UNCTAD – 78th Executive Session of the Trade and Development Board Agenda Item 3: “The Least Developed Countries Report 2025: Are Services the New Path to Structural Transformation?”

Mr. Chair,

My Delegation would like to thank UNCTAD for presenting its 2025 Report on Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

The growing importance of trade in services is a defining feature of today’s economy. Developing countries account for around 30 percent of global services exports.[1] Trade in services presents clear development opportunities, offering a means of diversification and creating new job markets.

However, LDCs are largely excluded from these gains due to persistent structural constraints, such as limited connectivity, insufficient human capital, a lack of technical assistance and capacity building, and weak regulatory frameworks.

In this context, there is a need for integrated strategies that are tailored to the realities of LDCs. Investments in infrastructure, both physical and digital, are essential, as are investments in human capital development, including education, skills training, and lifelong learning opportunities.

It is equally important to take measures to upgrade traditional services and improve job quality. This will ensure that the expansion of services contributes to decent work, poverty reduction, and, ultimately, integral development.

At the same time, it is worth recalling the commitment enshrined in the Doha Programme of Action (DPoA), adopted at the 5^th UN Conference on LDCs, to “increase least developed countries’ exports of services by fully implementing the WTO ministerial decision on the operationalization of the waiver concerning preferential  treatment to services.”[2]

Therefore, the integration of effective and tailored domestic policies within an enabling international environment are required to overcome the challenges that continue to hinder the integral human development of 1.3 billion people. Indeed, as Pope Leo XIV reminds us, “helping the poor is a matter of justice before a question of charity.”[3]

Least developed countries require greater attention, stronger solidarity and renewed commitments to their development, precisely because they are the “least”. After all, “if we acknowledge that all human beings have the same dignity, independent of their place of birth, the immense differences existing between countries and regions must not be ignored.”[4]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.