries into regional economies is "not only desirable, but essential" to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. "Let us work together," he urged, to translate the "aspirations from Awaza" into real benefits for those they aim to support.