Least Developed Countries

Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays an important role in the world economy today and has the potential to contribute towards accelerating the process of economic growth and sustainable development in the least developed countries (LDCs). The Istanbul programme of Action for the LDCs stresses that “policies to attract and retain foreign investment are essential components of national development strategies.”

The United Nations Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) is presenting the State of the Least Developed Countries 2014 as part of its mandated analytical activities on the eight priority areas of the Istanbul Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020. The second of its type, the report is intended to substantively backstop follow-up in each area.

When United Nations Member States gathered in Istanbul in 2011 at the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), it was with the view to express global solidarity and renew commitments to support strong and sustainable growth and development in this poorest and most vulnerable group of nations. The Istanbul Declaration and Istanbul Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020 encapsulate such solidarity and commitments.

Soon after the creation of the United Nations Office of the High Representative in early 2002, the Open Forum for Partnership was launched as a platform for entities of the United Nations system, policy makers, academia and development practitioners, often located outside New York, to share their perspectives on development challenges that face the three most vulnerable groups of countries: the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), the Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) and the Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Climate change affects all, but it does not affect us equally. Nor do we possess the same capacity to respond to its challenges. As is often the case, the most vulnerable countries – particularly the Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States – find themselves in the worst situation once again. In these countries, climate change is already affecting economic growth, health indica- tors, water availability, food production and the fragile ecosystems.

Governance for the future: Democracy and Development in the Least Developed Countries documents the important strides being made bt the world's poorest nations to achieve better governence and show that poverty is not an insurmintable barrier to democracy. The report also rightly stresses the need for stronger partnership between LDCs and the international community so that the LDCs can sustain this momentum and build up their human and institutionnal capacities.

The UN-OHRLLS is pleased to bring out this informative publication as an advocacy tool to draw the attention of the international community, including civil society and the private sector, to the state of human development in LDCs focussing on women and gender. It is a special effort to highlight gender issues as a very crucial element in the development efforts of LDCs.

As we are heading for the High-level meeting on the midterm comprehensive global review of the implementation of the Brussels Programme in the sixty-first session of the General Assembly in September 2006 at the United Nations in New York it is worth to have a closer look at the achievements since the Third United Nations Conference and try to answer the following questions: to what extent the LDCs and development partners have achieved objectives, goals and targets of the Programme, what obstacles and challenges they are facing in its implementation, what lessons they have learned and whet