The Least Developed Countries Report 2009: The State and Development Governance will be presented to the Board.

The Report focuses on the question of the role of the State in promoting development, and on the possibility of rebuilding the developmental State in a way that is adapted to the challenges and concerns of least developed countries (LDCs) in the twentieth-first century.

The current global economic crisis is already undermining the gains of the last several years and is likely to impose very serious damage on the economies of LDCs, implying that "business as usual" is no longer possible and that an urgent re-examination of current approaches to international development is required.

The 2009 Report offers viable new policy orientations, and argues that the role of the State is crucially important in promoting development in LDCs.

The Report further argues that it is now necessary to adopt more active State policies to promote structural transformation and the development of productive capacities. This will require the development of both industrial and agricultural policies, embedded within a framework of growth-oriented macroeconomic policies.

• Least Developed Countries Report 2009
  
  
• Overview: English | French | Spanish | Arabic | Chinese | Russian