Programme of Action for Landlocked Developing Countries (2024¨C2034)
Welcome to the official page for the new Programme of Action (PoA) for Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) for the Decade 2024¨C2034. Adopted by the 51³Ô¹Ï General Assembly on 24 December 2024 under resolution A/RES/79/233, the PoA represents a renewed and strengthened global commitment to support the development aspirations of the 32 LLDCs. Located in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America.
This PoA draws on lessons learned from the Vienna Programme of Action (2014¨C2024) and seeks to ensure that progress accelerates, especially in such areas as trade facilitation, structural transformation, transport connectivity, technology, climate resilience, and the mobilization of international support. The aim is to align national-level actions, regional integration efforts, and global policy frameworks to place LLDCs on a more dynamic and inclusive path to sustainable development, while safeguarding them against future shocks and disasters.
Why a New Programme of Action?
Landlocked Developing Countries often experience high trade costs, limited diversification, and infrastructure shortfalls that curtail their economic prospects. Over the past decade, global disruptions, including the COVID-19 crisis and geopolitical tensions, have slowed progress toward the targets previously set out under the Vienna Programme of Action. In many cases, income inequalities persist, export diversification remains limited, investment inflows focus heavily on natural resources, and the overall economic vulnerabilities of LLDCs have deepened.
Although some LLDCs were able to achieve meaningful improvements, in areas such as trade facilitation, regional cooperation, and certain infrastructure corridors, progress overall was mixed and insufficient to meet either the Vienna Programme of Action targets or key Sustainable Development Goals. Hence, the need arose for an updated, forward-looking initiative with explicit objectives and stronger partnerships. The new PoA emphasizes that only through a concerted, multistakeholder approach can LLDCs overcome the structural impediments to their development, build resilience, and ensure that the benefits of global growth and trade reach their populations.
Overarching Objectives
The PoA for 2024¨C2034 sets out a series of objectives intended to help LLDCs overcome the fundamental hurdles of their geography and ensure that no one is left behind:
- It aims to accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in LLDCs, particularly through supportive policies, capacity-building, and resource mobilization aligned with national priorities.
- It strives to facilitate structural transformation by promoting industrialization, economic diversification, and value addition, so that LLDCs can reduce dependence on commodities and improve productivity and competitiveness in regional and global value chains.
- It encourages deeper integration into global trade networks and the reduction of physical, administrative, and procedural barriers that elevate costs.
- It invests in improved and resilient infrastructure systems for both transport and digital connectivity, while promoting the energy solutions that will sustain industrial and social growth.
- It underlines the urgency of climate adaptation and disaster risk management, recognizing the unique vulnerabilities of LLDCs to climatic extremes and environmental stresses. Finally, it aims to mobilize greater international support, innovation, and partnerships¡ªthrough official development assistance, foreign direct investment, new financing models, and capacity-building¡ªto ensure the means of implementing the agreed actions are in place.
Priority Areas
In order to drive transformative growth, the PoA is built around five interlinked priority areas that together address the challenges LLDCs face and create opportunities for sustainable development.
Structural Transformation and Science, Technology, and Innovation
This first priority focuses on building strong and diversified productive capacities, furthering value-added manufacturing and services, and enhancing agricultural productivity. It highlights the importance of technology and innovation in boosting efficiency, scaling up capacity in sectors like e-commerce and digital services, and ensuring that everyone, including women and youth, benefits from new technological advances. Expanding science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, promoting private-sector development, creating enabling frameworks for entrepreneurship, and attracting technology-oriented investments are all part of the plan. By raising labour productivity and adding high-value sectors, LLDCs can reduce poverty and become more competitive in international markets.
Trade, Trade Facilitation, and Regional Integration
As LLDCs rely on transit through neighboring countries to access global markets, it is crucial to simplify customs and border procedures, develop transport and logistics corridors, and reduce non tariff barriers that increase trade costs. The PoA calls for strengthening existing international trade agreements while advocating a fair, rules-based multilateral system where LLDCs can be active participants. It stresses the significance of digital trade and e-commerce as a means of circumventing traditional geographic constraints, as well as the need for specific provisions on transit trade in regional and subregional trade pacts. Enhanced Aid for Trade, targeted trade capacity-building, and deeper regional integration are all seen as avenues for raising the share of LLDCs in global and intraregional trade.
