• by Cheick Sidi Diarra
• Thursday, May 05, 2011
• Inter Press Service

Though they are the world's most vulnerable countries, LDCs have what it takes to become the global economy's next bright spot: an abundant and mostly young workforce, the most prized natural resources (petrol, metals, minerals, crops, and arable land) and a growing drive to attract investors, writes Cheick Sidi Diarra, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States .

In this article the author write that with over half of their 900 million inhabitants surviving on less than USD 1 per day, the Least Developed Countries need to do more. They need to pursue the path of economic reforms they have embarked on, while fighting corruption and mobilising domestic resources.

Fortunately, the newly-emerging economies of the world can, and have, been playing a role in the LDC resurgence. South-South cooperation in the form of investment and trade deals with the LDCs is on the way to surpassing economic inputs from the North, and development assistance from the South is increasing as well.

At the Fourth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries, to be held 9-13 May in Istanbul, Turkey, world leaders will sign a new action plan for the LDCs. It is worth noting that, much like emerging economies helped avert a full-blown global economic crisis, the world's most vulnerable countries could become the world's line of defence against future shocks.

(*) Cheick Sidi Diarra is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States.

// NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN CANADA, CZECH REPUBLIC, IRELAND, POLAND, AND THE UNITED STATES //

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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