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Inclusive institutions for sustainable development
The 2030 Agenda calls for transparent effective inclusive and accountable institutions to advance poverty eradication and sustainable development. It aims to ensure responsive inclusive participatory and representative decision-making at all levels emphasizing the importance of public access to information protection of fundamental freedoms and the promotion of non-discriminatory laws and policies for sustainable development.
Avant-propos
Seize pays se trouvent actuellement à différents stades du processus de sortie de la catégorie des pays les moins avancés (PMA). Ce reclassement est une réalisation importante et un jalon dans le développement de ces pays. Cependant cela signifie également qu’ils perdent l’accès aux mesures de soutien international réservées aux PMA notamment l’accès préférentiel au marché pour les exportations certains mécanismes de coopération technique et financière et l’aide à la participation de représentants aux réunions et organisations internationales.
Conclusions
Cette évaluation donne une vue d’ensemble des principaux domaines d’incidence potentiels de la sortie de la catégorie des PMA pour chacun des cinq pays. L’expérience de chaque pays est unique et dépend de ses partenaires et de leurs politiques respectives de ses capacités et de ses besoins ainsi que de ses stratégies de développement. Une fois que le reclassement des pays est recommandé ou même avant il est important qu’ils s’engagent avec les partenaires de développement concernés pour se préparer de façon adéquate à toute incidence significative soit par la mise en oeuvre ou la prolongation des périodes de transition soit par la mobilisation de ressources ou de mécanismes alternatifs. Il est également important que les pays utilisent au maximum les mesures de soutien propres aux PMA tant qu’ils restent dans cette catégorie. Certaines de ces mesures de soutien telles que la Banque de technologie l’UNCDF et le CIR peuvent contribuer à la préparation du reclassement.
Coopération au développement
L’incidence du reclassement sur la coopération technique et financière est naturellement une source de préoccupation pour de nombreux pays. Dans la pratique cela dépend de la manière dont les principaux partenaires de développement d’un pays considèrent la catégorie des PMA de la mesure dans laquelle un pays en voie de reclassement tire parti des instruments propres aux PMA et du type de soutien mis en place après le reclassement. Bien que des engagements aient été pris au niveau international concernant l’aide publique au développement (APD) en faveur des PMA de nombreux programmes de coopération technique et financière ne sont ni exclusivement ni principalement déterminés par le statut de PMA. Le volume et le type d’aide sont généralement établis en fonction d’une combinaison de facteurs liés au niveau de revenu des bénéficiaires à leur solvabilité à la taille de leur population à leurs besoins et à leur vulnérabilité aux politiques et aux priorités des partenaires aux demandes concurrentes et au contexte international général. Dans le cas de la coopération bilatérale la proximité géographique et les liens culturels et historiques jouent souvent un rôle important.
Executive Summary
Investment facilitation is a key tool for governments to attract and secure investment and to encourage investors to expand their projects. It is particularly important for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-related investment which often requires more proactive and more tailored services for investors than traditional investment. It calls for a “whole-of-government” approach in which different government entities work together to assist investors through the investment process.
Identification of emerging issues for sustainable development
The Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) is a United Nations publication aiming to strengthen the science-policy interface at the High Level Political Forum (HLPF). Science-policy interfaces refer to the many ways in which scientists policy-makers and other stakeholders link up to communicate exchange ideas and jointly develop knowledge to enrich policy and decision making processes and research. The 2015 GSDR underlined the importance of utilizing these linkages to identify emerging issues across the whole spectrum of sustainable development including its social and economic dimensions. While many approaches exist for identification of emerging issues common features include the involvement of experts and formalized processes drawing on scientific evidence assessments and projections.
Remerciements
Ce rapport a été rédigé par la Division de l’analyse et des politiques économiques (DAPE) du Département des affaires économiques et sociales des Nations Unies (DAES de L’ONU) consolidant l’analyse menée en préparation de l’examen triennal de la catégorie des PMA par le Comité des politiques de développement prévu en 2024.
Steps in facilitating SDG-oriented investment
By modifying their operations across the investment promotion cycle IPAs may leverage a greater SDG impact.
Development cooperation
The impact of graduation on technical and financial cooperation is naturally a concern for many countries. In practice it depends on how a country’s main development partners consider the LDC category on the extent to which a graduating country takes advantage of LDC-specific instruments and what kind of support is in place after graduation. Although commitments have been made internationally regarding official development assistance (ODA) to the LDC category many technical and financial cooperation programmes are neither exclusively nor primarily determined by LDC status. The volume and type of assistance are usually determined based on a combination of factors related to recipients’ income level creditworthiness population size needs and vulnerabilities; partners’ policies and priorities; competing demands; and the broader international context. In the case of bilateral cooperation geographic proximity and cultural and historical ties often play an important role. This section reviews (i) how the most important development partners for the five countries take (or do not take) the LDC category into account in the determination of their resource allocation or type of support provided and the expected consequences of LDC graduation on operations in or resource allocation to the five countries (sections 3.2 and 3.3); and (ii) how the five countries have used the LDC-specific instruments. Based on this Section 3.4 summarizes the expected consequences of graduation on development cooperation in each of the five countries.
Explanatory notes
The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country territory city or area or of its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The term “country” as used in the text also refers as appropriate to territories or areas. The designations of country groups are intended solely for statistical or analytical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgment about the stage of development reached by a particular country or area in the development process.
Acknowledgements
This report was prepared by the Economic Analysis and Policy Division (EAPD) at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) consolidating analysis undertaken in preparation for the Committee for Development Policy’s 2024 triennial review of the LDC category.
Impacts of LDC graduation on trade
LDC-specific international support measures in trade consist of: (i) preferential market access for goods; (ii) preferential market access for services; (iii) special and differential treatment under the WTO agreements; (iv) special and differential treatment and additional flexibilities under certain regional agreements; and (v) capacity-building training and technical assistance related to trade. After graduation countries no longer benefit from these measures. Some but not all measures have “smooth transition” periods that is set periods after graduation during which a graduated country continues to benefit from the LDC-specific measure.
Notes on regions, development groups, countries or areas
In this report data for countries and areas are often aggregated in six continental regions: Africa Asia Europe Latin America and the Caribbean Northern America and Oceania. Further information on continental regions is available from https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/. Countries and areas have also been grouped into geographic regions based on the classification being used to track progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (see: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/regional-groups/).
Background
Since the establishment of the least developed countries (LDC) category in 1971 international organizations and countries have put in place support measures specifically for this group of countries in the areas of trade and development cooperation (financial and technical assistance). They have also put in place measures to support the participation of LDCs in international organizations and processes. When LDCs achieve a certain level of development and leave (“graduate from”) the LDC category they are no longer entitled to those measures. As part of the graduation process the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) assesses the potential impacts of the withdrawal of the international support measures. The United Nations Committee for Development Policy (CDP) takes these assessments into consideration along with quantitative criteria a vulnerability profile prepared by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and other analytical inputs consolidated into a “graduation assessment when deciding on whether to recommend a country’s graduation. An overview of the expected impacts of graduation can also be helpful for graduating countries as they start to elaborate their strategies to transition smoothly out of the LDC category.
Conclusions
Several organizations have funds or special terms for LDCs in capacity-building or technical assistance programmes related to international negotiations and processes.
Foreword
There are currently 16 countries at different stages of the process towards graduation from the least developed countries (LDC) category. Graduation is an important achievement and a milestone in the development of these countries. However it also means losing access to the international support measures that are exclusively granted to LDCs including preferential market access for exports certain mechanisms for technical and financial cooperation and support for the participation of representatives in international meetings and organizations.
Sustained economic growth and decent work
Changes in the age distribution resulting from fertility declines taking place in countries with rapidly growing populations can help set those countries onto a path of sustained economic growth on a per capita basis. Such growth is essential for creating jobs and lifting people out of poverty. Countries where the fertility level is high but declining can benefit from a “demographic dividend” resulting from the increased concentration of population in the working age range following the decline of fertility. The impact of the favourable age distribution on the rate of economic growth per capita can be amplified by enacting appropriate social and economic policies. Investments in education and health and the promotion of full and productive employment for all including for women and other groups traditionally excluded from the labour force can double or even triple the positive economic impact of the favourable age structure created by a decline in fertility.
International migration
Compared to births and deaths international migration plays a smaller role in population growth or decline in most countries and regions. Nonetheless international migration can have a sizeable effect on population change under certain circumstances. In several high-income countries immigration has made significant contributions to population growth. Over the next few decades immigration is expected to continue to drive growth in some countries while in others it will attenuate or counteract a potential decline in population size due to sustained low levels of fertility. With a few notable exceptions emigration does not have a major impact on population change in countries and regions of origin.
Population, environment and sustainable development
Environmental damage often arises from the economic processes that lead to higher standards of living especially when the full social and environmental costs such as damage from pollution are not factored into decisions about resource extraction production and consumption. Population growth amplifies such environmental pressures by adding to total economic demand. However the countries contributing most to unsustainable patterns of resource use are generally those where income per capita is high and populations are growing slowly if at all not those where income per capita is low and populations are growing rapidly. Looking forward countries that currently have relatively low per capita incomes and high levels of fertility will need to achieve robust and sustained economic growth if they are to meet the Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Promoting sustained economic growth in such countries without further damaging the environment will require support from the international community.
Countries in the spotlight
Even though SDG progress in Asia and the Pacific is too slow to achieve the goals by 2030 there are reasons to be optimistic about individual country achievements. This chapter focuses on notable progress and good practices at the country level with examples that demonstrate remarkable achievements that can close the gap and deliver on commitments to sustainable development.