GNV News, August 10, 2025

From August 5 to 8, 2025, the third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC) was held in Awaza, Turkmenistan. The conference aims to address the challenges faced by low-income countries without direct access to seaborne routes. It formally endorsed the Programme of Action for the decade through 2034 adopted in 2024, and, building on it, adopted the new Awaza Political Declaration. Based on lessons learned from the Vienna Programme of Action adopted at the previous conference for 2014–2024, it seeks progress with a focus on five areas: structural economic transformation; trade facilitation and regional integration; infrastructure development; climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction; and financing. Furthermore, during the conference, the Alliance for Landlocked Countries was newly established, creating a framework under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to strengthen negotiating power and compensate for their vulnerable position in seeking responses to climate change.

Thirty-two landlocked countries were invited to this international conference. These countries are far from ports, and their transport and customs costs are higher than those of coastal countries. As a result, access to international markets is constrained, and their exports account for only 1.1% of the global total. They also rely on aid for infrastructure and development projects, have limited access to private capital and foreign investment, and many depend on primary commodities such as mineral resources and face debt issues. Furthermore, because many are located in arid regions, they are susceptible to climate change impacts such as drought and desertification, and health and digital infrastructure are fragile. Thus, many landlocked countries face compounded geographic and economic vulnerabilities. At the same time, despite their geographic constraints, landlocked countries are expected to leverage their young populations and abundant resources to seize growth opportunities through future investment, and they also have the potential to serve as bridges with neighboring countries.

Learn more about attempts to secure ocean access → “South American transcontinental corridors and the landlocked country Paraguay“

Learn more about inequities in the impacts of climate change → “A new ‘apartheid’ created by climate change“

Photo: The Turkmenistan–Iran border (Gilad Rom / Flickr [CC BY-NC 2.0])