Transit, Transport, and Connectivity
Addressing inadequate and inefficient transit infrastructure is a cornerstone of the new Programme of Action. The plan underscores the need for well-maintained roads, railways, waterways, and ports, along with better coordination of legal and regulatory frameworks that would encourage multimodal solutions. The PoA also includes digital connectivity goals, such as achieving universal access to broadband internet and modern telecommunications, so that LLDCs can harness the benefits of the digital economy. Priority is also given to improving energy infrastructure and encouraging cross-border power grid connectivity, recognizing that reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy is vital to fueling industrialization and fostering socioeconomic inclusion.
Enhancing Adaptive Capacity, Strengthening Resilience, and Reducing Vulnerability
Another core element is building resilience in LLDCs to help them cope with the growing impacts of climate change and disasters. The PoA advocates the rapid scaling up of climate finance to support both mitigation and adaptation, with a particular focus on protecting people¡¯s lives and infrastructure investments from the adverse effects of extreme weather events. By incorporating disaster risk reduction strategies into all development policies and strengthening early warning systems, LLDCs can protect livelihoods and avoid disruptions to trade and transport. Additionally, it seeks to promote biodiversity conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources, especially given LLDCs¡¯ increasing exposure to land degradation and biodiversity loss.
Means of Implementation
In recognition that LLDCs require considerable technical, financial, and capacity support to achieve these objectives, the PoA outlines comprehensive approaches to mobilizing resources. It highlights the importance of boosting domestic revenue capacity through taxation, financial sector reforms, and reducing illicit financial flows. It calls on development partners to meet their commitments on official development assistance and increasingly channel resources to those LLDCs that are most in need, particularly for infrastructure and human capital development. The Programme of Action also underscores the essential role that foreign direct investment, remittances, and innovative financing can play in supporting structural transformation, and stresses the value of debt relief and concessional financing mechanisms for LLDCs at risk of debt distress.
Implementation, Follow-Up, and Monitoring
The PoA emphasizes that success depends on concrete action and robust monitoring at national, regional, and global levels. At the national level, LLDCs are encouraged to integrate the PoA fully into their development strategies, while transit countries are invited to collaborate on cross-border transport corridors, infrastructure connectivity, and simplified transit procedures. Regional reviews through the UN regional commissions and relevant subregional organizations will help track progress on corridor management, trade agreements, infrastructure improvements, and overall resilience-building measures.
Globally, the General Assembly will continue to monitor implementation every year, informed by progress reports from the UN Secretary-General. The Programme of Action also aligns its review mechanisms with major development frameworks, most notably, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. In 2029, the UN system will undertake a high-level midterm review of the PoA, leading up to the Fourth 51³Ô¹Ï Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries in 2034, when Member States will assess achievements and decide on any subsequent actions.
How to Engage
All stakeholders, including national governments, regional institutions, international organizations, civil society, and the private sector, are called upon to align efforts with the priorities outlined in this Programme of Action. Governments of LLDCs are expected to show leadership and ownership by creating conducive policy environments and integrating these commitments into their national plans. They are also encouraged to collect and analyze data to monitor progress effectively and to ensure that no vulnerable populations are left behind.
Development partners, including donor governments and multilateral development banks, can engage by honoring ODA commitments, providing technical assistance and capacity-building, and fostering access to finance and technology. The private sector is invited to invest in infrastructure, manufacturing, services, and innovative solutions that tap into the relatively untapped potential of LLDCs. Civil society, academia, and the media can offer valuable perspectives, advocacy, and research support, while local communities and entrepreneurs will be instrumental in sustaining results on the ground.
Looking Ahead
The Programme of Action for LLDCs (2024¨C2034) sets out an ambitious framework for transformation in countries that are disproportionately affected by their landlockedness and the persistent global challenges of our time. By promoting structural change, boosting resilience to shocks and hazards, expanding connectivity and trade potential, and marshalling both domestic and external resources, the PoA seeks to spur inclusive and sustainable development. It calls upon the global community to forge a broad coalition of support, one that recognizes the shared benefits of dynamic, resilient LLDCs integrated into a fair and open multilateral system.
As the global community works together on these goals, the new Programme of Action will serve as a roadmap to guide policy and resource allocation, strengthen partnerships, and underscore the principle of leaving no country behind in our collective pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals.