The United Nations Office at Geneva
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As services take on a growing role in least developed countries, UNCTAD is launching its latest Least Developed Countries Report to assess whether this shift can deliver inclusive and sustainable development.
Ahead of the report’s release, Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan outlines why services are not a shortcut to prosperity and why their transformative potential depends on strong links to manufacturing and agriculture, investment in digital skills and infrastructure, and supportive trade and investment policies.
The report shows that despite the rapid growth of services, LDCs remain largely excluded from the most dynamic segments of global trade, particularly digitally deliverable services.
“Services can be a driver of structural transformation,” Ms. Grynspan says, “but only if they are part of a coherent development strategy and supported by a global environment that expands opportunity rather than deepens exclusion.”
Website: https://unctad.org/publication/least-developed-countries-report-2025
Production Date: 10 February 2026
Creator: UNCTAD / UNTV CH
Subject Topical: Least Developed Countries
Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT – UNCTAD
STORY: UNCTAD / The least developed countries report 2025
TRT: 02:08
SOURCE: UNCTAD / UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 10 February 2026, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
WEBSITE: https://unctad.org/publication/least-developed-countries-report-2025
Shotlist
1. Wide shot, Palais des Nations
2. Briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, UNCTAD:
“We are launching the UN Trade and Development Report on the least Developed Countries. It examines whether services can deliver sustained growth, better jobs, and rising incomes.”
4. Medium shot, Podium, briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, UNCTAD:
“Least developed countries face unprecedented employment challenges. Between now and 2050, they will need to create jobs for around 13.2 million new labor market entrants every year, making employment creation a defining constraint for development strategies.”
6. Medium shot, journalists, photographers in the briefing room.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, UNCTAD:
“The benefits of the digital economy growth are happening largely outside the least developed countries.”
8. Tight shot, journalist in the briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, UNCTAD:
“What we are saying is this is an opportunity, but services will contribute to transformation only when they are able to rise productivity. This happens when services are linked to manufacturing, to agriculture, to logistics and to trade. And it requires skills, infrastructure, digital connectivity and supportive investment policies.
10. Large shot, briefing room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General, UNCTAD:
“Get it right, and services can support better jobs, stronger exports and more resilient economies. Get it wrong, and existing asymmetries will deepen and social and economic benefits won't happen.”
12. Various shots in the briefing room
Subject: Least Developed Countries Report 2026
Speakers:
-Rebeca Grynspan UN Trade and Development Secretary General
-Junior Davis, UN Trade and Development, Director ad interim for Africa, LDCs and special programmes
-Matfobhi Riba, UN Trade and Development, Economic Affairs Officer
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