Landlocked Economies at United Nations

In early October the World Bank, the UN – OHRLLS, and the UNCTAD came together at the United Nations in New York for the “High-level Investment Forum, Investing in landlocked developing countries: Trends, experiences and the way forward”. The objective of the forum was to bring together policy makers and private sector practitioners from landlocked developing countries, as well as current and prospective international investors to analyze current trends in FDI flows to LLDCs, exchange experiences and best practices and to explore future opportunities for FDI to these countries.

At the conference Doing Business launched the report Doing Business in Landlocked Economies 2009, which analyses the ease of doing business in 38 landlocked economies. When compared to coastal economies, landlocked countries tend to rank lower in starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, and closing a business.

Landlocked economies in high-income OECD countries have the most business-friendly regulatory environment, followed by Eastern Europe and Central Asia. African and Central Asian landlocked economies present the most challenging regulations for operating businesses. For instance, four of the 10 most difficult places in the world to operate a business are African countries: Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, and Niger.

Of the 38 landlocked economies studied by the report, Switzerland ranks highest on the overall regulatory ease of doing business, followed by Austria, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, and Botswana. Overall, landlocked economies have an average ranking of 107 out of 181 economies covered by the global Doing Business 2009 report.

Though landlocked countries face a series of challenges, the report shows that LL economies have the opportunity of strengthening competitiveness through reform. Better business regulations give firms more opportunity to grow and create jobs.